PFTracK, the video production tool used for tracking and match-moving (i.e. inserting special effects into real footage video), has released the Personal Learning Edition of its latest version. The PLE of PFTrack is a fully function edition that will allows students and professionals to evaluate and master PFTrack without the need to purchase a license. You can learn more about this video production tool from its official website here.

Just in time for the holidays, Adobe released new updates to AIR and Flex along with a first time release of a new technology called BlazeDS. Adobe AIR Beta 3 is the latest update to Adobe’s cross-platform runtime for deploying web-enabled desktop applications created using Flash, HTML, and Ajax. The latest update includes various features such as the functionality to run applications at start-up and the detection and launch of installed AIR applications from a web browser. The first application made by AIR Beta 3 is Adobe’s new desktop version of Kuler, Adobe’s color theme creation tool.

Adobe also released the new update to its open-source framework for creating rich internet applications, the new Beta 3 of Flex includes updates to the Flex SDK and the Flex Builder.

The last major release by Adobe this week is BlazeDS, a new technology for pushing information live from a server to Flex and AIR applications without the need for the client-side application to request a data update. This new technology is distributed under the LGPL vs3 making it available to developers free of charge. The source code of BlazeDS will be available for download early in 2008.

Microsoft released today a new version of its Xbox360 and Windows game development platform XNA. XNA was released last year as a free tool for hobbyists and studios alike to easily develop games using Visual C# 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework. The new XNA Game Studio 2.0 offers 15 new features from which the most note worthy is the ability to create online multiplayer games for the both the Xbox360 and Windows through Xbox LIVE. Learn more about this new release from XNA’s official page.

Adobe released yesterday the developer edition of the latest version of the Flash Lite player. Developers from all around the world can now download and try the Flash Lite 3 player on any Nokia S60 3rd edition mobile phone. This latest update brings Flash video playback support to mobile devices and enhances the performance of the player up to 30%, but it does not however bring ActionScript 3.0 support yet and uses ActionScript 2.0 instead. Authoring Flash Lite 3 content requires the latest updates to both Flash CS3 authoring tool and Device Central CS3 for managing the creation of mobile content and the emulation of mobile devices. You can download the player from Adobe Labs here.

Adobe released yesterday the latest issue of Adobe Magazine, its free quarterly online publication on visual communication. The latest issue that could be downloaded in PDF format explores the expansion multimedia onto cellular screens, the merger of technology and biology through photography, adding interactivity to print, and creating high quality videos on a limited budget. You can download this issue of the Adobe Magazine and check out previous issues as well from the Adobe Magazine website.

Softimage recently released a 30-day trial version of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5. Softimage is well known software for 3D modelling, character creation, animation and rendering. The new 30-Day trial version is available in English and Japanese, and it will make it possible for students and professionals to try the new features of SOFTIMAGE|XSI 6.5. The trial can be downloaded from this link.

Pixologic announced the release of a 30 days trial version of its well known 3D sculpturing, painting and rendering tool; ZBrush 3.1. This 30 days trial is a fully functional version of ZBrush 3.1. You can download the 30 days trial version for Windows operating systems from this link, www.pixologic.com/zbrush/trial

Three years has passed since the last update of GIMP, the open source image editing and image authoring program for the Linux, Windows, and Mac OSes. Highlights of the new update include scalable filters, redesigned selection tools, new align tool, newly organised menus, and additional supported format.

GIMP is totally free, so there is no excuse not to give it a try. The UI is different from that of Adobe’s Photoshop, so it might take you a while to get used to it.

Please be aware that running GIMP requires the GTK + 2 Runtime which you can download from here.

You can learn more about GIMP and download it for free from the GIMP homepage.

[via Download Squad]

Autodesk released today the 30-day trial of its latest update to its 3D modeling, texturing, and animation tool 3DS Max. The new version is features accelerated performance as noted by the users of CGTalk, a new integrated MAXScript Pro editor, and a new ‘Review’ toolset for providing instant feedback on certain render settings. Ryan Lesser has written a detailed review of the new MAX over at VFXWord where he came to the conclusion that Max 2008 falls short of being a major milestone, but “as a productivity booster and overall enjoyable experience, this rev of Max delivers“.

You can download the trial version of 3DS Max from here to judge it yourself.

[via CGIndia]

Adobe recently announced the official release of Flash Lite 3, the latest version of the player for mobile devices brings support to FLV video similar to the experience we currently have on the web. Unfortunately, the new Flash Lite 3 does not support ActionScript 3 though features 15-20% improved ActionScript performance and 20-30% rendering performance over Flash Lite 2.1. You can view the launch press release at Adobe or view the Feature Comparison table.

The first Flash Lite 3 supported device is expected to be Chumby, the widget powered internet gadget.