Next Limit have posted an interesting list of new features for their upcoming update release for Maxwell Render. You can find all the details here.

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

EasySkin considerably reduces the time needed for the skinning process with the help of various tools and enhancements. It uses a reorganized and revised interface higlighting the most useful tools and options for the Max skin modifier to speed up the skinning pipeline. It also adds the bubble system which creates spheroidal envelopes giving a smoother nuance and creating a better harmony between vertices. Using just a few commands you can now set envelopes in a quicker and smoother way.

Features include:
- New fast editing system for envelopes
- New bubble envelopes system
- Integrated vertex weight tools
- Simplified paint weight tools
- Easy and fast mirror tools
- Regrouped and revised UI

EasySkin is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs €19.99.

Changes for v1.01.00 are:
- You can now use a curve to control scaling of the clones

Changes for v2.7 are:
- The Visual Pivot Placer has been updated and now works properly with EditPoly modifier

miauu's Script Pack Volume 1 is available for Max 9 to 2016 and costs €12.

This MCG plugin creates various types of brick wall with a huge amount of flexibility. You can choose multiple kinds of stones and apply random materials to them as well as changing the position, rotation and scale uniformly or randomly. It's as simple as just picking the shape and the brick, and it will do the rest. When you have a distribution you like, you can still change the shape length while maintaining the count and distribution of bricks.

This MCG animation controller creates linear transformation and rotation as you animate your object, for example a screw or nut. It could also be used to animate a bullet.

Trajectory Constraint is an MCG controller that causes an object's orientation to follow the trajectory (velocity vector) of a target object. For example, when you animate a car the rotation of the car would be defined by the direction of car movement.

This is a simple 3 point align transform controller created with MCG. You assign it as a transform controller and then pick 3 objects to control it. It also has Flip and Rotation_Offset controls.

UVall! is a commercial MAXScript that adds a cubic UVWmap modifier to each selected object. It has options for the size of the map and undo functionality.

UVall! is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs €1.

VZ Mood is a commercial MAXScript that helps to optimize your work process. You can create 3 sets of your favourite inspirational images or reference images, and set up color palettes to go with them. You can then easily switch between the sets and open the images in Max.

VZ Mood is available for Max 9 to 2016 and costs $3. A demo version is available here.

This MCG plugin allows you to clone objects along a curve.

MCG Clone Along Curve is available for Max 2016 and costs $5.

Changes for Build 007344 are:
- Adds support for Cinema 4D R17
- Fixes export from the Terrain Editor
- Fixes the 'Unable to export quads as 3DS file' error
- Fixes potential artifacts in imported geo-terrains (DEMs, GeoTIFF, etc.)
- Fixes the pivot of terrains imported from geographical formats
- Fixes mouse wheel step when an object is selected and VUE unit is not 1m
- Fixes proportional resize of the main window's GL views in MacOS
- Fixes the mouse wheel being much too sensitive over the Terrain Editor OpenGL preview
- Fixes a potential MacOS crash when leaving VUE in rare circumstances
- Fixes potential crashes using the EcoSystem Painter's manipulation menu while rendering a preview
- Fixes the RenderNode's floating license Configurator (wrong path used to save server settings)

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

Changes for Build 007297 are:
- Fixes material editing on object primitives
- Fixes subdivision surfaces in 'tip of the segment' mode
- Improves transition rendering
- Fixes material drag and drop on object primitives
- Improves mesh import compatibility
- Fixes potential crashes while rendering
- Fixes potential issues when using metanodes

Plant Factory Studio is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $995. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.2 are:
- Adds a number of new Smoke operators
- Adds a new Smoke Atmospheric Renderer with multiple render elements
- Adds true direct volumetric particle point rendering
- Adds a new PPassString operator to the Initiator menu section
- New LayerToParticle operator can automatically 'import' objects from the Max scene into a simulation
- New LayerToParticleData added to support the functionality of the new LayerToParticle operator
- The Camera Map operator can now 'freeze' UV-coordinates at a specific time

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

Changes for v1.1.1 are:
- Adds 45 new Liquid materials
- The majority of the metal materials have been remade using the ComplexFresnel plugin

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

Changes for v3.2.0 are:
- Adds new Liquid materials (V-Ray 3.1+)
- Minor bug-fixes

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

Changes for v1.082 are:
- Fixes flip problems on the twists of the legs
- Fixes a bug with the neck axes in quadruped mode
- Fixes a bug with the axes on quadruped legs in quadruped mode
- Fixes an issue with duplicate names in quadruped mode
- Fixes a bug in the naming of the StretchBend system
- Fixes a slowdown bug with the autohide system

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

Changes for Build 20150818 are:
- A number of algorithms have been improved or re-written

These versions of Photo Studio Pro are available for Max 2013 to 2016 and cost €199. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.3.1 are:
- I can't find a changelog, but as soon as I do I'll update this post

This basic MCG clips the faces of your mesh. It is intended for MCG beginners to look at and study.

Changes for v1.11 are:
- Adds a new checkbox: Close window after paste (on/off)
- Fixes nothing being pasted when importing as 'one object'

Copy Paste DWG is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs $4. A demo version is available here.

Materials Manager is a utility for organising materials and making it easy to work with them in Max. The organization system lets you have references to the same folder in different catalogs. It shows you all information to do with materials and material libraries in the thumbnails view. You can render thumbnails for materials using your own custom studio.

Working with the utility is based on the most simple method: drag & drop. This way you can quickly and easily fill a catalogs tree by dragging folders from the Windows Explorer to the navigation panel of the Materials Manager.

Materials Manager is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $30.

Changes for Build 1934 are:
- Bug-fixes

The ClonedPhysics MCG that ships with Extension 2 doesn't allow you to get at any of the physical properties. This version exposes all the parameters and also has a KillBox similar to KillVol in Realflow or KillPlane in Bifrost.

Changes for v6.051 are:
- Adds a fix for custom submit (Deadline) not loading correctly
- Fixes Mental Ray properties for Max 2016

This version of RPManager is available for Max 2013 to 2016 and costs $300. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.51 are:
- Adds a new Region and Volume mapping option
- Other small bug-fixes

ATiles Pro is available for Max 7 to 2016 and costs €25. A demo version is available here.

This is a simple MCG Math Float Controller which allows you to mix controller types together without having to use a list controller. If you want to do something simple like have an object in a position and then add a noise controller to that position you can use this. Or if you want to set up Slate materials with tiling values linked to one Bezier Float controller that gets multiplied on certain values, you can do that as well.

Changes for v1.5 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016

XRay CAT Survival Toolkit is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs $49.99.

Changes for v3.2 are:
- Adds support for Max 2016
- Adds support for V-Ray 3.2

This version of Catalyst is available for Max 2014 to 2016 and costs $24. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v0.975b are:
- All leaf-materials of an ivy are now instances
- The grow-button is now disabled in the create panel making you switch to modify panel for growing
- Ivy can now grow on XRefs (Max 2015+)
- Adds a new turbo grow-mode which speeds up calculation by a huge amount
- Fixes a lot of crash-bugs

Changes for v2.23.2-2.6 are:
- Adds support for the native Max BitmapTex as an alternative input for Octane Image textures
- You can now use the Viewport Canvas to draw 'on the fly' on Octane textures
- Minor fixes and improvements

OctaneRender for 3ds Max is available for Max 2012 to 2016 and costs €459. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.34 are:
- Fixes some bugs with 'Remove Isolated Verts' and 'Fix Coplanar' that affected models with borders

Wall Worm Carver is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $4.95.

Changes for v2.10.1.0 are:
- Adds support for Windows 10 Universal App library
- Fixes bounding box calculations in the exporter for verts weighted to only one joint

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

Changes for v1.041 are:
- You can now cut mesh borders by spline
- Bug-fixes

SplineLand is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs €130.

Max 2016 Extension 1 contains new ops for MCG, ie. Bullet Physics. There is a bug with the compound GetCentreOfMass, and this compound is a workaround that can be used until a fix is released. It does not require Extension 1.

Changes for v1.8.4 are:
- Fixes an issue with DR and Transfer missing the asset checkbox
- Fixes an SRGB issue between minipreview and Vray VFB
- The MOAWiz single pass render button is working again
- The AutoExpo (AE) button now works with the new Max physical camera

SolidRocks is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs €75. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.62 are:
- Double-clicking the canvas now resets zoom to 100%
- Adds an option to exclude G-Buffer channels from 'Save all Elements' and PSD output
- VFB+ now works with Max 2016 SP1
- The VFBPlus2ColorCorrection.IccCompensateBlackpoint MAXScript property now works properly
- Fixes a problem with the VFBPlus2ColorCorrection.ZSourceName MAXScript property
- Fixes a problem with the VFBPlus2ColorCorrection.IccFilename MAXScript property

VFB+ is available for Max 2009 to 2016 and costs $19. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Build 20150815 are:
- Adds a Realsize Assistant to find the optimal render resolution

These versions of Photo Studio Pro are available for Max 2013 to 2016 and cost €199. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.44 are:
- Minor performance optimizations
- Updates the Enforce XRef Proxy setting to only turn on all proxies when enabled

PropLine is available for Max 2008 to 2016 and costs $10.

The Arch Primitive is a MAXScript geometry plugin that creates arches for world geometry in BSP games such as those made on the Source Engine. Once installed, you can create an arch as you would any other 3D primitive. The UVs flow along the object in a logical fashion so that mostly you won't need to do any unwrapping or special UV work.

Arch Primitive is available for Max 2008 to 2016 and normally costs $3.95. For a limited time you can get a license for an introductory price of $2.95.

Changes for Build 8.11 are:
- TerrainAxe now supports 64-bit versions of Max 9 to 2016

TerrainAxe is available for Max 9 SP2 to 2016 and costs $220. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.1.0.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015 and 2016
- Fixes an issue with license activation

This version of OBJ Exporter is available for Max 2015 to 2016 and costs $149. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v5.2 are:
- Sun edge softness can now be controlled through a falloff gradient
- Sun disc size can now be increased and automatically darkens providing consistant illumination
- The sky now includes an alpha gradient to control horizon softness
- You can now save and load up to 4 user interface layouts
- The resolution of the render view image is now set in the Render Settings
- Changes to panel position and size no longer triggers a re-render of the model
- Default render view sample level is now 80 samples
- You can now 'Ctrl Left Click' to zoom into an area of the render view
- The Render Settings layout has been improved
- Adds keyboard shortcuts to switch 'LightPaint Modes'
- The Render View image can now be saved as an EXR
- Default display LUTs can now be globally set in the Preferences panel
- Image files for Picture Lights can now be dragged directly onto the Light Properties panel
- New Houdini Connection supports Houdini 12,13,14, Mantra and Arnold
- Adds support for Corona to the 3ds Max Connection
- Adds support for Arnold and Thea Render to the Cinema 4D Connection
- Adds support for the Renderman 20 environment node to the Maya Connection
- Adds support for Alembic scene export to the MODO Connection

HDR Light Studio is available for Max 2012 to 2016 and costs £295. A demo version is available here.

RayFire Studios are currently having a summer sale on their RayFire plugin. Right now you can get a 25% discount on a commercial license of RayFire, taking it from $385 to $285. I've got no idea when the sale ends, so if you need a RayFire license I would get it soon.

RayFire is available for Max 2011 to 2016 and normally costs $385. At the moment you can get a license for 285. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v0.9.16 are:
- Adds multiple files selection, drag & drop and context commands
- Adds new sorting and filtering options
- Adds custom previews on missing files
- Improvements and bug fixes

I finally made it back home after an unplanned 24 hour stopover in Chicago. Siggraph was great, I met quite a few people to whose name I can now put a face, and I also had a chance to meet with some old acquaintances. It was great seeing you all!

I'll get back to updating the site regularly now, I've got quite a bit of catching up to do :o)

I'm heading off to Siggraph 2015 in a few hours, so I won't be updating anything until I get back next weekend.

I'll be at the RebusFarm booth every day (booth #536), so come by and say "Hi!" if you are at the exhibition. There will also be a raffle there every day with some great prizes which I will almost certainly be MCing, so that would be another reason to come by the booth :o)

AnalyticsFX is a powerful commerical MAXScript for creating animated charts based on user data. It is useful for creating infographics, motion graphics, business presentations, financial analytics, etc.

Features include:
- Intuitive design interface
- 30 types of charts
- Animation controls
- Texture support
- Modifier support
- And much more...

AnalyticsFX is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $25.45.

Changes for v2.10.0.0 include:
- Adds a new Granny file compression mode called BitKnit
- BitKnit is now set as the default compression mode in the exporter
- SampleScalarOutput now returns the track name / key and bone index of the animation generating it
- MergeRigidMeshes now removes bones that are no longer meaningful
- Adds a new exporter documentation section on how to export just a piece of the animation timeline
- And much more... a full changelog can be found here

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

Things will be a bit quieter than usual over the next few weeks. I'm out of the office next week, and when I get back I head straight off to Siggraph. I'll try and update the site when I can, but otherwise everything will be back to normal after Siggraph.

Changes for v3.8.2 are:
- Fixes a crash in Max when selecting vertices in CrySkin's envelopes

The CryExporter is part of the CryEngine SDK which is available for Max 2010 to 2016 and costs $9.90 per month.

GuruWare has posted a video showing an updated version of his gw::Ivy plugin which will apparently be available soon. It certainly looks a lot faster than the current version!

Changes for v1.01.00 are:
- The voxels are now always cubic
- Adds an option to pick a building block instead of the default box