Integra, Inc. have released a patch for their InSight renderer. The patch fixes the following bugs:
- problem with Auto Check Box for White Level saving
- problem with Animated textures
- problem with Fuzzy reflections from surfaces without smoothing groups
- problem with Light Lister (Max5)

The AMX export plugin enables Max to export Anark Media Exchange (.amx) files that can then be used in Anark Studio. It has been developed to export all geometry, hierarchy, groups, precise normals, materials and maps.

Next Limit have updated their Max 5 plugins for RealWave and RealFlow.

Discreet have released an update for Character Studio running under Max 5.1. Character Studio 4.1 is a stability release providing a collection of stability and workflow fixes. Noteworthy amongst these changes is superior support of MAXScript on the motion mixer and better support of motion capture markers.

You can get the patch here, and the readme is available here.

Paralelo Computação have updated all of their Fly3D import and export plugins to work with Release 2.02 of their Fly3D game engine.

Changes for v3.81 are:
- Compatibility with HumanIK
- Bad rotation values due to a bug in Max 4.2 - see the Readme.txt for a solution

This plugin lets you import *.NIF files from Morrowind into Max.

Turbo Squid have released demo versions of a number of DCP's (Discreet Certified Plugins). The following plugins are now available: Afterburn v3.0, DreamScape v2.0 and HumanIK v1.0.

Changes for v1.52 are:
- Blend curve cross section fillet
- Extended surface shelling
- Import of Rhino 3.0 files
- Export to STEP, IGES, SAT, Rhino (including Rhino 3.0)
- Site licensing
- Max modifier support (UVW map, bend, twist, etc.)
- Profiles with multiple loops (or holes)
- Quad meshing (early pre-release alpha version)

Power Solids is available for Max 4 and 5, and costs $495 (includes Power Translators). A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.1 are:
- You can now render from a Utility, just set up your renderer and go
- Anti-aliasing oversampling
- New channel type: Material ID Auto - each MatID automatically generates a layer in the Photoshop file.

AF Export Channels v1.1 is available for Max 3 to 5 and costs $34.99. A demo version is available here.

Sorry about the downtime in the last 18 hours or so, but my provider managed to delete all of the databases, and it has taken until now to get them back in place. Dave

Changes for v2.1 are:
- Adds network rendering capabilities to the plugin

Changes for v4.3.0.46 are:
- Copy Texture option - instead of converting and possibly losing alpha information
- Animationset given default name and animation frames given an animation name related to the frame
- Animation timeline option for Max ticks or keyframe number

Changes for v2.0 are:

Terra
- Terra editor has undergone major changes and touchups. It features numerous tools that can also be found in other professional painting programs. New additions to the DreamScape Terra editor include zooming and panning, resizing, navigator window, selection tools, feather, terrain cropping, instant mesh preview inside viewport, MAXScript support for creating and modifying Terra, support for pressure-sensitive digitizing tablets, user defined undo/redo levels, and more.

Terrain Map
- Now includes a falloff parameter for smooth transitions between different regions defined by altitude and/or slope.

Sky and Clouds
- With new algorithms, 3D clouds, and full sky/cloud antialiasing your skys will look more realistic than ever while giving you flicker-free animations. Up to 50% rendering time reduction (Sky and SeaSurface in the same scene) is possible thanks to new rendering technology.

Naval Dynamics
- Since the very beginning, DreamScape's SeaSurface has been build with the extensibility in mind. DreamScape Daemons makes it possible to write helper objects that can communicate with SeaSurface and perform various calculation using its internal data. Dynamics Daemon performs numerous calculations to simulate natural waves motion and object-water interactions. It can create realistic wakes that will reflect and refract, foam from wakes or object, calculate buoyant and gravitational forces acting on an object. Using DreamScape Engine Space Warp it is easy to create self-propelled object that will move smoothly across a SeaSurface.

Sea Material
- Foam Map and Bump Map now have separate map slots so you can use any other map in combination. Bump Map also includes filtering option, which will remove any flickering that might occur due to the aliasing. New blurred reflection will allow creating even more realistic appearance of reflected objects.

DreamScape v2.0 is available for Max 4 and 5 from Turbo Squid. It normally costs $595, but is available for $495 until May 1st 2003.

Head over to Di-O-Matic for a technology preview of their upcoming plugin Hercules. Hercules is a revolutionary musculature animation system plugin for Max, and has been created in an effort to raise the bar for character animation.

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Support for Moving or Anchored trails
- Tracks without texture stretching
- Effect support for easily adding textures to the trail
- Effect support for easily fading the trail
- Ability to set the number of frames to lag, range, segments per frame, spline steps
- UV repeat (set the texture tiling along the trail)
- Easily flip the normals
- Help and Tutorial files
- Some useful tire trail images
- Installer

The new version of Ghost Trails is a commercial plugin, available for Max 4 and 5, and costing $69. A demo version is available here.

Digimation, Inc. are having a massive NAB sale from April 3rd to April 30th 2003. They are offering 25% discount on all plugins, and are also offering a 'Buy 3, get one free' deal.

For all the information on the sale, go here.

If any of you have tried to download the AF Loft demo, you will probably have discovered that it was missing some files. This has now been fixed, and the demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.6 are:
- I have no idea, and to be quite honest I can't be bothered to try and find out.

Discreet have released a service pack for Max 5.1, which you can get here.

This patch mainly fixes the Viewport Configuration/DirectX 9 bug, Object XRef problems, and DirectX radiosity problems. Take a look at the ReadMe for all the details.

Note: This Service Pack is only for the English-language version of Max!

AF Loft is an alternative to the lofting function in Max. It is basically a 'Bevel Profile' modifier on steroids. It comes with 3 capping types, material ID support, a very useful 'Fit to Frame' function (great for windows etc.), and it is also animatable.

AF Loft is available for Max 3 to 5 and costs $34.99. A demo version is available here.