We completely rewrote the core rendering logic of Dust Particles+, switching to point-based sprites with virtual UV mapping. Expect massive performance gains for both the Free and Pro versions.

In this video:

• What makes Geometry Nodes particles so powerful
• Why AI-generated motion graphics hit a wall fast
• Dust Particles+ 1.3 features (including 3d presets and BIRBS!)
• The new rendering architecture behind the 1.3 performance gain

Big thanks to Shahzod Boyhonov aka Specoolar for helping us with the virtual UV mapping for point primitives.

Get Dust Particles+ v1.3 on Gumroad

Get Dust Particles+ v1.3 on Superhive

—

Dust Particles 1.3 Changelog:

Lite & Pro

• Changed from camera-facing planes to points with virtual UV mapping (5-10x faster)
• Scale with bounding box (there was a request to bring that back)
• Transparency variation (in addition to emission variation)
• Dithered alpha option
• Cast shadow option
• Bug fixes and optimisations
• New thumbnails

Pro only

• Custom 3D Objects; birds, bees, flies, moths, leaves, papers, clumps, raindrop – each with its own geometry nodes control in the modifier panel
• Added ‘Use texture color’ option to preserve more varied texture colors on some of the objects (e.g. birds and bees)
• 3D Object deformation options (good for floating bags and underwater stuff)
• Align rotation to direction
• Random rotation amount (should work for 2d and 3d)
• Particles following curves can now be influenced by the curves radius and tilt

The post Dust Particles+ 1.3 is a Game Changer (5-10x FASTER) appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Cinematic Lighting Remastered on Superhive

Cinematic Lighting Remastered on Gumroad

—

What’s New in Remastered?

Here’s a changelog for the updated Cinematic Lighting (v 1.3, 2026).

TLDR:

• Our foundational lighting course – updated and remastered for Blender 5.x (course version 1.3)
• Free update for existing users
• Over 2 hours of brand-new content: Sea Shore (Cinematic Outdoor Lighting)
• Many hours re-recorded from scratch
• Completely remade Post-production Essentials and Monastery Dungeon chapters
• Blender 5.x-related inserts into original videos from Minerals, Robo and other chapters
• Updated Project Files (for Blender 5.0 and higher)
• More lighting theory
• Improved flow and user experience.

Worth re-downloading and re-watching (especially the new and reworked chapters), even if you’ve watched the original one.

Full changelog (v 1.3):

• The videos, especially from the Minerals and Robo chapters are supplemented with the Blender
  5.x inserts dealing with the changed / new features like Light Source Temperature and so on. The
  inserts are seamlessly integrated into the videos – re-rendered and subtitled anew.
• The folder structure is optimized. New, clearer naming conventions.
• Improvements to the overall flow of the course.
  The Light Groups section was moved from the Robo chapter to Bonuses – to make the learning
  experience more streamlined, e.g. moving from the Robo character lighting straight to the new
  Monastery Dungeon chapter.
• An improved cross-referencing of tutorials (from within other tutorials).
• More theory and lighting foundations peppered around the videos.
• Note: No DLSS denoising for Cycles mentioned yet – waiting for this feature to mature and the
  NVidia licensing issues sorted out. Will be covered in a separate video.

Videos Info

Intro

• A new introduction video (v 1.3)

Minerals

• Minerals: new explainer of Cycles vs Eevee differences.
• Minerals: a reworked section on the Principled BSDF material properties in the context of
  lighting (“Lighting and Materials”).
• Minerals: the Subsurface Scattering update. The fix to the .blend file in the project files.
• The new view transforms comparison (ACES, Khronos etc).
• A new anisotropy explainer
• Animated Dust Particles mention

Post-processing Essentials (Chapter 01b) – Re-recorded from scratch

• New content: +1h02min
• A new, Blender 5.x-based workflow for post-processing in the compositor and the color
  management panels.
• A mini-collection of EXRs for practicing color correction

Robo

• Light Ratios section expanded. How to measure light ratios (15:1, 2:1 and so on) sampling the
  pixel intensity.
• Beam shape spread extra
• Light linking mention
• Light temperature 5.x
• A minor update to the volume section
• Animated particles mention
• View Transforms comparison
• IMPORTANT: The entire Light Groups section moved to a new BONUS folder.

Monastery Dungeon – Environment Lighting in Eevee

• New content: +1h10min
• Completely remade for Blender 5.x and supplemented with the extended theory parts and new
  techniques for illuminating enclosed spaces.
• New theory: radial and linear falloff; room as an inverted sphere;
• Real-time rendering primer

Warehouse – Environment Lighting in Cycles

• Flat vs Cinematic lighting in enclosed spaces – explainer
• View transforms comparison
• Volume: density and anisotropy
• New post-pro nodes (Tune Image in 5.x and more) and color management settings update

Night Lighting extension

• Minor tweaks (pretty much no significant changes)

Sea Shore – Cinematic Outdoor Lighting – a brand new chapter

• New content: +1h22min
• Learn the impactful outdoor lighting workflows which use the built-in Sky Texture – Multiple
  Scattering – and a custom-built multilayer lighting setup.
• The project files: Alembic-baked fluid sim (FLIP Fluids); 1 and 48 frames; no add-ons required.
• The extended baked animation is available via Google Drive

• Added references to the EEVEE Realistic Lighting and Rendering course for context.
• A new folder, YOUTUBE. Some of our relevant lighting tutorials from YouTube are now bundled in. Included is a video on navigating the course content by searching in the subtitle files.
• A new folder: BONUS. The Light Groups section has been moved to BONUS.

• All project files put up to date and prepared for Blender 5.0 and higher.
• New subtitles (En) generated and manually edited for all videos.
• Changes to the product pages on Superhive and Gumroad.
• Updated total duration (13+ hours, up from 9+).
• An updated ‘x- BONUS 02 MISC -x’ folder – extra images and videos
• A new ‘xx START HERE 2026 xx’ folder
• The full changelog written.

The post Cinematic Lighting – Updated and Remastered for Blender 5.x (2026) appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

We also have a sneak peek at the upcoming EEVEE course, artistic thinking, and the broader creative patterns behind creating atmosphere, mood, and storytelling with light.

https://www.creativeshrimp.com/free-sample-eevee-lighting – wishlist EEVEE Realistic Lighting & Rendering course (coming soon)

Originally streamed on Thursday, October 30th at 19:00 UTC (14:00 CST)
Hosted by Andres Stephens (Trinumedia)

Check out Trinumedia:
https://www.trinumedia.com/
https://www.trinumedia.com/events/bewithartists
https://www.youtube.com/@trinumedia

The post A Long Chat About Lighting, Style & Creativity (on Trinumedia’s Podcast) appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Apply a coupon code shrimpvege20 for 20% discount .

Whether you’re into archviz, concept art, or animation, watch this video to see if this add-on can speed up your workflow for natural environments .

—

What You’ll Learn in This Video

In this tutorial, we take a look at the Vegetation Add-On V6 for Blender and explore its latest update. The video walks you through the setup process and shows practical examples of how to use the add-on in your projects.

You’ll learn:

• How to install and configure the Vegetation add-on in Blender.
• What’s new in version 6, including over 120 additional plants and ready-made biomes.
• How to add, scatter, and adjust plants in a scene.
• Ways to work with the library system.
• Scattering massive forests (with free Gscatter and Biome Reader plugins)
• The seasons system
• Wind
• Practical uses for forests, ground cover, and natural scene details.

—

Links and Credits:

Renders:

Artur Szóstakowski

Black Image

gurjas.studios

Reynante Martinez

William Landgren – Impetus Blender Short

dr.papperoni

—

Music:

Way back when – Patrick Patrikios

—

Blender Add-ons and Asset Packs:

Tree Vegetation – Tree And Plant Animation Library Addon (affiliate link)

Geoscatter

Biome Reader (free)

Gscatter (free)

Foundations of the Earth (affiliate link)

Polyhaven nature models (free)

Baga Ivy Generator

—

Sketchfab models:

Charlton Auxiliary Pumping Station by artfletch (CC Attribution)

Moss covered rock pile by Lassi Kaukonen (CC Attribution)

—

Blender tutorials:

Vegetation V6 for Blender: what’s new? (official)

Vegetation Add-On V6 Review & Tutorial | Blender Nature Made Easy?

New Realistic Terrain Library for Blender | Foundations of the Earth

Outdoor Lighting in 3D | Is there a magic formula?

—

Our Other Courses and Tutorials You May Also Like

New Realistic Terrain Library for Blender | Foundations of the Earth

—

Outdoor Lighting in 3D – is There a Magic Formula?

—

List

Get more creative tips – subscribe to our newsletter!

The post Vegetation Add-On V6 Review & Tutorial | Blender Nature Made Easy? appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Download the Free Mini-course

—

What is Render Raw?

Render Raw is a commercial Blender add-on by Jonathan Lampel that gives you a unified color grading panel — a bit like what you’d see in Lightroom or DaVinci Resolve, but built directly into Blender.

Grab a limited-time 10% discount on Render Raw with our special coupon code rawshrimp

Buy Render Raw on Superhive (affiliate link)

—

Color Grading in Render Raw: What you’ll learn?

• How to use Render Raw Cleaner Color Grading for Blender
• Step-by-step Raw-Like Workflow
• Pro color correction tools
• Thinking like a colorist

—

What Does “Raw” Mean?

The “Raw” in Render Raw refers to using Blender’s Raw View Transform. This gives the add-on direct access to the raw pixel data from your render, allowing it to build its own powerful color grading system inside the compositor. In essence, Render Raw is a “mega-node” that overrides Blender’s default color management, doing all the complex work behind the scenes as you simply adjust the sliders.

The Core Concept: Pre-Grade vs. Post-Grade

Before touching any sliders, it’s critical to understand probably the most important concept in a professional color workflow: the difference between pre-grade and post-grade adjustments.

The Protective Power of View Transforms (Pre-Grade)

Tools like Blender’s AgX and Filmic are called View Transforms. Their job is to take the raw, high-dynamic-range data from the renderer and map it into a viewable image for your screen. They were designed to mimic how real film emulsion reacts to light. As more light hits the film, it becomes less sensitive and desaturated, which creates a smooth, cinematic highlight roll-off and prevents harsh clipping where bright areas turn into flat, ugly white spots.

For this to work, color adjustments must happen before the view transform is applied. This is the pre-grade stage.

For instance, Exposure and Contrast in Render Raw are pre-grade adjustments. They work directly on the raw render data. Even if you push the exposure very high, the AgX view transform acts as a protective layer, gracefully rolling off the highlights toward white, just like real film.

The Danger of Post-Grade Adjustments

Other controls, like Highlights, Shadows, and RGB Curves, are applied after the view transform. This is the post-grade stage. At this point, the image is no longer raw data; it’s a set of formed pixels for your screen. These adjustments don’t have the protection of the view transform.

Pushing these controls too hard can easily clip your highlights or crush your shadows, destroying detail and creating harsh, ugly transitions. It’s like switching off AgX and using the old Standard transform, which can lead to notorious artifacts like rat piss yellow or nuclear cyan (in Troy Sobotka’s terminology).

Why Have Both? The Raw Workflow Advantage

So if post-grade is dangerous, why use it at all? This is the core reason for RenderRaw’s raw workflow.

While Blender’s AgX transform is excellent, some artists find that it can make vibrant reds and oranges look a bit muted or salmon-colored. If AgX is applied last in the chain, it’s very difficult to nudge those colors back to a fiery orange because AgX will always have the final say.

And I like fiery orange (as you can surely tell by looking at my #b3d renders). So for me it’s substantial.

How does Render Raw solve this issue?

By setting Blender’s main View Transform to Raw, we bypass view transform altogether. RenderRaw then applies the AgX (or Filmic) transform inside its own node group. This gives us the choice to apply some corrections before the transform (pre-grade) and others after it (post-grade).

This flexibility allows us to carefully nudge the salmon reds toward a more vibrant orange after the image has been formed – something we couldn’t do otherwise. It’s a fairly destructive process, but it gives the ultimate control.

That is the entire point of this workflow: having the choice and flexibility, as long as you understand what you’re doing.

Pre- and Post Formation Controls

Here is a summary of which controls in Render Raw are Pre-Grade (safer) and Post-Grade (use with more caution).

Pre-Grade Controls (Safer):

• Exposure, Gamma (though, Gamma is a technical setting never to be touched)
• Contrast
• Color Balance (Offset/Power/Slope)
• Saturation (Perceptual)
• Temperature & Tint

Post-Grade Controls (More Destructive):

• Highlights, Shadows, White, Black
• RGB Curves (more precisely, its Post variant)
• Detail Controls (Clarity, Texture)
• Per-Hue Adjustments
• Effects (Grain, Vignette, etc.)

—

After nailing the basics of the Render Raw workflow, we can get back to our demon render and apply these concepts. We’ll start with broad, safe adjustments and move to finer, more delicate details.

For a step-by-step guide to grading, watch this tutorial on our YouTube.

And check the full version of the Color Grading in Render Raw Free Mini-course.

—

List

Get more creative tips – subscribe to our newsletter!

—

Our Other Courses and Tutorials You May Also Like

Blender to Resolve Freemium Course

—

Free AgX, Filmic & Creative LUT Pack for DaVinci Resolve

—

Outdoor Lighting in 3D – is There a Magic Formula?

The post How to Use Render Raw for Professional Color Grading | Blender Tutorial appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Links and credits:

SMOUSE Everything Bundle – use a coupon code gleb10 to get an extra 10% discount (a limited number of copies)

SMOUSE on Gumroad – the coupon code gleb10 should still work!

Underwater Caustics Shader (Free and Pro versions)

Blue Glacier by rpaylor, CC Attribution

Underwater Terrain – #AgisoftNatureChallenge by yuma.jp, CC Attribution

Giants Cave #AgisoftNatureChallenge by Alexei MKLT, CC Attribution

Donut Photoscan by valwes, CC Attribution

Swimming pool entertainment Construction Water by Mehdi Shahsavan, CC Attribution

Dust Particles+ asset

Polyhaven

Music: Spooky Boop – Otis McDonald

This is just the beginning – in the next two videos, we’ll be exploring other powerful SMOUSE tools including a closer look at Shaders Plus and showing you how they all work together to create stunning visuals, previously really hard (if not impossible) to achieve in Blender.

You May Also Like:

The Lighting Addon We’ve Been Waiting For – Light Wrangler

Once you use it, it’s hard to go back to default Blender light controls. Light Wrangler is a Blender add-on that transforms scene lighting by enabling you to place and adjust lights effortlessly (with a simple right-click).

The post SMOUSE Add-ons – Underwater Caustics Tutorial appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Light Wrangler on Blender Market (our affiliate link)

Light Wrangler on Gumroad (our affiliate link)

Credits:

Leonid Altman’s Youtube Channel

Light Wrangler website

Apple Mac Mini M1 by DatSketch, CC Attribution

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Oculus Quest VR Headset by BlackCube, CC Attribution

Gaming headphone by Optic_idealist, CC Attribution

2022 Volkswagen Lamando L 280 TSI by Ddiaz Design, CC Attribution

Chanel Allure Homme Sport Eau Extreme by OddPhish3D

Sauvage Perfume by szsakaria, CC Attribution

Wine Bottle by RED2000, CC Attribution

Wine Bottle and Glass by JoeDev, CC Attribution

Native Moisturizing Shampoo _ Coconut & Vanilla by BeeKING, CC Attribution

Iphone 14 Pro by mister dude, CC Attribution

Low poly stand mixer green by assetfactory

Smeg Toaster by The Fresh Lab, CC0 (Public Domain)

HDRI, Models, Textures – Polyhaven, CC0 (Public Domain)

Disclaimer:

This video is for educational and illustrative purposes only. The use of brand logos, trademarks, and products (e.g., Volkswagen, Chanel, etc.) is purely for demonstration and discussion. We are not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of these companies. All trademarks and brand names are the property of their respective owners.

The post The Lighting Addon We’ve Been Waiting For – Light Wrangler appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

The post A Simple Trick for Eye-catching Lighting | Blender Tutorial appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Download the Oil Fire VDB. P.S. So this is our first official offering onto Patreon! Start by bringing the of course!

The post Oil Fire VDB Freebie appeared first on Creative Shrimp.

Get the free Oil Fire VDB asset on our Patreon

The post How to Make the EmberGen Fire Look Great in Blender? appeared first on Creative Shrimp.