Photoshop’s new AI tool does some convincing compositing, Blender puts tablets on the menu, and JangaFX brings realtime liquid simulations out of Beta. Check out the corresponding blog post here: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/motion-mondays-august-4-2025
NEW: By popular demand we are now offering quarterly pricing on School of Motion All-Access. Learn more: https://schoolofmotion.com/quarterly
This week Blender announced they’re bringing their full 3D powerhouse to the iPad and Adobe dropped some serious AI upgrades to Photoshop with their new Harmonize tool and more. But before you get too excited about AI shortcuts, we’ve got some real talk from studios who tried using AI tools only to find out they created more work than they saved.
We’re also look at JangaFX’s incredible real-time liquid simulations, a new After Effects tool that makes shape layer animation easy, Cascadeur’s in-betweening updates, Runway’s next-gen AI tool Aleph, and some gorgeous work from Aardman that proves handcrafted animation still hits different.
👉 CHAPTERS 👈
Coming Up 00:00:00
Blender’s Big Upgrade – LTS Release Packs Heat 00:27
Blender Goes Mobile – iPad Dreams Come True 01:08
School Update – Quarterly Plans & PJ Richardson 02:32
Photoshop’s AI Triple Threat – Harmonize Steals Show 03:57
After Effects Gets Love – Cleanup Master Pro 05:26
Awesome Work Roundup – Animals vs AI 06:21
Character Animation Tools Pt2 Cascadeur Updates 09:36
Student Spotlight – Sharon Moon’s Korean Bento Box 10:15
Runway’s Aleph – Video VFX Revolution 10:43
JangaFX LiquiGen – Real-Time Liquid Magic 11:44
Houdini’s Nature Toolkit – Natsura Goes Live 12:15
That’s A Wrap 12:54
🎓 SCHOOL OF MOTION COURSES MENTIONED
School of Motion All-Access: https://schoolofmotion.com/all-access
School of Motion Team Training: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/training-for-teams
Illustration for Motion: https://schoolofmotion.com/courses/illustration-for-motion
🗒️ SHOW NOTES
What’s New in Blender 4.5 LTS! Official Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPhA0imjvVs
Blender coming to tablets: https://code.blender.org/2025/07/beyond-mouse-keyboard/
SOM Podcast – The State of 3D with PJ Richardson of Laundry Studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeYBgPDqMys
Harmonize lands in Photoshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEA5yY2zyCg
Photoshop (Beta) Generative Upscale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Cq7IJZgUY&vl=en
Photoshop Remove tool gets a major update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7FzqQ-vH_U
aescripts + aeplugins Cleanup Master: https://aescripts.com/cleanup-master/
Steve Madden on AI in animation – “When is a shortcut not a shortcut?”: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/when-shortcut-steven-madden-e4uhe/
Cascadeur is out with improved in-betweening: https://80.lv/articles/cascadeur-2025-2-is-out-with-better-inbetweening
Cascadeur: https://cascadeur.com/
Introducing Runway Aleph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUHx-2uz_qI
LiquiGen 1.0 Release Trailer – Real-time Liquid Simulations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F39qjdtuPMM
JangaFX LiquiGen: https://jangafx.com/software/liquigen
Houdini plant-generation toolkit Natsura: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfKTWgz_VZI&t=713s
🎨 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Symbiotic – B!POD: https://www.stashmedia.tv/symbiotic-latches-onto-the-bpod-for-saes-design-house/
Aardman – Human Nature, Coinbase: https://www.stashmedia.tv/cryptocurrency-x-creature-comforts-aardman-explores-human-nature-for-coinbase/
Uri Lotan – Mixed feelings on AI workflow: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/uri-lotan-9b785b10_ever-get-a-weird-post-ai-depressionguilt-activity-7353467201443577857-NcqN/
SOM Student of the Week – Sharon Moon: https://hub.schoolofmotion.com/c/share-your-work-ff3c45/hello-bento-b14a8f87-457f-4d07-8792-48acf9d83c67
Sharon’s Portfolio: https://www.sharonmoon.com/
