The destruction kit plugin for Max has been updated with some great fragmentation tools and Reactor Rigid Body support via the RayFire user interface. Check out the complete list of features and some demo videos at MirVadim.com.

This time it's a double, French-flavored announcement: Realviz (assets) and Kynogon are now officially part of Autodesk. According to the Realviz acquisition press release, Realviz Matchmover, Retimer and VTour will no longer be available as standalone products, and technology from these applications will be integrated into future versions of Autodesk's existing software. It should be noted that a cut-down version of Matchmover called MMTrack was already being offered as a Max plugin, and as reported a while ago, it had been made available to Max users for free. Kynogon, on the other hand, are the developers of Kynapse, an AI engine that gives characters spatial awareness, enabling them to navigate digital environments.

Boomer Labs has announced the latest release of Max2AE, the plugin that bridges the gap between Max and After Effects. New features include various UI enhancements, improved memory management, automatic scene scaling, support for 23.976 fps HD drop frame format, and the ability to export particles as layers, nulls or lights. More information at BoomerLabs.com.

Read the news at TechnologyReview.com and CrunchGear.com.

EXPOSÉ, the flagship title of Ballistic Publishing, is now available for pre-order. This year's edition features 334 images prepared by 257 artists from 43 countries. Visit BallisticPublishing.com for more.

All scripts on ScriptAttack.com have now been kindly made available for free. Scripts added: SuperPainter R1.1, HandManipulator v1.0, Building v1.2, BlenderFluid v1.3, BipEditAnimRanges v1.0, TextureRenamer v1.2, WindowCreator v1.1, BookFiller v1.2 and SmartPivot v1.0.

Danish artist Jonas Ussing has done some great matchmoving and animation for integrating CG bread with live footage.

Read the news at TechnologyReview.com.

Itoo Software has released a new version of Forest Pack, its set of plugins for the creation of large extensions of trees and vegetation. New features include the ability to use multiple meshes in a single Forest object, automatic detection of collisions in the distribution of objects, support for VRay proxy, an improved Mental Ray shader, etc. Visit ItooSoft.com for more.

Ryan Clark's CrazyBump software for extracting and generating various maps from photographic images is out of beta: version 1.02 has been released.

Thomas Suurland, known for his excellent renders of cars, announced the opening of HDRI-Locations.com, where he’ll be selling high resolution HDRI maps with matching backplates for use in virtual car photography. All HDRI maps are in 11500x5750 and all backplates are in 4368x2912. All HDRI locations come with 1 HDRI map and several backplates, so multiple images can be produced from each location. The files are available for instant download upon purchase.

Polish artist Szymon Masiak has recently finished his latest demoreel, check it out at Masiak3d.com. All scenes show Max / PFlow / Afterburn / FumeFX in action. Enjoy.

A message posted by Matt Fairclough at Terragen's forums provides a list of the latest features being incorporated into the 3D landscape generation software. A new alpha version has been released but it's currently only available to those who've pre-purchased a license of the program.

The latest animated shorts coming from French school Gobelins are now available online. Blind Spot and Voodoo, among others, are not to be missed (Oktapodi regrettably still remains unavailable). Ça vaut le détour!

L Pass Manager is a great new pass manager script created by Lukas Lepicovsky. The author has also made available some video tutorials that show you how to use it.