The Foundry released a new version of their MARI 1.3v2 3D paint tools. The new version brings a lot of improvements and one of the most features is that it builds a bridge between NUKE and MARI. The bridge provides for digital artists 3D painting tools from MARI inside NUKE to increase the workflow and also to make the final image more believable. The new released bridge MARI <> NUKE comes with this feature and allows the user to:

Planetside the makers of Terragen released a free non-commercial edition of their Terragen 2.3. Terragen is a powerful piece of software made for rendering and animating realistic natural environments and was used in several blockbusters like Sucker Punch.  With the new version also new features and improvements came which we was describing in an article a time ago Terragen 2.3. The free edition is limited, the limitations are reasonable and they don’t limit your imagination.

Autodesk new free application for 3D modeling 123D is updated to a new Beta5. This new release doesn’t need the previous Beta4 so the only thing you have to do is grab this fresh copy and install. The Beta5 comes with new features and also several bug fixes. The 123D Beta5 now supports 2D sheets for creating documentation drawings or for printing purposes. This feature currently supports the creation of sheets in various standard sizes, setting graphic appearance per view and much more. Also Autodesk implemented publishing to WS and DWG new primitives and a lot more in this new Beta5.

It is a Blender addon to help in creating lightning and electrical effects. The generator simulates real physical effects and can be used for Laplacian phenomenon beyond lightning. The script is still very much in development but the most recent release provides much needed functionality including „container insulators“, which allow „lightning in a bottle“ effects.