We have the pleasure to present readers with another quality review. MU editor and professor Paul Roberts reviews Octane Render, Otoy’s GPU-accelerated, unbiased renderer and its 3DS Max integration: “…a renderer that produces excellent results, fast.” Read the review.

(Updated) More details revealed: Manually Painting Vegetation, Not Just for Plants.
(Updated) More information has been disclosed by E-on in recent posts: Create Plants With Unprecedented Detail – Sample 2, Easily Add Details to Your Plant Geometry. [more...]

The latest impressive work coming from Blur Studio, an action sequence for the upcoming Batman video game developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal. Watch it on YouTube.

A script by Syphorlate for generating and experimenting with Greeble-like SciFi patterns and architectural elements. It provides control over distribution and tiling. More on ScriptSpot.

A stylized short by director Young-jun Kim that mixes 3D with a painterly aesthetic, based on a children’s book by Ivo Rosati and Gabriel Pacheco. Watch it on Vimeo.

Itoo Software has released a new version of its parametric modeling plugin. RailClone has been rewritten from scratch, introducing significant improvements. New features include: [more...]

Pixar’s co-founder, chief scientist and co-author of RenderMan has posted online a video he made in 1979/80, showing how to create fractal geometry with a computer. According to Carpenter, it’s the world’s first fractal movie. Watch it on Vimeo.

The Magic Lantern free custom firmware for Canon DSLR cameras provides another notable feature not present in Canon’s original firmware, continuous raw recording on the Canon 5D Mark III. Check out some sample videos on EOSHD’s website and a comparison video showing Canon 5D Mark III raw vs. Blackmagic camera raw on Cinema5D.

(Updated) A rendered version of the popcorn animation plus a popcorn quick modeling tutorial are now available.
A tutorial by AlvaroMd on Vimeo.

US VFX artist and stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen passed away on May 7th. His pioneering work in bringing to life animated creatures in a pre-CG era, from Jason and the Argonauts to Clash of the Titans, has prompted a number of filmmakers and artists to pay tribute to his life and work: Steven Spielberg & others pay tribute to Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury & others’ tribute, Harryhausen’s career in pictures, tribute video, a compilation of every Ray Harryhausen animated creature in feature films. Fans of Harryhausen’s work can find more information on his life and FX artwork in his autobiography, “An Animated Life“.

Brian Tindall from Laika Studios and formerly Pixar has released a new ebook on ITunes called “The Art of Moving Points”. The book covers facial modelling and how to create character facial rigs using point weight containers attached to deformers. Find out more on hippydrome.com

Klaas Nienhaus, creator of the Sketchfab for 3DS Max plugin, has released a new script that posts WIP images directly from your viewport to a Tumblr blog in a single click. See a video, read the instructions and download the free script from klaasnienhuis.nl