Changes for v2.5.0.1 are:
- Adds 48 new Parquet materials
- Adds 18 new Wood materials
- Corrects some textures
- Adds support for Max 2009 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Minor bug fixes

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €75.

Changes for v4.2.1.0 are:
- New installers (combined with the Blacksmith3D-Launcher application)
- The new Blacksmith3D-Launcher application intelligently launches the software in 32 or 64-bit mode
- Adds optional support for automatic updates
- Fixes a bug with the undo buffer
- Various tweaks and optimizations

Blacksmith3D Suite is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $299.95. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.8.47.0 are:
- Granny now supports the Nintendo 3DS
- Altered the batchable commands to take original and output filename parameters
- Adds support for YCoCg texture compression
- Fixes preprocessor mod support compilation
- Fixes an atomic acquire function for x64 Mac OS X
- Adds Telemetry version check to Granny wireup API
- Exposed GrannyAccumulateControlledAnimationMotionVectors in the undocumented API
- S3TC routines can now force S3TC5 instead of autoselecting 4 or 5

Granny Exporter is available for Max 6 to 2011, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.

Changes for v6.1.5 are:
- Fixes the Dispatcher behaving incorrectly when using the DELAY_TIME flag in a template
- Fixes a random crash in the Console related to templates editing

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $85. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.2 are:
- Fixes a problem with 'Show Standard Map in Viewport'
- Adds support for bulk editing of textures

MaterialMultiSlots Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs ¥1500. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.5.0.0 are:
- Adds 112 new Glass materials
- Adds a User Library manager
- New .Net interface
- New licensing system (new license key and serial number required)
- The map directory has been removed from the Max root directory
- Other minor fixes

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €75.

Changes for v0.5.0 beta are:
- Adds texture support
- Adds anti-aliasing for ambient occlusion and path-tracing
- Adds support for glossy reflections
- ratGPUMtl material parameters can now be animated in Max
- The renderer now shows the tiles which are being processed
- Fixes several shading problems with ATI cards
- Extended the Beta period to September 1, 2011

Changes for v3.5.31 are:
- Adds a new utility 'Batch Render & Relink'
- You can now change paths in XRef files without opening the file (Max 2010 and above)
- Adds the ability to translate paths to local or network
- Adds a dark theme
- Fixes a bug with rendering thumbnails in Max 2010 and 2011
- Fixes a bug in Max 2011 when working with the Slate Material Editor
- 3ds Max 9 is no longer supported
- This update requires a new license key

FilePathFinder Pro is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs $25. A demo version is available here.

Allows you to import any Emergency 4 model with animation (skeletal, node, bone or vertex).

Changes for v2.3 are:
- Adds support for the RGBA 32-bit floating-point frame buffer

Max ships with linear vertex blending for skinning by default, which can cause a lot of artifacts during bone rotation. Dual Quaternion skinning mantains volume a lot better, and XrayBlendSkin allows you to mantain linear skinning while also using the benefits of dual quaternion skinning.

Features include:
- Dual quaternion skinning to avoid candy wrap artifacts
- Interactive binding between linear and dual quaternions
- Paint blending
- Mirror tools which respect blend weights
- Weight vertex tools

XrayBlendSkin is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €15.

Changes for v1.32.21 are:
- Adds an address bar
- Materials are now stored with modifiers (UVW map, UVW xForm, VrayDisplace)
- Adds display of file details, similar to the Windows Explorer
- Adds sorting by name, date and file size
- Status bar design has been slightly changed
- Renaming files present in an open scene will automatically be relinked
- Adds a new utility 'Batch Render & Relink'
- You can now change paths in XRef files without opening the file (Max 2010 and above)
- Adds a dark theme
- Fixes a bug with thumbnail rendering in Max 2010 and 2011
- Fixes a bug in Max 2011 when working with the Slate Material Editor

Project Manager is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs $60. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.3.4.8269 / 8270 are:
- Adds a Callout Leader head point scaling option
- Adds an ignore viewport setting
- Adds a new setting called 'Leaderline Extensions' with editing options
- Adds 'Grey over Black' and 'Black over Gray' line illustration transparency settings
- Adds a new 'Order Lines by Z value' option for Vector Illustration
- Adds a new 'Add Callout leader lines' option for the addition of callout leader lines

Deep Exploration CAD Edition is available for Max 5 to 2011 and costs $2,995. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.7.1 are:
- Recompiled to work with the latest version of Panda3D

Changes for v3.1 are:
- Fixes Max displaying an error message when saving the scene
- Fixes material information not being loaded when starting the script

MaterialMultiSlots Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs ¥1500. A demo version is available here.

FROST is a compound geometry object for Max that can be used to generate a single mesh from particles, vertex clouds, object positions, point data files or a combination thereof using various iso-surface or geometry cloning techniques. It generates a tri-mesh, making it usable with all known renderers for Max, and being a compound object, you can add modifiers on top of it.

Frost is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $495. A demo version is available here.

Carbon Scatter is a solution for creating complex and detailed populations using the native instancing technologies of Max. The plugin integrate e-on's patented EcoSystem algorithms directly inside Max, allowing you to populate your scenes with millions of native objects, and render them with your favorite renderer. Carbon Scatter is fully compatible with MentalRay specific technologies such as Sun&Sky, Photometric Lights, etc. It is also fully compatible with V-Ray specific Sun and Sky technologies.

Carbon Scatter is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $195.

Itoo Software have announced that as of March 20th 2011, Forest Pack Pro will change its pricing policy to an annual subscription plan scheme. The individual license base price will be reduced to €180 (currently €200), and includes one year of free product upgrades and other benefits. The subscription renewal price will be €50 per license seat and extends the subscription for one year. An extended subscription renewal for three years is also available for a reduced price of €40 per year.

Volume discounts will also be improved, with two licenses giving a 50% discount over the price of the second license, and three or more licenses giving a 30% discount on the total price.

For all of the information, head over to this page.

Changes for Service Pack 2 are:
- Global Illumination settings and Harmonics GI have been accelerated
- Harmonics GI pre-filtering algorithm has been optimized
- Harmonics GI rendertime interpolation has been optimized
- Saving / loading finalRender settings includes new controls and features
- finalToon now supports the standard Max Visibility Track
- A new feature allows the info stamp to be saved to a fR config file
- GI solution options are no longer saved in fR config files
- A bug causing possible light leaks in Harmonics-GI has been fixed
- Handling defective mesh data in the rendering core is now significantly more stable
- Shadow calculation code has been improved to avoid 'terminator artifacts'
- The Details Detection feature now has a new 'Screen Distance' mode
- The Undo bug when right-clicking in the Material Editor has been fixed

finalRender is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €995 (Standard) / €1295 (Studio Edition) / €495 (finalToon). A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.55 are:
- New fragmentation types: Brick, Detach By Element
- New fragmentation types: Uniform, Irregular, By Thickness, Radial
- Custom properties: adds fragmenter modifier support
- Custom properties: adds custom frag properties for depth levels
- New multithreaded RayFire Fragmenter modifier
- Adds secondary fragmentation
- Adds time delay for interactive demolition

RayFire Tool is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $325. A demo version is available here.

The Material Layer Interface (MLI) lets you easily create Material Layers and passes in Max. Just create the layers and pick the objects. Assign materials to the objects and feel free to use a different renderer or render settings for every single layer. You can work within one Max file with dozen of passes, and send them all to the Backburner Manager with a single mouse click.

MLI includes the following features:
- Easily create and manage your individual render passes / render layers
- One click adds an individual set of objects to your MLI layer
- Different materials, lights, render engines, render settings per layer
- An easy and self-explanatory user interface, related to the Max UI
- Interactive tracking of material changes, renaming of materials or objects

Material Layer Interface is available for Max 2010 to 2011 and costs €150 plus VAT. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.5.1 are:
- Fixes draft mode not saving the image to disk
- Draft mode now disables multilight internally
- Fixes a potential crash with SSS and shadow channel
- Fixes a bug with the Zclip plane
- Fixes a problem with emitters plus displacement
- Fixes overall darkness in channels using Blow up camera
- Fixes vignetting not working in draft mode
- The maximum number of frames is now properly loaded when loading emixer files
- RealFlow toolkit module no longer loads incorrectly
- Fixes environment EXRs with alpha rendering incorrectly
- Improvements in the two color interpolation in sky dome background
- Fixes a problem with incorrectly formatted IES files
- Improvements to the MXI Batch dialog
- Fixes the dodevignetting commmand line parameter
- Mximerge now takes padding into account in channels paths
- When opening an MXI file the CPU ID used to generate it is printed in the console
- Fixes shadow pass + hide to camera or matte when shadow flag is off
- Fixes shadow pass converging to white, overbright shadows some cases
- Fixes thin-sss and caustics problem
- Fixes caustics blocking light with semi-transparent materials
- Maxwell Render now renders if the sky dome is black but it has sun enabled
- Improved padding handling when 'separate lights' is active
- Improved notifications frame of preferences dialog
- Fixes the 'Hidden from GUI' shadow bug
- Override material now uses the default material if no MXM path is specified
- Fixes a bug when the sky type was set to none but a sun was active in the sky dome section
- Menu/'Save image' now works in exactly the same way as exporting a sequence in the emixer
- Mac version: Improvements in the way MXS/MXI files are opened
- Adds a new preference: 'Always Force Threads to Automatic'
- The SDK has been improved and updated
- And much much more... this PDF has a complete list of all changes

Maxwell Render is available for Max 7 to 2011 and costs €895. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2012 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Bug-fixes

Switcher is available for Max 6 to 2012 and costs $68. A demo version is available here.

cebas Visual Technology Inc. have announced an initiative for close cooperation with Cyber Radiance to enhance the speed and effectiveness of their core software products, finalRender and Hair Farm. All of the details can be found here.

Changes for v6.1.5 are:
- Fixes the Dispatcher behaving the wrong way when using the DELAY_TIME flag
- Fixes a random crash in the Console related to templates editing

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $85. A demo version is available here.

This is just a heads-up about the End User Event 2011. It's just been announced that it will be taking place this year on June 30th / July 1st in the Florin pub in Utrecht, and the web site is now online and waiting for your registration.

I can highly recommend this event if you are based in Europe, there isn't anything else like it. It's an incredibly informal atmosphere, and the list of speakers in the past years has been like a Who's Who of all of the different areas that Max covers. I'll be there again this year, so if you're there, come and drink a beer with me :o)

Raylight S.r.l. have released some information and a video of their upcoming plugin XrayBlendSkin, which is a dual quaternion skinning plugin for Max.

Max ships with linear vertex blending for skinning by default, which can cause a lot of artifacts during bone rotation. Dual Quaternion skinning mantains volume a lot better, and XrayBlendSkin allows you to mantain linear skinning while also using the benefits of dual quaternion skinning.

The plugin should be ready for release soon, and pricing is likely to be similar to their XRayUnwrap plugin (that means extremely good value!).

Changes for v1.1.3 are:
- Adds a new Platform plugin
- Five new Platform types: 'Simple Floor', 'L', 'U', 'S' and 'Round'
- Adds a 'Roundness' parameter for Platforms
- Adds a 'Lock W/L Size' button for Platforms
- Adds a new list for the created Platform objects
- You can now rename Platform objects and layers
- Adds the 'Platform Parameters Presets' manager
- Adds a 'FOV' parameter for cameras
- Adds a 'White Balance Temperature' parameter for cameras
- Fixes the White Balance presets
- Adds a 'Freeze Camera Toggle' button
- Adds a 'Hide camera Toggle' button
- Adds the 'Camera Parameters Presets' manager
- Improved Light plugin
- Adds 'Light XYZ position' parameters
- Adds 'Light Target XYZ position' parameters
- Adds the 'Lights Parameters Presets' manager
- Improved the Reflector plugin
- New reflector types: 'Rectangular', 'Disc', 'Convex' and 'Concave'
- Adds a new Material/Map interface for reflectors
- Adds the 'Reflector Parameters Presets' manager

V-Ray Studio Setup Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2011 and costs €60. This update requires a new license key and serial number.

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Updated algorithm for generating random color
- Fixes a bug that caused instanced objects to change colour during network rendering

Ky_Color Variator is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs €29. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.29 are:
- Updated to support Ultimate Unwrap v3.29

Changes for v0.4.9 beta are:
- The program is now stable, so the status has been changed from 'alpha' to 'beta'
- Fixes a problem rendering normals
- Render tiles are now a bit smaller to stop the last tile locking the rest using SLI/Crossfire

Changes for v1.0.1 are:
- New Sun system
- Cameras can now be switched to target cameras
- Cameras now have improved visual controls over DOF planes
- Thea is now integrated in the common render panel
- Adds support for Render Region (only Max 2009 and newer)
- Adds all of the new Thea controls (CRF, Chroma, AO, Clay...)
- Groups from MultiMaterial meshes
- Adds support for groups
- Hierarchy on export
- Improved material converter
- Adds a BlackBody color scale for lights and emitters
- Adds a spherical HDR preview for environments
- Fixes min and max samples
- Adds a new manual
- Lots of bugfixes

Max2Thea is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs €39.50. A demo version is available here.

The original version of this display callback used to display vertex and faces number on a selected node in the viewport, but this version actually displays degenerated faces. Using the threshold parameter, you tell the plugin to put 'spikes' on your model in the viewport where 3 vertices are almost colinear. This is very useful on editable poly models where the generated faces change constantly: the callback displays a warning along the degenerated face normal, which can then be fixed by moving a vertex or cutting the poly.

Alfio has also made the source code available here.

Changes for v5.1.3 are:
- Stability improvements in the Max plugins

Changes for v0.4.8 alpha are:
- Fixes more hangs with ATI cards
- Fixes a linux problem with the libOpenCL.so.1 dependency
- The Mac deployment now embeds all the files inside the .app

Changes for v1.7.0.82 are:
- hairfxView converted to cloth mesh can be now rendered as geometry
- Fixes vertex randomization in specific cases

Hairtrix is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $695.

Changes for v2011.02.24 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds support for Firefox 3.6
- New and improved scripting language
- You can now download and add any 3D object to the scene at runtime
- You can create / destroy any object or an entire scene using the scripting language
- Adds Level of Detail (LOD) support
- Improved texture streaming support
- Improved control over animations, cameras, light sources and meshes
- The NetClient component enables uploads of files to a server
- You can now render out images directly from the viewer
- Improved handling of mouse and keyboard input
- Support for cross browser fullscreen and multiple instances
- The PlanTool component allows creation of 3D buildings at runtime

Changes for v2.5.8 are:
- Adds support for the target distance camera parameter
- The motion vector channel no longer exports motion data if motion blur is off
- Maxwell Fire no longer crashes if displacement is used
- Fixes Object ID and Material ID colors changing between frames of the same animation

The Maxwell 3ds Max plugins come with Maxwell Render, which is available for Max 7 to 2011 and costs €895. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.1.4 are:
- Fixes an issue with Mental ray single frame image assembling not respecting images boundaries
- Fixes a potential lock in the Dispatcher when configuring pools during a rendering session

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $85. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.3.7 are:
- Adds 'Force' setting for the transparent sorting setting in the OgreMax Pass
- Adds 'Auto Distances' setting to the Mesh Manual LOD page (OgreMax object settings)
- Adds 'Reset Viewport Camera' to the OgreMax Scene Window popup menu
- Adds 'Animate Bounding Volumes' setting to the object and scene settings dialogs
- Adds support for exporting directly to a .model file
- Adds a 'Configuration' page to the 'About' dialog
- Adds a 'Mesh XML' setting to the Directories page of the scene settings dialog
- Adds support for Raytrace materials
- Adds logic to prevent the OgreMax Scene Settings from being unhidden
- Removed the 'Ignore Meshes' settings from the scene settings dialog
- The user data class system now allows subclasses to override superclass data values
- The maximum number of bones in a skeleton has increased from 256 to 4096
- Cube map and terrain map renderings now include volume fog, if present
- UVW submesh texture coordinate settings are now saved in object settings dialog
- Fixes a bug with shadows not displaying in the OgreMax viewports
- Fixes a crash bug when exporting a selection set with bones selected
- Fixes the object list saving the wrong selection when changing filtering settings
- Fixes a bug with the 'force' setting for transparent sorting not being set
- The 'no' setting for 'Export Skeleton' now works as expected
- Fixes billboards not being exported when exporting the selection set

OgreMax is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Build 022411 are:
- Fixes the problems with the plugin not loading
- Solves a major memory leak
- Increases the resolution limit
- Adds support for Max 2008 and 2009

Changes for v1.1.2 are:
- Adds new button 'Show Last VFB'
- Adds new button 'Show Safe Frames'

V-Ray Studio Setup Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2011 and costs €60.

Once again I have to apologise for the recent lack of updates, but I have finished the job that kept me tied up for a while, and there will be a flood of updates later on today.

Dave