Fur. It's hard to model in CGI. For a start, it's not one object but hundreds or thousands or millions of them. To make them convincing you have to model them; understanding how they move relative to each other, and to the animal or human that they're attached to

Phil Rhodes has strong personal opinions about this powerful but unintuitive software

Anyone working with digital tools today has a wide choice of applications for specialized tasks. An office suite consists of a program for writing text, one for spreadsheets, presentations, a database etc. For a VFX workflow you might use a tool for tracking, one for compositing, one for editing, various tools for simulations and specialized applications for modelling, sculpting, texturing and animation. RedShark contributor and Blender expert Gottfried Hoffmann reports

For anyone that hasn't seen it yet, Tears of Steel is a heavily CGI-based short film that demonstrates the Open Source Blender's abilities as an end-to-end VFX and finishing pipeline

Clock speeds may have been static for a decade, but everything else about PCs is changing. Neil Roberts describes the latest tech.

UK company Speech Graphics is gunning for the top-spot in lip-sync technology: mark their words. RedShark contributor David Valjalo reports

Have a close look at this video clip. It’s an advert for a high-end kitchen worktop manufacturer. Watch it in 720p, and look as closely as you can at the camerawork, the clever use of depth of field, the lighting, and particularly the fresh fruit.

And then reflect on the fact that no cameras - or indeed fruit - were involved in the making of this at all.

Software company Boinx makes noise at Macworld 2013 with version 2 of istopmotion for iPad, improving on its award-winning app

In Part 1 of this 3 part series about applying for Jobs in the VFX Industry, RedShark's reporter HaZ, uses his experience as a VFX Supervisor and Producer to explain what he looks for in the in an application: what really works to get his attention - and what turns him off

Previously only screened in theaters with the feature Wreck-It-Ralph, Disney released its Oscar-contending short, Paperman, online