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ByteDance Seedream 4.0 – Super‑fast, 4K, multi image support
https://seed.bytedance.com/en/seedream4_0
➤ Super‑fast, high‑resolution results : resolutions up to 4K, producing a 2K image in less than 1.8 seconds, all while maintining sharpness and realism.
➤ At 4K, cost as low as 0.03 $ per generation.
➤ Natural‑language editing – You can instruct the model to “remove the people in the background,” “add a helmet” or “replace this with that,” and it executes without needing complicated prompts.
➤ Multi‑image input and output – It can combine multiple images, transfer styles and produce storyboards or series with consistent characters and themes.
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OpenAI Backs Critterz, an AI-Made Animated Feature Film
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/openai-backs-ai-made-animated-feature-film-389f70b0
Film, called ‘Critterz,’ aims to debut at Cannes Film Festival and will leverage startup’s AI tools and resources.
“Critterz,” about forest creatures who go on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger, is the brainchild of Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI. Nelson started sketching out the characters three years ago while trying to make a short film with what was then OpenAI’s new DALL-E image-generation tool.
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AI and the Law: Anthropic to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Book Piracy Class Action Lawsuit
https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/anthropic-class-action-settlement-billion-1236509571
The settlement amounts to about $3,000 per book and is believed to be the largest ever recovery in a U.S. copyright case, according to the plaintiffs’ attorneys.
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Sir Peter Jackson’s Wētā FX records $140m loss in two years, amid staff layoffs
https://www.thepost.co.nz/business/360813799/weta-fx-posts-59m-loss-amid-industry-headwinds
Wētā FX, Sir Peter Jackson’s largest business has posted a $59.3 million loss for the year to March 31, an improvement on an $83m loss last year.
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ComfyUI Thinkbox Deadline plugin
Submit ComfyUI workflows to Thinkbox Deadline render farm.
Features
- Submit ComfyUI workflows directly to Deadline
- Batch rendering with seed variation
- Real-time progress monitoring via Deadline Monitor
- Configurable pools, groups, and priorities
https://github.com/doubletwisted/ComfyUI-Deadline-Plugin
https://docs.thinkboxsoftware.com/products/deadline/latest/1_User%20Manual/manual/overview.html
Deadline 10 is a cross-platform render farm management tool for Windows, Linux, and macOS. It gives users control of their rendering resources and can be used on-premises, in the cloud, or both. It handles asset syncing to the cloud, manages data transfers, and supports tagging for cost tracking purposes.
Deadline 10’s Remote Connection Server allows for communication over HTTPS, improving performance and scalability. Where supported, users can use usage-based licensing to supplement their existing fixed pool of software licenses when rendering through Deadline 10.
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Google’s Nano Banana AI: Free Tool for 3D Architecture Models
https://landscapearchitecture.store/blogs/news/nano-banana-ai-free-tool-for-3d-architecture-models
How to Use Nano Banana AI for Architecture- Go to Google AI Studio.
- Log in with your Gmail and select Gemini 2.5 (Nano Banana).
- Upload a photo — either from your laptop or a Google Street View screenshot.
- Paste this example prompt:
“Use the provided architectural photo as reference. Generate a high-fidelity 3D building model in the look of a 3D-printed architecture model.” - Wait a few seconds, and your 3D architecture model will be ready.
Pro tip: If you want more accuracy, upload two images — a street photo for the facade and an aerial view for the roof/top.
FEATURED POSTS
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Photography basics: Solid Angle measures
http://www.calculator.org/property.aspx?name=solid+angle
A measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. Thus. A measure for objects in the sky. Useful to retuen the size of the sun and moon… and in perspective, how much of their contribution to lighting. Solid angle can be represented in ‘angular diameter’ as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_angle
http://www.mathsisfun.com/geometry/steradian.html
A solid angle is expressed in a dimensionless unit called a steradian (symbol: sr). By default in terms of the total celestial sphere and before atmospheric’s scattering, the Sun and the Moon subtend fractional areas of 0.000546% (Sun) and 0.000531% (Moon).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid_angle#Sun_and_Moon
On earth the sun is likely closer to 0.00011 solid angle after athmospheric scattering. The sun as perceived from earth has a diameter of 0.53 degrees. This is about 0.000064 solid angle.
http://www.numericana.com/answer/angles.htm
The mean angular diameter of the full moon is 2q = 0.52° (it varies with time around that average, by about 0.009°). This translates into a solid angle of 0.0000647 sr, which means that the whole night sky covers a solid angle roughly one hundred thousand times greater than the full moon.
More info
http://lcogt.net/spacebook/using-angles-describe-positions-and-apparent-sizes-objects
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/glossary/def.php.s=topic_astronomy
Angular Size
The apparent size of an object as seen by an observer; expressed in units of degrees (of arc), arc minutes, or arc seconds. The moon, as viewed from the Earth, has an angular diameter of one-half a degree.
The angle covered by the diameter of the full moon is about 31 arcmin or 1/2°, so astronomers would say the Moon’s angular diameter is 31 arcmin, or the Moon subtends an angle of 31 arcmin.
