+ NextLimit has announced from the showfloor that it will now offer free licenses to educational institutions interested in teaching its industry-leading fluid simulation software RealFlow and its high-end CG renderer Maxwell Render. The deal is open to registered teaching facilities, who may inquire with education@nextlimit.com using a faculty email account. Booth #1011, nextlimit.com
+ NewTek’s LightWave 3D Group has announced the Ultimate 3D Bundle — a special promotion pairing a new license of LightWave 11.6 with OTOY’s OctaneRender 2.0 software for the price of $1,595 — a combined savings of up to $500. LightWave users can upgrade to the bundle for just $995. The deal is set to end September 30, 2014. With the software combo, useres can created high-quality 3D images, experience up to 50x faster rendering speeds (compared to CPU-only), use Octane’s real-time scene editor to change cameras, lights, materials and object positions, and more. lightwave3d.com
+ Southpaw Technologies has announced it will extend TACTIC’s functionality across devices and industries with TACTIC Apps, launching this fall. The first three apps include VFX App — an open source app with all the features of digital asset and workflow management systems you need in a clean user interface; aSync — transmits data and information instantly and asynchronously to ensure all data and transactions are up to date no matter where it worked on or stored; and ServerAssist — turbo charges OS searches by up to 4,000 %, using advanced search vectoring and an ever evolving ranking system for user display and allows addition and editing of file versions and metadata. Booth #801, southpawtech.com
+ Shotgun Software delivered three major releases. Shotgun Review for iPhone allows supervisors to take their projects on the go and stay connected, able to browse media and playlists, play back movies, annotate on frames, give feedback with notes and attach camera pics or movies, and see history on related versions and their notes. Shotgun Desktop is a visual interface that gives artists fast access to key production tools, pre-configured with integrated apps to automate key tasks; it also allows developers to quickly build Python apps and push them to artist desktops. MARI Integration brings The Foundry’s 3D paint tool, including the full suite of Pipeline Toolkit apps, on board; the program now works faster with Shotgun loader, publisher and other apps right inside the MARI interface — also includes a Maya/MARI round-trip connecting modeling, textures and lookdev. Booth #741, shotgunsoftware.com
