Bulgarian developer Chaos Software, maker of the V-Ray render, released a new fluid dynamics plug-in for 3ds Max - Phoenix Fluid Dynamics. The software combines a grid-based simulator with powerful rendering capabilities and is able to simulate a whole array of physical processes like pressure decay, thermal radiation cooling and mass-temperature dependence. The product comes with fast, physically based simulation core; background simulation capability; fluid source form pre-simulated surface or particle-based sources; GPU accelerated preview; texture driven simulations; displacement; rendering of textures and more. Phoenix FD is in a promotional period until 10th of September 2010 with a reduced price of 350 EUR / $445 US / 295 GBP. The official product price will be 695 EUR / $895 US / 575 GBP, ex. VAT. [source]

Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced the upcoming release of Toon Boom Storyboard Pro 2, an essential Windows- and Mac OS X-based storyboarding tool for storyboard artists, directors, producers, game designers and communication specialists. Version 2 adds new content creation tools (including fast creation and reuse of brushes with specific settings; extended rich text support for captions; or sketch captions on a panel-by-panel basis), extended I/O capabilities (Final Draft 8 support; improved PDF and Final Cut Pro support), enhanced storyboarding and animatic capabilities (naming convention improvements; optimized playback; real-time transitions...), and various user interface improvements (full scene anti-aliasing support; layer transparency; Save As and Auto-Save commands) and more. For pricing, visit Toon Boom's on-line store. [source]

Prime Focus Software, the R&D arm of Prime Focus studio, announced the release of Deadline 4.1, the latest version of its easy-to-use administration and rendering toolkit for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX-based render farms. This release features several new features and performance enhancements, including speed improvements; enhanced interface; simplified power management configuration, as well as new software support (After Effects CS5, Arnold Standalone, LightWave 3D 10, RVIO, and RealFlow 5). Deadline Software is available for a list price starting at $140 US per render node for the first 25 licenses, prices drop per unit with increased volume. Prime Focus Software also released Deadline Mobile, a free download from the App Store on iPhone or at iTunes Store. Deadline Mobile is compatible with Deadline 4.1 and lets users remotely monitor Deadline jobs from anywhere. [source]

E-on software previewed key new technologies of its upcoming Vue 9 products for professionals: Vue 9 xStream and Vue 9 Infinite (scheduled for release Q4 2010), at this year's SIGGRAPH. E-on software also performed product demonstrations of Carbon Scatter (instancing plug-in for 3ds Max, CINEMA 4D, LightWave 3D, Maya, and Softimage; scheduled for release later this year; more information), as well as LumenRT, a new product dedicated to high fidelity real-time visualization of architectural projects. [source]

The Foundry released MARI 1.0, the first iteration of their new 3D texture painting application. MARI is a brand new creative 3D texture painting product, originally developed at Weta Digital to handle the exceedingly detailed look development and texture work demanded by Avatar. MARI copes easily with an obsessive level of detail - literally tens of thousands of textures - quickly and elegantly (more on features; videos). MARI is currently available on Linux 64, Windows build will be released later this year. For more information, take a look at MARI on The Foundry's YouTube Channel. You can also download a fully functional 15-day demo license here and have a play for yourself, or buy the application for an MSRP of 600 GBP / 900 USD / 720 EUR ex. VAT, including 1 year of maintenance. In addition, The Foundry announced an exclusive deal with Walt Disney Animation Studios providing access to their Paint 3D technology. Find out more about what this means for MARI here. [source]

Side Effects Software released Houdini 11, new version of its line of professional 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software. From the new, fast FLIP fluids solver, to automatic fracturing of RBD objects, and a re-architected shader building workflow, artists will be able to work much more effectively with Houdini 11 (more on features). Houdini 11 is available immediately with Houdini Escape available for as low as $1,995 US and Houdini Master available for $6,695 US. The Free Apprentice Edition can be downloaded today from sidefx.com and Houdini Apprentice HD can be purchased for $99 US. Existing version 10 Apprentice HD customers can upgrade for $69 US. Side Effects is also launching a new Annual Subscription Plan which offers access to Houdini software, upgrades and support for a year at a time. With this program, Houdini Escape is available for $1,595 US and Houdini Master for $4,595 US. [source]

NewTek announced LightWave 10, the next generation of its Emmy award-winning professional 3D modeling, animation, and rendering software. LightWave 10 will offer a wealth of new features, including a photoreal real-time renderer, VPR (Viewport Preview Renderer) and advanced, real-time CG hardware viewport shading, delivering Anaglyph Stereo, Ambient Occlusion, Transparency, Refractions, and Bloom. LightWave 10 will also offer extensive, new immersive real-time virtual cinematography, game development tools, and more.. LightWave 10 will begin shipping in Q4 2010, but artists may gain access to preview builds of LightWave 10 immediately through NewTek SIGGRAPH special offers. When LightWave 10 ships, it will be available for a suggested retail price of $1,495 US, upgrades will be available for $695 US. [source]

Twenty years ago, Autodesk, Inc. revolutionized the computer graphics industry with the introduction of Autodesk 3ds Max software - then known as 3D Studio DOS - one of the first affordable 3D modeling, rendering and animation systems for the PC. Initially developed by the Yost Group for Autodesk, the first version shipped in October 1990, priced at a fraction of the cost of the dedicated workstations then required to create professional 3D animation. Learn more about how this award-winning software application has enabled the creation of celebrated movies, video games, television shows and commercials at area.autodesk.com/maxturns20. [source]

NVIDIA announced the release of NVIDIA Parallel Nsight software, the industry's first development environment for GPU-accelerated applications that work with Microsoft Visual Studio. Visual Studio developers can now use Parallel Nsight to debug CUDA C/C++, or DirectCompute applications on the GPU using the same familiar tools and techniques as on the CPU. Parallel Nsight also provides the analysis tools that give developers the information required to achieve the highest levels of GPGPU application performance. The software supports Windows HPC Server 2008, Windows 7 and Windows Vista, which works closely with Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Professional edition. To download the Standard edition of Parallel Nsight, please go here. Parallel Nsight Standard will be available free of charge in single seat configurations only. Parallel Nsight Professional will be available in single, 5- and 10-seat configurations priced between $349 - $2499 US (version differences). Site licenses will also be available. NVIDIA has also released CUDA Toolkit 3.1, an update to its CUDA software development kit, available here. [source]

The popular Open Source 3D software Blender has been updated to version 2.53 Beta. This first official 2.5 beta build brings faster and more stable sculpting functionality, and a lot of bug fixes... Download the new version here. Read our previous article for more information on new 2.5 features. [source]