Nationwide nonresidential construction spending decreased by 0.1% in the month of November, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) analysis of recent U.S. Census Bureau data. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.23 trillion.According to the ABC, private nonresidential spending went unchanged while public nonresidential construction spending was down by 0.2% in November.On a year-over-year basis, nonresidential construction spending is up 2.8% but remained nearly flat in "inflation-adjusted terms."Table credit: Associated Builders and Contractors"Contractor confidence surged post-election," said the ABCs Chief Economist Anirban Basu. "Many contractors expect a combination of deregulation and tax cuts to support greater activity and profitability going forward, including substantial investment in traditional energy sectors and manufacturing. Still, there are reasons for concern."Table credit: Associated Builders and Co...

Amid the homogeneous grayscape that we currently find ourselves in, the loss of the Sunset Boulevard Arbys seemed to symbolize the loss of something greater a time when public spaces were fun and wacky, and when something as humble as a fast-food restaurant was designed to stun.The plight of many iconic post-war fast food restaurants in Southern California, which saw more than a few noteworthywins and losses locally in 2024, embodies the shifts in urban culture towards more precise, smartphone-directed daily itineraries while outlining some things we already know about the effects high rents and labor costs have had on public design, the New York Times' AnnaKod says.The Googie architecture of its often under-heralded champion, Helen Liu Fong, is one of the biggest victims. Leading advocate and architectural historian Alan Hess tells the outlet: "Ive been involved in historic preservation for a long time, and there arent many real success stories, sadly."

With PC gamers and hardware enthusiasts everywhere waiting for Nvidia to unveil its 50-series line-up of GeForce RTX graphics cards this week, the leaks have kept on coming. VideoCardz has managed to get its hands on a picture of the highest-end GPU that will be available for the new line-up: the GeForce RTX 5090.While some of the details about the GPU, such as what kind of power connector it will need, are still unknown, a few other details can be gleaned from the pictures. GPU will be a thick one, with the one pictured made by Inno3D and its iChill cooler coming in at 3.5 slots. A picture of the GPUs packaging also indicates that it will feature 32 GB of GDDR7 memory.The GPU will also likely include other new RTX-based features, such as DLSS 4. Interestingly, the leak indicates that the RTX 5090 will end up having double the amount of VRAM when compared to the RTX 5080, details of which were leaked according to an earlier report.Nvidias new top of the line GPU is expected to have some incredible horsepower, with more than 21,000 CUDA cores, and to power all of this, will likely need more than 500W of breathing room on your power supply.

After its sudden delisting from the Nintendo eShop last month, Square Enixs Triangle Strategy is available once more. Though it didnt affect game owners, who could re-download the title, the delisting prevented newcomers from purchasing the strategy role-playing game.Fortunately, its now resolved, even if the publisher didnt indicate what caused the delisting. A similar issue seemingly affected Octopath Traveler, causing its delisting. It was eventually revealed to have changed its publisher to Square Enix on returning. Sure enough, Triangle Strategy is now listed as published by Square Enix instead of Nintendo, which originally published the Switch version worldwide.Triangle Strategy is also available for PC and, more recently, for Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest Pro and Meta Quest 3. It crossed one million in digital sales and shipments worldwide in December 2022, with Square Enix yet to provide updated figures. As for developer Artdink, it recently released Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake for consoles and PC. Check out our review here.Triangle Strategy is once again available to purchase on Nintendo Switch eShop.Thank you for your patience. Square Enix (@SquareEnix) January 6, 2025

NetEase Games released the first trailer for Marvel Rivals Season 1, Eternal Night Falls. After Doctor Strange is waylaid by the Timestream Entanglement (the same phenomenon resulting in all the Marvel icons clashing), the Darkhold is scattered. And unfortunately, who should spread darkness to New York City but Dracula?Though vampires befall the city, its not defenseless as the Fantastic Four rise to challenge them. We get brief looks at The Thing, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic as they briefly demonstrate their powers, but theres no gameplay yet. Its also unknown if Dracula will play some kind of role beyond looking menacing (and potentially providing voiceovers).Marvel Rivals Season 1 begins on January 10th, 1 AM PST, and lasts three months. The vampire-infested New York City seems to be the newest map, and fans can expect a full Luxury Battle Pass for $9.99. Stay tuned for more details on the cosmetics, including alternate outfits for the Fantastic Four members, alongside all the balance changes. You can also read our review of the game here.

Monday, January 6th, 2025Posted by Jim ThackerMaxon buys Laubwerkhtml PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"A scene created by architectural visualization firm Imminent Studio using Laubwerks 3D plant assets. Laubwerk has now been acquired by Cinema 4D and Redshift developer Maxon.Maxon has acquired procedural 3D plant model developer Laubwerk.A selection of Laubwerks trees and plants are now available to Cinema 4D users with Maxon One subscriptions, but the old Laubwerk e-store has been taken offline.An established developer of high-quality 3D plants for visualization and VFXFounded in 2010, Laubwerk develops procedural 3D plant models compatible with a range of DCC software.Although used by VFX facilities like DNEG, its core audience is in architecture and architectural visualization, where its clients include Foster + Partners, Perkins Eastman and The Boundary.At the time of its acquisition, it had 27 Plant Kits available for sale, each consisting of a set of 10 plant species, primarily trees, each with 36 age and seasonal variants.The kits were bundled with the Laubwerk Player software, which enabled users to drag and drop the assets into host DCC apps, and were priced at 119-149 each.Now available via Capsules for Maxon One SubscribersThose assets will now become available via Capsules, Maxons library of stock content for users with Maxon One subscriptions.Priced at $169/month or $1,265/year, Maxon One plans provide access to all of Maxons software, which includes Cinema 4D, Redshift, ZBrush, and the Red Giant tools.Maxon One subscribers already have access to a selection of Redshift-ready trees and plants within the Cinema 4D Asset Browser, with more due in future.No details on the future of Laubwerk plants for non-Maxon applicationsHowever, the old Laubwerk website (you can see a snapshot of it from December 2024 here) now redirects to Maxon, removing access to its e-store.That ends the sale of individual plant kits, at least for the moment, both for Cinema 4D users and users of the other DCC apps that they supported: 3ds Max, Maya, SketchUp and Vectorworks.Maxons blog post announcing the acquisition states, enigmatically, that existing Laubwerk customers for other products should keep watching this space for future developments.Weve contacted Maxon to see if we can get any more details, and will update if we hear back.Read Maxons official announcement of its acquisition of LaubwerkHave 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 NewsMaxon buys LaubwerkLaubwerk's 3D plant models are now available to Cinema 4D users with Maxon One subscriptions, but are no longer for sale online.Monday, January 6th, 2025Tik Manager 4 is a lightweight, robust open-source pipeline toolPromising project management tool for VFX, animation and games is intuitive enough for non-TDs, but robust enough for bigger projects.Monday, January 6th, 2025Free add-on Paint System 'turns Blender into Photoshop'Intuitive add-on for painting non-photorealistic textures implements Photoshop-style layer painting inside the open-source 3D app.Monday, January 6th, 2025Photoshop render compositing add-on Post Manager is now freePulze's handy add-on streamlines the process of building and updating complex Photoshop files from V-Ray or Corona renders.Sunday, January 5th, 2025Tutorial: Creating a Swamp & Mud Monster in HoudiniCreate a creature, environment and FX simulation entirely in Houdini with The Gnomon Workshop's beginner-friendly new tutorial.Saturday, January 4th, 2025Celsys unveils Clip Studio Paint 4Check out the new features in the digital painting software for comics, illustrations and concept art, including updates to the 3D toolset.Friday, January 3rd, 2025More NewsGet 95 free modular village assets for Unreal EngineThe Pixel Farm releases PFTrack 24.12.19Get unusual iOS digital painting app Flame Painter for freeFaceform releases Wrap 2024.11 and Wrap4D 2024.11DreamWorks Animation releases MoonRay 1.7Sparseal releases Uniform 1.3Happy holidays to all CG Channel readers!Tutorial: Introduction to Marvelous DesignerBlack Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday 2024 deals for CG artistsRandomControl releases Maverick Indie and Maverick Studio 2024Pilgway releases 3DCoat 2024.30Terragen Sky now lets you paint clouds into the sky directlyOlder Posts

LG kicked off the AI bandwagon today with a new set of AI services to help consumers in their daily tasks at home, in the car and in the office.Read More

Qualcomm unveiled AI technologies and collaborations for PCs, cars, smart homes and enterprises at CES 2025. At the big tech trade show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm Technologies showed how its using AI capabilities in its chips to drive the transformation of user experiences across diverse device categories, including PCs, automobiles, smart homesRead More

The Ulticam security camera brand has a new model out today: the Ulticam IQ Floodlight, an edge AI-powered home security camera.Read More

Xbox brings cloud gaming to LG Smart TVsGame Pass Ultimate members will be able to play games directly via the appImage credit: Xbox News by Vikki Blake Contributor Published on Jan. 6, 2025 Xbox has partnered with LG Electronics to bring the Xbox App to LG Smart TVs.From February 18, some LG Smart TVs will offer the Xbox App, enabling Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to stream selected games from their collections via the cloud."With Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and a compatible Bluetooth-enabled wireless controller, players will be able to play games through the Xbox app (available in LGs Gaming Portal) via cloud gaming," Xbox explained."Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can also play select games they own beyond the Game Pass catalogue.""This gives players even more choice in how they enjoy their favourite game," said Lori Wright, Xbox's corporate vice-president, gaming partnerships and business development.In related news, Microsoft's plan to enable Android users to buy and play console games via the Xbox app was recently delayed, seemingly due to the ongoing legal dispute between Google and Epic Games.