Pixar has launched RenderMan on Demand, a fully functioning render cloud service based on GreenButton’s cloud development. The new cloud will allow RenderMan users thousands of additional cores to be used almost instantly on smaller to medium sized projects but soon to support larger scale jobs as well. The cloud is currently supported on Microsoft’s Windows Azure and soon to support a Linux base as well. Read more about RenderMan on Demand.

Aleso3d has posted a tutorial on setting up a realistic scene that is lit by only artificial lights. Read the tutorial at Aleso3d

Domingos Silva’s plugin for importing crowd simulations from Massive into 3DS Max is out of beta. The full version has been released, features include: [more...]

Jeff Patton has posted the solution to a commonly asked question when using HDR’s to light your scene. Why is your scene rendering black? Read the article on Jeff’s blog to find out how to fix this.

Renderare studio shares their work flow from start to finish on one of their most recent architectural renderings, Minoco Wharf. Read the article on Ronen Bekerman’s site.

Farid Bouchakour has released 3 video tutorials introducing the fundamentals of Naiad including the creation of splashes and foam: Part 1-Part 2-Part 3.

Prominent concept and creature designer Aaron Sims has made a 7 minute teaser trailer for his first short film available online. Archetype tells the tale of RL7, a malfunctioning combat robot that develops memories of once being human and features some great special FX created by a small team. The film is due to be released later this year, meanwhile you can see the teaser trailer and behind the scenes footage at the film’s official site.

Cebas has just posted the latest service pack for FinalRender 3.5, which brings speed optimizations and various improvements. The full list of enhancements can be read over at the Cebas website.

As reported earlier, Blur recently completed work on the opening sequence for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The Art of VFX talks with the Creative Director & Co-founder of Blur Studio, Tim Miller, on their involvement with the project. It offers some insight into the tools and workflow they used for creating the imagery in the opening credits. Full interview can be read over at The Art of VFX.

Autodesk has released a webinar tutorial on YouTube that explains how to use camera tracking for accurate 2D to 3D conversion. The full tutorial can be viewed over at the Autodesk YouTube channel.

A great video showing some of the VFX breakdowns completed on the recent film, Hugo, by Pixomondo. The video can be viewed over at Wired.

Paul Clements has posted a very creative approach at a breakdown video on his spot done for Ministry of Sound. Watch the original spot and the breakdown on Vimeo.