MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  August 2019
 

Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.14 are:
- You can now make your web apps AR-capable
- Implements an AR mode switch in the Industrial robot demo in addition to VR
- Morpher modifier is now supported in Verge3D
- You can now create textures from text on the fly and use them in your 3D scene
- Adds a 'generate normal map' puzzle
- Max camera clipping planes can now be calculated automatically
- The Physical Camera Exposure Control option is now supported
- The Physical Camera vignetting effect can now be used
- The Alpha Mode, Two-Sided, Dithering params are now supported for Blend and Shellac materials
- If your scene has several cameras, Verge3D will now respect the active camera selection
- The replace texture/get texture puzzles now accept texture input from a text field or variable
- The set color/set value puzzles now accept texture input from a text field or variable
- It is no longer necessary to initialize the VR mode before trying to enter it
- The enter VR mode puzzle has new options: room, looking around and viewer locked
- Adds a puzzle for setting the direction of objects
- You can now customize the preloader with CSS
- The window, document and body HTML puzzles are now a single puzzle
- The SSR and simple refraction puzzles now accept lists of materials, not just single materials
- The App.disableRendering() method now works without explicitly specifying the after param
- The v3d namespace now includes an array of all App class instances created in your app(s)
- Fixes a rendering blackout if the canvas is hidden and then revealed
- Fixes a rendering blackout if the canvas is re-scaled to and back from zero dimensions

Verge3D is available for Max 2015 to 2020 and costs $290. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.11 are:
- Adds native Corona Renderer support
- Adds Pencil+ Render Element support
- Adds overscan support for cameras with animated Field Of Views
- Adds a Reset All Object Properties option to the Pass Node
- Adds a Hide All Layers option to the Pass Node
- Corona Renderer settings are now maintained if it's the active renderer
- Improves logging
- Fixes the Overscan setting missing in some Shot Nodes
- Fixes Global Node disable
- Improves error handling when a Renderer can not be cloned
- Fixes custom token replacement on subsequent passes
- Fixes Node and Layer name highlighting when a '.' is present
- Misc. stability improvements

Vexus is available for Max 2015 to 2020 and costs $200. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modifiers

SplineOffset is similar to the array tool built into Max combined with a sophisticated spline offset function, but with two big benefits: firstly, SplineOffset is fully parametric so you can change or animate the number of clones, the size of the offsets, and their distribution at any time; secondly, and for the first time as a modifier, SplineOffset is able to automatically heal overlapping splines so that they form one continuous path.

Other features include the ability to set, offset and sequence material IDs; a choice of 5 end types for open splines; and options to specify 3 types of corner bevel. You can even add multiple SplineOffset modifiers to create 2D and 3D arrays, each with their own settings.


Plugin Update: Rendering

Changes for v2018.1.3 - 7.10 are:
- Updates Forest Pack support
- Adds a 'Support' tab in render settings for common settings and external plugin configuration
- Moves the Network configuration to the Devices tab
- Updates Particle Flow support
- Adds support for multiple shapes for PFlow, using shape instance: group of objects
- Updates PhoenixFD support to set particle object layer using particle mesh object's properties
- Fixes camera FOV update when changing the viewport
- Fixes Volume ramp texture changes not updating the viewport
- Fixes bugs when reading IFL files
- Adds Orbx export of animated textures (ifl files)

OctaneRender is available for Max 2013 to 2020 and costs $619. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v6.8 SP1 are:
- Adds a new 'InputFromVDB' feature to the Scatter function
- Adds a new 'AccumulateVDB' feature to the Scatter function
- Deactivating the MasterDynamic System now hides the tP helper in the Max viewport
- Adds a new 'Re-Simulate Imported' option to the LoadVDB User Interface
- Setting interior band width < 1 in ShapeToVolumeVDB will now fill the object
- Fixes an issue in FractureVDB which could result in a crash
- Fixes a bug in the Relax feature in VolumeToMeshVDB which could result in a crash
- LoadVDB now respects the user option with regards to overwriting volume grids
- LoadVDB outputs now work
- ShapeToVolumeVDB using cached data now respects the Re-Simulate Imported option
- ParticleToVolumeVDB using cached data now respects the Re-Simulate Imported option
- The ParamBlock Operator now displays World Scale parameters

thinkingParticles is available for Max 2017 to 2020 and costs €540 per year. A demo version is available here.


Site News: No updates for the next few weeks

I'm going to be out of the office for the next two weeks, so I probably won't be able to update the site much in that time. Keep on sending any news items or updates that you think I should know about, I'll post everything when I get back.

Dave


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.13.1 are:
- Shadows now they look much better and also closer to the Max viewport
- Adds a puzzle for enabling screen-space reflection or refraction
- Reflection and refraction effects work with Physical materials
- In addition, a simpler, faster puzzle for screen-space refraction is also available
- The App Manager now offers a settings page, accessible through the gear icon on the top
- Each application now has a dedicated page for better convenience while managing large projects
- Application pages contain a list of files and offers a search box for filtering them off
- Makes some cosmetic changes to the UI, such as adding the backward icon
- The main page of the App Manager now opens much faster thanks to optimized directory lookups
- The 'Add annotation' puzzle can now identify the corresponding HTML element for an annotation
- Implements puzzles and JavaScript methods for opening and closing annotations
- The HTML event puzzle can now be inserted into other puzzles' slots
- The 'Get object direction' puzzle now returns correct results for empty/dummy objects and lamps
- Adds a new puzzle called 'Get objects from' for finding and listing objects
- Calling JavaScript functions with a puzzle can now return a computed value
- Adds a new 'Get custom props' puzzle to retrieve user-defined properties from Max objects
- Changes class to className in the 'Get attr' puzzle's dropdown
- Adds some properties for handling HTML5 audio and video elements to the 'Set/Get attr' puzzles
- Adds the 'Ended' event to the HTML event puzzle
- The Debug puzzles category is now called System
- Adds new 'Set screen scale' and 'Native screen scale' puzzles for handling Retina displays
- Adds a new puzzle called 'System date/time' for adding clocks, calendars, organizers etc.
- Adds a new 'Get keys' puzzle for retrieving and iterating through all keys in a dictionary
- Adds a new 'Check key' puzzle for examining if a key is present in a dictionary
- Adds a new 'Empty' puzzle to check if a specified dictionary contains no data
- Optimizes export time, file size and memory consumption by not exporting unused mesh attributes
- Removes the Facebook GLB export option as this feature is no longer offered by Facebook
- The Verge3D WordPress plugin now uploads applications asynchronously
- The WordPress plugin now provides an id to the application container element
- Fixes bloom artifacts when lamps are present in the scene
- The App class API reference has been updated to include all methods available in this class

Verge3D is available for Max 2015 to 2020 and costs $290. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.12 are:
- You can now create materials without textures
- Adds base diffuse, reflection and glossiness material inputs
- Adds Arnold parameter linking
- UI and material display improvements

Material Texture Loader is available for Max 2016 to 2020 and costs $10.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.1.0 are:
- Adds more options for the frames design
- Frames with arched windows in facades B and D now work properly
- Fixes an error when unchecking chimney options
- Roof and roof windows now behave properly when the roof is turned invisible
- Fixes a glitch with corner windows and wall interior thickness
- Windows Copy/Paste now works properly with Selection Mode M
- Windows list now updates properly when an 'Above' type window is added
- Fixes some general UI behaviors

Fast Housing is available for Max 2017 to 2020 and costs $25. A demo version is available here.