5 key features in Blender 4.0

Discover the latest changes to the open-source 3D app, from Geometry Nodes, Cycles and shading to the Viewport Compositor.

Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

Discover the key features of Houdini 20

Read our run-down of the key changes in the largest ever update to Houdini, from character animation to rendering and machine learning.

Thursday, November 9th, 2023

Open-source VFX pipeline builder Prism 2.0 is now available

Promising tool lets you set up a USD-based VFX pipeline 'out of the box'. Works with Blender, Maya, Houdini, Nuke, UE5 and ZBrush.

Friday, November 3rd, 2023

Sneak peek: Houdini 20

See the new features due in the next major version of Houdini, including updates to animation and simulation and the Karma renderer.

Thursday, October 19th, 2023

Autodesk ships Arnold 7.2.4

Check out the latest changes to renderer, including better toon shading and faster rendering of mesh lights.

Thursday, October 5th, 2023

Substance 3D Designer to get new Hydra viewport

Change will let artists use apps like RenderMan or OctaneRender as viewport renderers inside Designer. Native MaterialX support also due.

Tuesday, September 12th, 2023

Unreal Engine 5.3: five key features for CG artists

Now out of preview: read our pick of the new features in UE5, from rendering OpenVDB files to the new Skeletal and Panel Cloth Editors.

Wednesday, September 6th, 2023

ASWF adopts OpenImageIO

Ubiquitous tech for reading and writing images becomes the latest open-source project to be hosted by the visual effects industry body.

Tuesday, August 1st, 2023

Otoy joins the Academy Software Foundation

OctaneRender developer joins VFX and movie industry body alongside CoreWeave and Bolt Graphics.

Friday, July 7th, 2023

Pixar ships RenderMan 25.2

Check out the new features in the heavyweight production renderer, including new compositing modes in the Stylized Looks NPR toolset.

Friday, June 30th, 2023

Autodesk ships Arnold 7.2.2

Update makes CPU renders on Intel, AMD and Apple CPUs perceptually identical, and edits to large scenes 'nearly instantaneous'.

Thursday, June 8th, 2023

AMD releases Radeon ProRender 3.6 for Blender

GPU renderer switches from OpenCL to HIP for final-quality output. Maya and Houdini editions also updated.

Thursday, June 8th, 2023

Pixar releases RenderMan 25

Heavyweight VFX and animation renderer now includes Pixar's own AI-trained denoiser. Sizeable update to RenderMan XPU, too.

Tuesday, April 18th, 2023