Now out of public beta, an update of the open source high dynamic range file format OpenEXR to include several new features, including deep data support, has been released with version 2.0.

Here’s a couple of broadcast design and idents projects that have caught our eye recently – from NASCAR to MTV and the BBC – featuring work by The Mill, Polynoid and Engine Room.

Behind the scenes of an Iron Man-themed Verizon TV spot, with visual effects by The Embassy.

Some of the best game engine and tech demos from this year’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

See the new announcements from Autodesk for Maya, 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage and Sketchbook Designer.

In the second of our reports from GTC, we cover HFR with Douglas Trumbull, ZOIC’s ZEUS pipeline, Rhythm & Hues Crom VFX platform, as well as a few more details about Octane’s cloud solution and the GRID VCA.

With J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek: Into Darkness only a few months away from opening, the film’s distributors staged a Trek-themed quadrocopter light display as part of WWF’s Earth Hour over the weekend in London. Stunt? Sure, but a fun one – see the video here.

The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) advances GPU computing in computer graphics, games, mobile, and the cloud. For the vfx and production, this tech is has become an incredibly important part of the process and today we cover new announcements from the NVIDIA keynote.

A look at the innovative use of effects in some recent spots by Digital Domain, Important Looking Pirates, Poetica, Framestore, Alt.vfx and Realise Studio. Includes an EXCLUSIVE breakdown from DD for their Dead Space 3 game promo.

Houdini 12.5 is now available, the impressive new tools include an Ocean FX Wave tool, and a Cloud FX generator – part of a DreamWorks Animation & Side Effects Software collaboration!

Here’s how to RSVP to VFX Town Hall meetings happening in LA, the Bay Area, Austin and Vancouver on March 14th, plus details of the planned live broadcast.

Luxology announced a new version of their 3D package today, which contains new features, optimizations, a new Linux version, as well as an increase in price.

EA’s SimCity server troubles have highlighted the problem of being online, all the time.