DCC updates, hardware, rendering research and paper explainers.
Blender 5.3 can import, edit and render 3D Gaussian splats (gsplats), with support in EEVEE, Workbench and Cycles. The Blender developers blog covers the file formats, the Geometry Nodes attributes and the current limitations.
code.blender.org4d ago3 min read
Adobe's Substance 3D Painter 12.2 lets artists paint baking cages directly on models. In an interview, Product Manager Laurens Corijn describes why baking became a 2026 priority and how the feature was built.
80.lv5d ago3 min read
Adobe has released Substance 3D Painter 12.2, which lets artists paint baking cage distances directly on a model. The update also adds new Polygon Fill selection modes, texture-set highlighting and better viewport sorting for overlapping transparent materials.
80.lv6d ago2 min read
UVgami is a free, open source tool that automatically UV unwraps 3D models. It is available as a web app, a desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux, and a Blender version.
gamefromscratch.com6d ago2 min read
ActionForge is a free web app for rigging, retargeting and editing character animations, all processed locally in the browser. It covers ground similar to Mixamo, with direct animation editing and export presets for major engines.
gamefromscratch.com6d ago2 min read
NVIDIA has detailed the developer tooling for RTX Spark, its new Windows PC platform built on a Blackwell RTX GPU and Grace CPU. The post covers DLSS, ACE, RTX Kit, Nsight, an Unreal Engine 5.8 branch and a MotionBricks update.
developer.nvidia.com7d ago4 min read
Environment artist Zeqi Mu described in an 80 Level interview how he made a forest ground material from procedural nodes alone in Substance 3D Designer. The write-up covers a spline-based root system and the Shape splatter v2 node, and may be useful for artists building tileable organic materials.
80.lv14d ago3 min read
Maxon has released ZBrush 2027.0, adding a UV Editor based on Cinema 4D's technology and support for Selection Sets. ZBrush for iPad 2027.0 gains Spotlight and 3D Layers, narrowing the gap with desktop.
cgchannel.com19d ago3 min read
BiteTheBytes has announced World Creator 4, a major update to its GPU-based terrain generator, due in November 2026. It adds planetary-scale terrain, node-based editing, a real-time renderer and a planned macOS and Linux port.
cgchannel.com19d ago3 min read
Foundry has released Mari 8.0, its 3D texture painting software, adding more than 50 Node Graph nodes, new mask tools and trackball navigation. Team subscription pricing has risen by $60 a year since Mari 7.5.
cgchannel.com20d ago3 min read
A plain-language walkthrough of NVIDIA's Real-Time Neural Appearance Models paper: what it replaces, what it claims, and what it needs from hardware.
research.nvidia.com36d ago5 min read
The new long-term support release brings cloth and hair simulation built on an XPBD solver node, online-hosted Essentials assets, and fixes until July 2028.
blender.org112d ago3 min read
