MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  March 2004
 

Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.02 are:
- This is a straight recompile for Max 6


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.08 are:
- No changes, just a recompile for Max 6


Plugin Update: Modifiers

Changes for v1.0 are:
- No changes, this is just a recompile for Max 6.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1.56 are:
- Controls added to work with glu3D meshes only in a certain time range
- 'Age % to collapse' control now takes integer values
- Mesh surface now only appears in viewport/render view if 'Show mesh surface' check-button is enabled
- Trackview for glu3DObject improved
- Surface cache info panel fixed
- glu3D toolbar buttons now update after loading a glu3D scene
- glu3D mesher float window now shows a time left estimation

glu3D is available for Max 5 and 6, and costs $295. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1.55 are:
- Fixes a bug with fill objects not working properly
- glu3D.log file is no longer duplicated
- Adds a new control to reduce % particles shown in render
- Fixes a bug where particle look set to instances crashed Max

glu3D is available for Max 5 and 6, and costs $295. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.0 are:
- This is the recompile for Max 6.

ScalpelMAX is available for Max 3 to 6, and costs $150.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1.54 are:
- Control added to avoid particle percentage reduction in render view
- gluPathFollow fixed. In previous version it was not working
- It is now possible to reload glu3D scenes that include plain shapes sources and filled objects

glu3D is available for Max 5 and 6, and costs $295. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

Game Level Builder 3.0 (GLB3) is a toolset for making convex (bsp ruled) based levels for games using Max. The main difference between GLB and standard convex based level editors is that GLB's main system for modelling is not based on boxes which are hollowed or carved (CSG subtracted). GLB allows you to simply draw walls and click in doors, windows and floors. Using GLB's floor tool and invisible walls, you can create almost anything you want faster and easier than with standard CSG methods.

Features include:
- Map Exporter
- Convex Corrector
- Level Top Walls
- Auto Floor tool
- Invisible Walls
- Entity Creator
- Terrain tool
- Multi-Storey Tool
- BmpToMatlib
- Pipe Max 2
- and much more...

Game Level Builder is available for Max 4 to 6, and costs $40. There is also a gmax version available for $30. An older free version (GLB 2.22) can be found over at ScriptSpot.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v7.02 are:
- Too many to list. You can find a list of all changes here.


Plugin Update: Materials

Changes for v3.0.3.6 are:
- This should fix the crash problems in Max 6


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.09.03r are:
- This build fixes the slow render times with composite maps and multi/subobject materials in Max 6


Plugin Update: Snaps

Changes for v1.12 are:
- 'SnapToFrozen' option implemented
- Discontinued Interface:UmiSnap
- Intersection algorithm has been improved

To use the plugin in Max 5, you might need to get the VC7 runtime libraries. They should be available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- No changes, but the plugin has kindly been recompiled by the Seismics Team, as the previous version didn't work in Max 6


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1.52 are:
- Fixes a bug in plain shape emission in glu3D for Max 6

glu3D is available for Max 5 and 6, and costs $295. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v0.1.4 Alpha are:
- New node design implemented including new node structure and optional anti-aliasing filters for wires
- Tweaked some things like icon resizing based on name length
- Some keyboard layout changes
- New (sme.getholder 0).includePrivateMaps command allows inclusion of all maps into SME
- SME now always puts up a fresh view when a blank scene is opened
- Some small GUI fixes and no more scrollbars in palettes
- Alphabetical ordering in palettes
- Fix in loading/saving algorithm
- The new tabsetup def file is changed to allow loading from multiple directories
- SME node refreshing is now disabled during rendering and then enabled again
- The 'Dump tab data' option will now reevaluate the node, and use the procedural TabMap to dump the info
- Fixed a crash which was caused by the same material appearing in two views
- Added a routine to allow SME display dynamic and static bitmaps in the views
- and much more...


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.122 are:
- New normal algorithm which should speed up the indexing
- Bounding box now uses the correct conversion model
- Euler Controllers are sampled correctly


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1.51 are:
- It's now possible to scale sources to modify sources section
- You can now move the glu3D logo in the 3D viewport without trouble
- Adds option to display only a certain particle percentage - speeds up viewport redraw and system performance

glu3D is available for Max 5 and 6, and costs $295. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Materials

Changes for v1.0 are:
- No changes, just a recompile for Max 6


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v4.4.0.51 are:
- Multi UV Texture coordinate support via the FVFData template
- Full texture path in Text Mode now has double backslashes instead of singles for loading into MeshViewer
- Turning off optimize forces a 3 vertices per face output for optimization elsewhere


New Plugin: Texturing

finalShaders is an add-on for finalRender Stage-1 and contains 14 advanced, easy-to-use, and 'ready to render' materials. One of the main goals of finalShaders is to provide user efficiency when creating even the most complex material effects. What's more, these are not simple 'canned material' effects with only a few options. They are fully customizable, flexible material types that will give you the ability to quickly get the specific looks you want. From alien and human skin, to waxy candles, from beautifully deep, flecked car paints to oily thin-film effects are all just a few mouse-clicks away.

The material types themselves range from simple materials, such as X-Ray, to complex, multi-level materials like the Elevation material. Included materials are CarPaint, CD, Distant Fur, Electron, Elevation, Skin, ThinFilm, Velvet, Volumetric, Wax, Wet, Wire, XRay and 3D Gradient.

finalShaders works with finalRender Stage-1 Service Pack 2a or higher. Pricing starts at $95 for a 6 CPU pack, up to $389 for a 30 CPU pack. For a limited time, every new copy of finalRender Stage-1 for Max 4 to 6 will include a 12 CPU license pack of finalShaders.


New Plugin: Materials

Chroma.dlt is a new texture map for Max that allows you to create a rough chromakey from any other map. The chromakey mask can be used inside the viewport and at render-time. Its main targeted use is for previewing blue-/greenscreen composites inside Max. This can be useful for projects with set extensions, for example, since you directly see the image composition inside your viewport. The chromakey is calculated on the fly, so you can use any image/image sequence without having to pre-calculate a key with a compositing software.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- No changes, this is a straight recompile for Max 6


New Plugin: Render Effects

This Render Effect will mirror the rendered image (RGBA) and optionally mirror the Z, G and Material ID buffers.

The link above is for the Max 6 version, if you are using Max 4 or 5, you need this version.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- This is just a recompile for Max 6


Plugin Update: Render Effects

Changes for v1.0 are:
- This is just a recompile of the plugin for Max 6


New Plugin: Renderers

Brazil Rio (aka 'Rio') is a feature-limited version of Brazil r/s, the commercial production renderer from SplutterFish. Brazil is, at its core, a high-performance raytrace renderer that supports many advanced and super cool features like area lighting, GI, SSS, and much much more. It is available for Max 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Rio is based upon the current version of Brazil r/s, but is selectively feature-limited so as to make it primarily usable for educational and testing purposes. Rio is not designed or intended for use in professional or production environments. Limitations include:
- no support for network rendering
- image size has been limited to 512x384 maximum
- file saving/loading limitations


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for Service Pack 2a are:
- Camera based Color Toning and Exposure Control
- Additional motion blur algorithm 'Tweening'
- Motion blur for animated Texture Maps
- Stability enhancements and fixes
- DR enhancements for better network time out control
- Motion Blur fixes and enhancements
- GI algorithm enhancements
- Enhanced Rectangular Lights with improved realism
- Visual feedback for area shadow generators in standard Max lights
- Enhanced Skylight

All registered users of finalRender Stage-1 will receive an email instructing them how to obtain the free service pack. Other users may contact dcpsupport@turbosquid.com for information.


Site News: Virus warning...

If anyone receives an email from 'The MaxPlugins Team' containing a warning about your email account, delete it. The mail is not from me, and contains a virus. Dave


New Plugin: Objects

Creates furniture cabinets and shelving, best used with the Panel door plugin from the same author.


Plugin Update: MAXScript Extensions

Changes for v14.0 are:
- FooPointOctree - An octree data-structure that holds a set of points, and is used to accellerate searches within that set
- LapTimer - A high-precision timer (several orders of magnitude faster than MaxScript's TimeStamp() function)
- VertexTMArray - Hold arrays of Matrix3 values which transform between world space and vertex space of a given node


Plugin Updates: Atmospherics