Here’s a roundup of the major VFX news from the past week across creative tools, workflows, and open source developments:
Seedance 2.0 — Next-Gen AI Video Generation
Seedance 2.0 grabbed attention as one of the most talked-about AI video generation engines. It promises frame-level precision, multimodal input (images, video, audio, text), and consistent character and composition control for production work.
Creators are sharing early previews and demos showing lip sync and complex scene generation capabilities, sparking excitement about its potential for storytelling and motion creation.
Video preview example
PureRef 2.1 Workflow Enhancements for Concept and Reference Boards
The stable release of PureRef 2.1 delivered significant workflow upgrades for artists who organise reference imagery. Notable improvements include:
- Shape drawing tools (circles, squares, lines)
- Background grid with snapping
- Batch image optimisation controls
- Recent projects overview with thumbnails
- Interface translations in multiple languages
This update makes concept art boards more ergonomic and flexible for VFX and CG work.
OpenRV 3.1 Open Source Media Review Tool Advances
The open source review and playback tool OpenRV 3.1.0 saw a new release with plenty of quality-of-life upgrades, including:
- macOS Tahoe 26.2 support and other platform improvements
- Better annotation rendering and UI stability
- Extended audio track support
- Rec. 2020 YCbCr to RGB and SMPTE transforms
- Enhanced scripting and playback behaviours
OpenRV continues to mature as a community-driven replacement for proprietary review tools in VFX and animation pipelines.
ONYX OFX New OFX Plugin Ecosystem Signals Growth
While specific details on ONYX OFX launches this week are scarce, the emergence of a new OFX-centric plugin ecosystem suggests momentum around high-performance compositing effects and cross-host interoperability in tools like Nuke, Resolve, Fusion Studio and others through the OpenFX standard.
OFX remains the foundation for many third-party plugins in VFX workflows, bridging tools and expanding creative effects options.
AI Upscaling Handbook for ComfyUI
The AI Upscaling Handbook published on the ComfyUI blog is a deep dive into how to effectively upscale imagery and video using AI models within the ComfyUI workflow environment. It covers:
- Benchmarks and performance tips
- Creative vs conservative upscaling approaches
- Best model choices for portraits, landscapes and video
- Practical workflows for sharper high-resolution outputs
This kind of structured knowledge is becoming increasingly essential as AI upscaling becomes part of VFX refinement pipelines.
AI Upscale Concepts Snapshot
Superman with Gaussian Splats Concept
Vfx breakdown demonstrations online show how splat-based rendering mixes with AI tools to iterate on stylised visual effects, foreshadowing more hybrid workflows blending classic and AI-driven rendering approaches.
If you want a detailed analysis or links to workflows for any of these tools, let me know.
