A tutorial by Autodesk that teaches in detail various unwrapping workflows: Part 1: Intro-Part 2: Architectural Model-Part 3: Architectural Model-Part 4: Architectural Model-Part 5: Technical Model-Part 6: Technical Model-Part 7: Technical Model-Part 8: Organic Model-Part 9: Organic Model-Part 10: Bitmap Template.

Microsoft has announced that a Kinect sensor with similar capabilities to the one that will be delivered with the Xbox One will be available for Kinect for Windows in 2014. Kinect for Windows’ director Bob Heddle has disclosed the features that the new sensor will bring. More on MSDN.com.

A script by Creative Tools for creating Lindenmayer Systems in 3DS Max, which are useful for modeling plants and shapes based on iterated functions. More on Github.com.

DuctTake is a system developed by Disney Research that uses algorithms to find a spatiotemporal “seam” through the video frame that enables two or more videos to be joined together. These seams can be highly irregular, following the contours of people, furniture and other objects that are common in each take of the scene. Given properly aligned views, the system can usually generate good composites with minimal work. Watch a video on YouTube and find out more on Disney Research’s website.

Check out the latest reel of Blizzard’s senior FX artist, Hosuk Chang. Watch it on Vimeo.

An experimental short directed by Montreal-based artist Gwenael Belanger that shows a house disintegrating in free-fall. Watch it on Vimeo.

(Updated) As part of the launch, Next Limit are having daily offers for the next 15 days.
Next Limit have released the latest version of their fluid simulation tool, RealFlow 2013. This version offers an all new UI, Hybrido 2, Alembic support, Maxwell Render previews, and much more. For the full details, you can visit the RealFlow page on the Next Limit website.

In order to promote their plants library Xfrog are offering 150 models free for download. Also of note, they’re having a 50% off sale until the end of May. More on Xfrog’s website.

A recording of Scott Ross and Scott Squires discussing the VFX industries’ situation at the recent NAB show has been made available. Watch it on Vimeo.

Sitni Sati announced that their fluid dynamics plugin for simulating fire and smoke effects is now available for Maya. The plugin is the result of a collaboration between Luma Pictures, Digic Pictures and Sitni Sati. More on Sitni Sati’s website.

Animation Mentor has posted a video showing how to add that special last 10% of polish to make your animation great. Watch it on YouTube.

Bertrand Benoit has released a new tutorial in his materialism series, this time focusing on a very detailed V-Ray setup for rough metals. Read it on BBB3viz.