Jim Thacker

Bath

Freelance Writer at Freelance

Editor at CG Channel

Hat lover, amateur mycologist, hack.

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Articles

Character Creator gets new free MetaTailor plugin

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Originally posted on 19 March 2025, and updated for the final release. Character Creator has a new integration plugin for 3D clothing fitting tool MetaTailor. The free plugin enables games, VFX and motion graphics artists to send 3D characters from Reallusion’s character generation app to MetaTailor in one click, fit 3D clothing to them semi-automatically, then transfer the clothed characters back to Character Creator.
Autodesk releases Flame 2026

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Autodesk’s new marketing image for Flame from its social media profiles, created by Rodeo FX. Autodesk has begun its Flame 2026 release cycle, the latest annual series of updates to Flame, its compositing, finishing and effects softwareFlame 2026 introduces support for OpenColorIO color management, a new Type tool for on-screen text, and an AI-based clip upscaling system.
Leopoly adds voxel sculpting to Shapelab 2025

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Leopoly has released Shapelab 2025 v2.0, the latest version of its VR sculpting software, adding an experimental new voxel sculpting toolset. Other changes include support for cavity masking when painting sculpts, falloff curves for most of the sculpting brushes, and the option to create your own custom 3D stamps.
Epic Games releases Twinmotion 2025.1.1

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Epic Games has updated Twinmotion, its Unreal-Engine-based real-time visualisation software. Key changes in Twinmotion 2025.1.1 include a new 3D grass material and support for DLSS 4. A real-time tool for 3D visualization and virtual productionOriginally created by visualization studio KA-RA and acquired by Epic Games in 2019, Twinmotion is a real-time visualization tool for architectural, automotive and product design.
Check out new 3ds Max UV unwrapping plugin UVReactor

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Originally posted on 12 June 2024. Scroll down for details of the latest update. RapidMXS – aka Octopus plugin developer Miklós Gábor – has released UVReactor, a high-performance new UV unwrapping and UV packing plugin for 3ds Max. The add-on promises to unwrap and pack even multi-million-poly models in seconds and follows 3ds Max’s standard workflow and UI conventions.
Reallusion releases iClone 8.53 with timecode support

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Reallusion has released iClone 8.53, the latest update to the real-time animation software. The release extends support for motion-capture workflows, adding support for timecode data in iClone itself, and introducing a new paid-for Timecode plugin for working with that data. It is also now possible to stream live data to iClone from Vicon optical motion-capture systems, via a new paid-for Vicon profile for iClone’s Motion Live system.
anima 6.0 adds traffic simulation to Chaos’s crowd animation tool

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

Chaos has released anima 6.0, the latest version of its crowd animation software. The update – the first since Chaos acquired anima in 2023 – adds a complete new traffic simulation system, and introduces a new higher-performance viewport renderer. Integration plugins are available for 3ds Max, Cinema 4D and Unreal Engine 5, although there’s no longer any mention of Maya in the online documentation.
ZibraVDB: the new standard in OpenVDB for virtual production

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

[Sponsored] To mark the official release of its new Houdini plugin – and its new free edition – Zibra AI reveals how its ZibraVDB volumetric compression technology, also available for Unreal Engine, is shaking up real-time VFX for virtual production, game development and CGI work.
RandomControl releases Maverick Indie and Maverick Studio 2025.1

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

RandomControl has begun its 2025 updates to Maverick Studio and Maverick Indie, its physically based GPU renderers for industrial designers and entertainment artists. The 2025.1 releases extend the software’s animation toolset and support for USD workflows, with USD becoming the recommended format for importing non-CAD data for rendering.
Digital painting software Howler 2023 is now free to download

1 week ago | cgchannel.com | Jim Thacker

A promo for Howler, showing the range of other features in the digital painting app. Howler 2023 is now free, and developer Dan Ritchie is raising money to make the current version freeware. The creator of versatile digital digital painting, animation and video processing tool Howler has made Howler 2023 free to download. Developer Dan Ritchie now aims to raise $3,000 to release the current version as freeware.