Ken Pimentel from Autodesk has posted information that hints at upcoming 3DS Max developments. Among the highlights, the post mentions that Autodesk has hired once again Oleg Bayborodin, the original author of Particle Flow, to research and develop new Particle Flow capabilities for Max and integrate it with XBR’s unified physics system. More at Ken Pimentel’s blog.

Autodesk’s MaxStation blog has posted a simple solution to prevent 3DS Max from displaying ‘Not Responding’ when it is running complex MaxScripts. Find out more at MaxStation.

Marko Permanto has released an extremely useful range of new Kismet actions for UDK that allow for the creation of custom HUD and UI elements without the need to learn and use Scaleform. The scripts along with a tutorial by Sjoerd De Jong can be downloaded from hourences.com.

Peter Guthrie has shared a handy tip that uses a simple MaxScript command to resolve the problem of pixelated reflections when using glossy materials in conjuction with HDRI maps and V-Ray dome lights. Find the MaxScript code and an explanation on Peter Guthrie’s blog.

Autodesk has released a sneak peek video showing some of the common ‘Small Annoying Things’, (SATs), they have fixed in an upcoming release of 3DS Max. Their attempt is to fix those small and annoying problems that you have gotten used to over the years. The video can be viewed on the 3DSMaxSneakPeek YouTube channel.

A free After Effects global tonemapping plugin for processing HDR video has been released. The Simple Tone Mapper is designed to help compress superbright pixels without darkening an image by applying a Reinhard curve. More at VFX Wizard.

A tutorial by Joe Gunn that offers a simple way to fold up or unfold strips of geometry. More at Joe Gunn’s website.

Hristo Velev has recently released some video tutorials outlining the workflow between Naiad and 3DS Max. They provide some great insight into taking a fluid simulation from Naiad and rendering it in 3DS Max using Krakatoa. The full playlist of videos can be viewed at Hristo’s YouTube channel.

A number of videos have been posted on Vimeo showing the upcoming version of Next Limit’s fluid dynamics software at work. Watch them on Vimeo.

Dimensión 2.5 has posted a great interview with Spanish artist Iker J. de los Mozos, character TD at The Mill. Iker shares interesting anecdotes from his experience as a CG artist, supervisor and teacher. Many familiar names from the Spanish-speaking CG scene surface, such as Ilion, Kandor, Daniel Martínez Lara, CICE, Animum, etc., providing a look at the evolution of the CG industry in Spain in recent years. (Spanish|English online translation)

Microsoft announced that version 1.0 of the Kinect for Windows SDK and runtime have been made available, and that it has started shipping Kinect for Windows hardware to its distribution partners. This enables developers to create and sell commercial applications for the PC based on the gesture-recognition capabilities of Microsoft’s input device. More at Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows blog.

The Foundry has just announced educational releases of NukeX, Mari, and Hiero (once released). The new licensing policy provides options to students to use these tools for the duration of their studies at 95% off the retail price. Full release can be read at The Foundry’s website.