WhenMortal Kombat 1sexpansion,Khaos Reigns, launched in September, in addition to a new story campaign, it also brought three new characters, along with the promise of three more guest DLC fighters to arrive in the coming weeks. The first of that group, Ghostface fromScream, is set to launch later this month, ahead of which WB Games has released a new gameplay trailer showcasing what the knife-wielding killer will bring to the table.As youd expect, Ghostfaces moveset is heavily reliant on his deadly knife and his vicious slashing skills, combined with his ability to call in other Ghostfaces to his aid. His Fatality, meanwhile, is suitably horrific, as he sneaks up on Johnny Cage as hes playingMortal Kombat 1and brutally stabs him in the back (while Ghostface executes a Fatality on-screen in Johnnys game as well). Check out the trailer below.Mortal Kombat 1is available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Ghostface will join the games roster on November 26, but early access will kick off on November 19 for owners of the expansion, its bundle, or the Kollection.

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UE5 Layered Material Workflow BreakdownDaniel Cormino demonstrates his workflow using layered materials in Unreal Engine 5https://adapt.one/editorial/link/188/UE5+Layered+Material+Workflow+Breakdown/

Disney Coming in 2025A preview of what to expect from Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Disney in 2025.https://adapt.one/editorial/link/187/Disney+%E2%80%93+Coming+in+2025/

Monday, November 11th, 2024Posted by Jim ThackerScene Group releases Cavalry 2.2html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/240206_Cavalry2_particles.mp4Originally posted on 6 February 2024. Scroll down for news of the Cavalry 2.2 update.Scene Group has begun the next big series of releases for Cavalry, its motion design software.Cavalry 2.0 adds animatable scene cameras, making it possible to create 2.5D effects, plus an experimental new particle system, and increases scene playback speed around 200%.A next-gen 2D motion graphics tool inspired by 3D softwareOriginally released in 2020, Cavalry is a procedural animation app combining the power and flexibility of 3D with the ease of use of 2D.Although currently a pure 2D animation tool, it supports workflows that will be familiar to 3D animators, including keyframing, curve editing, deformation, rigging, scattering and instancing.Scene Groups background is also in 3D motion graphics: the firm is a spin-off from Mainframe North, which developed MASH, Mayas motion graphics toolset.Once created, images may be exported in a range of file formats, including as JPEG, PNG or SVG sequences, as animated PNGs, as WEBM or QuickTime movies, or in Lottie format.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/240206_Cavalry2_cameras.mp4Add a Camera to a scene to create 2.5D animationsMajor changes in Cavalry 2.0 include support for Cameras, making it possible to create 2.5D effects like the one above.Users can create Freeform or Look At cameras, with the option to offset the position of the camera and look-at target to create secondary motion, and to set view distance limits for layers.Experimental new particle system creates 2D particle effectsCavalry 2.0 also introduces an experimental new particle system, for creating particle effects.Its still a tech preview, but it already includes a range of standard basic features, including settings for particle shape, and a range of emitter types and modifiers.Particles can be emitted from points, shapes, paths or Distributions; and it is possible to direct particle motion with paths, goals, forces or turbulence.Other new features and performance improvementsOther new features in Cavalry 2.0 include a new Auto-Animate behavior for animating Shapes with fewer keyframes, and support for tapered strokes along Shapes.Workflow improvements include the option to set up overrides for Pre-Comps, making it easier to create variants for a composition.Users can also now group Layers into simplified custom containers called Components, controlling which Attributes are exposed in the UI.Performance improvements include boosts of 10-600% in playback speed: the improvement is greater in complex scenes, but Scene Group says that the average is around 200%.Cavalry also now supports background rendering, making it possible to continue to work while a scene is rendering.https://www.cgchannel.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/240524_Cavalry21_tw.mp4Updated 23 May 2024: Scene Group has released Cavalry 2.1.The update focuses on the audio tools, adding support for multi-track audio playback, and the option to export audio from Cavalry.Audio projects can be exported as AAC files, or in MP4, QuickTime or WebM files. It is also possible to import audiofiles in more formats, now including AAC, MP3 and CAF.Updated 11 November 2024: Scene Group has released Cavalry 2.2.The biggest change in the update is support for OpenType fonts in the Text Shape, with the option to control OpenType features like ligatures and superscript procedurally.It is also possible to create color gradients along Strokes, and to add multiple Strokes to paths.Other changes include the option to fill closed paths with Stitches, new Sweep and Shape Falloff patterns, a new Quick Mask mode, and proportional easing when scaling keyframes.Users of the paid Pro edition also get a new Knot behavior, which automatically adds gaps to paths where they self-intersect, and a new Stroke Duplicator feature.Price and system requirementsCavalry 2.2 is available for Windows 10+ and macOS 12.0+. The full software is available rental-only, with subscriptions costing 192/year (around $245/year). The free edition caps renders at full HD resolution, and lacks the advanced features in this table.Read a full list of new features in Cavalry in the online release notesRead an overview of original Cavalry 2.0 update on Scene Groups blogHave your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we dont post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.Latest NewsBlackmagic Design releases Fusion Studio 19.1Update to the 3D compositing app extends USD and OCIO workflow, and adds new options for toggling between inputs in compositions.Wednesday, November 13th, 2024Blackmagic Design releases DaVinci Resolve 19.1Discover the key features for VFX artists and colorists in the free grading and editing software and its $295 Studio edition.Wednesday, November 13th, 2024Get the Blender Studio's free Brushstroke Tools for BlenderNeat free extension lets you apply painterly brushstrokes to the surface of 3D models while texturing them, and control the strokes procedurally.Tuesday, November 12th, 2024Foundry releases Mari 7.1 in betaUpdated for Beta 2: 3D texture painting app gets new 2D painting mode for editing source images or creating custom decals.Tuesday, November 12th, 2024Scene Group releases Cavalry 2.2Next-gen motion design software gets support for OpenType fonts, plus the option to create color gradients along strokes.Monday, November 11th, 2024Maxon releases ZBrush for iPad 2025.1First update to the iPad edition of the digital sculpting software adds support for texture maps, UV layouts and displacement maps.Friday, November 8th, 2024More NewsFoundry discontinues ModoEpic Games to share new free assets on Fab every two weeksGet 100+ free modular airport assets for Unity and Unreal EngineReallusion adds AI Smart Search to Character Creator and iClonePoly Hammer unveils MetaHuman DNA add-on for BlenderAcademy Software Foundation adopts OpenAPVWRetargetTool is a versatile free Maya animation retargeting toolSketchsoft releases Feather 1.0Tutorial: Creating Cinematic Concept ArtGet ProductionCrate's three new free After Effects pluginsDownload VFX artist David Llopis's free Maya dragon rigChaos releases Enscape 4.2Older Posts

In 1986, Voyager 2 took this image of Uranus during its flyby. NASA / JPL-CaltechIn 1986, when NASAs Voyager 2 flew by the mysterious Uranus, it gave scientists their first close-up peek into the solar systems seventh planet. The discoveries from that singular visit still provide much of astronomers modern understanding of the strange, ice giant world. But now, a new study reveals Uranus was experiencing a rare solar wind event at the time of the flyby, suggesting the understanding that came from the Voyager 2 visit may have been skewed.In a paper published on Monday in Nature Astronomy, researchers argue that if the spacecraft had arrived at Uranus just a few days earlier, it would have discovered something else.The spacecraft saw Uranus in conditions that only occur about 4 percent of the time, says Jamie Jasinski, a physicist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and lead author of the study, in a statement from NASA.Those unusual conditions have to do with Uranus magnetospherea planets protective magnetic bubble that shields it from the solar wind. That 1986 visit encountered an empty magnetosphere around Uranus, oddly devoid of plasma. Astronomers concluded the planet was different compared to others in the solar system, but the new findings suggest its magnetosphere was just being squashed by a solar wind event that sent a stream of plasma and charged particles toward the planet.After traveling some 1.8 billion miles to reach Uranus 38 years ago, Voyager 2 gathered its data on the planet in less than six hours, discovering ten new moons and two rings alongside the void magnetosphere. This James Webb Space Telescope image of Uranus, released last December, shows nine of the planet's moons, which are named after characters in the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope and often known as the "literary moons." NASA, ESA, CSA, STScIWhen Jasinski and his colleagues presented the new research this past summer, it was a surprise for Fran Bagenal, an astrophysicist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who worked with the Voyager plasma science team, reports the New York Times Jonathan OCallaghan.Why didnt we see this? Bagenal tells the outlet. I was kicking myself. It was completely out of the blue.Jasinski had always wondered about the results of the flyby, because it provided only a small peek into the planet, he told the Washington Posts Rachel Pannett in an email. Jasinski has experience with missions that orbited planets and observed changes over much longer periods of time, which led him to believe the conclusions about Uranus may have been flawed.The extreme type of measurements Voyager 2 took always made me wonder if we just caught Uranus at a very specific moment in time, he tells the Washington Post.For scientists, learning more about magnetospheres helps reveal how different planets function. Using the knowledge from the 1986 flyby, astronomers had concluded that the missing plasma around Uranus also meant its moons were inactive.But the new research shows that might not be the case. If the missing plasma was indeed due to solar windwhich would have compressed the planets magnetic bubble and driven plasma outit allows for the possibility that Uranus five major moons might indeed be geologically active.The solar wind event might also have affected the planets radiation belts, regions with lots of energetic and charged particles, by infusing them with even more electrons. This would explain why Voyager 2s observations showed Uranus radiation belts as some of the most intense in our solar system, second only to Jupiter. An artist's conception of Uranus' usual magnetosphere (left) compared to how it behaved during the Voyager 2 flyby (right). NASA / JPL-CaltechLinda Spilker, a planetary scientist at NASA who was not involved in the new study, remembers being glued to the images from the 1986 flyby with anticipation and excitement. The flyby was packed with surprises, and we were searching for an explanation of its unusual behavior. The magnetosphere Voyager 2 measured was only a snapshot in time, she says in the statement.NASA might soon expand its knowledge about Uranus in a missionto the planet, marked as a priority by scientists as part of the most recent Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey. They recommended that NASA put a spacecraft into orbit around the mysterious planet and release a probe into its atmosphere to better understand the solar systems origin and evolution.The Uranus system is one of the big blank spots that are left on our map, Francis Nimmo, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told Scientific Americans Shannon Hall last year.For now, this new work explains some of the apparent contradictions, from the Voyager 2 flyby, Spilker adds in the NASA statement, and it will change our view of Uranus once again.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Astronomy, Astrophysics, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA, New Research, Outer Space, Planets, Solar System, Sun, Uranus

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Microsoft interested in more M&A, Spencer says"We're not going to grow the market with $1,000 consoles," Microsoft Gaming boss says as the firm looks at mobile News by Marie Dealessandri Deputy Editor Published on Nov. 13, 2024 Microsoft still has an eye on potential games-related acquisitions, particularly in mobile or in places that could add "geographic diversity" to Xbox's portfolio.That's according to a Phil Spencer interview with Bloomberg, with the Microsoft Gaming boss adding: "We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we're trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up."He reportedly added that there aren't any "imminent" deals though, and that large companies are likely not what the firm would be targeting as it's still in transition following the ABK acquisition.Spencer also said that Microsoft is in particular interested in China, especially following its successful launch of Age of Empires Mobile in partnership with Tencent."It's been a good area for us to learn from creative teams that have real unique capability," he said. "The real opportunity is to partner with creative teams in China for global."Still on the topic of mobile, Spencer said he's feeling "pretty good about where this industry is going," adding: "To reach new players, we need to be creative and adaptive of new business models, new devices, new ways of access. We're not going to grow the market with $1,000 consoles."He added that Xbox's mobile storefront, which was due to launch this summer, has been delayed to an unspecified date as the company further researches the market.Spencer also shared that Microsoft is looking at handheld and working on hardware prototypes on that front, though anything more concrete is "a few years out" for Xbox.He touched upon the topic of Xbox games on Sony and Nintendo's platforms as well, saying we should expect Microsoft to do more cross-platform launches of its IP going forward."I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say 'thou must not'," he told Bloomberg.Microsoft recently released its financial results for Q1 of its fiscal year 2025, showing strong growth over its gaming segments following the Activision acquisition, though Xbox hardware revenue is down.

Google/Tech/AndroidPixel phones will be able to detect and report malicious apps in real timePixel phones will be able to detect and report malicious apps in real time / The new Play Protect feature is available to Pixel phones now and rolling out to additional OEMs soon.By Allison Johnson, a reviewer with 10 years of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview. Nov 13, 2024, 9:13 PM UTCShare this storyGoogle versus the bad guys. Illustration: Alex Castro / The VergeGoogle is beefing up its malware detection with new protections designed to suss out ever-sneakier bad actors. Androids Google Play Protect service is getting an update called live threat detection which seeks out potentially harmful apps on your phone by analyzing app behavior and alerts you in realtime if something looks fishy. The update was first announced at Google I/O earlier this year and is available now to Pixel 6 and newer phones. It should come to additional non-Pixel Android phones from Lenovo, OnePlus, Nothing, and Oppo, among others in the coming months.Live threat detection targets particularly hard-to-spot malware apps that hide their intentions well. Rather than just scanning apps for malicious code when you download them, Play Protect will keep looking for signs of suspicious app behavior even after theyre on your phone. This can help it spot malware that remains dormant at first and later starts engaging in malicious activity. This detection takes place on-device using an Android privacy infrastructure called Private Compute Core to help keep user data secure, and users will get real-time alerts to take action if needed. Google is rolling out another security feature today, too: scam call detection. Also announced at I/O, this feature uses on-device AI to analyze phone calls and looks for signs that that caller is a scammer. If it spots suspicious conversational patterns or requests typical of scam attempts, it will flag the user and encourage them to end the call. Its only available to members of the Phone by Google apps beta program with a Pixel 6 or later (as of this morning that program appears to be full) and will roll out to more Android phones in the future.Most PopularMost Popular