Marvellous monsters inside the new issue of 3D World

Engaging characters are at the heart of almost all 3D projects, and in issue 224 of 3D World, you’ll find out how to get the best out of them.

Learn how the magazine's cover star was created step by step, take a look at how Spider-Man was made, and don’t forget to take advantage of your free Pluralsight course on Maya animation.

Buy your copy of 3D World 224

As much as character creation is a big deal, working on environments and building on those core skills is vital to success as a visual effects artist, so you'll also find a packed training section.

You'll learn how to composite explosions in Nuke using particle data, and there's 3D World's usual wide variety of Q&As, helping you with the task-specific problems you hit in your daily work.

New Unreal Engine and other kit reviewed

If you're at the point of investing in some new gear then it's worth taking a look at 3D World's reviews of the latest and greatest kit: this month, the team looks at the newly released version of Unreal Engine and a high-end workstation from MSI.

Stunning new animations

Finally, for those fans of short animations you can read about Eye Candy; a selection of the best from around the globe and we take a look at the beautiful Sur Ecoute.