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...and continuing on roughly like the below... So, by insetting the arches (but then recutting so the extra edges flow out of the bottom of the arch sections, rather than loop within themselves), we can get nice sharp edges, there, and then flatten, solid bevel and phong break the diamond section, which is how we will get it looking angular despite roundness everywhere else and SDS. CBR

Particle Illusion 2023 Boris FX has released Particle Illusion 2023, the latest version of its free particle generator for motion graphics and visual effects work. The update extends the software’s 3D and fluid dynamics toolsets, and improves performance “up to 100%”. Part of Boris FX’s Continuum suite of effects plugins for compositing and video editing software, Particle Illusion is a GPU-accelerated 2D and 3D particle generator for motion graphics and VFX work. First released in 2020, the free standalone edition includes most of the key features of the commercial plugin, supporting unlimited particles and emitters; layers, forces and deflectors; and integrated motion blur. The commercial version adds the option to composite particle effects directly into source footage, integrated camera tracking, and active product support. You can find a feature comparison on Boris FX’s website. Particle Illusion 2023 expands the software’s fluid dynamics toolset, adding new controls for fluid swirling frequency and force falloff, and the option to make certain emitters unaffected by fluid forces. The new 3D particle toolset, introduced in Particle Illusion 2022.5, gets the option to emit particles from the normals of imported 3D models as well as from vertices, edges or surfaces. Performance improvements include combined calculation and rendering speeds “up to 100% faster” than the previous release: a larger speed boost than that for the original plugin release. The interface has also been reworked, with proper grouping of related parameters in the Controls panel. Parameters that have no effect on a particular particle system are now greyed out. Particle Illusion 2023 is available free for Windows 8+ and macOS 10.14+. The commercial edition is available as a $295 Continuum premium filter for After Effects, DaVinci Resolve and Fusion, Media Composer, Nuke, Premiere Pro and Vegas Pro. It is also available as part of Continuum itself, which costs from $695 to $1,995 according to the host applications; or via the $399 Continuum Particles Unit. https://borisfx.com/release-notes/particle-illusion-standalone-2023-v16-0-3-release-notes/ https://borisfx.com/products/particle-illusion/ NVIDIA - SIGGRAPH 2023 NVIDIA will bring twenty research papers to the premiere graphics conference detailing new techniques in generative AI and neural graphics. https://www.engineering.com/story/score-for-ai-graphics-nvidia-gets-ready-for-siggraph-2023-lpvjjy F3D 2.0 Check out F3D, a promising lightweight open-source 3D model viewer, version 2.0 of which has just been released. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, can integrate into Windows or Linux to generate thumbnail previews of models in your file browser, and can display models in a real-time ray traced 3D view. Developed by graphics engineers Michael Migliore, R&D team lead at 3D fashion technology firm z-emotion, and Mathieu Westphal, F3D was first released in 2020, and has received steady updates since then. Version 2.0 is largely a performance update, but it makes F3D easier to install, and comes with a new website with clear online documentation. The interface is minmal to the point of non-existence – it really is lightweight – but you can navigate with standard mouse interactions, and toggle display options with hotkeys. F3D supports a range of common 3D file formats, including 3DS, Alembic (.abc), Collada (.dae), FBX, glTF, IGES, OBJ, STL and STEP, and point clouds in PTS format, and can import lights, cameras and animation. F3D is unusual in that it can display the 3D model with real-time ray tracing for a higher-quality preview. It uses OSPRay, Intel’s open-source ray tracing engine, so it’s CPU-based, but you can improve interactivity by enabling denoising, which uses another Intel technology, Open Image Denoise. You can also render ray traced stills by running F3D from the command line, which gives you extra controls not available in the viewer window – GamesFromScratch has a nice video showing them in use. Another nice feature, if you’re using Windows or Linux, is that F3D can integrate into the desktop, automatically displaying thumbnail previews of 3D models in File Explorer or the equivalent file manager. However, there are a number of known limitations, due to the file import libraries that the software uses: in particular, it doesn’t support materials for Alembic files, or PBR materials for FBX files. F3D 2.0 is a free download. Compiled binaries are available for Windows, Linux and macOS. The source code is available under a BSD 3-Clause licence. https://github.com/f3d-app/f3d/releases https://f3d.app/ Open 3D Engine 23.05 The Open 3D Foundation has released Open 3D Engine 23.05, the latest version of the “AAA-capable” open-source game engine. It’s a sizeable update, adding a new node-based material authoring environment and material pipeline, brush-based terrain editing, and updates to the animation and physics toolsets. Other changes include support for OpenXR-compatible hardware and the Robot Operating System. The engine is the first release of the new Linux-Foundation-backed Open 3D Foundation: a counterpart to VFX technology body the Academy Software Foundation for the game development industry. Open 3D Engine 23.05 is by some way the largest update to the game engine since its original release, adding new features throughout its major toolsets. For asset development, the update adds the Material Canvas, a new node-based material- and shader-authoring environment, and the Material Pipeline. The latter is described as “a layer of abstraction between lighting and materials”, and it inteneded to make the render pipelines of O3DE games more customisable. The terrain system gets a new Paint Brush tool, for editing terrain by painting directly in the viewport. Animators get a new performance profiler in the Anim Graph, for troubleshooting performance bottlenecks, and the Animation Editor has been redesigned to group multiple panels into a single contextual window. The PhysX-based physics system gets “improvements in multiple … authoring workflows”, and the option to enable support for PhysX 5.1, the latest version of the open-source physics library, via a “simple flag”. According to the release notes, PhysX 5.1 provides a “15% increase in simulation performance” over 4.x. The update also adds OpenXR and OpenXRVk Gems to support virtual and mixed reality hardware via the OpenXR open standard, including support for stereoscopic rendering. Another, less expected, change to platform support is the new ROS2 Gem, which integrates the Robot Operating System, a set of open libraries for creating robot simulations. Outside the core application – but probably equally importantly for new users – there is a new Multiplayer Sample Game, an example third-player combat game built on O3DE as a learning resource. Compiled binaries of Open 3D Engine 23.05 are available as free downloads for Windows 10 and Ubuntu 20.04. The source code is available under an Apache 2.0 licence. https://www.o3de.org/docs/release-notes/2305-0-release-notes/ Blender 3.6 On Wednesday, developer Jacques Lucke tweeted that the expansion of the existing Geometry Nodes system to support particle-based simulation would become part of the next daily build of the software. That means that basic simulation support should be available in the next major version of the open-source 3D software, Blender 3.6 – the stable release of which is due in June. First proposed in 2019, Everything Nodes is one of the most eagerly anticipated changes to Blender. The development project proposes a new node-based architecture that makes it possible to create new tools and procedural content by wiring nodes together, in much the same way as is possible in Houdini. Its first public showing was in the Geometry Nodes system introduced in Blender 2.92 in 2021, and updated steadily in subsequent releases. While Geometry Nodes open up new workflows for modelling and scattering, the design goals are much wider, and include a node-based particle system – and, ultimately, a new unified simulation framework. HDR Light Studio 8 First released in 2009, HDR Light Studio is a multi-platform real-time lighting design tool. Although it began as a tool for authoring synthetic HDRIs, it has since evolved into a much broader toolset, including the option to generate and control HDR-textured 3D area lights in many of its host applications. Noteworthy features include LightPaint, which lets users position highlights on the surface of a 3D model by clicking on its surface in the render view, with the software updating the generated HDRI accordingly. Connection plugins are available for most major DCC applications, including 3ds Max, Blender, Cinema 4D and Maya, and several key CAD tools, creating a live link between HDR Light Studio and the 3D software. It is used in a range of industries, including motion design and VFX, but its key use is product visualisation. The main new feature in HDR Light Studio 8 is the Scrim Light, a new light type that mimics real-world studio scrim lighting, in which a light source is trained onto an object through a translucent screen, or scrim. HDR Light Studio recreates that set-up in 3D, with users able to adjust the position of a light source – either a spot light or a polygonal light – relative to a virtual scrim to illuminate a 3D scene. According to early users quoted in Lightmap’s blog post, it provides a highly intuitive way to light shots, and creates subtle falloff effects that would be difficult to achieve conventionally. The LightPaint system has also been updated to support Scrim Lights, making it possible to position a scrim light in a scene by clicking at the point on the surface of a 3D model at which it should create a highlight. Separate LightPaint drop-downs are now available for each render view and the HDRI canvas, opening up new workflows: for example, to position a light by clicking in the render view, then to scale it in the canvas. Other changes include a new Polygon content type, used by the Scrim Light to replicate real-world light sources like strip lights, and the option to cut and paste lights between Light Looks or projects. You can find a full list of new features via the links at the foot of the story. Since the previous release, Lightmap has discontinued perpetual licences of the software, making HDR Light Studio subscription-only, although the change precedes the release of HDR Light Studio 8 itself. Users with existing perpetual licences can update to HDR Light Studio 8 as long as their maintenance plan remains active. https://help.lightmap.co.uk/hdrlightstudio5/releasenotes-hdrlightstudio-8-1.html Photoshop 24.5 Key changes in Photoshop 24.5 include the Remove Tool, a new AI-powered object removal tool. It makes it possible to do quick object removals by roughly painting over the object to be removed, with Photoshop automatically generating a new section of the background to fill the gap. The update also introduces Adjustment Presets: new presets in the Adjustments Panel intended as starting points for the looks of portraits, landscapes and black-and-white images, or when repairing photos. Workflow improvements include new on-canvas controls and a live preview in the Gradient Tool and a new Contextual Task Bar. However, the most headline-grabbing new feature in Photoshop is not in Photoshop 24.5 itself, but a separate beta release: Adobe has begun integrating Firefly, its new generative AI toolset, into the software. The initial beta adds one Firefly tool, Generative Fill, which can be used to add, extend, or remove content from images using simple text prompts. Users can select a region of an image to replace, then enter a text description of the content they would like to generate in its place, with Photoshop creating the AI-generated content as a separate layer. As with inpainting systems in other generative AI tools, Generative Fill takes account of surrounding areas of the image, so the new content integrates seamlessly, even including reflections of surrounding objects. However, the initial beta release comes with several limitations: it isn’t for commercial use, only works with English-language text prompts, and isn’t available to users in China, or those under the age of 18. You can find more information on Adobe’s approach to generative AI, including how the firm is collecting images on which to train its generative AI models, in our original story on Firefly. Pricing and system requirements Photoshop 24.5 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 11.0+ on a rental-only basis. In the online documentation, the update is also referred to as the May 2023 release or Photoshop 2023.5. Photography subscription plans, which include access to Photoshop and Lightroom, start at $119.88/year. Single-app Photoshop subscriptions cost $31.49/month or $239.88/year. https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/whats-new/2023-3.html 3ds Max 2024.1 The update extends the Boolean and Array modifiers and the spline modelling tools, improves copy-and-paste workflow for animation, and makes it easier to customise UI elements. 3ds Max’s USD plugin and integration plugin for the Arnold renderer have also been updated. The Array modifier gets another update, adding new control parameters for the Phyllotaxis distribution method added in 3ds Max 2024. In addition, there are new options to control how elements are arranged in arrays when the source object for the array contains multiple elements. The Smart Extrude system also gets another update, with new automatic smoothing of the faces generated. Changes to the spline modelling tools include automatic connection of open knots on splines, while new vertices added to splines respect the knot types of neighbouring vertices. Animators get improvements to copy-and-paste workflow, with Copy and Paste Animation no longer requiring matching controllers to be accessible via the contextual menu. Other changes include the option to customise default attributes in interface elements like spinners, checkboxes, radio buttons and drop-downs directly in the UI, rather than via MAXScript. It is also now possible to choose between three default scrollbar sizes directly in Preferences. The VertexPaint Modifier is now “up to 10x” faster when using the brush tools to apply or modify vertex paint values, and the FFD modifiers are up to 1.13x to 2.06x faster. Outside the core software, the USD and Arnold plugins have been updated. USD for 3ds Max 0.4 extends USD export, including the option to export skinned meshes as USDSkel rather than animated vertex caches. MAXtoA 5.6.2.0 is a bugfix update, but it includes the new features from MAXtoA 5.6.1.0, rolled out in March, including an eye-catching new distance shader. Price and system requirements 3ds Max 2024.1 is available for Windows 10+. It is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $235/month or $1,875/year. In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year qualify for Indie subscriptions, which now cost $305/year. https://help.autodesk.com/view/3DSMAX/2024/ENU/?guid=GUID-6D9D2414-2FCB-4F32-8764-AA439269FBA6 Maya 2024.1 and Maya Creative 2024.1 Both releases feature updates to new USD-based look dev toolset LookdevX, while animators get further updates to the Time Slider, Skin Clusters and the Proximity Wrap and Lattice deformers. The updates also introduce Hydra for Maya, an experimental new Hydra viewport render delegate system, available via the latest version of the official USD for Maya plugin. Animators get further updates to the Skin Cluster system, which was updated in Maya 2024 to support multiple clusters on a single piece of geometry. The Unbind Skin options now let you choose whether to unbind all skin clusters or to unbind clusters individually, and the Bake Deformer now supports multiple clusters. The Proximity Wrap deformer gets a new Scale Compensation attribute, and the Lattice deformer gets a new Minimum Size option to avoid artefacts resulting from scale values of 0. The Time Slider gets workflow improvements including the option to hold [Ctrl] to copy multiple keyframes. Maya users also get an update to Bifrost for Maya, the multiphysics and effects-authoring plugin bundled with the full edition of the software, but not Maya Creative. Maya 2024.1 is available for Windows 10+, RHEL and Rocky Linux 8.6, and macOS 11+. The software is rental-only. Subscriptions cost $235/month, or $1,875/year. Maya Creative is available pay-as-you-go, with prices starting at $3/day, and a minimum spend of $300/year. In many countries, artists earning under $100,000/year and working on projects valued at under $100,000/year, qualify for Maya Indie subscriptions, now priced at $305/year. https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYACRE/ENU/?guid=GUID-65532A16-C7A4-40E9-A71E-4283A12D0947 Redshift 3.5.15 One key change in Redshift 3.5.15 is that the software now supports AMD GPUs. Announced last year, the change – achieved using AMD’s HIP (Heterogeneous-Compute Interface for Portability) framework – makes Redshift compatible with AMD, Apple Silicon and Nvidia processors. The release notes don’t include any benchmark figures, but AMD claims that HIP has minimal impact on application performance. AMD GPUs supported include current- and previous-generation Radeon Pro cards, including the Radeon Pro W7900, W7800, W6800, W6600, W5700 and VII. Consumer GPUs supported include the Radeon RX 7950 XTX, RX 7950 XT, RX 7900, RX 6950, RX 6700 XT, RX 6600 and RX 5700 XT. Some older and lower-spec cards may also work, but have not been actively tested by Maxon. You can find more details in this forum thread. Other new features in the Redshift core include the Distortion Utility shader. Based on Cinema 4D’s UV Distorter node, it makes it possible to drive distortion of UV maps via textures or shaders, to break up repeating textures. In addition, the Noise shader gets a new Loop Period setting. The Flakes shader and Pavement shader added to the core in recent releases become available in all of the DCC plugins. In addition, the render backplate system added in Redshift 3.5.14 becomes available in the Blender, Houdini and Katana plugins. Redshift RT, the near-real-time hybrid ray tracing/rasterisation mode also gets support for the backplate system, mixed rendering in the Cinema 4D and Houdini viewports, and better denoising and antialiasing. System requirements and price Redshift 3.5.15 is available for Windows 10, glibc 2.17+ Linux and macOS 11.5+. The renderer’s integration plugins are compatible with 3ds Max 2015+, Blender 2.83+, Cinema 4D R21+, Houdini 17.5+ (18.0+ on macOS), Katana 3.0v1+ and Maya 2016.5. The software is rental-only, with individual subscriptions costing $45/month or $264/year. https://trello.com/b/QASr74yB/redshift Enscape 3.5 First released in 2015, Enscape has become one of the key tools in the architectural visualization market, reaching the top ten in the last CGarchitect rendering survey. The software live links to CAD and architectural design tools including Rhino and SketchUp, enabling users to explore large architectural scenes in real time, either on screen or in virtual reality. Output is ray traced, and can be used for less demanding final-quality rendering, with the option to generate still images, animations, 360-degree panoramas or interactive scenes. Its developer, also called Enscape, merged with V-Ray developer Chaos in 2022. Key changes in Enscape 3.5 include the new global illumination algorithm, which provides “improved lighting, reflections and rendering quality” on GPUs that support hardware-accelerated ray tracing. The effects should be most noticeable in interior scenes, and when rendering mirrors – unlike the previous GI system, it supports infinite reflections – or semi-transparent materials. The Alpha Channel Export feature also now supports semi-transparent materials, making it easier to composite new backgrounds behind renders of materials like frosted or tinted glass. In addition the software now supports 3Dconnexion’s SpaceMouse range of 3D control devices. Outside the core software, the accompanying library of stock assets can now be customised. Some of the 3D trees, other plants and 3D props now come with readymade variant looks, while users can customise the colours of some of the stock vehicles and furniture models. The update also introduces 40 new stock 3D human characters, each with one item of clothing for which the colour can be customised. It is also now possible to select and edit multiple assets simultaneously. Workflow in the Rhino and Revit plugins has been improved, making it possible to place assets on the selected layer in Rhino, and syncing orthographic views between Enscape and Revit. Pricing and system requirements Enscape 3.5 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 12.2.1+. It works with both AMD and Nvidia GPUs. Plugins are available for Archicad 24+, Revit 2021+, Rhino 6.0+, SketchUp 2021+ and Vectorworks 2021+. The software is available rental-only. Node-locked licences cost $77.90/month or $514.80/year; floating licences cost $898.80/year. https://enscape3d.com/press/enscape-3-5-press-release/ Affinity Photo 2.1 The update features “hundreds of improvements and usability enhancements”, including updates to the Crop tool; the Brushes, Layers and Asset panels; and the Guides system. In addition, the iPad edition gets more features from the desktop edition, including the Style Transfer tool and the Rulers system. The update was released alongside version 2.1 of Serif’s other Affinity products, vector design software Affinity Designer 2.1 and page layout tool Affinity Publisher 2.1. The desktop version Affinity Photo 2.1 features workflow improvements throughout the software, particularly to the Crop tool, the Brushes, Assets and Layers panels, and to Guides. Changes to the Crop tool include the option to crop to the current selection, and to use a Phi grid as an overlay, for cropping images to proportions based on the Golden Ratio. The Brushes panel now shows thumbnails of brushes, and shows brush names. The Assets and Layers panels get new options for expanding or collapsing all sub-categories, and the Assets panel gets the option to sort assets by name. The Guides system gets new keyboard shortcuts for cloning, snapping, nudging and deleting guides, and the distance a guide has been dragged is now shown in an on-screen readout. Other changes include the option to display special characters, and to have the Paint Mixer brush automatically clean itself of stored colours. On Windows and macOS, is also now possible to batch export images in WebP and JPEG-XL formats. In addition, features added to the iPad edition from the desktop edition the Style Picker tool, for transferring attributes between objects or text, and the Rulers system. There are also navigational changes intended to make the software easier to use on a tablet, including double-tap Quick Menu and Zoom options. For a full list of changes to both editions, follow the link at the foot of the story. Affinity Photo 2.1 is available for Windows 10+, macOS 10.15+ and iPadOS 15.0+. The update is free to registered users of version 2.0. New perpetual licences of the desktop edition cost $69.99; the iPad edition costs $18.49. A Universal License, which includes all of the Affinity apps, costs $164.99. https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/185899-faq-210-release-notes-improvements-and-major-fixes/ Cascadeur 2023.1 Launched in 2019, Cascadeur is intended as an artist-friendly alternative to conventional animation software for game development, motion graphics or visual effects work. Although it has standard tools for rigging, posing and animating characters, its unique selling point is a set of AI-assisted, semi-automated toolsets. Key poses can be quickly established for a character via the AutoPosing system, which enables users to reposition a small number of joints, and have the software take care of the rest of the body. For a jumping character, Cascadeur can then calculate a physically correct trajectory between the key poses. For other types of motion, a separate AI-trained system, AutoPhysics, converts an existing keyframe animation into a physically accurate version of itself. Once generated, animations may be exported the FBX or Collada format – the online documentation has information on how to import the data into Unreal Engine and Unity – or directly to Daz Studio. Key changes in Cascadeur 2023.1 include an experimental new video mocap system. Users can import still images or video of an actor and have Cascadeur detect their key body poses and automatically transfer them to a 3D character. The feature is still in alpha, and is still “very slow”, although Nekki expects performance to improve. The UI gets a “massive update”, with changes including the addition of Timeline Settings to the Scene Settings panel, and the option to launch Track Stretching Mode from the timeline. There is also a new Control Picker panel (shown above) for quickly selecting parts of the character rig, like the limbs, body or head. In addition, Cascadeur now runs on macOS as well as Windows and Linux. The macOS edition is still officially in beta, and requires a current Mac with an Apple Silicon M1 or M2 processor. Users with paid Pro or Business subscriptions also get Finger AutoPosing. The feature extends the AutoPosing system from full-body poses to hands: when a user repositions a finger, Cascadeur automatically adjusts the entire hand to make the pose look natural. Pricing and system requirements Cascadeur 2023.1 is available for Windows 10+, Ubuntu 20.04+ Linux and macOS 13.0+. The software is free to individuals or teams with revenue under $100,000/year, although animation export is capped at 300 frames per scene and 120 joints per scene. Pro subscriptions cost $300/year, and remove export restrictions. Business subscriptions, which also ensure priority support, cost $1,000/year. In both cases, after having subscribed for a year, users can continue using the software as a perpetual licence, even if they later cancel their subscription. https://cascadeur.com/blog/general/cascadeur-20231-introduces-finger-autoposing-video-mocap-and-macos-version Axiom 3.1 for Houdini First released in 2020, Axiom is a GPU-accelerated sparse volumetric fluid solver, intended as a faster alternative to Houdini’s Sparse Pyro solver for look dev work. Like its native counterpart, Axiom provides near-real-time viewport feedback on complex fire and smoke sims, but is GPU-accelerated via OpenCL, falling back on the CPU if a simulation exceeds GPU memory. It has been used on game cinematics by Riot Games and Valve, and in visual effects by Muse VFX. Axiom 3.0 expands the range of APIs the software supports – and by extension, the range of hardware on which it is natively GPU-accelerated. Mac users get native Metal support – introduced in beta in Axiom 2.2, and now production-ready – along with native support for Arm processors for new Apple Silicon Macs. Windows and Linux users get native CUDA support, which should improve performance on Nvidia GPUs. In addition, there are a number of architectural changes intended to improve simulation performance, with the release notes describing the solver as “anywhere from 8-32% faster overall”. Specific changes include the option to increase the size of the neighbour tile cache, speeding up advection operations, particularly for fast-moving simulations like explosions. It is also now possible to reduce the memory footprint of simulations with “little or no difference” in visual quality by switching from the old default 32-bit-precision simulation grids to 16-bit-precision grids. The solver can now use system memory as well as GPU memory when running under Metal or CUDA, improving the performance of larger simulations that can’t fit into GPU memory. It’s primarily a performance update, particularly for Mac users, with simulation now “5-25% faster” when using either Metal or OpenCL on macOS; and better stability when retiming simulations. However, there are a number of new features, including a new Fast Perlin noise type, which is roughly 5x faster than the standard Perlin noise, at the cost of providing a smaller range of controls. Pricing and system requirements Axiom 3.1 is compatible with Houdini 19.0+ running on Windows, Linux or macOS. Commercial node-locked licences now cost $199, down $200 since the release of Axiom 2.2, while floating licences, which used to cost $499, are now priced on demand. The software can also be used free in trial mode with Houdini Apprentice; the Indie edition, which is compatible only with Houdini Indie, costs $99. https://theoryaccelerated.notion.site/Axiom-3-cd8a687936494476a4e94727822f8f80 V-Ray 6 for Maya Update 1 & Cinema 4D The update adds new object scattering and instancing tool Chaos Scatter, the V-Ray Toon material and the V-Ray Profiler, and support for the MoGraph Color Shader and interactive rendering in the C4D viewport. The update adds new object scattering and instancing tool Chaos Scatter, integrates Intel’s Open Path Guiding library, adds a new bump to glossiness system, and extends V-Ray GPU and USD workflows. https://www.chaos.com/blog/v-ray-6-update-1-comes-to-autodesk-maya-and-cinema-4d https://docs.chaos.com/display/VMAYA/V-Ray+6 https://docs.chaos.com/display/VC4D/What's+New+in+V-Ray+6%2C+update+1 Marvelous Designer 12.1 Widely used by games and animation studios, Marvelous Designer enables artists to design 3D garments in the same way as real-world clothes, by stitching virtual 2D pattern parts together. Users can import an animated character model, drape clothing over it, then export the result back to a 3D application in Alembic or FBX format, as an OBJ file sequence, or as a Maya cache, PC2 or MDD cache. As well as simulating the effect of gravity on a garment, it is possible to create wind animation. To that, Marvelous Designer 12.1 adds the option to import or export files in USD format, streamlining integration into VFX or games pipelines based around the Universal Scene Description format. Clothing, trims and character avatars can all be imported or exported as USD files. In addition, Marvelous Designer now has an experimental new connector plugin for Omniverse, Nvidia’s real-time 3D design and collaboration platform, available from the Omniverse launcher. Workflow improvements Workflow improvements include the option to import background images by dragging and dropping them from the Explorer window to the 2D window, and a new keyboard shortcut to toggle UI layouts. It is also now possible to display statistics for the current garment in the viewport, including face and vertex counts, and scene performance stats like skinning, garment-to-garment collision and rendering times. Pricing and availability Marvelous Designer 12.1 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 10.15+. It is available rental-only. Personal subscriptions cost $39/month or $280/year. Enterprise subscriptions cost $1,700/year for a node-locked licence, and $2,000/year to $2,200/year for floating licences. Rokoko Studio 2.4 Rokoko Studio 2.4 introduces the option to import custom 3D characters in FBX format, with support for common skeletal layouts, including the HumanIK layout used by Blender, Mixamo and Autodesk software; iClone; and the Unreal Engine mannequin. Motion data – either recorded or streamed live – can then be retargeted to the custom character. Rokoko describes the retargeting as “fairly simple”, being mainly aimed at previewing capture data, but there are options to mirror the data, and to adjust the offset of the character’s shoulders and neck. Both custom character import and retargeting are only available to users with paid Plus or Pro subscriptions, the price of which has risen with the update. New features available to all Studio users include the option to copy and duplicate scenes, and to enable UDP Trigger Messages to sync captures with streaming software like OBS Studio. Streamers also get experimental support for VRChat and VMC data protocols. Rokoko Studio 2.4 is compatible with 64-bit Windows 10+ and macOS 11.0+. Integration plugins are available for Blender, Cinema 4D, Houdini, iClone, Maya, MotionBuilder, Unity and Unreal Engine. Starter accounts are free, but don’t include the integration plugins for streaming data to DCC software, or the option to import custom 3D characters, and don’t receive active product support. Since the previous release, Rokoko has removed the option to export data in BVH format from Starter accounts, which now only support FBX export. Paid subscriptions add more advanced features. Plus subscriptions cost $25/month, up $5/month from the previous release; Pro subscriptions cost $60/month, up $10/month from the previous release. https://www.rokoko.com/products/studio Reallusion - ZBrush and Character Creator plugins Reallusion has released ZBrush Pose Tools and ZBrush Pose Link, a pair of new free plugins linking Character Creator, its 3D character-generation software, to ZBrush, Maxon’s digital sculpting software. Together, the plugins make it possible to create a pose library in ZBrush, then send character poses to it from Character Creator, storing each individual pose as a separate layer in ZBrush. The first plugin, ZBrush Pose Tools, streamlines the process of working with poses inside ZBrush, making it possible to store poses as layers, then toggle between them. It’s also possible to convert existing ZBrush layers to poses. Although it can be used on its own to create a pose library within ZBrush, Reallusion really intends it to be used in conjunction with the second plugin, ZBrush Pose Link. ZBrush Pose Link exports poses from Character Creator to ZBrush, where they appear as new layers within the pose library created by ZBrush Pose Tools. That makes it possible to export a 3D character sculpt from ZBrush to Character Creator using the existing GoZ export system, rig and pose it in Character Creator, then re-export the pose to ZBrush. Character Creator has a greater range of tools for posing characters than ZBrush itself: you can find an overview of the options in this blog post. Price and system requirements ZBrush Pose Tools is compatible with ZBrush 2021+. ZBrush Pose Link 1.0 is compatible with Character Creator 4.0+. Both plugins are free downloads. ZBrush is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 10.14+. New perpetual licences cost $895; subscriptions cost $39/month or $359/year. Character Creator is available for Windows 7+. New licences have a MSRP of $299. https://www.reallusion.com/character-creator/zbrush/character-pose/default.html#manager

Wow! Just wow...on so many levels. Perfect topology, Curved surfaces, Undercuts. Honestly....just wow! Dave P.S. I would like to thank Jay's parents for the use of his baby picture in this post..... ....just kidding. ...that is actually Igor.😆

Absolutely incredible, Cerbera. You're a genius. Thanks for this!

Wow, incredible, Cerbera... Thanks for this!

Interesting glass, in that it combines features normally found in isolation on these things. Displacement is certainly the way to go here to get the diagonal ridges and the tiny diamonds, but we should pretty much model the rest of it. We could model the tiny diamonds as well quite easily, so may come back to that. 2 primary techniques involved here: 1. Producing a band of diamond flow polys, which is done with very specific segmentation and bevelling points to their 'limits' before optimizing and insetting / normal Moving, or by simply bevelling polys (groups off). 2 stages of that shown below... started with a cylinder, 24 radials, 2 depth segments, no caps, which gives us the pattern we are looking for*. 2. Extruding straight form perimeter loops from that, and smooth subdividing (just) them starts the smooth round sections above and below, where we need to transition the even edges into grouped ones capable of holding those ultra thin edges, and indented arch profiles. And that's why we chose 24 radial segments initially so that we have number that when subdivided gives us 48, from which we will make 12 radial arches... * I am basing this on the number of arches / facets, which I reckon is probably 12. YMMV ! Next we don't want to be making 12 arches, so we'll make half of one instead, and use radial symmetry to get the rest, meaning we'll be needing 12 symmetry segs, allowing us 4 polygons per arch, only 2 of which we need to edit thanks to mirror within the radial symmetry. Now, as the ridges where the arches meet are so damn sharp, we need special topology to deal with that unless we want to cheat and do it with edge weighting. I'll pop back and show you what that is after dinner... Hopefully that fires you off in the right direction though... CBR

Bad has announced a challenge for 3D animators of all DCCs. The theme is open the only restriction is a scene template. Rules: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_nYdfPg_Jrm2phpYUevSi-EIytJa7Weef-ErD0LMqyk/edit Discord: https://discord.com/invite/qgC3FW77R9?event=1101133343724150845