3d-io games & video production GmbH have released versions of the following plugins for Max 2016:
- UnwrellaMax 3.03
- UV-Packer 2.03
- Spotmask 1.03

These are just straight recompiles, their other plugins have also been updated (see the previous two posts).

Changes for v4.71 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- The mirror tool now fully supports dual-quaterion blend weights
- Improved accuracy for spline based deformations
- Spline deformations now work more accurately and update the deformation instantly
- Fixes an issue that sometimes caused windows to be moved to inaccessible locations
- MAXScript interface performance has been improved for various calls
- The BonesPro C++ Interface has been extended with support for dual-quaternion weights
- Fixes a bug in the C++ Interface for cases where requested data wasn't returned correctly
- Performance of the BonesPro C++ interface has been improved for various calls

BonesPro is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €299. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.13 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Improves handling of unwrapped objects when they get copied
- Materials and textures created by Flatiron now have names to ease use in the material editor
- The Flatiron Modifier is no longer visible in the Add Modifier UI to avoid accidental adding
- Fixes a bug where merged data from multipass rendering could end up with the wrong gamma setting
- Fixes a crash caused by invalid Editable Poly objects
- Various minor fixes to improve unwrap results of objects with problematic mesh topology
- Adds a MAXScript function to list all objects in an unwrap group
- Adds a MAXScript function to rename an unwrap group
- Fixes the MAXScript get/set element parameter value sometimes handling the data incorrectly

Flatiron v2.13 is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €299. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.0 are:
- You can now control the length of the lines between the particles
- You can now fade faces at render time with vertex color support
- You can now use a mesh instead of particles as points source

Atom is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €50.

Changes for v0.8.2 beta are:
- Adds support for Max 2016 and Maya 2016
- The bias parameter is now an absolute numeric value
- The TK1 standalone renderer's window title no longer incorrectly displays 'x64'
- Performance and compatibility tweaks for Quadro cards
- Recompiled using the latest libraries (Qt 5.4.1)

This MCG modifier simply combines ACloneModifier and ARingClone into one modifier rather than having two modifiers in the stack.

Changes for v1.3.3.58467 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- The Stoke PRT Field Random Seed is now animatable
- The Stoke PRT Field parameters no longer show ?? in Trackview
- The Stoke Particle Simulator object is now a valid input for the Magma InputParticles node
- Fixes the Active Type tool of the Stoke/Genome Magma Editor failing if Krakatoa MX isn't installed
- Fixes a Max 2016 issue where the Stoke Menu was not being created / updated automatically

Stoke MX is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs $595. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.3.3.58467 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Silent installer now adds XMesh to all detected versions of Max
- Fixes an error when running silent installer on a system with no Max installed
- Fixes incorrect Velocity on objects with both changing topology and an animated node transform
- XMesh now uses the DEADLINE_PATH environment variable to locate Deadline
- Deadline-related error messages are now displayed in the XMesh Saver Log Window

XMesh Saver MX is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $495. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.22.2-1.3 are:
- Fixes a bug in render elements (some passes rendered instead of others)
- Adds the 'Light pass ID' parameter to Octane lights
- Minor fixes and improvements

OctaneRender is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €459. A demo version is available here.

This is a modified version of the ARingClone MCG that lets you easily generate rope from a cylinder.

Update: the ScriptSpot link has changed since I posted the news item, it now works properly.

This is an MCG modifier for attaching one mesh to another, with an option to align and offset in local space.

Changes for v2.1.2 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016

XFormer is available for Max 9 to 2016 and costs $14.99. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v4.0.3 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Fixes a minor bug in UV Loop (Max 2010)
- Fixes a bug in Normalize when invalid faces are detected

PolyUnwrapper is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $34.99. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.1.0.1 are:
- Fixes a blank or black display bug after importing a model
- Minor tweaks to a couple of default scale settings

Blacksmith3D is available for Max 9 to 2016 and costs $209.95 (Pro version) / $109.95 (Standard version). A demo version is available here.

Atom creates effects similar to Plexus in After Effects, using Particle Flow to generate lines, points and faces between the particles. The result is refreshed when the particles are updated, making it a non-destructive workflow. You have full control over the number of lines, the search distance, etc. and all of the parameters are animatable. The resulting geometry can be deformed, smoothed, etc. with the standard Max modifiers.

Atom is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €50.

Changes for v2.0.1 are:
- Adds support for the Blend material
- Fixes an issue with render region in Active Shade mode
- Fixes problems when switching between Area and Render modes
- Fixes displacement in 3Delight Skin Material
- Pixel Samples maximum has been changed to 64
- Fixes default lights in Max 2015
- OpenVDB temporary cache files are no longer created
- Fixes intensity problems with HDRIs
- Adds the ability to exclude lights from Diffuse and/or Specular
- Fixes a crash if the scene contains Corona lights
- Fixes instancing of Area Lights
- File saving is now stopped if Max is saving
- Adds new token for file output names

Changes for v1.57 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016

Liquid+ is available for Max 2012 to 2016 and costs ¥47,520. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.10 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Pencil+ 3 Line Render Element now supports the MAXScript command 'Render'
- Fixes a freeze problem related to specific operations on the Reflection/Refraction Map
- Fixes minor GUI problems

Pencil+ is available for Max 2012 to 2016 and costs ¥54,000. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.61 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Fixes a problem with the Updater

Din3D Importer is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €59. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.1 are:
- I can't find any information on what's in the update right now. As soon as I know I'll update this post.

ThinkingParticles is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €540 per year. A demo version is available here.

This commercial MCG plugin allows you to voxelise bitmaps and procedural textures.

MCG Voxel Texture Maps is available for Max 2016 and costs $10.

Changes for v2.9.33.1 are:
- Adds a ChooseOnActivate option for blend nodes
- Fixes a bad range issue for text event sampling
- Adds a global UseAnimEvents option on the top level state machine
- UseAnimationEvents no longer disables text track events
- Adds an AddTextTrack function for the preprocessor
- SampleEventOutput now returns the name of the node that generated each event
- The node::SampleEventOutput interface has been changed
- The node::SamplePoseOutput interface has been changed
- Adds a new Custom Remap Node to GState for more control when remapping floating point values
- Fixes an assert when removing the last point from a linear remap node
- Adds basic icons for all the anim studio math operations and time clamp

Granny Exporter is available for Max 2009 to 2016, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $17,500.

Changes for v8.5.6 are:
- Fixes a crash issue on the Linux/Mac version of the Dispatcher
- Renderclients no longer pass '[MUSTER]' prefix logs entries to the logs parser routines
- Fixes an issue in the queue caching in Console that sometimes caused incorrect results
- Fixes a selection logic issue that assigned a wrong amount of nodes to license-limited templates

Muster is available for Max 6 to 2016 and costs $85 per node. A demo version is available here.

As you can see below, I've started adding MCG plugins to the database. I'll be adding the ones that have already been released without posting news about them, but any new ones will get a post on the front page.

Dave

The MCG: MatID_Offset modifier enables you to offset MaterialID numbers, eg. if you have MaterialID 1, 2 and 7 and set the Offset amount to 4, you will have 5, 6 and 11. You can also start the MaterialID at a specific number using the 'Use Absolute StartID' checkbox and setting the 'Start ID' spinner.

MCG: MatID_Swap lets you change the current material with a new MaterialID. You can swap up to 10 sets of ID's at once. You can also cache the updated MaterialID assignments so they will only be calculated once and re-used until you force a cache update.

Changes for v3.1.2 are:
- Adds the ability to replace external BitmapTexture paths

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €140.

This is a library of 10 advanced realistic vintage and aged upholstery leather materials for use with V-Ray 3.0 SP1 or higher.

SigerShaders Volume 4 is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €19.

This is an MCG modifier which extracts the difference (deltas) between two meshes and lets you apply the deltas to a different mesh. It can be used for making corrective morph targets, for example.

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016

Changes for v3.2.0.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Zoom extents can now be used in Edit Guides to zoom in on just the selected guides
- Fixes an error when using Ox Ground Strands button from the toolbar on non-guides
- Fixes a crash when the length modifier is applied to hair objects without any strands
- Numerous internal changes

Ornatrix is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs $499. A demo version is available here.

NVIDIA ARC have put up a new post on their mental ray blog outlining the new features in mental ray 3.13, which is included in the Max 2016 package.

This is a library of 10 advanced realistic vintage and aged upholstery leather materials for use with Corona Renderer.

SigerShaders Volume 3 is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €19.

Changes for v3.41 Build 1605 are:
- Adds a 'repeat last' function
- Improves Paste Material and adds support for undo
- The Material ID functions have been rewritten

RappaTools is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €31.99.

Changes for v1.0.3 are:
- Adds the ability to replace external BitmapTexture paths

Corona Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €125.

ExLevel are offering a 25% discount on all licenses of their plant and tree building plugin GrowFX. The offer is valid until the end of April, and full details can be found here.

GrowFX is available for Max 9 to 2016 and normally costs $325. Until the end of April a license costs $243.75. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.22.2-1.2 are:
- Completely reworked the LiveDB mechanism and user interface
- You can now export a selected objects material into a LocalDB, LiveDB or ORBX package
- Fixes the Max 2014 installer bug
- The installer now knows how to find the old versions of Max (2010-2012)

OctaneRender for 3ds Max is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €459. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.9.0 are:
- Updated to support the latest v1.9.0 release of Panda3D

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for DDS textures (DXT1, DXT3 and DXT5 only)
- Updated fbx2edf to the 2015 SDK

Changes for Build 006213 are:
- Faster re-opening of the NPR and Camera Options
- Fixes a potential memory leak when loading NPR presets
- Fixes black lines when using the NPR texture shader with off-screen rendering
- Fixes several display issues in NPR Options
- The style selector in Camera/PostRender Options is now grayed out when disabled
- Fixes handling of images without alpha in the texture modifier and lines caps
- Network Rendering using HyperVue/RenderCow is now compatible with NPR
- Fixes a potential crash when hitting Enter key while FE just opened
- Unnecessary nodes for clouds are now hidden in the FE
- Improved interface display on large resolution screens under Windows
- Fixes a potential crash when editing materials using subsurface scattering
- Fixes visual glitches when moving the material editor
- Fixes the render area not going away
- Fixes heliodon interpolation
- Fixes potential display/decimation issues with some meshes
- Fixes incorrect shadows on imported meshes (Poser, Collada, etc...)
- Fixes the Alembic focal length, focus distance and aperture (blur) parameters
- Fixes the loading of xStream plugin in Non-AVX C4D R16 version

Vue xStream is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $1695. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.08 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Adds a symmetry tool
- Adds a system to add any objects to the rig objects list
- Adds a new spine system that is faster and doesn't freeze in TrackView
- Adds a new system for shoulders
- Fixes duplicate names
- Fixes a bug with the neck
- Fixes a bug when deleting a rig
- Changes the color of the bones for better visibility
- Changes the form of the controller for better visibility

Additional changes to the Cartoon rig:
- Fixes the position of the master controller for stretchBend

LH | Auto-Rig is available for Max 2011 to 2016 and costs €59 (€99 for the Cartoon version).

Changes for v3.1.1 are:
- Improvements to preprocess and voxelization time
- Fixes a potential crash with blocked emitters
- Fixes blocked emitters not working with references
- Fixes objects sometimes disappearing or showing invalid transformations in FIRE
- Adds support for hair with tip radius greater than root radius
- Fixes a crash deleting instances with excluded lights
- Changes to multilight sliders range for IBL
- Fixes SSS brightness with IBL in some scenarios
- Fixes %mwchannel% token which wasn't working properly
- Fixes issues with hair material dependencies
- Improved support for blade normals in Grass primitives
- Improved support for IES and EULUMDAT files with lines longer than 256 characters
- Fixes instances of references with multiple objects only instancing the first element
- Fixes the preview window ignoring camera response if Multilight was enabled
- Adds new command line flag -affinity [auto/manual] to override thread affinity
- Fixes root and tip being half of expected in flat and curve grass/hair primitives
- Fixes render failing when grass/hair flat primitive had zero tip width
- Fixes a memory leak with procedural textures
- Fixes a crash when converting an image file to MXI format
- Fixes a Studio UI issue when using MXM references
- Fixes a Studio UI issue that let you set IES/Spot emitters with Temperature
- Fixes the Animation tool forcing longitude/latitude sun position
- Fixes the Animation tool forcing jpg image output
- Fixes incorrect camera roll angle when entering negative values
- Fixes RealFlow bin mesh loader failing in some cases
- Fixes a PyMaxwell crash after running getObjectNames() causing scene corruption
- Removes the unused PyMaxwell parameter getNumCustomAlphaChannels()
- Fixes a PyMaxwell crash on getPath() when the path is empty

Maxwell Render is available for Max 2011 to 2016 and costs €595. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.0.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015 (and I guess 2016 as well)

Catalyst is available for Max 2011 to 2016 and costs $24. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.22.2-1.1 are:
- Adds the new 2.22.2 engine
- The stereo settings of the panoramic and thin-lens cameras are now consistent
- Adds a 'Pixel aspect ratio' option to the thin-lens camera node
- Adds an 'Aperture aspect ratio' option to the thin-lens camera node
- Adds a 'Keep upright' pin to the panoramic camera node
- Adds 'Pano blackout latitude' option to the panoramic camera node
- You can now quickly choose and render any pass in OctaneRender viewport in live-render mode
- Adds all of the missed passes to render elements
- Adds the missed parameters of some passes to render elements settings
- Adds the missed common paramters for info-passes
- Adds the 'Object layer ID' parameter to Octane object properties
- You can now assign the light pass numbers to emission nodes
- Adds 'Render layer setup' group to common settings
- Multiprocessor calculations are now used in some parts of code to speedup the plugin
- A new installer has been implemented
- The version string of the plugin is structured from now on
- Fixes the Octane viewport bug (grain in some cases)
- Minor fixes and improvements

OctaneRender for 3ds Max is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €459. A demo version is available here.

I've just made some changes to the database so that Max 2016 is now supported. Currently I have simply made all Max 2015 plugins compatible with Max 2016, but if anyone notices that a plugin *doesn't* work in Max 2016, please let me know.

Cheers, Dave

Changes for v1.02 are:
- Some minor stability improvements
- Improvements to the UI
- Updated documentation
- Adds support for Corona Renderer

GeoMaps is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $60. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.2.5 are:
- Adds support for Sampler Map animation
- Fixes display of the subtexture names in Track View

Ky_Color Variator is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs €43. A demo version is available here.

AMD have announced a new GPU render plugin for Max at the NAB called FireRender, which is a collaboration between AMD and Render Legion s.r.o., developers of Corona Renderer. Currently still in alpha, you can find out more details on the renderer from this AMD press release and this blog post from Render Legion.

Thinkbox Software have unveiled the upcoming version 7.1 of their render management system Deadline at the NAB in Las Vegas. Currently in the final beta phase, it is due to be released soon.

Features include:
- Support for new third-party applications
- Enhanced application support
- Draft update
- Improved logic for balanced job scheduling
- New Slave metrics
- Improved Slave statistics reports
- Expanded font synchronization
- Flexible image viewer configuration
- Standalone Web Service application
- Protected jobs

More details on the list above can be found in the press release.

Deadline is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $185 per node. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Build 1913 are:
- Regression fixes to the Max shader

Changes for v2.4.7 are:
- Fixes a rendering bug with V-Ray 2.x

RailClone Pro is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs €200 A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.44 are:
- Adds 'Open selected bitmap in Photoshop' function
- You can now open / preview selected in the default Windows viewer
- Adds a function to copy the path and filename to the clipboard

Bitmap Tracking/Resizing is available for Max 2009 to 2015 and costs $9. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v0.18 beta are:
- Adds support for Max 2015

Changes for v0.36 are:
- Fixes a problem with a V-Ray pop-up on files saved using an older V-Ray version
- Adds basic settings to check/uncheck backup
- Adds a progress bar to the resave function
- The asset list is now auto-refreshed when resave is finished
- Adds a hotkey (Esc) to cancel the resave process

Library Track and Relink is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $9. A demo version is available here.

This is just a reminder that e-on software's introductory 40% discount on full licenses and 25% on upgrades of Vue 2015 xStream and Plant Factory Studio 2015 only runs until April 12th.

Originally it was going to end on April 7th, but that deadline seems to have been extended. Full details can be found here.

Changes for v8.5.5 are:
- Fixes some invalid log entries for pause and resume actions
- Fixes an issue where the renderclient tries to re-sync the logfiles too frequently
- Fixes an issue with an incorrect queue after connecting to a different Dispatcher service
- Fixes an issue where emails were sent using the wrong encoding
- Fixes an issue where SQL exports were not escaped for certain characters
- Fixes an issue with the maximum instances calculation in templates
- OnJobPaused and OnJobResumed entry points are now available on the templates

Muster is available for Max 6 to 2015 and costs $85 per node. A demo version is available here.

The guys from Render Legion s.r.o. have published an interesting blog entry on what's planned for Corona in the near future, head over here to read it.

Corona Renderer is available for Max 2011 to 2015 and costs €24.99 per month. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.025b are:
- Adds support for Max 2013 and 2014

The guys at You can do it! VFX have posted some news on their upcoming release of Nyx Voltron, which links After Effects and Max together seamlessly. Head over here to read the post and watch the video.

Changes for v3.4 are:
- Fixes (X,Y) dependence and wrong scale in path based shatter
- Fixes WSM modifiers failing in dynamics
- Fixes unbreakable first-hit fracture bodies moving when being hit before the break frame
- Fixes secondary cracks not working with local propagation
- Fixes local shatter preview leaving some corners unreachable for hi-poly meshes
- Fixes weird updates in preview mode when local centers > 1 locators

Pull Down It Pro is available for Max 2012 to 2015 and costs €395. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.1.5 are:
- Adds a new Multi-Textures option
- Adds support for more UV sets when not using DeclData

AXE Pro is available for Max 7 to 2015 and costs from $70 to $180. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.4.6 are:
- Adds Style Description to quickly see a general description of style, base objects and parameters
- Adds MAXScript functions to get/set Style Description
- Adds UVW XForm operator to edit and randomise tiling / offset / rotation of existing UVW coordinates
- Adds UVW XForm->Random->Step Increment to enable random values to increment in steps
- Adds Export Attributes enabling export of numeric values from nodes, eg. the size of a Segment
- Segment->Mapping now accepts multiple map channels
- Adds Generator->Limits->Padding (Start/End for Linear, Left/Right/Top/Bottom for Arrays)
- Adds two modes for Generator->Rules->Evenly: Distance and Count
- Exportable Parameters and Attributes aren now sorted by category
- Adds more exportable parameters to Segment and Transform nodes
- Adds Clear all to Export Parameters and Attributes
- Improves conform to Surface for very large splines by adding a parameter defining the interpolation
- Conditional->Vertex can now be used with the Default slot
- Display->Use Geometry Shader has been renamed to Use Instancing Engine
- RailClone Tools->Instantiate copies the source object User Properties / ObjectID / wireframe color
- Adds Segments Selector to the Quad menu
- Adds a warning message to General->Stats to inform of features not compatible with instancing
- The installer now supports multiple Max versions
- Improves handling of multi-threading and fixes a rare crash in certain conditions
- Adds multiple wiring support to the Style Editor
- Adds Segment->Right Menu->Clone Multiple to the Style Editor
- Improves hotspot detection for node wiring in the Style Editor
- The Style Editor can now be placed on the left side on multi-monitor configurations
- Randomize->Presence and Sequence->Counter parameters can now be exported
- Adds auto-rename of Parameters and Base Objects on wiring in the Style Editor
- Adds the result of Arithmetic->Expression to the edit dialog
- You can now drag wires over a node connecting them to a default slot depending on the wire's type
- Dragging between nodes outputs in the Style Editor swaps their links
- All Style Editor nodes now include an On/Off exportable parameter
- All Style Editor boolean parameters are available for exporting
- The Clipboard file (rcclip.dat) is now stored in a temporary folder
- Style Editor nodes with multiple inputs no longer keep empty slots after link deletion
- Adds a creation context menu for wires dragged from Clipping Area slots
- A number of library styles have been rebuilt using new RailClone features and improved materials
- Fixes Random node value being generated before evaluating its exported parameters
- Fixes a problem with Evenly Segments when using Surface
- Materials are no longer XRef'd when Override Material is off in the Library item properties
- Stepped segments are now instanced correctly on curved paths
- Fixes padding of initial segment on closed paths when Bevel is off
- Fixes behaviour of Generator->Adaptive/Scale/Count mode when using Transform operators
- Fixes trimming of Generator->Limits->Padding on offset paths
- Fixes updating of clipping areas when using nested RC objects
- Fixed size now works properly with Generator->Scale/Adaptive/Count modes
- Fixes behaviour of Fixed Size when Segment->Transform->Transform Affect Size is off
- Generator->Limit by ID no longer uses an incorrect range when the parameter is exported
- Fixes the last segment of a linear generator being skipped when using negative paddings
- Fixes rendering of RC objects with modifiers in Corona Renderer
- Fixes Segment->Deform->Nest always being applied in V-Ray, regardless of the parameter value
- Removes incorrect warning when connecting Arithmetic node to Segment->Exported Attributes
- Nodes with exported attributes are now properly collapsed
- Fixes behaviour of Segment->Flat Top/Bottom when pivot is not aligned to bottom
- Fixes a bug in the Compose node when using Segment->Alignment different from Automatic
- Removes isolated vertices in the Generator->Clipping process
- Fixes behaviour of Generator->Align to Path with Corner segments and closed splines
- The position of panels in the Style Editor is now saved and restored properly
- Fixes a crash modifying objects assigned to a segment (Max 2010 and earlier)
- Removes the limits from Generator->Fillet Radius
- Vertex Color channel is now only generated when needed
- A2S Generator->Clipping->Rotation Z now works in local coordinates
- Segments are now updated when their referenced objects are converted to editable mesh
- Fixes a rare bug when using no Bend segments at Corners
- Fixes a rare bug with empty segments
- Fixes a potential crash bug when moving cursor on viewports while rendering (V-Ray and Max 2015)
- Improves behaviour of Fixed Size with empty Segments
- Segment->Mapping is now aligned correctly when applying random scale
- Clipping Area is now properly updated when Generator is off
- Fixes a bug that disabled Start/End segments when using Base Object->Start/End limits
- Fixes problems with the Style Editor disappearing on multi-monitor configurations

RailClone Pro is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs €200 A demo version is available here.

Looks like I jumped the gun with posting the news on the release of GeoMaps last week. The plugin collection is now officially on sale for $60. There is also a Vimeo channel which has a video showing the capabilities of the Curvature plugin, with more to come soon.

GeoMaps is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $60. A demo version is available here.

I don't know how long this has already been running, and I also don't know how long it's going to run for, but 3dCutout.com are offering a 50% discount on their animation tool 3dCutout, taking the price down to €100. The details can be found here.

3dCutout is available for Max 2011 to 2015 and normally costs €200. For a limited time you can get a license for €100. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.3.5.2 are:
- Adds a new Regular Pattern algorithm with added features
- You can now setup the initial position of the pattern
- Random shift now ranges from -2 to 2 (from 0 to 1 before)
- The Scale Multiplier range limit has been increased from 1000 to 100000
- Adds a new non-uniform scaling feature
- You can now assign object ID's inside MultiScatter (V-Ray 3 only)
- Adds Depth Cueing option for Preview in point mode
- Improved performance in viewport
- Some Corona renderer fixes
- The start menu location has changed to 'iCube R&D Group'

MultiScatter is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs €200.

Changes for v3.3.1 are:
- Small improvements and bug fixes

Changes for v2.5.12945.0 are:
- Updated to support the hotfix released for Prepar3D

Changes for v1.05 are:
- Increases the range of the Tile Grab Size parameter
- You can now add your own tile data to the 'User' folder

Terrain is available for Max 2008 to 2015 and costs $199. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.43 are:
- Fixes 'Rename files in project paths only' function

Bitmap Tracking/Resizing is available for Max 2009 to 2015 and costs $9. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Adds a randomize function to randomly deviate the normals

Normal Tools is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs $7.95.

Changes for v1.8 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray cameras

Rapid Camera Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $39. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2015 are:
- Adds high-amplitude displacement mapping, bitmap or procedurally based
- Rendering speeds have been improved
- Faster preparation and rendering of infinite, spherical and planetary terrains
- Non-photorealistic rendering engine stylizes artwork by interpreting renders as an artist would
- Adds 40 NPR preset artistic styles including paint, chalk, halftoning, etc
- You can create custom render styles by combining line and shading styles
- The Render Scene Preview has been optimized to start sooner and render faster
- You can now drive cloud colors using a function graph
- Modulate Spectral clouds sharpness using a function graph
- Auto-scale clouds with altitude for easier manipulation
- Adds 15 new cloud presets
- Adds Energy Conservative AntiAliasing to smooth renders while preserving bright details
- You can now generate Ambient Occlusion passes
- Adds an option to apply exposure to applicable multi-pass layers
- Adds double-sided materials
- You can now modulate Sub-Surface Scattering depth using a function graph
- Set minimal reflectivity of materials based on viewing angle
- Material groups let you associate multiple layers with overall alpha and environment presence
- New dedicated shader for infinitely thin glass materials
- You can now reorganize the UI layout to better suit your workflow
- New fast content browser with large previews, search and more
- UI controls and shortcuts can now be set to match other popular 3D apps
- New 'Welcome' panel shows most recent files, template scenes, and other useful links
- Material Editor tabs now show which channels are used
- You can now select and edit multiple nodes in the Function Editor simultaneously
- The Render Stack can now be resized to match renders
- Adds colored axis coordinate (X,Y,Z) input fields
- Adds Alembic import and export of scenes, objects or camera paths
- Adds Alembic import of synchronization data
- You can now easily exchange geometry with ZBrush using GoZ
- Adds material export using Walt Disney Animation's PTEX standard
- You can now export Rocks and baked HyperBlobs to any standard 3D file format
- Adds import of geo-located terrains
- Adds import of geographic data using the DTED, SDTS/DDF, and GeoTIFF data formats
- Adds horizontal and vertical film offsets for pixel-perfect matching of cameras with other 3D apps
- New command line parameters for RenderNodes: -output_suffix and -auto_tile_suffix
- Adds support for network rendering of files over 4GB in size
- You can now export VUE scenes to LumenRT

Vue xStream is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and normally costs $1695. Until April 7th 2015 you can get a 40% discount taking the price down to $995. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v4.8.3609 are:
- Fixes negative values (for example for displacement map)

FurryBall is available for Max 2013 to 2015 and costs €599. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2015 are:
- You can now generate plant geometry as quads
- Merge branch geometry using Subdivision Surfaces (requires quad geometry)
- There are now multiple meshing algorithms using triangles or quads
- Adds more control over mesh density of individual parts of the plant
- You can now use a second UV layer to add detail maps
- Adds double-sided materials, e.g. for the front/back of leaves
- Adds 19 new plant species
- Adds 44 simple tutorial scenes explaining specific settings
- Redesigned content, optimized for the new wind
- New preset material library
- Redesigned interface and workflow for an improved 'new-user' experience
- Adds Trunk, Branch, Twig, Stem, Leaf and Billboard framework nodes for a quick start
- New Basic and Advanced workspaces, adapted for newcomers and power users
- You can now edit the same parameter for several nodes simultaneously
- New Basic Material Editor offers simplified material creation
- Adds mesh export using Alembic .ABC format (Ogawa v1.5 and HDF5 v1.0)
- Send portions of plant to ZBrush for sculpting then back to PlantFactory
- Adds material export using Walt Disney Animation's Ptex standard
- You can now export plants as multiple meshes (i.e. one mesh per node)
- Exports are now cleaner thanks to automatic merging of duplicate points
- Adds a custom tailored FBX export preset for Unity 5
- New ultra-realistic wind animation model
- Standardized wind animation for both real-time and offline rendering
- New optimized 'Leaf' Node to easily add animated leaves to your plants
- New lightweight Simple Segment node for small branches and twigs
- New Random Range node to create random values depending on the plant seed
- New Node presets for the Segment and Leaf nodes
- Automatic hiding of Control nodes in the graph for improved legibility

Plant Factory Studio is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs normally costs $995. Until April 7th 2015 you can get a 40% discount taking the price down to $597. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.9.9 Beta are:
- Adds Cache mode for baking your plants' growth or wind animation
- Adds new 'Bake Direction' feature for the Object Reaction modifier
- Adds a new 'Chaos pos %' parameter for the Path Position Distributor
- Adds the ability to convert a Path Distributor into a Path Position Distributor
- Adds a new 'Shift Start Point' option for the Noise direction modifier
- Adds a new 'Scale proportionally' option for the Leaves mesh
- Improved the 'Stop stitching' feature for the Meta mesh
- Adds a new 'Stop stitching for children' option to Meta mesh
- Fixes some minor bugs

GrowFX is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs $325. A demo version is available here.

I've just seen that Siger Studio is offering a 20% promotional discount on the new SigerShaders Volume 1 and 2 that I posted yesterday. The offer is valid until April 25th 2015.

For SigerShaders Volume 1 the code is cormvpromo120 and for SigerShaders Volume 2 the code is vrmvpromo220.

Wall Worm Pro is a collection of C++/C# exporters and other utilities to speed up using Wall Worm (which is required to work).

Current features are:
- DMX Exporter exports models to Valve's DMX format inside Max
- Automatically export Morph channels without manually setting channel amount keyframes
- Paint wrinklemaps directly on your model before exporting
- Faster SMD/VTA exporting
- Export procedural textures and any texture node, not just bitmap textures
- Instantaneous FGD parsing
- VTF Importer loads VTF files natively inside Max
- Faster Material Library Generator and VMT importing
- Faster VMF exporting

Wall Worm Pro is available for Max 2012 to 2015 and costs $30.

Changes for v2.14.02 are:
- Adds support for Maxwell renderer
- Adds support for Octane renderer to IES_Texture
- Fixes an issue with rendering previews for Proxies
- Fixes an issue with dragging materials and textures to the Slate Material editor

Project Manager is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $75. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.50.02 are:
- Increases the size of thumbnails up to 256px
- Adds support for Corona renderer
- Adds support for Octane renderer
- Adds support for Maxwell renderer
- Adds the ability to render the preview as .png with alpha channel
- Fixes some issues and bugs when the system uses text with size greater than 100%
- Fixes an issue with hiding the V-Ray VFB window
- Fixes a bug which locked the Max hotkeys after opening some menus

FilePathFinder Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $30. A demo version is available here.

GeoMaps is a collection of Max maps that allow you to shade the underlying object based on its geometry. The included maps are:
Curvature - adjusts output based on curvature of the underlying object
Tension - adjusts output based on the tension of the underlying object over time

GeoMaps is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $50. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.025 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- Fixes line endings (LF/CRLF) in Max 2015

Changes for v1.02.00 are:
- Adds support for Maxwell renderer
- Fixes an issue with rendering previews for Proxies

Models Manager is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $30. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.51.00 are:
- Adds support for Maxwell renderer
- Adds support to IES_Texture for Octane renderer
- Fixes an issue with rendering previews for Proxies

Batch Render&Relink is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $15. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Fixes a problem with UV mapping not working correctly in some versions of Max

SplineBrancher is available for Max 2012 to 2015 and costs $14.99. A demo version is available here.

This commercial MAXScript automatically finds and relinks assets in Max files without opening them. It makes things like organizing, collecting or relinking model libraries or projects after moving them to a new location extremely easy.

Features include:
- Find all Max files in selected folder and subfolders
- Get and change all asset paths in multiple files at once without opening them
- Change / Rename asset paths
- Sort files by name, image width, height, file size, path, gamma, texture name, status
- Copy local files to network with auto path replacement
- Copy selected to a path with path replacement or just copy files
- Collect selected to project folder or quickly copy/change selected paths
- Collect all or selected assets with path structure (similar to Max archive)
- File status in 3 colors: Found - network, Found - local, Not found
- Resave older Max files to new version to get assets info (and backup original file)

Library Track and Relink is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $9. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Adds new 'Out From Pivot' function
- Adds new 'Out From Center' function

Normal Tools is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs $3.95.

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Adds some new Normal options to help create better foliage
- Fixes unexpected mesh results with tri/cross settings

Detailer is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs $12.95.

Changes for v2.9.32.0 are:
- Adds null state blending
- Adds GetStateByName() call on state_machine
- You can now set an animation source node to null animation

Granny Exporter is available for Max 2009 to 2015, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $17,500.

Changes for v1.0.2 are:
- Adds 'Use Real-World Scale' option
- Adds 'Architectural Quartz' materials (10)
- Minor bug-fixes

Corona Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2015 and costs €125.

This collection contains 10 advanced realistic procedural rusty metal materials for Max and V-Ray 3.0 SP1 or higher. The collection is compatible with Siger Studio's V-Ray Material Presets Pro plugin for Max and can be added to the user library.

SigerShaders Volume 2 is available for Max 2013 to 2015 and costs €19.

This collection contains 10 advanced realistic procedural rusty metal materials for Max and Corona Renderer. The collection is compatible with Siger Studio's Corona Material Presets Pro plugin for Max and can be added to the user library.

SigerShaders Volume 1 is available for Max 2013 to 2015 and costs €19.

You might have noticed that things have been quiet here for the past week. I was cut off from the internet for a week (thanks Vodafone!) and had no way of updating the site. Things are back to normal right now, and I hope it stays that way.

I've got a load of news to catch up on, so I'll be posting a load of stuff over the next few days.

Dave

Changes for v0.5 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray 2.4 for Max 2013

Changes for v6.1.0.0 are:
- FBX import/export is now stable
- Adds a new texture transformation feature for users of the Pro version

Blacksmith3D is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs $209.95 (Pro version) / $109.95 (Standard version). A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0.14 are:
- Ensures compatibility with Corona Renderer 1.0 for Max
- Adds support for Thea Render for Max
- Adds full German language support for Max 2015
- Fixes compatibility issues with VRAYforC4D

Laubwerk Plants Kit 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are available for Max 2010 to 2015 and cost €149 each. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Build 1909 are:
- Regression fixes to the Max shader