Aaron F. Ross

Final Render Vs Viewport This is how you can elevate your 3D scenes: It’s all about the lighting. Yes. Lighting can break or save your scene. In lots of my 3D projects, the modeling is the (relativity) easy part. The toughest part? Get the lighting right. It’s tough, but also exciting! By the way, this can also help with Generative Design and AI-Driven Design! When I’m using Midjourney, I’m adding tons of lighting elements to my prompts to get realistic results! So, my knowledge in 3D really helps me to get realistic results in AI! This is how you really do innovation – combining the right tools and knowledge! I’m all about the power of creativity!! What do you think?

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Here's how you can now use an AI agent to render your previz 3D work. 1. On Luma AI's new site, drop your previz animation in 2. Extract the first frame of your previz 3. (VIP) Tell the agent to build you a photoreal reference sheet of your subject (ex. shoe design) Give the agent real reference photos of your product or subject, plus a few screenshots of your previz from different angles. This helps consistency. 5. Tell the agent to build environment reference sheets (jungle, desert, mountains) 4. Generate your photoreal start frame Have the agent use the subject reference sheet to texture your previz start frame and then tell it to drop your subject in to the environment reference sheet 7. Animate it. Now tell the agent to use your previz for motion and your photoreal start frame for the look. This is where the AI turns it into the final video. Bonus: 8. Tell the agent to add an FX pass if needed. Dust, fog, rain, sparks, flares, whatever helps sell the realism. I put together a Youtube breakdown if you want to see the full process. Linking in comments👇 Luma AI

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What starts with a digital ball of clay can be transformed into a modern-day replica of 19th-century artwork as Senior 3D Digital Design & VFX Major Jessica Luebbers describes and walks us through her DFX portfolio project. Watch to learn more about this artistic process and what opportunities the DFX program has to offer!

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🌟 Sunday Script Series – Episode 3 🌟 Today’s tool is the UV Transfer Tool 🎨✨ This is a simple yet powerful utility designed for both Surfacing and Rigging artists. ✔️ It transfers UVs seamlessly without leaving any UV transfer history on the mesh. ✔️ It even works on meshes with skin clusters, without disturbing skin weights. ✔️ And the best part – it keeps the mesh clean with no extra history attached. I’m really excited to share this because it’s one of those small tools that can save a lot of time and headaches in production. As always, more tools are coming up every Sunday — stay tuned for the next episode! 🚀 #Maya #Rigging #Surfacing #Automation #SundayScriptSeries

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Blender is evolving fast, and 2025 is shaping up to be a particularly strong year, also for freelancers and small studios. A bit like Apple, Blender is not always the first to innovate. But when new features arrive, they are intuitive, well integrated, and designed with long-term usability in mind. If you’re more drawn to the artistic side of 3D rather than the technical one, now is definitely the right time to get into it. 🚀

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I wanted to make this project a bit more interactive, so I figured, why not integrate a controller directly into Blender? There was just one small problem… I didn’t actually have a controller Then I thought, wait..what if I used a Steam Deck as the controller? 🤔 So I did exactly that. Integrating the Steam Deck’s controller interface into Blender and mapping all the buttons took weeks (and a lot of debugging 💀), but it finally works full viewport navigation, camera toggling, zoom, and even timeline control, all from the Deck. I’ll be writing up a short breakdown soon on how I got everything connected and working smoothly. Stay tuned. I’ll share the link here once it’s ready. #3d #blender #animation #scripting #development #simulation #interactive

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🚀 3D artists & studios — tired of wasting hours on repetitive texture edits in 3ds Max? I built a script that **automates texture color changes for Standard Materials AND bakes textures directly** — so you can focus on creativity, not tedious manual work.   ✨ Why it matters: - ⏱️ Save hours of production time - 🎨 Keep your workflow smooth & consistent - 🔥 Bake textures instantly without extra steps - 💼 Perfect for freelancers, studios, and anyone scaling 3D projects I’ve been using it in my own projects, and the productivity boost is massive. Now it’s available for you too 👇 👉 Get it here: [3ds Max Texture Color Change + Baking Script](https://lnkd.in/drdTEnTi) Let’s make 2026 the year of smarter workflows. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it transforms your pipeline! #3dsMax #3DArt #AutomationTools #CGI #DigitalArtists #ProductivityHack #FreelanceLife #IndieDev #TechForCreatives #WorkflowOptimization

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Workstation power. Laptop form. For creatives who live in DaVinci Resolve, Unreal Engine, and Blender, the new Puget Mobile 16” (2025) delivers exceptional on-the-go performance: 🔹 30% faster than the MacBook M3 Max in Resolve 🔹 14% faster than last-gen in After Effects 🔹 RTX 5090 Mobile (24GB VRAM) + Intel Ultra 9 275HX 🔹 5 lbs vs 7.5 lbs — thinner, lighter, and quieter It’s a serious upgrade for content creators and engineers who need desktop-class power wherever they work. Dive into full benchmarks and thermals: https://hubs.ly/Q03qvbmD0

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Ozone Subdivs = Dynamic Curvature A small video to discuss how Ozone Story Tech Subdivs are different in Epic Games #Unreal Engine than polysmoothing. The key idea is that subdivision gives your models "Dynamic Curvature" which means that the smoothed surface actively changes while deforming. This often give much more life to the surface of a model, with far less weighting work, as its effect goes past the non-deforming spans in the source cage. Simple way to say it... more movement on the final surface, with less work means spending less time and money for higher quality results :) More videos like this will be available, for free, on Ozone Story Tech new training portal website that will go live by the end of the year. Kevin Noone Fredrik Nilsson Chase Cooper C. Michael Neely James Rogers Douglas Bell Neil Helm William Vaughan Brad Clark Duncan Burbidge Rich McKain Richard Dixon

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POV: You finally find that one setting that changes everything. 🤯 I’ve been experimenting with a new workflow in Blender, and the difference in the render quality is night and day. Here is a 13-second teaser of the results. Has anyone else tried this technique recently? Let me know what you think! 👇 #3DTips #Workflow #RnD #LearningEveryday #BlenderRender #3DModeling #TechArt #CGIArt #ArtistProgression #Experiment

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🚨Aaron Sims Creative is expanding our asset library on FAB!!! We’ve been building a growing catalog of production-ready creatures, characters, vehicles, and sci-fi assets designed for use in games, cinematics, and real-time pipelines. These assets are created using the same design and development approach we bring to our work across film, games, and advertising, allowing teams to integrate high quality visuals into their projects quickly. Over the coming weeks we’ll be spotlighting individual assets from the library. If you’re developing in Unreal or building new worlds, we invite you to explore the ASC collection on FAB!!! Check out our offerings here: https://lnkd.in/g34GrG43

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A 3D R&D look-dev study of the Santa Cruz V10CC, focused on construction, materials, and precision technical detailing. Special thanks to Echoic Audio for their collaboration on the sound direction. Their unique approach to texture and rhythm added a powerful extra layer to the project. GLAIVE STUDIO Bastien Caillaud | Motion Designer 3D Mateo Beraud-Dufour | Producer Echoic Audio Tom Gilbert | Music Producer Sion Vaughan-Williams | Producer David Johnston | Composer Sound Designer William Golledge | Composer  Owen Hemming-Brown  | Sound Designer OctaneRender , Maxon Cinema 4D , Adobe , Adobe Substance 3D , Daz 3D Full project here : https://lnkd.in/dJXsD-Yh #3DAnimation #CGI #OctaneRender #Cinema4D #MotionDesign #SantaCruz #ProductVisualization #DigitalArt #VFX #ArtDirection #SoundDesign #Echoic #BikeDesign

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Studios don’t grow in a straight line. Your software shouldn’t force you to. Rigid systems can slow momentum right when you’re expanding. The Captura ecosystem supports real studio workflows, so you can adopt what you need now and scale when you’re ready. Flexible by design. Built for growth. 👉 Learn more here: https://bit.ly/408eous

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#learnsomethingnew "Explore how #UnrealEngine enables infrastructure design giant HNTB to create flexible and immersive #visualizations for large-scale #infrastructure projects. Topics include HNTB's custom #Datasmith pipeline for importing #GIS data and integrating their material pipeline, an interactive callout and chart system, and data-driven tools for construction sequences. HNTB's #Python editor tools enhance #Perforce integration and material creation, and expand customization of PCG foliage with #OpenCV. Custom material graphs and HLSL shaders allow their artists to improve fidelity, introduce randomization, and address #UV issues directly within Unreal Engine without constant round trips between other software. Finally, the session showcases HNTB's post-process materials for creating stylized environments, object highlighting, and custom mattes for compositing."

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Is there such a thing as real-er realtime? The realiest of realtime? 3 steps... and just let it ride. Well done Ozone Story Tech. Remember when I talked about having those seamless partners that you scale with... this is that. #RealerRealtime #HouseOfMoves #OzoneStoryTech #BuiltDifferent #RealtimeProduction #VirtualProduction #MotionCapture #PerformanceCapture #CreativeTech #SeamlessPartners

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Which candidates for California Governor will support film tax incentives for Visual Effects artists? Most major candidates for Governor of California in the 2026 race support expanding tax incentives that directly benefit Visual Effects (VFX) artists and post-production work. While current state laws have traditionally limited credits for post-production, several candidates have proposed specific changes to include these costs and compete with hubs like Canada and the UK.  🎞️ Candidates Supporting VFX and Post-Production Incentives  Current frontrunners have explicitly mentioned "post-production" and "digital" work in their platforms to stop the "exodus" of VFX jobs to international markets. Steve Hilton (R): His plan is the most specific regarding VFX. He has proposed allowing incentive dollars to be used for post-production costs, which are currently not permitted under the standard California program. Hilton’s proposal includes a credit as high as 60% for certain productions to rival the aggressive subsidies offered in regions like Vancouver and London. Matt Mahan (D): The San Jose Mayor supports an uncapped 40% refundable credit that would apply to "all production costs," including those often outsourced like visual effects. He has emphasized that the goal is to protect the "creative economy" and workers who have seen their jobs decimated by out-of-state competition. Tom Steyer (D): Steyer has pledged to expand and uncap incentive programs to match global competitors. He specifically highlights the threat of AI and corporate monopolization on the future of the entertainment workforce, which includes the digital and VFX sectors, according to his official campaign platform. Antonio Villaraigosa (D): Like his rivals, the former L.A. Mayor has called for eliminating the $750 million cap on state subsidies. While less specific on VFX line items, his platform focuses on making California a "reliable partner" to productions of every size, which would naturally encompass local VFX houses.

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For Luma AI modify keyframe line up of your characters and perspective is #1. At this moment it often helps to know traditional tools to edit frames. DP: Julia Harris “Real” Bigfoot: Tamara Bruketta Campfire folk: Jieyi Lee Nancy Estrada Jo Beth L. Bronte Cooper

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Very useful Houdini feature that often gets overlooked: Detail attributes can be saved into the info block of .bgeo/.geo cache files. That means you can read those values later without loading the full geometry, using File SOP Info Load or gstat. This is great for storing lightweight metadata directly inside caches, not just geometry. For example, you could write per-frame profiler stats, memory usage, node timings, or custom sim metrics into each cache file, then inspect performance across an entire simulation afterward without loading heavy caches. Very small feature, but extremely useful for debugging, profiling your simulations, and understanding performance over time.

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