Luxology, developer of modern, artist-focused 3D software, announced Bentley Systems, a global leader in software for sustaining infrastructure, has licensed its Nexus rendering technology. Bentley chose Nexus for its overall performance and plans to use it for enhancements to Bentley’s MicroStation product line and many more applications in Bentley’s comprehensive portfolio of products. Read on at The Briefing Room

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Following his Tuesday blog posting on new developments with NewTek‘s LightWave software, milllimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman sat down for a chat on the Siggraph show floor with Jay Roth, president of NewTek’s 3D Products Division to elaborate on those developments and discuss LightWave’s place in the animation world these days. Listen to Goldman’s conversation with Roth.

One of today’s more pleasant meetings was with Autodesk Media and Entertainment group manager Maurice Patel, and not only because of the chocolate, cookies, and comfy couches. For one thing, I got to see old colleagues Dan Ochiva and Steve Katz after far too long during the meeting, and they might be reporting on this blog site about the Autodesk meeting, as well. more

The NewTek folks were excited to show off version, believe it or not, 9.5 of LightWave 3D for Windows, and feel it continues the company’s longtime mission to offer animation artists affordable tools. The new version, which includes a new lighting system, a new hair and fur solution, and radiosity caching, among other things, is free to registered users of earlier versions, and runs under $1,000 even if you are brand new to it. more

MAXON Computer, a leading developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation and rendering solutions, today unveiled CINEMA 4D Release 11 (R11), the next generation of its highly acclaimed 3D animation software suite. The super-charged release is packed with advanced capabilities that deliver dramatically improved ease of use and workflow, image quality and integration into any production pipeline. CINEMA 4D R11 highlights include a non-linear animation system, new global illumination render engine and dramatically improved render speed. Customers also benefit from the powerful Projection Man matte painting system, developed by MAXON for Sony Pictures Imageworks, support for the COLLADA file format and CineMan — a RenderMan-compliant tool that connects to Pixar’s industry-leading rendering solution. Additionally, multiple improvements were made to MAXON’s popular texture painting toolset BodyPaint 3D Release 4. All of these capabilities and more serve to underscore MAXON’s ongoing and deep commitment to helping 3D digital artists further advance creativity and control. Read on at The Briefing Room

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Although Siggraph doesn’t get rolling in earnest until the show floor opens on Tuesday, Monday was a plenty busy day for the legendary Ed Catmull. Ed, of course, is now president of both Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, but Monday, he went back to his computer graphics roots with a full schedule that included a featured speech, a press conference celebrating the–believe this if you can–20th Anniversary of RenderMan (it’s in version 14.0! has any software ever gone to a 14th version without changing its name or ownership?), and a book signing on behalf of a legion of CG geeks who were lined up down the hallway on the second floor of the West Hall of the LA Convention Center today. (He was signing “To Infinity and Beyond! The Story of Pixar Animation Studios” by Karen Paik–Catmull penned the forward.) more

Cinnafilm, a pioneering developer of advanced film and video production tools, announced the immediate availability of Cinnafilm HD1, the industry’s first all-in-one format conversion platform designed specifically for film simulation and unlimited frame rate conversion of digital video. The unique combined hardware and software platform leverages the power of graphics card parallel processing to deliver unmatched quality format conversions and celluloid simulations quickly, easily, cost effectively and most significantly, in real-time. HD1 places complete and instantaneous control of the artistic process directly into the hands of creative professionals without sacrificing production quality or visual integrity. Read on at The Briefing Room

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IMAGICA Technologies, the engineering solutions division company of IMAGICA Robot Holdings, announced that O-gi, a new set of image quality enhancement plug-ins for Autodesk Inferno, Flame, Flint, Fire, and Smoke systems, is now shipping. O-gi is a set of powerful noise reduction and clean-up filters designed to help improve a range of image quality problems typically faced by postproduction facilities. Read on at The Briefing Room

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DAZ 3D, a leading developer of professional quality 3D models and software, announced the immediate availability of DAZ Hexagon 2.5, the newest version of its popular 3D polygonal and subdivision modeling software. Free for registered Hexagon 2 customers, Hexagon 2.5 offers a sculpted primitive tool allowing users to model and import 3D objects into Second Life, enhanced UV-mapping and freehand brush modeling, and ultra-fast ambient occlusion. Hexagon 2.5 is available for both Macintosh OSX and Windows. Read on at The Briefing Room

More Siggraph 2008 news from The Briefing Room