Everything in chronological order.
Beeble Background Remover hits Cloud app
Background Remover unbundles fast AI masking into a standalone workflow with preview, refinement, and RGBA or alpha-only exports for comps.
Switching to Davinci Resolve: Your first cut
Frame rate locked? Source Tape magic? Here’s where Resolve hides the real editing speed so you can cut first and hunt menus never.
Procedural Clouds with Cycles focus
Procedural Clouds lands on Superhive with Blender 4.5 to 5.0 support, Cycles targeting, GPL licensing, and three pricing tiers.
MetaHuman DNA add-on for RBF editor
Character DNA 0.6.2 brings an RBF pose editor for MetaHuman body correctives plus automatic DNA backups, and it targets newer Unreal and Blender builds.
WrapKit wraps surfaces in Blender
WrapKit is a free alpha Geometry Nodes wrapper for Blender that aims for cleaner surface contact and generates UVs
Hardcuts Launches Alpha Access for Fast Voxel-Based Hard-Surface Sculpting
Hardcuts is a new standalone hard-surface sculpting tool with a simple pitch: fast voxel booleans, less clutter, more shape-making. The alpha is available now, free to try, and might be a rather good way to spend a quiet Easter weekend.
CameraMatch AutoSetup v6 speeds photo matches
Jamie Cardoso ships CameraMatch AutoSetup v6, a one click camera match script for 3ds Max and Blender, with Maya queued next week.
FreeCAD 1.1 stacks workflow upgrades
FreeCAD 1.1 adds draggers, clearer previews, and CAM, Assembly, and FEM upgrades, plus broad import and export for common pipeline formats.
Adobe DNG becomes ISO standard (Not an April Fools joke)
DNG just got an ISO badge. That turns a popular RAW container into a formal standard and makes archives and pipelines a little less spooky.
Galata.ink Ships Tamga Sculpt and Paint for Browsers
tamga brings lightweight sculpting, vertex paint, and ink style renders to web, desktop, and iPad, with quick OBJ handoff.
Alpha Pixel adds Gaussian Splats to Cinema 4D
Scan a place, drop it into C4D, then art direct it like motion graphics. Gaussian splats just got a lot less precious.
VDBRender for Nuke
VDBRender renders OpenVDB volumes inside Nuke with deep output, AOVs, lighting presets, and a free MIT licensed codebase.
Boris FX welcomes Vegas Pro
Vegas Pro gets a new owner and a fresh 2026 release, with offline AI, new titling, and ProRes RAW support landing right out of the gate.
Adobe Turntable spins into Illustrator
Turntable hits Illustrator and turns one vector into a pile of editable angles, so turnarounds stop demanding unpaid overtime.
Chaos Vantage 3 update 2 adds Toon
Toon shading meets splats and VDB export in Vantage, while Enscape 4.17 quietly tidies DLSS, lights, and exports. Less drama, more frames.
XR Day 2026 brings XR to Ludwigsburg
Talks in the morning, headsets in the afternoon. XR Day tours fox vision, AI avatars, and a Minotaur choice with real pipeline flavor.
Nobe OmniScope is a Live Act now!
OmniScope LivePack turns your scopes rig into a live-friendly sidekick, with SDI out, Livegrade hookup, and recordings that behave. Really? We run it through its paces!
Arnold 7.5.1 comes with Flow Render Tech, Volume AOVs, and MIKKTSpace
Autodesk has released Arnold 7.5.1. The update adds the Flow Render tech preview with 2,400 free cloud render minutes per month, alongside custom AOVs for volume shaders, MIKKTSpace normal mapping support, Windows CPU rendering optimizations, and a range of shading, USD, and API changes.
ONYX Ai Matte for OFX hosts
ONYX Ai Matte targets fast alphas in OFX apps with prompts, tracking, trimap refinement, and published RTX only system limits.
Real-time Blender to Unreal Live Link
One click, fewer reimports: Blender Live Link pushes assets to Unreal in real time and can bake complex shaders into tidy textures.
3ds Max 2027 is here.
3ds Max 2027 adds Smart Bevel, Noise Plus, and Field Helper, plus faster modifiers and a cleaner viewport for daily scene wrangling.
OpenUSD v26.03 gets the SPLATS
OpenUSD v26.03 brings native Gaussian splats, a reference renderer, and WebAssembly builds, plus real pipeline speed and rigging work.
Re: Novation ArchViz Challenge opens
Re: Novation Challenge is live until June 9, 2026: one base building model, unlimited redesigns, plus a new Animation Category. No AI.
Autodesk ships Maya 2027
Maya Creative gets most of Maya 2027, while Maya 2027 adds Smart Bevel, USD tools, MotionMaker horses, and deeper Bifrost perks.
Comment: We Were Told Sora Would Replace VFX by Next Year. Awkward.
OpenAI has killed Sora before the proposed Disney deal ever closed. One expensive AI showpiece is gone, while the wider industry still shovels absurd amounts of money into data centers in the hope that a business model will wander in and introduce itself.
VINZI Atlux λ arrives on Fab
Atlux λ is now on Fab, bringing a virtual photo studio and one click renders to Unreal Engine, plus Mac support.
Handy RefTool 3.0 speeds Maya ref matching
RefTool bundles Maya reference camera matching into one UI, adds a fuller paid build, and keeps a free version for core workflows.
Save the date: ICE.ART 2026.I is in two weeks
The ICE.ART 3D Environment Conference 2026.I goes live on 7, 8, and 9 April 2026, each day from 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM CEST. It is a webinar series, so your commute is the distance from your chair to your snack stash.
NanoGaussianSplats for UE5
NanoGS adds a UE plugin for big Gaussian splat scenes, with LOD clusters, culling, and GPU sorting to keep frames moving.
Redshift 2026.4 adds Redshift Live and expands support for Vectorworks
Maxon has released Redshift 2026.4. The update introduces Redshift Live as a new real-time render mode, drops Redshift RT, adds support for Vectorworks 2026 Update 4, and brings a set of rendering and workflow updates across the wider Redshift ecosystem.
glTF sample assets and fidelity site refresh
New glTF browsing and comparison pages make it easier to test assets, spot renderer quirks, and argue about pixels with evidence.
Unity ships Unity Studio for in-browser 3D
Unity Studio is out, bringing no-code 3D editing in the browser, link-based sharing, and a clear per-seat price with storage and bandwidth caps.
Forest Pack 9.3.5 broadens collisions
Forest Pack 9.3.5 spreads collision checks everywhere, adds .pmat in the Library Browser, and gives Effects new camera-aware tricks.
Sony to wind down Pixomondo
Televisual reports Pixomondo will be wound down after contracts finish, with VFX efforts set to refocus on Imageworks.
FlippedNormals Marketplace closes March 31
The store stops taking orders March 31 and file access ends April 30. Download your library now, then expect a leaner reboot.
JangaFX makes its layoff assistance programme permanent
Layoff Assistance is now permanent: eligible laid-off artists can get six months of the Janga tool access to rebuild reels without paying.
Cava / Serif updates Affinity
For those who don’t know the tool: Affinity is a free single app that combines vector, photo, and layout work under one roof, with account ties to Canva for AI tools. A lighter UI, on purpose The March 2026 update introduces Light UI inside Affinity. Light UI is presented as a long-requested feature and it is described as fully customizable, including the…
MotionVFX joins Apple
MotionVFX just went in house at Apple. Final Cut Pro editors get closer plugins, everyone else waits for the fine print.
Blender 5.1 is here
Blender 5.1 boosts animation speed, adds Raycast and Mask to SDF, and shaves time off shaders and nodes. Free upgrades feel nice.
Adobe settles US case over cancel terms
A $150M US settlement targets hidden fees and hard exits. Expect clearer terms, trial nudges, and simpler cancellation flows.
Getting your bearings: Switching from Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve
When editing, I want to know how I can achieve something, and the tool I choose should not hinder my creative process. That's why people are often hesitant to switch software, and I was no exception when I switched from Premiere to Davinci Resolve.
OctaneRender 2027.1 alpha goes neural
OctaneRender 2027.1 alpha chases cleaner viewports, smarter lights, and more USD. Test it like it is spicy, because it is.
Dither Boy 6.0 brings animation and video polish
Dither Boy 6 rewrites the app, adds animation timelines and temporal variation, plus faster iteration and better video playback.
Maxon ships Redshift for Archviz
Redshift Archviz moves BIM scenes from waiting to tweaking, with real-time previews, assets, and a one-click hop to Cinema 4D for the fancy shots.
Adobe ships Rotate Object in Photoshop beta
Rotate Object arrives in Photoshop beta: rotate a cutout like it grew depth overnight, then upscale and Harmonize for faster comps.
Official Steam support lands on Unity roadmap
For those who don’t know the tool: Unity is a realtime game engine that ships to desktop and consoles, and Platform Toolkit sits in the build and platform integration layer, so your release pipeline spends less time arguing with targets and more time making frames. What changed and when A Unity product update at the Game Developers Conference included two…
The GIMP Team boosts GIMP 3.2
GIMP 3.2 arrives with linked layers, vector layers, smarter non-destructive filters, and new export options. Less redo, more done.
ProductionCrate Plug-in Suite with docked footage database
ProductionCrate bundles a huge asset library in its Suite, so you can grab a glow, a glitch, or an explosion fast, then pay for it yearly.
Pixel Lab drops free Blood Hit Alembic
Blood Hit is a free pre-simmed Alembic blood hit, built for drag and drop gore beats across lots of 3D apps.
iCrowds 2.0.0: Ragdolls arrive, dignity leaves
iCrowds Generator 2.0.0 adds ragdolls for Blender crowds, so collisions can look messy in the good way, with less setup.
Abstract ships InstaMAT 2026 Curves Brushes
InstaMAT 2026 adds editable curve painting, smarter symmetry, and fresh mesh masking, plus pricing tweaks that matter for teams and freelancers.
Huion Kamvas Slate 11 Review: A Practical Android Tablet That Also Draws
A compact, competitively priced Android tablet that works as a daily driver for sketching and notes, with solid performance, a surprisingly good screen, and a pen that is good for everyday work but not in Wacom territory for pressure and tilt nuance.
Let’s Build a Blender Hut This Weekend!
A free Blender Geometry Nodes hut generator with adjustable detail and clear reuse rules for personal and commercial projects.
FMX 2026 program goes live
The FMX program is live for the 30th edition, with RENO pipeline lessons, generative video craft, and European collab on Predator: Badlands.
A Lost Méliès Gag Film Resurfaces in 4K
A 45-second Georges Méliès slapstick short unseen for over a century is online again after scan and stabilization work.
Adobe releases Substance 3D Painter 12 with decal warp
Substance 3D Painter 12 adds Warp to Geometry for decals, expands viewport post effects, and introduces flatten-in-stack exports plus new pricing details.
Neat LimbKit gives Blender a hand, literally
LimbKit is a free Blender 4.5+ Geometry Nodes tool for quickly blocking hands, feet, and some creature variants via adjustable procedural controls.
Nobe OmniScope gets Live Pack for on-set and live monitoring
Time in Pixels has released Live Pack for Nobe OmniScope Pro, adding SDI output, Livegrade integration, multi-input monitoring, recording, snapshots, focus peaking and loudness metering for on-set and live work.
OpenPBR BSDF reference code from Adobe
OpenPBR BSDF reference implementation for Substance is public as a small library with prepare, sample, eval, pdf API and multi-target compilation.
On a Mission: Creating “NO ONE’S LIGHT”
No One’s Light is what happens when you start with 50 sci-fi ideas, delete 47 of them for survival reasons, and end up with a five-minute animated short that still looks like an alien planet got a proper art department. Blender handles the world building and Geometry Nodes chaos, CloudRig keeps characters bendy instead of broken, and Nuke ties it together…
Texturing XYZ puts SKAP online, pores included
Texturing XYZ’s SKAP turns 2K to 8K inputs into 16K skin maps in a browser, priced in credits at $1 each.
AdonisFX 2.0 brings Houdini support, anisotropic muscles, and triangle-level self-collisions
AdonisFX 2.0 is a big structural release: Houdini support arrives as SOP nodes, core solvers pick up anisotropy and triangle-level self-collisions, paint maps gain non-linear remaps, and the toolset gets a practical layer of “pipeline hygiene” improvements.
How Pixar Cheats a Skunk Tail
Kranzler talks Hoppers grooming and shading, including a layered wet-fur look and why skunks got a “cheated” tail.
MPC’s Cold Storage
MPC Paris delivered 575 shots on Cold Storage, from invisible fixes to slime, creatures and a nuclear finale. But how?
QuickSweep sorts your Premiere bins while you blink
EditingTools.io ships QuickSweep for Premiere Pro: one-click bin sorting, optional auto-sweep every four seconds, and an item-move history log.
BMD European Tour 2026 lets you touch the gear
Blackmagic Design’s Workflow Tour lands in Amsterdam and Berlin in March with ATEM ISO and Resolve sessions aimed at fast podcast delivery.
VFX School Closes and Leaves the Lights On
For those who don’t know the school: The VFX School was an online training platform focused primarily on Houdini-based FX simulation workflows. Its courses centred on effects such as destruction, fluids and pyro simulations, sometimes rendered with engines such as Redshift and prepared for compositing. The platform targeted artists learning…
Gradient Generator: free Cinema 4D tool for procedural gradients
Gradient Generator is a small, free helper for Cinema 4D 2025+ that generates gradient-based looks without turning your material editor into a museum of tiny sliders. It is compatible with Octane Render 2025+ (not required) and ready for Octane and Redshift users.
CrumplePop targets baked audio mixes
CrumplePop 2026 adds GPU processing and AI models that split finished mixes into editable stems inside SoundApp.
Autodesk adds generative 3D to Flow Studio
Autodesk introduces Wonder 3D inside Flow Studio, enabling text and image prompts to generate editable 3D assets.
tyFlow 2 adds CUDA fluid solver and 20 Infernos
tyFlow 2 integrates a CUDA fluid solver, adds 20 Inferno operators, and expands caching and collision features.
OmniStep 2.0 adds modules and dynamic collisions
OmniStep 2.0 adds a module system, dynamic collisions, and workflow tweaks for interactive animation inside Blender.
A World Divided: Shaping a Global WWII Epic at Overmind Studios
125 shots, six episodes, and a two-person team. VFX lead Tobias Kummer explained how Overmind Studios delivered geographic transformations, period cleanup, atmospherics, and a nuclear blast for A World Divided, built on disciplined templating and automation in Fusion.
Spline Mesher Pro rewrites Unity splines
Staggart Creations rebuilds Spline Mesher Pro with Jobs, Burst, fill meshes and editor LOD support.
RenderMan 27.2 adds USD and XPU updates
RenderMan 27.2 ships with USD, XPU and workflow updates aimed at production use.
Cinema 4D plugin for organic line growth hits the web
AlgoMesh releases Differential Line Growth, a free Cinema 4D plugin that iterates splines into organic curves.
280 free automotive Substrate materials for UE 5.7
Epic’s new Automotive Substrate Materials pack on Fab bundles over 280 vehicle-focused Substrate materials plus templates, setup assets, and calibrated maps, targeting consistent results across Lumen and the Path Tracer in Unreal Engine 5.7.3 and later.
The Grove 2.3
The Grove 2.3 adds direct drawing, subdivide and export improvements, Houdini Indie support and huge storage savings.
TweenFX is your free Friday tween sidequest
TweenFX is a free MIT-licensed tween animation plugin for Godot 4, with a demo release updated on 25 Feb 2026.
![A group of people in various poses, with a focus on a woman in white attire, overlayed with the text 'SWITCHX' and the tagline 'SWITCH [ANYTHING]. KEEP WHAT MATTERS.' The scene is set against a beach background at dusk.](https://i0.wp.com/digitalproduction.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/beeble-switchx-hero.png?fit=768%2C432&quality=72&ssl=1 "a group of people in various poses with a focus on a woman in white attire overlayed with the text switchx and the tagline switch anything keep what matters the scene is set against a beach background at dusk digital production")
Beeble SwitchX focuses on easy background swaps
Beeble launches SwitchX, a cloud video-to-video model built for easy background swaps and relighting in 2K.
Adobe adds Quick Cut to Firefly Video Editor
Quick Cut auto-builds a first video draft from text prompts inside Firefly Video Editor. Beta starts now.
Nuke 17.0 rewires 3D and adds Gaussian Splats
Nuke 17.0 brings native splats, USD scene graph control, BigCat ML scaling and core performance gains.
VES Awards 2026 names winners and honours
VES Awards 2026 winners named across 24 categories, with Bruckheimer and Taylor receiving top honours.
5000 PBR materials, zero node wrangling
5000 PBR materials packaged for Blender Asset Browser, drag and drop, GPL licensed, priced for indies.
Revcut launches GDPR first Video-review platform
Revcut launches a European GDPR focused video review platform positioning itself as an alternative to US hosted services.
Redshift 2026.3 fixes displacement headaches
Redshift 2026.3 is a stability release focused on texture displacement, Hydra USD updates and host bug fixes.
Druckli Tools V2 expands Cinema 4D nodes
Druckli Tools V2 adds rebuilt Plane Split, new distributions and node utilities for Cinema 4D 2026.1 and later.
Grading Kraken: insights from the colour grade
Senior Colourist Dylan Hopkin (Shortcut Oslo) outlines the grading process behind the new sci-fi film Kraken, and how contrast, colour and AI-assisted tools were used to support storytelling.
Quixel Mixer dead, final offline version released
Quixel Mixer is discontinued. Quixel has published a final, free, unsupported offline build, with optional free asset packs that include 800+ assets.
Hive adds joint facial rigs to Maya
Hive Auto Rigger now builds full joint based facial rigs in Maya, priced at 40 dollars for the first month.
AFX Camera Tagger sorts your Resolve multicam chaos
Free Resolve script auto-tags camera metadata for clean multicam sync. Studio required.
3ds Max gets polite workflow babysitters
Small 3ds Max utilities promise faster camera, render and relink tasks. No revolutions, just fewer clicks.
DJV 3.3.3 fixes flipped export and adds Escape
DJV 3 brings sequence-aware browsing, expanded shortcuts, OCIO UI updates and flipped export fixes through 3.3.3.
Free Scene Nodes for C4D by Midlet Dufts
Midlet Dufts packages Cinema 4D Scene Nodes setups into usable assets for procedural scene work.
Lutbake adds one-key LUT export to Resolve
Time in Pixels releases Nobe LutBake, a macOS tool for one-key high resolution LUT export from Resolve Studio.
SynthEyes 2026 Speeds Up
SynthEyes 2026 adds a Mocha-powered affine point tracker, real-time GeoH previews and expanded USD support to cut solve iteration time.
FMX 2026 spotlights fire, fur and pipelines
FMX 2026 adds Wētā FX, Pixar and Illogic Studios sessions, plus new Premium Partners AMCRS, Accenture Song VFX and AYON.
Oscar animation directors go live online
Five Oscar nominated animation directors. One free Zoom panel. February 27. Register, log in, ask questions.
Blackmagic Schedules Free Resolve School
Blackmagic runs free live Resolve training from February to April covering edit, Fusion, colour and audio.
Foundry buys Griptape to “orchestrate AI”
Foundry acquires Griptape to add "AI orchestration" to Nuke and broader VFX pipelines.