MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  March 2014
 

Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.9 are:
- Fixes a bug in Quad Cap Holes

miauu's Script Pack Volume 2 is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €17.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v3.3.1 are:
- Minor update: the unregistered popup countdown screen now only appears once per session

PolyUnwrapper is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs $25. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.4.3.1 beta are:
- Fixes a problem loading the plugin in Max


Plugin Update: Modelling / Texturing

Changes for v4.2.1 beta are:
- Adds 32 new presets: Meadows
- 'Tree Editor->Add Items' mode is now set by default to 'Random'
- Fixes a random crash when cloning Forest objects
- Fixes several issues in the Library Browser
- Custom Edit items are now properly positioned when rescaling scene units
- Fixes the look of the 'Areas->Pick Models' dialog when resized
- Fixes a rare crash in Forest Color when modified from MAXScript
- Area parameters are no longer imported from the Library Presets

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €190. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.0.9 are:
- Fixes some crash bugs
- Improves compatibility with importers like Assimp

AXE Pro is available for Max 7 to 2014 and costs $190. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.0.1 are:
- Patterns now automatically reset to their preferred sizes when switching patterns
- Adds options for how the pattern reset button and automatic reset functionality behaves
- Herring Bone Bond pattern now automatically adjusts tile size when changing tile aspect
- Adapted bump and displacement behavior for custom 3ds shaders to have a unified shading pipeline
- Fixes a bug when rendering with Mental Ray and using custom shaders as input
- Viewport preview of 'Custom tile shader' for the parameter 'Original wall UV-mapping' now works
- Fixes reset button behavior for various patterns when using inches as units
- Fixes bump and displacement scaling range for tiles in the Tile Set Designer
- Fixes distortion when having other system units than meters
- Fixes bump and displacement scaling range for tiles in Mighty Library
- Fixes accidental deletion of tiles when editing bump/displacement values in Mighty Library

Mighty Tiles Pro is available for Max 2012 to 2014 and costs €238.80 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.2.4 are:
- Licensing no longer relies on the MAC address
- License now works for any user logged in instead of per user
- Removed print messages after creating an object
- Fixes tooltips causing certain Max child windows to be sent behind the main window

Nested Layer Manager is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs €12. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.4.3 beta are:
- in NOX: adds User Presets for postprocess settings
- in NOX: adds support for Intel's Embree geometry engine (x64 Windows 7 and newer)
- in NOX: adds Matte Shadow option in NOX Material
- in Blender: rendering with no modifiers applied now works with particle objects
- in Material Editor: fixes behavior of setting reflection colors and link checkbox
- in Material Editor: close window button works now in the same way as the Cancel button
- in NOX: update of autorefresh controls on GUI after scene load
- in NOX: fixes average samples counter value


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Fixes a few issues with parenting
- Fixes the 'close' button on the settings dialog
- Fixes the update link going to Prosequencer instead of PTH

ProTrajectoryHandles is available for Max 2013 to 2014 and costs €7.50. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.3.1.4a are:
- Fixes the installer bug
- Some fixes for Corona renderer

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2014 and costs €200.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.2.6.0 are:
- Fixes a problem with click-dragging multiple nodes beyond view limits
- Fixes a crash when inserting a new node onto an existing connection by clicking on it
- Fixes the blank Zookeeper window after opening a scene that has an error box displayed
- Fixes a crash when dragging out a controller output which has too many dependencies

Zookeeper is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs $249. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for Build 1843 are:
- Multi-threading optimizations
- Bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.1.144 are:
- Adds support for the shared framework exporter
- The objects export option now works
- You can now merge selected polymeshes into a single mesh on export
- Duplicate names in Max are now renumbered as unique on export

Alembic for 3DS Max is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs $399. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Adds the ability to work with elements
- Adds a fast, advanced slicer
- Adds a 'Lock frames' button to control PRS frames at the same time
- Fixes bug with inverted frames
- Fixes a bug with the noise map
- Adds the ability to control each axis separately with 'move to pivot' option
- Adds the ability to move a piece along its normal vector
- Adds the ability to specify map channels
- Increased speed of diffuse map rendering

Break and Form is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs $4.99.


Plugin Update: Modelling / Animation

Changes for v2.5.3.0 are:
- Fixes a crash when using 'Interactive' checkbox with Ox Hair Draw effect applied
- Fixes a crash when creating an Ox Hair Draw effect, rendering, resetting and then rendering again

Ornatrix is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs $499. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Animation

ProTrajectoryHandles (PTH) creates in-viewport bezier handles on trajectories, enabling you to edit them like splines in the viewport.

Highlights include:
- Directly edit trajectories in the viewport including handles
- Easily translate or rotate (part of) a trajectory
- Alter time distribution without changing the trajectory itself
- Compatible with complex animated hierarchies such as rigs
- Supports both the default Position_XYZ controllers as well as those in Position_Lists
- Optionally displays velocity using a color gradient on the trajectory
- Optionally use object's wire color as trajectory
- Optionally only create handles for selected keys
- PTH is bidirectionally synced with the trackview (changes made in one are reflected in the other)

ProTrajectoryHandles is available for Max 2013 to 2014 and costs €7.50. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Animation

Embody Animation is a powerful suite of plug-ins for quickly retargeting facial mocap animation to any character, enabling you to get the most out of your facial animation. It can be used to retarget data produced by Embody Tracker, or standard C3D or TRC data produced by other facial mocap solutions.

Embody Animation is available for Max 9 to 2014. At the moment there are no details on pricing. A demo version is available here.


Site News: Everything is back to normal!

I think I've fixed everything that was broken, but if you find something that isn't working properly, just send me a mail and let me know.

Dave


Site News: Something is broken...

Thanks to everyone who let me know that the site doesn't work properly any more. The server that hosts this site has updated from PHP4 to PHP5, and now there are quite a few things that don't work properly.

I'm fixing things right now, and in the next hour or so everything should be back to normal.

Dave


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for Alpha v6 are:
- Internal color space is now wide RGB
- UI has been cleaned up, some options were renamed/reworked to be easier to use
- Adds tooltips for the key parameters, activated when you hover over the controls
- Inactive parameters are now automatically disabled in the UI
- Emission has been moved from CoronaMtl to the new CoronaLightMtl
- Self-illumination has been added to CoronaMtl
- Render Elements have been re-worked
- Adds albedo render element for showing total material reflectivity
- Adds cylindrical/disk and targeted Corona Lights
- Adds include/exclude option for Corona AO
- Adds an option to include/exclude individual objects from illumination for each light
- Scenes now render fast with arbitrary portals polycount
- Adds intelligent masking: 'Render Masks Only' button
- Renderstamp now supports more fields: computer name, frame number, and more
- Adds support for XRef scene
- Fixes issues with Multiscatter, Forest pack randomly not working
- Fixes crashes of Corona VFB with some resolutions
- Fixes extremely slow rendering in some scenes
- Fixes crashes when using HSDS modifier
- Fixes problems with texture filtering inconsistency
- Fixes shadows artifacts when using transparent objects
- Attenuation now works correctly with glass without caustics
- Fixes occasional jagged edges behind glass and camera motion jerks


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.10.0 are:
- Search paths for renderer executables can now be defined for each renderer
- If no executable is specified, the client now searches for one automatically
- Adds a database manager to the server
- The server can now automatically create periodic backups of its database
- Environment variables can now be defined for each renderer
- Renderer licenses can now have a host renderer
- Clients can now be scheduled
- The RenderPal V2 service can now be started with a delay
- An email can now be sent if a net job caused too many errors
- Email notifications: adds an option to only send one chunk error notification per job
- The remote execution dialog now supports presets
- Console RC: adds a switch to set the start date and time of a net job
- Adds a new callback function that gets called when an image has been rendered
- When changing the frame list of a net job, RenderPal now tries to keep chunk states
- When changing the frame splitting of a net job, RenderPal now tries to keep chunk states
- Editing the render set of a net job no longer causes the net job to be restarted
- The Windows client now warns the user if UAC is enabled on the system
- Made some performance improvements in the various item lists
- Improved the overall redrawing logic
- If loading a renderer fails, a more detailed error message is now shown
- Other minor improvements
- Fixes duplicated tab pages caused by the renderer management
- Environment variables are no longer case-sensitive
- Fixes several other smaller bugs
- Adds executable search paths to several renderers
- Updated the Arnold for Maya renderer to support Maya 2013 and higher
- After Effects now requires a comp name if an output file is specified

RenderPal is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €49 per node. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for Build 1839 are:
- Bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Materials

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2013 and 2014


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.9.7 are:
- Fixes an objects number of faces returning 0 if it isn't supported by the IGame interface


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.01 are:
- Adds the ability to control which splines are being created based on their length

Labyrinth is available for Max 2012 to 2014 (64-bit only) and costs $20.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.3.8 are:
- Fixes distribution rendering problem with 'Random but unique first distribution' mode
- 'Random but unique first distribution' mode is now available in Max 2010-2012
- Adds a global hue control
- Adds a global saturation control
- Adds a global brightness control
- Adds a global exposure control
- Adds a global contrast control
- Fixes adding bitmaps in Max 2013/2014
- Changed the way that unique color per map is computed
- Adds probability weights for Walls & Tiles internal usage

Crossmap is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs €39. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.3.0 are:
- Crossmap v1.3.8 is now included
- Random HSV now has up / down selection buttons
- Adds diagonal mirroring
- Adds V-Ray displacement modifier button with automatic settings
- Adds a new 'Automatic Size' feature
- Improved performance by instancing 1 noise map instead of 6 noise maps on creation
- Simplified the shader network by replacing Color Correction maps with xmap color corrections
- Cancelling the select session directory no longer causes the script to crash
- Fixes the diffuse color being reset on next scene loading
- Fixes an error when clicking 'Select Folder', 'Preferences' or 'List Bitmaps'
- Fixes the autoratio switch being turned on when loading old scenes
- Fixes wrong colors on the bitmaps when loading old scenes into 2014
- Fixes random probability mode not switching correctly
- Fixes MAXScript errors appearing when opening the preferences dialog

Walls & Tiles is available for Max 2011 to 2014 and costs €59. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

SoftEdge allows you to modify objects by adjusting selected edges in much the same way that you would adjust a spline, including bezier handles, and smooth / corner / bezier vertex options.

SoftEdge is available for Max 2012 to 2014 and costs $40. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Texturing

GGX is a microfacet shading model which is very good for modeling light reflection from surfaces. In other words it's a shader like Blinn but 10x more awesome. GGX is based on a distribution model from Trowbridge and Reitz which has a sharper peak and larger tails than Blinn or Phong.

This shader is written for use with V-Ray, and works with both version 2.x and 3.x.

GGX Shader for V-Ray is available for Max 2012 to 2014 and costs $59.


New Plugin: Modelling

This commercial MAXScript allows you to 'paint' snow on selected objects. It provides a number of meshing options, including support for Thinkbox Frost.

SnowGun Painter is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs €30.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0.5.0 are:
- Fixes a bug when adding texture coordinates as a component output port
- GUI library improvements
- Adds some new math nodes
- Numerous internal fixes and improvements

Lab for 3ds Max is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs $250.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.55 are:
- Fixes the first side of a wall sometimes having the incorrect Material ID in Wall Mode

CorVex is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs $10.


Plugin Update: Modelling / Animation

Changes for v2.5.2.0 are:
- Fixes Render Settings modifier not updating global radius after UI changes
- Alembic exporter now supports UV coordinate output
- Internal changes

Ornatrix is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs $499. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.3.04.084.1055 are:
- Adds camera Z-clipping
- Adds support for Railclone v2.2
- Forest Pack support has been highly improved
- Several small bug-fixes

Thea for 3dsMax is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs €320. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.3.1.3a are:
- Adds support for V-Ray 3.0
- Adds a new installer
- Adds a new licensing system

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2014 and costs €200.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.4.2 beta are:
- Fixes the scene loading bug in Max
- Bidirectional Path Tracing (BDPT) and Path Tracing (PT) engines have been fixed
- Reflections on fake glass in BDPT now work correctly
- Adds an Options tab to the GUI
- Fixes mouseover events on some controls in the GUI
- Adds experimental OpenCL post-processing for Post and Correction Tabs
- Adds an option to autoreload textures that were changed in external editor
- Fixes 'Import NOX Material' and 'Run NOX Material Editor' in Blender
- Rendering with modifiers in Blender is now possible without applying them


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.17 are:
- Align Work Plane to Selection at object level will align to the local pivot of the selection
- Adds 'Auto Align Work Plane to Selection'

miauu's Work Plane is available for Max 2008 to 2014 and costs €10.


New Plugin: Utilities

3DSMaxWire allows you to navigate in a Max scene using an Android device as your input device. It works with both tablets and smartphones, but the larger the screen the more comfortable it is to control.

The software consists of two parts, a client (.apk for android) and this server utility.


Plugin Update: Post FX

Changes for v1.8 are:
- States Manager has been improved
- Fixes and changes to the 'Export to Web' feature
- V-Ray 3.0 is now fully supported
- Improvements to the export script for Max
- Other small bug-fixes

MOTIVA Colimo is available for Max 2008 to 2014 and costs €139.


Plugin Update: Atmospherics

Changes for v3.5.4 are:
- Minor bug-fixes to the mental ray integration
- Minor bug-fixes to FumeFX SL simulation
- Other minor bug-fixes

FumeFX is available for Max 2009 to 2014 and costs $845.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for Build 1833 are:
- Optimizations and bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.9.24.0 are:
- GState FileTag has been updated in this version
- Improved debugging visibility of opaque Granny structures
- Replaces 'N-Way Blend' as the Blend node can now have more than 2 nodes
- WinRT is now a supported Granny platform
- Gtate project for WinRT added
- Granny support for WP8 added
- Adds GrannyRebasePointersTrackNulls to allow for some cool tricks with RAW files
- Fixes an exporter bug that popped up when Maya leaves a vertex unused in the mesh
- Fixes matrix ordering problem in exports from Maya 2014
- Fixes a bug in the Look At IK solver for very small rotations
- Adds a new node type to the Studio: 'Orient Towards'
- Adds MOD header entries for File Magic Values
- Fixes a crash in the Maya exporter relating to flipping textures vertically
- Fixes an assert using a non-public symbol from Granny in GState
- Some Maya material attributes that caused large textures to be read unnecessarily are now ignored
- Adds a RenderAsSkeleton option to the Studio camera controls
- Fixes the exporter build to not inappropriately lock the CRT version

Granny Exporter is available for Max 6 to 2014, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $17,500.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.8 are:
- Attach and Link has been updated to v1.3
- Adds offset capabilities to Attach and Link

miauu's Script Pack Volume 2 is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €17.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.0.8 are:
- Fixes some bugs in wire-frame color and textures

AXE Pro is available for Max 7 to 2014 and costs $190. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v8.0.5 are:
- Fixes an issue with CPU usage display in Console reporting 0% when CPU usage is 100%
- Fixes an issue with the web server not working on case sensitive file systems
- Fast change of frame checking options is now available in the job context menu
- The job editing functions have been moved into a submenu
- Fixes the Maya V-Ray template not configuring the V-Ray paths properly
- Fixes an error during Console template configuration
- Sorting the nodes view by real time log status has been fixed
- Sorting the jobs view by working nodes has been fixed
- Services control applet now issues a soft-restart request so clients can re-read the configuration
- The Maya connector has been updated with some new features
- Fixes the Nuke connector to correctly submit additional flags

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2014 and costs $85 per node. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling / Texturing

Changes for v4.1.6 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray 3.0
- Improved Thea Render materials

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €190. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.1.142 are:
- The material IDs import option is no longer broken
- The Alembic float controller is now backwards compatible

Alembic for 3DS Max is available for Max 2010 to 2014 and costs $399. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.2.3 are:
- Adds more than 75 new styles
- Library scheme has been reorganized to include new and future styles
- The array generator is now available in RailClone Lite
- Adds support for V-Ray 3.0 and Thea Render
- Adds a new parameter node: Random number
- Adds General->Stats information window
- Adds Segment->UV Mapping->Rotation
- A new default mode, Count, allows you to define a fixed number of segments
- Linear 1S Generator can now be built without a spline by setting X Size parameter
- Adds Style->Geometry->Free Object
- Adds up/down arrows to Base Objects/Parameters lists
- Style Editor now has icons and shortcuts for Enable, Disable, Expand and Collapse
- Renamed exported parameters of the Transform operator to match with Segment ones
- Fixes an error that would generate misaligned segments on render
- Fixes an error using geometric shader and mirrored segments
- Constant parameters are now affected by Geometry->Global scale
- Compose operator now works properly with Default->Scale mode
- Material Sequence operator no longer adds +1 to the ID value
- Segment->Flat Top/Bottom controls are no longer disabled if Bend is off
- Fixes alignment of initial segment when using Vertical or Stepped mode
- Fixes some arithmetic expressions being evaluated as integer values
- Fixes the Randomize operator with nested RC objects
- Fixes Region Clipping using nested splines on specific viewport aligments
- Fixes several bugs with Segment->Mapping
- Fixes alignment issues with certain Y Splines on arrays
- Fixes a potential crash on Max exit
- Fixes a crash when the Style Editor was closed with nodes selected
- Fixes a crash cloning Mirror nodes
- The length of Left Padding on empty segments is no longer doubled
- Fixes an error in Scale mode when using Bevels and Fillet Radius
- Fixes an alignment error when using Scale mode and Bevels

RailClone Pro is available for Max 9 to 2014 and costs €190. A demo version is available here.