The Bevel Mill is a quick and easy way to turn your Max text and editable splines into beveled logos. It has very easy controls and over 30 different bevels to choose from.

Features include:
- Ships with over 30 bevel styles
- Live Preview Mode allows real-time switching between bevel types
- Easily select multiple editable splines at the same time
- Full control over the Bevel subdivisions or 'steps'
- Full control over both Bevel scale and extrusion length
- Capping and intersection controls
- Quickly apply UV mapping to your bevels
- Extension packs available to extend your bevel style list
- Documented help file included
- Includes a catalog PDF for quick bevel style reference

The Bevel Mill is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs $99.95.

Changes for v3.17.9 are:
- Removed warnings about OpenGL 3.1 loading the OpenRL renderer's plugin DLL
- Improved compatibility reading .OBJ vertex colors from 3D Coat
- The OpenGL graphics driver now lists all of the anti-aliasing video modes
- Adds an option to the mikktspace plugin to compute binormals on the fly in the shader
- Recompiled using the latest libraries (Optix 2.5, JDK 1.7u3)

Changes for v2.6 include:
- Adds many new functions such as the collection controller
- Collections can be sorted to find the closest item of an array to the target object
- Panels can be kept planar in a free form curtain wall
- You can now replace selected items from your array with new objects

If I find a full list of changes I'll update this post. Ali Torabi is also trying to post a video a day over at Facebook covering the new features.

Parametric Array is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $79.90. A demo version is available here.

Changes for Build 1757 are:
- Bug-fixes
- Optimization and tuning

For the next two months (February 22nd to April 22nd), ComTist are offering their commercial MAXScript MapBaker at a 50% discount. All of the details can be found here, an English translation can be found here.

Ccom Map Baker is available for Max 9 to 2012 and normally costs approximately $18. A demo version is available here.

Pier Janssen, the programmer behind the very useful Outliner MAXScript, is considering doing a complete rewrite and turning Outliner into a plugin instead of script. To judge whether or not the time and effort involved is worth it, he has started a poll at his website to see if and what people would be prepared to pay for a new improved version of Outliner. Head on over and add your voice if you're a fan of Outliner.

Changes for v1.1.09a are:
- Fixes a bug with messages about wrong V-Ray and Mental Ray versions

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

Changes for v1.2 are:
- 'Clone between' now creates parametric arrays
- 'Orbit viewport around picked point' adds new functionality using the 'Alt', 'Shift' and 'Ctrl' keys

miauu's Script Pack is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €12.

Changes for v1.11 are:
- Adds support for XRef scenes

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

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds support for Max 9 to 2012 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Fixes a bug that was moving objects when applying the controller
- The cache keys are no longer displayed in the Curve Editor
- Adds a filter so that the cache keys are no longer displayed in the TrackBar

Thanks go to Larry Minton at Autodesk for helping me get this plugin working again.

Changes for v0.8.0.11598 are:
- Several changes to memory management that should make it much more stable
- You can now use 'at time' from python by calling Py3dsMax.AtTime
- Deprecated blur3d.api.SceneWrapper.setName
- Deprecated models, cameras, nativeModels, nativeCameras from blur3d.api.Scene
- Adds file monitoring for open files
- Fixes the explorer context menu for editing with BlurIDE
- The IDE will now open files with a UNC file path
- Importing blurdev now adds the blurdev paths to the qt library paths

EPHERE Inc. have released an extremely interesting video on an upcoming product called Cortex. It basically allows you to build plugins for Max in a similar way to ICE in Softimage, it is natively multi-threaded, and is built on top of EPHERE's own cross-platform, cross-application .NET plugin development framework Coden.

Changes for v0.3.44 beta are:
- Adds support for instances
- Speed has been improved
- Adds support for normal maps
- Adds controls to caustics allowing you to make fake caustics
- Adds a choice for the fill algorithm
- Adds a pseudorendering engine 'Intersections'
- Adds another filter: Box2
- Metropolis Light Transport doesn't work at the moment
- The scene format has changed a bit, old NOX scenes won't work due to instances
- Fixes a bug that made scenes look red in the Max 2012 realistic viewport

Changes for v2.5 are:
- Adds an RFRK plugin for Cinema4D
- Enhancements to the viewport mean you can use the RenderKit with any renderer
- Adds RFRK Mesher visualization in the 3D viewport
- Adds a new method to compute mesh normals to reduce flickering issues
- Adds support for RenderMan volumetric primitives
- Adds support for RMS3.0 particler and BlobbyVolume rendertype primitives
- The RFRK Cloud in Mental Ray now has 3D texture coordinates
- You can now set environment variables in the sequence paths

RealFlow RenderKit is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $200. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.8.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2012 (32-bit only)
- Updated to work with the new 1.8.0 SDK
- A full list of SDK changes can be found here

Changes for Build 17022012 are:
- Fixes some issues with EMP export

Form is a new modelling system for Max that allows you to quickly and easily create models. It consists of a Form modifier, a Form Sphere helper and a Form Tools script. Modelling with Form is similar to metaball modelling, but the resulting mesh is extremely clean and made up of quads.

Benefits include:
- It helps you model faster than with traditional box or edge extrusion methods
- It frees you from worrying about topology
- You can send the model to a sculpting application or continue (poly)editing it in Max
- It allows you to quickly tweak the form and shape of your model
- It makes modelling fun!

Form is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €50.

Changes for Build 13022012 are:
- Fixes an issue with the log-file not getting created
- Adds binaries and source for Max 2011 (64-bit only)

Changes for v1.57.09 are:
- Adds a new Smooth property for Voronoi fragmentation types

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

Changes for v1.0.51 are:
- Adds support for Thinkbox Software's Krakatoa MX and Frost MX

glu3D GPU Edition is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €595. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.1 are:
- In-Volume Scatter has been updated to version 1.1
- Adds a new script: Live Measure v2 lets you measure in real time

miauu's Script Pack is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €12.

Changes for Build 1755 are:
- Bug-fixes

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds 15 new materials
- Fixes issues with custom controls
- Minor bug fixes to the core code

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €110.

Changes for v0.3 beta are:
- Adds support for Max 2009 (32-bit and 64-bit)

The Naiad Buddy for Max is a utility plugin capable of importing and exporting meshes between the fluid simulator Naiad and Max.

This is a maintenance release of the 3dsmax jobtype (version 6.3-1). It includes a number of fixes, especially with V-Ray frame buffer support.

Changes for v6.3.1 are:
- Fixes jobs from failing when using V-Ray framebuffer with undefined render element filepaths
- Render types (#view, #region, etc) are now respected
- Fixes render element support
- The main 'beauty' pass is now always rendered if the 'Save File' checkbox is checked
- Changed qbQuitMaxWithStatus to print out a more explicit end-of-maxscript line to the log
- Adds a little more info to be printed to the log
- Fixes V-Ray 'splitRGB' output filename from *.RGB_Color.ext to *.RGB_color.ext
- Adds code to automatically kill the 3dsmax.exe process if it runs too long after processing
- Adds automatic start/stop of vrayspawner program for V-Ray DR
- Improved support for V-Ray frame buffer renders
- The 'outputfile' internal variable has been changed to an array 'outputfiles'

Qube! is available for Max 7 to 2012 and costs $250 (worker license) / $500 (supervisor license). A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.8 are:
- Adds 'Material Optimizer' for converting and optimizing the materials used by Forest
- Adds multiple areas by object, from three predefined types: spline, object and paint
- Scattering performance has been greatly improved for large areas and complex splines
- You can now scale falloff by distance to the camera
- Adds falloff values from the camera's environment range
- Adds the parameter 'Areas->>Scale Falloff->>Affect Height only'
- Decreasing falloff curves are now allowed
- The Forest object is no longer automatically linked to the Area spline
- Adds support for points-cloud in V-Ray proxies
- The number of maximum items in the viewport is now more precise
- The MAXScript functions to get items' properties now work in Generate mode
- Adds MAXScript function 'getFullTransform(n)'
- 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
- Vertex color now renders in V-Ray
- ObjectID is now properly used with render elements in Mental Ray
- Mental Ray no longer triggers an error on certain hidden layer configurations
- 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 is now properly updated after rendering when using manual update
- Improved Distribution Map file search on network paths
- Fixes an instability issue with Maxwell proxies
- Fixes a potential memory leak with V-Ray
- Fixes minor issues on billboard importing
- Scale Min/Max values have been swapped in the Transform rollout
- Camera clipping is now disabled when editing in Custom Edit mode
- UV Surfaces no longer generate gaps in the distribution
- The Tint, Scale and Rotate maps now work properly with UV surfaces

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

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds more Ambient Occlusion Map setting
- 'Enable Final Gather' has been added to the menu

Ccom Map Baker is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs approximately $18. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Eliminates unnecessary functions
- Adds face and element selection capabilities
- Various other improvements

Ccom UV is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs around $2.

miauu's Script Pack is a set of commercial MAXScripts that will help you to make tedious tasks faster and easier when using Max.

miauu's Script Pack includes:
- Visual Pivot Placer - fast and easy pivot manipulation
- In-Volume Scatter - fill geometry with clones of a selected object
- Orbit Viewport Around Picked Point - cursor based camera navigation
- Nested Isolation - lets you have up to 10 levels of nested object isolations
- Multi Dirs Save - save current Max file to several locations on local or network hard drives
- Clone Between - specify how many clones you want to create between two points
- Align Tool - parallel, coplanar, perpendicular, interactive normals align and 3-point rotate and align

miauu's Script Pack is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €12.

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds mouse and screenshot functions through in-app purchase

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Adds a customizable ring menu for fast command selection
- Adds the ability to sketch on top of screenshots
- Bug fixes

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

Changes for v1.0.49 are:
- Fixes some issues related to time-scale settings and killing-volume

glu3D GPU Edition is available for Max 9 to 2012 and costs €595. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0.2.46378 are:
- Improvements to frame sub-sampling, fixing sub-frame files having weird frame numbers
- Adds options to export OBJ file sequences in Y-up space instead of Z-up space
- A new MAXScript interface option XMeshSaverUtils.objFlipYZ controls the Z up vs. Y up output
- A new 'Create XMesh Loader' MacroScript is now part of the XMesh Saver MX installation
- The XMesh Saver MacroScript and the new 'Create XMesh Loader' MacroScript have new icons
- The CREATE_.MS script has been improved
- Cleaned up subframe file naming which used to insert the channel name at the wrong position
- Fixes subframe file loading, which was broken on some non-US system locales

XMesh Saver MX is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs $495 plus support. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.4.1 are:
- Adds support for light affectDiffuse, affectSpecular, ambientOnly settings
- Adds script support for synchronizing submesh settings
- Adds support for multi-selection lists in the OgreMax object settings dialog
- Adds sorting for mesh and node animations in the object settings dialog
- Modified exported keyframe time calculations to reduce precision loss
- Modified export of 'external' box objects to use actual edge lengths
- Mesh page 'Customize Submeshes' now displays all submesh names if 'All' submesh is selected
- OgreMaxGetObjectSettingsByName now returns the current object settings if given an empty name
- Modified cube map renderer dialog to ensure that an extension has been specified
- The display of node animation settings now always updates the time correctly

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

Crossmap is a Max shader that randomly distributes bitmaps on geometry (objects, elements, faces etc.). You just have to select a folder with bitmaps and Crossmap does the rest. It creates more variety among visualization projects in a fast and easy manner, and is especially useful for things like leaves on trees, grass, gravel, stones, flowers, wood fences and so on.

Crossmap is compatible with Max 2010 to 2012 (32-bit and 64-bit), and supports the scanline renderer, mental ray 3.6 and above, and V-Ray 1.5 SP5 and above. It also works together with Forest Pack Pro (random per element, distribution with input map) and Multiscatter (currently only with mental ray).

As with Color Tools below, VIZPARK are opening up their beta program. If you join the beta you not only get free access to a preliminary version of Crossmap, you can also get a free version if you actively contribute to find problems and improve the plugin. All the details can be found here.

Crossmap is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €49.

Color Tools is a set of two shader map plugins for Max:
Color Extract extracts up to 100 colors from any photo to be randomly assigned to objects, elements, faces, or even other procedural maps; a very fast and easy way to assign grass colors to grass blades, tree colors to leaves or sand colors to a noise map.
Color Combine can combine three different maps into one map where each map represents one color channel (RGB). This way it's possible to create colored procedural maps (e.g. colored noise) where the color set of a procedural map is limited.

Color Tools is compatible with Max 2010 to 2012 (32-bit and 64-bit), and supports the scanline renderer, mental ray 3.6 and above, and V-Ray 1.5 SP5 and above. It also works together with Forest Pack Pro (random per element, distribution with input map) and Multiscatter (currently only with mental ray).

VIZPARK are also opening up their beta program. If you join the beta you not only get free access to a preliminary version of Color Tools, you can also get a free version if you actively contribute to find problems and improve the plugin. All the details can be found here.

Color Tools is available for Max 2010 to 2012 and costs €29.

Following on from the announcement at the beginning of December last year, the public alpha of IndigoMax started a couple of weeks ago. Full details and download links can be found in this thread on the Indigo forum.

Changes for v3.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2012 (64-bit only)

Changes for SP7a are:
- Fixes potential hangs or lockups when handling finalRender materials in the material editor
- Fixes a possible crash with fR-Wire in the material editor with scanliner
- Fixes a possible crash with fR-Dirt when using proxies
- Shadows from Physical Sun no longer produce artifacts on proxies
- Fixes 'Disable Locals' bug in the raytracer settings with fR-Architecture
- Maps now load in material Render Elements if there is no replacement material in the scene
- Opacity and Render Elements now works efficiently
- Missing lines in finalToon related to fR-Proxies have been addressed

The Service Pack is available for finalRender R3.5 Studio Edition, finalRender R3.5 Standard and finalToon R3.5.

finalRender is available for Max 2009 to 2012 and costs €995 (Standard) / €1295 (Studio Edition) / €495 (finalToon). A demo version is available here.