Changes for v1.1.15 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray v2.20.x

VRayPattern is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €150.

Changes for v0.99.4 beta are:
- Adds support for V-Ray v2.20.x

SolidRocks is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €54. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.5.0.10 are:
- Adds new material section: 'Plastic'
- Adds 228 new materials (Metal, Parquet, Plastic)
- Re-designed UI and rewritten .NET custom controls
- Fixes issues with User Category and Material notes
- Minor bug-fixes in the core code
- Updated the user manual

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs €110.

Until January 15th 2012, Siger are offering a 25% discount on all memberships and products. Just use the promotion code XA2012S when buying anything at the Siger site.

Changes for v3.7.3 beta are:
- Adds 'Material Optimizer' for converting and optimizing the materials used by Forest
- Open splines now work properly as excluding areas
- UV Surfaces no longer generate gaps in the distribution
- Surface Areas no longer force Forest to rebuild much more frequently than needed
- Fixes updating issues of the Surface Area when using multiple surfaces

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 7 to 2012 and costs €180. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.3.0 are:
- Adds RailClone tools utility for converting RailClone geometry to standalone objects
- Adds new Display->Disable Object parameter
- Fixes geometric glitches when using the V-Ray / Mental Ray shader

RailClone Pro is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €180. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for objects with modifiers
- Adds MAXScript function 'CanApplyToSel()'

Changes for v1.54.30 are:
- Fixes some issues with the Batch Render&Relink tool
- Fixes an issue with rebuilding thumbnails
- Fixes a starting issue in Max 2008

Project Manager is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and normally costs $75. Until December 31st you can get a 25% discount, all details can be found here. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.1.0.9 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray v2.2

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €200.

Changes for v3.6.12 are:
- Display of Max files thumbnails is now embedded
- Adds the ability to use a custom studio for rendering the 3D models and materials
- Adds the ability to include/exclude models by extension in batch rendering
- Fixes an issue with thumbnails for Max and video files being flipped

FilePathFinder Pro is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and normally costs $25. Until December 31st you can get a 25% discount, all details can be found here. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.0.0.7 are:
- Material creation has been optimized

Changes for v0.5.5 beta are:
- Adds command line options to execute the tests one by one
- Changes the way to detect OpenCL's DLLs to avoid compatibility problems
- You can now specify the light's intensity scale
- Fixes a potential problem that could lead to firefly artifacts in the CPU renderer
- Adds a close button to the about dialog and to the benchmark result dialog
- Recompiled using more agressive optimization flags
- Adds a log window to the stand-alone renderer
- Fixes a compilation error using Intel's OpenCL runtime

MAX Plugins.de would like to wish all visitors to the site all the best for the holidays. I hope you have a good and peaceful one.

Dave

3D Realism: Practical & Easy Workflows is the name of a new book by Jamie Cardoso which is aimed at intermediate and advanced users who wish to push up the quality of their renders. Head over to Jamie's blog for more information.

Di-O-Matic, Inc. are offering a 15% rebate for Christmas. To take them up on their offer, just use the coupon code xmas15 in the Di-O-Matic store. The offer expires on December 31st, 2011.

Changes for v1.2.0 are:
- Switched to a new 'Thinkbox' license file
- Adds automatic license server discovery
- Adds a new End-User License Agreement
- The default install folder has changed from 'Frost' to 'FrostMX'
- The Convert Particle Files dialog now has an option to scale the color channel

Frost is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $495. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v0.2 are:
- Adds support for undo/redo
- Now works on objects with modifiers on them
- Adds support for epoly's that use NURMS subdivion

OctaneRender is a fully physically based, unbiased render engine which simulates light not as RGB colors but as an electromagnetic wave. Since it is based on the physics of light, it captures all light interactions in the scene just as in reality. It also offers an extremely fast Direct Lighting / Ambient Occlusion mode which produces traditional ray traced renders in seconds.

OctaneRender is a true GPU-based engine, not a hybrid CPU/GPU or a CPU based engine that was modified with GPU acceleration. With current GPU technology, OctaneRender can produce final images 10 to 50 times faster than CPU unbiased render engines, or even faster with multiple GPUs (depending on the GPUs used).

This version of the renderer is built directly into Max, and offers all of the functionality of the standalone version. To run OctaneRender for 3ds Max, you need to have an activated OctaneRender Standalone copy on the machine you wish to install the plugin onto.

OctaneRender for 3ds Max is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €99 during the open-beta phase, and will cost €199 when officially released.

Changes for v2.0.0.46166 include:
- New Krakatoa Atmospheric effect for rendering Krakatoa particles in other renderers
- A lot of performance improvements
- Many lighting and rendering improvements
- Adds support for hair rendering using splines, Hair&Fur and HairFarm
- Adds support for particles generated by the Phoenix FD fluid dynamics simulator
- Adds the PRT Maker procedural particle generator with 3D fractal design capabilities
- Adds the PRT Cloner modifier for hierarchical multiplication of particle clouds
- The Magma 2 Channel Editing sub-system is now faster, more powerful and easier to use
- Adds a new particle saving method: MAXScript interface for saving PRT files from PRT objects
- Many existing features have been updated and enhanced
- A full list of changes can be found here

Krakatoa MX is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and pricing starts at $1000 (a single workstation) plus support. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v5.1.46114 include:
- Deadline now users the new Thinkbox license server
- Shotgun integration enables a seamless render and review data flow
- Adds native Python support
- You can now have multiple slaves on one machine
- Various slave stability improvements
- Statistics can now be stored in an existing Postgres database
- Adds Draft, providing simple compositing functionality
- Adds support for scene states in Max 2012
- Cross-platform improvements for After Effects
- Cross-platform improvements for Cinema 4D
- Adds a Renderman export job type for Maya
- Adds a batch rendering mode for Nuke
- Adds IDOC rendering for RealFlow
- Adds support for AFX CS5.5, Cinema 4D 13, Lightwave 11, Naiad, PRMan, RealFlow 2012, Vue 10, and xNormal
- A full list of changes can be found here

Deadline is available for Max 7 to 2012 and costs $185 for 5 nodes. A demo version is available here.

Next Limit are offering a 30% discount until the end of December on all standard, node and upgrade licenses for both RealFlow and Maxwell Render.

Changes for v2.4 are:
- Adds support for up to 4 lights in the OgreMax material viewer
- Adds a bitmap settings page to the scene settings dialog
- Adds an animation settings page to the scene settings dialog
- Adds a scene setting to export everything as a flat list of nodes
- Adds node animation interpolation settings to the global settings dialog
- Adds a scene setting for exporting materials to separate files
- Adds a texture unit setting for the 'compositor' content type
- Adds orbiting functionality for the OgreMax scene viewports
- Made the default OgreMax scene viewer camera near clip distance smaller in the global settings
- Adds more precision to the global settings spinners allowing smaller values to be entered
- Modified the texture unit waveform transformation input spinner to have smaller ranges
- Modified the 'Ignore Hidden Objects' scene setting to 'Export Hidden Objects'
- If materials are exported to separate files, the main material file is no longer generated
- A node's controller type is no longer used to determine which interpolation modes to use

OgreMax is available for Max 8 to 2012 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.20.02 are:
- Fixes problems with multi-byte characters for GI cache files, V-Ray proxy files etc.
- Fixes a problem with the material editor after rendering to a .vrimg file
- Fixes a crash with VRayLensEffects
- Fixes an issue with dome lights and GI on matte materials
- Fixes a UI issue with VRayHairInfoTex
- Fixes increasing GPU memory usage in animations with V-Ray RT GPU
- An optimized version of the OpenCL code is now included in V-Ray RT GPU

V-Ray is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $1350. A demo version is available here.

EdgeSmooth allows you to smooth models by defining edges as either 'hard' or 'soft'. This is a more intuitive method than the standard smoothing groups: a 'soft' edge means that the faces on that edge share a common smoothing group. When there are no shared smoothing groups, the edge is 'hard'.

This is an open-source project, you can find the repository here.

e-on software, inc. have released the Personal Learning Edition of their Vue 10 xStream suite of plugins for Max. The Vue 10 PLE is a fully functional free version of Vue 10 xStream/Infinite.
With the PLE, you can:
- Create complete projects
- Save your work and export to other applications
- Render stills and animations without size/length limit
- Experience Vue's power directly inside Max
- Learn at your own pace (the PLE never expires)

The PLE is for personal, non-commercial use only. Network rendering is disabled, and renders may be watermarked and carry a logo.

Changes for v1.8.0 are:
- Adds new 'Vertex Color' feature for all mesh builders
- Adds a new 'Random scale' parameter for instanced geometry
- Adds a new 'Min size faces' parameter for global meta settings
- Fixes some bugs with Open/Save presets
- Improved mesh updating
- Fixes some minor bugs

GrowFX is available for Max 9 to 2012 and normally costs $325. Until January 5th you can purchase a license for $225. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.09 are:
- Fixes some bugs

Work Plane is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $10.

The iCube R&D Group, makers of plugins such as MultiScatter, CityTraffic and MadCar, are having a sale from the 20th to the 31st of December where you can buy all of their products (including bundles) at a 30% discount. To get the discount you just need to use the coupon code MultiScatter in the shopping cart at their site.

Changes for v3.0.0.6 are:
- Adds support for Max 5
- Adds optional link to dummy (only useful for utility batch)

Maide Control is an app that works together with a free download called Maide Connect that allows you to use an iPad to control Max with multi-touch gestures to zoom, pan, and rotate around your viewport, as well as modelling.

Maide have just put up a video showing the sort of things you can do using their app, you can find it here.

Maide Control is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs $4.99.

Changes for Build 1751 are:
- Bug-fixes

Changes for v7.0.1 are:
- Fixes a critical issue in the Dispatcher
- Fixes an issue with the web server not handling SSL connections correctly

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2012 and costs $80 for a single node. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds support for v1.1 of the NeoAxis SDK

Changes for v1.2.1.0 are:
- Fixes setting of background color
- Adds print preview bitmap (CTRL+P)
- Adds 64 bit support (for Total Commander >= 8 beta 1)

This was released in September, but somehow I missed it...

To celebrate Christmas and New Year, Exlevel are offering a 30% discount over the holidays, valid only until January 5th 2012. That makes a saving of $100 if you purchase their GrowFX plugin ($225 instead of $325). Find all the information here.

Changes for v2.20.01 include:
- Adds VRayHairMtl specifically for fur and hair rendering
- Adds VRayOrnatrixMod modifier for direct rendering of Ornatrix hair
- Adds VRayHairInfoTex texture for additional hair shading effects
- New VRayPTex texture provides support for PTex files
- Adds MAXScript functions for access to the V-Ray VFB contents
- Adds 'Real zoom' option to the V-Ray RT ActiveShade quad menu
- Adds MetaSL support to VRayGLSLMtl and VRayGLSLTex
- These are just the new features, a full list of changes and bug-fixes can be found here

V-Ray is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $1350. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Release 13.051 include:
- From Max to BodyPaint 3D, self illumination RGB value is now assigned, regardless of texture
- Fixes incorrect edit, copy and paste behaviour
- Saving in .tif format now preserves the alpha channel
- The Maya plugin is now universal binary
- A full list of changes can be found here

BodyPaint 3D is available for Max 6 to 2012 and costs $995. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.60 are:
- You can now import ped bones and vertex weights
- Multiclump import has been fixed
- Textures are now applied automatically if present in the Max user paths

Changes for v1.8.0.3 are:
- Adds monstration version
- Improvements to the install script
- Ground strands modifier now operates in object space for more realistic strand deformation
- Removed the ODE dynamics modifier
- The installer now copies presets and other extra files
- The license server IP is now stored if it was entered by user
- Fixes the PhysX SDK crashing if the wrong driver is installed
- The frizz modifier map now acts as a multiplier for the frizz amount value
- Fixes the hair cluster modifier only clustering 32,000 hairs maximum
- The hair cluster modifier now resets cached data when clusters are regenerated
- The hair cluster modifier now caches dense hair clusters during first render
- Fixes a Max 2010 issue with ground strands providing invalid coordinates
- Fixes a crash when using the phase map in a strand curling modifier
- Fixes edit guides not editing newly added roots
- Fixes ground strands rendering and motion blur lack of update issues
- Fixes BBHair not updating during render if all objects are hidden
- Fixes the brush not being displayed in Nitrous
- Fixes hair not displaying in Nitrous
- Adds an option to specify a look-at camera for billboard hair
- Fixes ground strands flipping strands error
- Adds an option to the ground strands modifier to only consider strand roots
- Fixes a crash in mesh from strands modifier when no render data is attached
- Fixes hair rendering problems caused due to unitialized OrnaSurfDep group member

Ornatrix is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $499. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.0.46 pre-release are:
- Adds support for vertex colors to the Max plugin
- Adds Texture3D format and support for cubemaps
- Adds a Texture3D.mipLevelsCallback property to set custom callbacks to generate mip levels
- Adds Scene3D.autoResize property for automatic viewport resizing related to the stage
- Adds Scene3D.addTextureFromFile optimizeForRenderToTexture and format parameters
- Adds Surface3D.COLOR2 attribute
- Changed VertexColorFilter to support channels from 0 to 2
- Adds support for external textures in Flare3DLoader2
- Adds support for loading SkyBox using BITMAP_DATA_ARRAY
- Fixes an error when the stage size is less than 50x50 pixels
- Fixes errors in the RayCollision class when all polygons are requested
- Fixes Boundings3D min and max properties when they are initialized
- Fixes some issues in the ColladaLoader
- Fixes some issues in disposing of memory
- Fixes some animation blending issues
- Pivot3DUtils.getBounds method now returns more accurate results
- Normals are now also normalized in Surface3DUtils.transform
- Changes the Camera3D.far value from 100,000 to 10,000
- Adds error checking for missing resources in Library3D

Flare3D is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $496. A demo version is available here.

RandomControl, SLU have released new Max plugins for use with their fryrender and Arion renderers. There is no information on what's been changed, except for the fact that they now work with Arion v1.5.1

Changes for v1.57.04 are:
- Lots of minor fixes inside of PhysX
- Adds an end frame property
- Removes the 10 frames addition
- Fixes some bugs
- Simulation is now more stable

RayFire Tool is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $325. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.08 are:
- 'Project on Work Plane' is now called 'Align Selection to Work Plane'

Work Plane is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $10.

Changes for v2.5.0.1 are:
- Adds a re-designed .Net UI
- Adds 518 new materials
- Adds a user library manager
- Adds a new licensing system
- Adds a user manual

MR Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €75 for a 3 month subscription.

Changes for v2.01.04b are:
- Fixes a bug with bridges
- The speed of car tracing and multicore usage has been enhanced

CityTraffic is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €200. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5 are:
- Adds playback control
- Adds high pass / low pass filtering for smoother movement
- The restrict axis now can be changed
- Adds an option to extend the timeline when recording
- The frequency of the accelerometer sampling can now be adjusted
- Bug-fixes
- Adds support for iOS 5

iDevCam is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $1.99.

Changes for v2012 are:
- Adds support for Max 2012 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- You can now update licenses online
- Adds support for network licensing
- Improvements in render quality and render time
- The documentation has been improved

ApliCAD Interior Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €1995 for a permanent license, or €79 a month rental.

Changes for v1.5.1 are:
- Noise convergence has been improved
- Adds physically-based sub-surface scattering (SSS)
- Adds single sheet sub-surface scattering (S5), perfect for lampshades, leaves etc.
- Adds participating media (fog)
- Emitters can now be color and opacity mapped
- Adds support for real world, calibrated emitter units
- Adds physically-correct coated reflections
- Adds integratable rough dielectrics, useful for things like frosted glass
- The physical sky color fidelity has been improved
- Adds an unbiased 'draft' mode renderer
- The BRDF functionality has been completely updated
- Adds the Media Traversal Stack for proper interaction between various dielectrics and IoR's
- Adds 2 new camera types: panoramic (360° spherical projection) and orthographic
- Adds 2 lens distortion methods: barrel and pin-cushion distortion
- Arion now supports anaglyph-based stereoscopy inside its live viewport
- Adds support for the falloff effect from fryrender
- Arion 1.5.1 is now a native CUDA 4.0 application
- Adds a material override function
- Adds new compositing channels: roughness, fresnel and matte-shadows channels
- Adds a wireframe override function
- The user interface has been vastly improved
- Adds a scenes repository with a selection of demo scenes
- Adds exclude from camera functionality
- Decal mode now shows emitters by color instead of power
- Adds a dispersion ON/OFF switch
- Adds an emitters and 'others' (like physical sky) ON/OFF switch
- Adds a color maps ON/OFF switch
- Adds a bump maps ON/OFF switch
- Adds explicit material ID function for making custom MatID channels
- Adds explicit object ID for making custom ObjID channels
- Fresnel has been improved
- Adds LUA scripting
- Emitters and Sun now work together
- Adds a caustics ON/OFF flag
- You can now rename objects, cameras and materials
- The aspect ratio is now saved in the file
- FOV is now horizontally docked
- Smoother navigation noise (anti-aliased)
- Emitters are now editable in realtime

Arion is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €795 (single GPU) / €995 (multiple GPUs).

Changes for v2.4 are:
- The Select Array node button can now pick array objects with the controller settings dialog open
- Right-click functionality has been added to the update buttons
- The controller library now updates the compatible controllers list when switching between properties
- Show/hide incompatible controllers has been added to the controller library
- Automatic update now checks for new versions every time you start the application
- You can now easily export the parametric array to Excel
- The Offset controller has been replaced with offsets setting in the other controllers
- The Range controller now maps input values from a given input range to a new domain
- You can now connect an Excel table to the pattern controller
- The interface of the Convert controller has been improved
- Fixes a problem with setting multiple graph and magnet controllers
- The custom pattern tool in the sub-object controller has been revised
- Fixes a problem with the set value function in the linear controller

Parametric Array is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $79.90. As far as I can see there is still an introductory offer running that means you can buy a license for just $40. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.01.03b are:
- Adds a new system of building road networks based on splines
- Adds automatic construction of standard intersections
- Adds advanced AI for vehicles
- Behavior of traffic flow is now more realistic
- Increased the speed of simulation calculation
- Adds support for six-wheeled vehicles
- Simplified the system for cloning vehicles
- Simplified and expanded the use of traffic lights function
- Adds new 'speed limiter', 'obstacle' and 'stop line' objects
- Improved parking
- Improved the suspension dynamics of vehicles
- Reduced the price from €360 to €200

CityTraffic is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €200. A demo version is available here.

Marsel Khadiyev of EPHERE Inc. has posted some news about the future of Ornatrix:

It has been a while since the last update happened on this website. That is not an indicator of progress, however, as we have been pretty busy maintaining our projects and planning for all kinds of great things ahead. Among them is the (soon to be released) Ornatrix 1.8.0.0!

To be expected from the new Ornatrix version is better stability as we have been working very closely with a number of large studios to fix and optimize the Ornatrix pipeline. Also we have some great new advances in terms of rendering capabilities for certain renderers!

Changes for v2.0 are:
- The script is now protected through encryption

Polygon Creator is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $55. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.17.7 are:
- Fixes a bug that caused a crash when rendering derivative maps
- Renamed the 'Derivative Normal Map' to 'Derivative Map'
- Fixes a memory leak releasing strings in the .NET frontend
- Fixes a bug in the TGA image exporter that caused images not to be overwritten

Sitni Sati d.o.o. are celebrating 5 years of FumeFX by offering a discount. During the FumeFX 5th anniversary, Sitni Sati and it's resellers are running a special, time limited offer: FumeFX 2.0 for only $795.

In addition to the reduced price and with FumeFX 3.0 around the corner, they are also offering a free upgrade from FumeFX 2.0 to 3.0 for all customers that place their FumeFX 2.0 order now.

FumeFX is available for Max 9 to 2012 and normally costs $845.

Changes for v1.5 are:
- Adds a new 'Offset Tiling' option
- New 'Height Input Opacity' for setting the blending between input and the generated height map
- New 'Height Input Options' sets the modifications applied to the height map
- Adds 'Pinch Intensity' for sharpening the edges of height and normal maps
- New 'Details Input Intensity' lets you set the power of high frequency details
- New 'Details Input Tiling' sharpens the edges of height, bump, displacement and normal maps
- Adds 'Bitmap Height' for importing your own bitmap height map
- Adds 'Bitmap Details' for importing your own bitmap details map

Bitmap2Material is available for Max 2012 and costs $149. A demo version is available here.

ScriptAttack are running a winter offer on their BonyFace facial animation plugin. This winter, until version 3.0 is released, you can purchase a license for half price, meaning $199 instead of $399. You can find all of the relevant information here.

BonyFace is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and normally costs $399. Until the release of v3.0 it will cost $199. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.2.2 are:
- The installer now correctly detects Max 2012

NmoTion is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €219. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.2 are:
- You can now display a single model on two or more markers
- Adds layer management
- Adds timed slideshow functionality: you can organize your 3D content to act as a set of slides
- Adds real-time shadows
- Adds clipping planes for creating sections of 3D objects in real-time
- Improved support for animations

AR-media Plugin & Exporter is available for Max 2008 to 2012 and costs €99 (Lite version) / €249 (Professional version). A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.55 are:
- Adds a progress bar

Changes for v3.7.2 beta are:
- The painting area's boundary is now visible in the viewport
- Region data is now stored in Forest local coordinates, so the painting area moves with the object
- Adds a new 'Preview Falloff' parameter to painting areas
- Fixes a crash bug when using open splines
- Fixes density falloff when used with decreasing curves
- ObjectID is now properly used with render elements in Mental Ray
- The HQ free plants texture path is now included in the maps configuration
- Texture paths are automatically added to render nodes the first time the plugin is used
- Fixes a crash when automaterial is replaced by a non multi-sub material
- Fixes a rare crash bug which would happen just before or after rendering

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 7 to 2012 and costs €180. A demo version is available here.

Glare Technologies Ltd., makers of the Indigo renderer, have announced IndigoMax, the new official Indigo plugin for Max. IndigoMax is fully integrated into Max, and will in the future allow real-time feedback when editing your scene in the Indigo render window.

IndigoMax uses the new Indigo Renderer SDK, which avoids the need to save the scene to disk before rendering, allow for a much faster workflow. It is being developed by Jakub Jeziorski (subpixel), in association with Glare Technologies Ltd.

An initial beta is planned in early December 2011, and the final product will be included with Indigo Renderer and Indigo RT licences.

Luxion, makers of the realtime renderer and animation system KeyShot 3, have developed a plugin for Max 2012 that will write out the native KeyShot file format, allowing faster import. The translator will be included in the upcoming update release of KeyShot 3, scheduled to be released December 2011.

You can read the blog post about it here.

Changes for v1.07 are:
- Adds 'Reset Work Plane to Current Point' function
- Adds 'Lock/Unlock Work Plane' toggle
- 'Align Viewport to Work Plane' is now in the main menu
- Adds 'Auto align Work Plane to viewport' function
- Improvements to 'Align Work Plane to Selection' in combination with snaps

Work Plane is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs $10.