With SIGGRAPH 2005 in full swing at the L.A. Convention Center, now would be a good time to get an update on the major announcements that have been made so far. For those of you not in the know SIGGRAPH is the annual conference for the computer graphics industry. Since many of the DV users out there will be using some of these applications for their next project I figured a rundown of the major announcements would be helpful.

Autodesk makers of 3ds Max have announced 3ds Max8 the latest update to their popular 3d modeling and animation software. Expect some nice new features to be included when the software is released in the fall.

Avid Technology has also updated its flagship 3d modeling and animation software SOFTIMAGE|XSI to version 5.0. Improvements include the ability for 64-bit processing and the software should hit store shelves in September.

Finally Alias has updated its popular Maya software to version 7, but you can read all about that a couple of posts down. SIGGRAPH 2005 runs until the 4th, so if you are in the L.A. area and you want to check out all the new software in person get yourself to the Convention Center.