The Blender Foundation and online developer community released a new version of Blender, their popular, free 3D software. Version 2.67 adds a brand-new Freestyle render engine for non-photorealistic rendering, which can generate 2D line drawings in various styles. The paint and sculpt system, as well as motion tracking, and node system were thoroughly enhanced. The Cycles renderer now features initial support for subsurface scattering. For 3D printing an add-on was added to analyze and export the meshes. More here. [source]

Planetside Software released a free version of Terragen 2.5, and an updated v2.5.5.0 for licensed users of the full edition. Build 2.5.5.0 includes a more robust OBJ reader, corrected normals on the Card object, and other fixes as well as user interface improvements. If you are new to version 2.5, significant changes in 2.5 include the export of camera, lights, nulls and animation to FBX format, export of camera data to Nuke .CHAN format, export of terrain data to FBX format, and more. Licensed users can use the built-in Help > Check For Updates feature to update. The Free Non-commercial Edition is located here. [source]

T he popular Open Source 3D application Blender has been released in version 2.67 RC. This update adds sub-surface scattering rendering in Cycles, much more accurate motion tracker, new NPR renderer FreeStyle, 3D printing tools, and more. Download the new binaries for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux here. [source]

Boris FX unveiled a new VFX Browser for its flagship Boris Continuum Complete (BCC) plug-in collection. Available as a free download, the new BCC Effects Library Browser plug-in allows editors and motion graphics artists to instantly preview thousands of BCC presets via animations that integrate timeline video. The free plug-in can be used on any system with a BCC-compatible host application - even if BCC is not installed. The Boris Continuum Complete Effects Library Browser plug-in will be available as a free download during Q2 2013. [source]

Fnord software released an updated version of its ProEXR and OpenEXR plug-ins for Adobe's Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro applications. The free OpenEXR is an open source EXR plug-in for After Effects, while the ProEXR edition enables to access all the capabilities of the OpenEXR format from within Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere Pro. Version 1.8 adds faster loading of EXR files with many channels, and a "year's worth of minor bug fixes, optimizations, and other improvements to all the plug-ins in ProEXR." [source]

French developer Golaem announced the release of the Golaem Crowd Character Pack, a set of free ready-to-use characters and motions enabling faster crowd shots creation. It is available free of charge for all users of Golaem Crowd, a crowd animation solution for Autodesk Maya on Linux and Windows systems. The Golaem Crowd Characters Pack includes ready-to-use character with a hundred props, texture variations for each prop, and 14 motions. Golaem Crowd has also been updated to version 2.3 introducing the Geometry Behavior as well as the Character Maker, a revamped tool for converting and editing character skeletons or motions. [source]

Version 1.2 of the free Blink app from Microsoft Research, designed to take photos of moving objects with Windows Phone 8, adds support for phones that have flash, and some easier edit options. For more information or download, visit windowsphone.com. [source]

With over 10 million downloads on the iOS platform, IK Multimedia decided to bring its popular audio recording application iRig Recorder to the Android user base. iRig Recorder is a powerful audio-recording app that turns any mobile Android device into a professional field recorder, and makes it easy to capture interviews, music performances, rehearsals, lectures, and more. iRig Recorder is available now on the Google Play Store app for free. Editing, and additional effects processing can be added via in-app purchase for $4.99 US / 4.49 EUR. [source]

RandomControl announced the release of ArionBench, the world's most intensive hybrid CPU and CUDA benchmarking tool for Windows. ArionBench is based on RandomControl's Arion Technology, its proprietary physically-based light simulation engine. ArionBench is not an artificial benchmarking solution, but a piece of software based on a real-world commercial GPU-accelerated rendering product, and enables to see how different hardware architectures and setups compare to each other. [source]

Blender Foundation released and updated version of its popular, Open Source 3D software Blender. Version 2.66a fixes over 80 bugs fixed since 2.66 release (more). New installation packages are available here. [source]