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Unreal Engine 5.5 MetaTailor 2.0 Billing itself as “3D clothing, made easy”, MetaTailor fits 3D garments to humanoid avatars, making it possible to convert outfits between characters and even between host apps. It imports “any 3D wearable”, including stock content from online asset stores, and auto-fits it to any bipedal 3D character, intelligently layering and skin-weighting the outfit. Users can refine the results using the software’s sculpt brushes, attach accessories like weapons, then export to DCC applications or game engines in FBX format. Apps namechecked on the product website include Blender, Character Creator, Daz Studio, iClone, Maya Unity and Unreal Engine 5, including MetaHuman characters. MetaTailor 2.0 introduces a new physics system, shown in the videos above. It automatically applies dynamics to clothing and props, generating realistic secondary motion for trailing parts like straps and loose-fitting clothes. Users can then paint surface weights to blend between the cloth physics and the skin weighting of the character itself, to control which parts of the clothing move independently. MetaTailor 2.0 also updates the software’s in-app library, adding “thousands of new assets”, with “roughly 100 new items” due to be added each month in future. In addition, third-party artists will “soon” be able to sell their own content through the library, turning it into a true in-app marketplace. It is also possible to combine clothing, including clothes not originally designed to work together, into ‘assemblies’, making it possible to kitbash outfits for characters. MetaTailor is available for Windows only. The software is rental-only. Free accounts get access to the base features, and up to two FBX exports per month. Pro subscriptions now cost $35/month or $350/year, up $14/month from the initial release. They add advanced features, and support an unlimited number of exports. https://metatailor.app/ Shapelab 2024 Leopoly has released its Autumn 2024 update to Shapelab. The update extends desktop mode to stylus as well as mouse-and-keyboard control adding support for pen tilt, twist, and pressure sensitivity. Shapelab currently supports the Wintab and Windows Ink APIs. The dynamic topology system has also been updated, with the option to work at Absolute resolution as well as the existing Relative resolution. In the new Absolute mode, the effect on the mesh remains consistent regardless of cursor size or view scale. New sculpting features include the Crease brush, for carving sharp creases into a sculpt, as shown in the video above. There are also updates to the existing Clay, Mask and Standard brushes, and new controller bindings for quickly cloning and scaling objects when working in VR mode. Shapelab 2024 is compatible with Windows 10+. It has relatively low minimum system requirements, runs on AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, and as an OpenXR-based app, should work on any VR headset that can run SteamVR. You can find a list of the officially supported VR headsets in the online FAQs. Perpetual licenses cost $69.99; subscriptions now cost $49.99/year, up $10/year since original Shapelab 2024 release. https://shapelabvr.com/ V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max Chaos typically introduces new features in the 3ds Max and standalone editions of V-Ray before rolling them out the other versions, starting with V-Ray for Maya. As a result, the V-Ray 6 beta provides a glimpse not just of the new features for 3ds Max users, but of the next generation of releases for the product family as a whole. New features in V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max include support for 3D Gaussian Splats (3DGS). A new 3D scanning method, 3D Gaussian Splatting generates high-quality reconstructions of real-world objects or scenes from source photos or video. Although there are free third-party add-ons for rendering 3DGS data in Blender, Unity and Unreal Engine, V-Ray is the first CG application we know of to support the format natively. Other changes to lighting and rendering in V-Ray 7 include support for luminaires. Users can now import baked lighting data for real-world light fittings in PLW format, making it possible to recreate the illumination they create more accurately in interior scenes. In addition, the V-Ray Sun and Sky system has been updated to support the PRG Clear Sky model used in Corona, Chaos’s other major production renderer. The firefly removal algorithm, for removing bright flecks in renders, has also been updated. V-Ray GPU, V-Ray’s hybrid CPU and GPU renderer, gets initial support for rendering caustics, bringing it closer to feature parity with the main CPU render engine. You can see a list of the remaining features not supported in V-Ray GPU here. The V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB), for viewing and editing images rendered in V-Ray, gets a new Vignette Layer, making it possible to apply vignetting effects to renders. The VFB also now supports freeform region rendering, making it possible to specific a render region of arbitrary shape. Chaos Scatter, the object scattering system introduced in V-Ray 6, also gets an update. new features include the option to use texture maps to control scattering, and a new Instance brush to paint in scattered objects manually. V-Ray for 3ds Max now includes V-Ray Profiler, the new tool for identifying performance bottlenecks in scenes introduced in the Maya and Houdini editions of the software. It is currently only available in V-Ray CPU. The release also features updates to the V-Ray Lister, and extends support for Open Shading Language (OSL) and the Universal Scene Description (USD) framework. V-Ray 7 for 3ds Max is available in beta for subscribers. Chaos hasn’t announced a final release date. The current stable release, V-Ray 6 for 3ds Max Update 2, is compatible with 3ds Max 2020+, running on Windows 10+. The software is rental-only, with V-Ray Solo subscriptions costing $84.90/month or $514.80/year, V-Ray Premium costing $119.90/month or $718.80/year, and V-Ray Enterprise costing $598.80/year. https://docs.chaos.com/display/VMAX/V-Ray+7 Twinmotion 2024.1.1 Originally created by visualization studio KA-RA and acquired by Epic Games in 2019, Twinmotion streamlines the creation of still or animated visualizations of buildings. It imports hero models in a range of 3D file formats, or via live links to CAD software, with users able to dress the scenes using a library of stock assets. Atmospheric properties – including clouds, rain and snow, and ambient lighting based on geographical location and time of day – can be adjusted via slider-based controls. The software is now free to indie artists and studios with revenue under $1 million/year, following Epic Games’ recent changes to the pricing of its products. Despite the small change in version number since Twinmotion 2024.1, there are a reasonable number of new features in Twinmotion 2024.1.1. They include a new Wind parameter in the Fabric material, making it possible to simulate wind animation on curtains and other draped fabric. Wind animation on vegetation has also been improved, with a new Sway parameter for Foliage materials, intended for overall back-and-forth motion. Other changes include a new Randomize UV parameter, intended to make materials look more natural by reducing visible repetition of textures. It is available on “selected materials”, and is primarily intended for ground materials. For rendering, the Match Sun to HDRI feature – for matching the settings of the Sun light to a HDRI environment – now has parity between the raster and Path Tracer renderers. The change only applies to newly imported HDRIs, and is only intended for daylight HDRIs. Workflow improvements include new keyboard shortcuts when editing Sequences, and the option to snap animation tracks and camera parts. Users with paid subscriptions get 62 new tree species in the Twinmotion Cloud library. Twinmotion 2024.1.1 is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS 12.5+. Integration plugins are available for CAD and DCC apps including 3ds Max 2017+, Modo 17.0+ and SketchUp Pro 2019+. The software is free to users with gross annual revenue under $1 million/year. The free edition lacks access to Twinmotion Cloud, but is otherwise fully featured. For larger studios, subscriptions cost $445/seat/year. https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/twinmotion/twinmotion-2024.1.1-release-notes SpeedTree 10 Released over two decades ago, and now owned by Unity, SpeedTree generates 3D trees for real-time and offline work, using a mix of procedural generation and manual editing. As well as SpeedTree Modeler, the actual plant-authoring software, Unity maintains SpeedTree Library, a library of readymade 3D plants, and a SpeedTree SDK. New features in SpeedTree Modeler 10.0 include a Vine generator for creating vines and hanging plants. Vines can be placed manually, or generated fully procedurally, and can be made to grow along the ground or hang between multiple tree models within a scene. The vines then respond to the underlying surface, gravity, and wind forces. SpeedTree Modeler 10.0 also includes new tools for pruning trees. The Freehand mode now includes a Trim tool for adjusting the overall shape of a tree by pruning away parts of branches manually. A new Shade Pruning option removes branches in the interior parts of a tree automatically as a post process, both to mimic natural growth patterns and reduce poly count. Other key changes include a new workflow for customizing hero tree models sculpted in other DCC tools or captured as 3D scans and imported into SpeedTree. The Mesh helper scene object makes it possible to add procedural branches to a hero tree model, or adjust the way it animates with the wind. According to Unity, the new workflow requires fewer trade-offs between the visual quality of the asset and its animatability than the existing editing tools. The update also overhauls SpeedTree Modeler’s user interface, updating the icons and color palette, and improving UI scaling with display resolution. Workflow changes include the option to use Rules – Lua scripts that control all of the procedural parameters within SpeedTree Modeler – to automate common tasks. There are also quality-of-life improvements when working in the node graph, and greater control over how mesh data is packed for export in FBX and USD format. In addition, the two previous editions of the software – SpeedTree Cinema, for visual effects and feature animation work, and SpeedTree Games – have been unified. SpeedTree Modeler 10 now has a single unified interface, with users able to choose between VFX and games export options when exporting an asset. Unity has maintained separate Cinema and Games editions of the SpeedTree Library, and separate Runtime and Pipeline versions of the SDK. SpeedTree Modeler 10 is available for Windows 7+, CentOS 7 and Ubuntu 18.04/20.04 Linux and macOS 10.13+. The software is rental-only. Indie subscriptions, for users with revenue under $200,000/year, cost $19/month or $199/year. Pro subscriptions, for users with revenue under $1 million/year, cost $499/year for a node-locked licence, or $899/year for a floating licence. Enterprise subscriptions, for studios with revenues over $1 million/year, and which include the SDKs, are priced on demand. Subscriptions to the SpeedTree Cinema Library or SpeedTree Pro Library cost $999/year. https://docs.unity3d.com/speedtree-modeler/manual/whats-new.html

I've been wanting to do some 'space' scenes for a while but tools to create star fields, planets, nebulae, etc. either don't exist or (if they do) are commercial plugins. So I decided to write my own. I've got several in the works but the first is now available - a shader for creating background star fields called 'StarScape'. Rather than post multiple sample renders here, you can see a few on my site at https://microbion.co.uk/html/starscape.htm I'm no artist, so I'm certain many people will be able to do a lot better than that 😀. It's completely free, has a full manual and is available for C4D 2024 (Windows and macOS) and 2025 (Windows only). I'll upload the 2024 version to the Downloads section here or you can get it from my site at the above link. Steve