In the first issue of 2026: Rendering for art's sake, tutorials from our favorite KeyShot experts + more

We hope you find this newsletter helpful and inspiring! You're welcome to send suggestions to tara.cavanaugh@keyshot.com.

Meet the 85-year-old rendering art for real life

The goal of 3D rendering is often photorealism. But for lifelong artist Tom Mason, the focus is representing an artist's vision for a project — whether it's via stills, animations or instruction manuals. Tom, who learned KeyShot in his 70s, is an inspiration for anyone who plans a long career in art and design.

Explore Tom Mason's rendered art world

Get the full power of the newest tools with quick guides from Liam Martin

🔄 Everybody loves Custom Pivot

Create your own pivot points (including axes) from scratch without relying on the CAD application and author. By clicking on “Custom Pivot” from within the Move tool, you can manually move the pivot point for the select part(s) around. Available in Corner, Cylinder and Sphere Mode.

➡️ Watch on YouTube or Instagram

🧶 Material updates

Check out the new OpenPBR support and dockable Material Graph + grid option for easier navigation & organization.

➡️ Watch on YouTube or Instagram

Step up your lighting game with gradient backdrops

How to use HDRI pins within the Environment tab for unique visuals

1. In the Environment tab, create pins behind the product, and change fall-off, brightness and radius to adjust how it looks.
2. You can also create gradients on backdrop ramps for studio style scenes with a product placed on a surface. Using an area light...

➡️ Continue on Instagram

➡️ Continue on YouTube

Master the latest updates in 2 minutes

Check out the YouTube videos above for a fast intro to the newest features added recently in Studio. Ready for the deep dive? Take the full tour.

KeyShot YouTube

Four steps for realistic water droplets

Ozan Kocaman provides some of the most gorgeous rendering tutorials you'll find. Check out his latest guide for giving products a realistic humid-day look.

See the guide on Instagram

Learn + earn points for KeyShot rewards

KeyShot rendering by Ratan Pande

Learning can be a chore, but it's always worth it. To help you out, the KeyShot Luminaries community makes learning fun and extra rewarding: earn points for completing quick challenges like watching a tutorial or sharing your original KeyShot renderings. Redeem points for great prizes, like being featured on KeyShot social media or a free (yes, FREE!) year of a KeyShot Studio Pro subscription. Sounds like a win-win-win to us!

Make this the year you stop working around what you don't know. Join our community of helpful and enthusiastic KeyShot experts, and get the results you've always wanted.

Join Luminaries for free