Changes for v3.3.2 beta are:
- Nesting level is now considered when evaluating the area splines
- Boundary checking is now done using the item's width and its collision radius
- License errors no longer clear the items in Custom Edit mode
- Adds support for multiple surfaces
- Surfaces are now used as scattering areas if there are no area splines
- Adds density and scale falloff curves by altitude
- Altitude for limits and falloff is now computed in Forest local coordinates
- You can now overlap items at different heights in Generate mode when using multiple surfaces
- All 'Get UVW from Surface' parameters have been removed
- Fixes updating issues with animated surfaces
- Improved redrawing speed
- Adds a parameter to adjust items opacity
- Adds a Wireframe display mode
- Adds new proxy models: Thin Box and Plant
- Network licensing now requires License Server 1.09
- Fixes winsocks 10060 error and server random hangs in the License server
- Adds support to licensing for routed WAN and VPN connections
- Adds support to licensing for lost connection recovery
- Improved License server response time and protocol latency
- Licensing logs now use computer's local timezone instead of GMT

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 7 to 2011 and costs €200. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5 are:
- Redesigned interface: fully integrated inside the UVWUnrap modifier
- Xunwrap at incredible speed
- Live Unwrap: select your edges and see the result in realtime
- Now works on any primitive, no editable poly restriction
- Adds packing functionality
- Seams can be edited inside the UVWUnwap modifier
- Subobject unwrapping
- Map seam flags are preserved within an instanced unwrap
- Instanced unwrap over multiple objects
- Backwards compatible to v1.0, old seam flags are converted into unwrap seams

XRayUnwrap is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €12.99. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v6.0.7 are:
- Broadcast scripts are now only sent to hosts that support the engine
- You can no longer change the destination pool on a target host job or on a broadcast job
- It's no longer possible to insert out of range values in certain fields
- Integer fields in the submission panel no longer accept the mouse wheel
- Fixes a bug that could prevent a re-inited job from being submitted

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $85. A demo version is available here.

EMECSTUDIOS NV. are now selling a pre-release version of their upcoming plugin MDO Plants (MDO = Mantania Digital Organics), a set of plugins for Max that allows you to organise models, create eco-systems, design and distribute plant models.

The pre-release version includes the Library, Areas, WacoSystems and WacoScatter plugins, and the final plugin in the set, WacoPlants, will be available later as a free add-on for pre-release customers. The plugins already have native support for V-Ray, and native support for mental ray will be added shortly after release.

MDO Plants is available for Max 2010 and 2011, and a pre-sale license costs $99. After final release, pricing will start at $199.

Changes for v1.0.18 are:
- Fixes incorrect distribution with border splines
- Fixes some licensing problems

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €200.

Changes for v5.1 are:
- Fixes a couple of Softimage / FBX problems

Changes for v0.5 are:
- No idea, I can't find any information at all on the website

Max2Thea is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs €16.53. A demo version is available here.

3D Aliens have updated both Glu3D (v1.3.32) and PWrapper (v1.0.13), but I can't find any information on what has changed. If I do I'll update this post.

BRIX is an innovative texture plugin for Max and Maya that creates brick wall or wood parquet textures based on individual tile bitmaps. It includes a 1.35 GB material library and hundreds of brick and panel photographs for authentic and detailed walls and floors. With easy to understand parameters, each preset can be changed and adjusted in color, position, rotation and size. Though using highly detailed bitmaps for each brick, each texture is very memory efficient. And with random algorithms it is possible to create seemless and non-repeating textures of any kind.

Main features are:
- Supports Scanline, V-Ray for Max and (coming soon) Mental Ray
- Includes over 100 highly detailed material presets
- Changeable bond patterns
- Randomize position, hue, color, saturation, bump, displacement
- Create individual textures with your own bitmaps or the included library
- Very memory efficient
- Create ultra-high-resolution textures with minimal memory usage
- Load your custom brick photographs and create new wall textures

BRIX is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $299. A 'lite' version will be available soon for testing.

Changes for Build 20100618 are:
- Adds support for the Bump and Displace Combiner Material (missing from Max 2011)

Shader Utilities Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €149. A demo version is available here.

The Point Cloud Tool (also known as Project Helix) is a powerful technology prototype enabling display and rendering of 3D laser scanning/LiDAR data sets Max and Max Design. With the Point Cloud Tools you can quickly import as-built site reference to evaluate and visualize your designs in context of their surrounding elements.

Point cloud data sets are often created by 3D scanners and represent set of measured vertices in a three-dimensional coordinate system. Using an automatic process, these devices measure in a large number of points on the surface of an object and output a point cloud as a data file.

The Point Cloud Tool for 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design allows you to:
- Import .PTS format point cloud data into Max
- Display the point cloud data in the viewport with various rendering options and levels of detail
- Render point clouds using the mental ray rendering option
- Slice point clouds into pieces using geometric display volumes
- Export multiple clouds or parts of clouds to a new .PTS files

The Project Helix Technology Preview will be made available only for a limited time, so download Project Helix before June 20, 2011.

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Render up to 50% faster and at higher resolution
- MELT changes are now even more interactive
- Partial scene retracing improves workflow
- Significantly reduced memory requirements
- Improved user experience

ShaderLight is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs $450. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.3.2 are:
- Adds 'Check Mesh Instance' object setting
- Adds 'Use Aggressive Focus Region' setting for uniform focused texture shadows
- Adds 'Light Direction Threshold' and 'Optimal Adjust Factor' settings for LISPSM texture shadows
- Adds settings for PSSM shadows
- Adds logic to allow bones that aren't used by a mesh to be exported as empty nodes
- Adds support for UV scaling, UV translation, W rotation, and UV mirroring/tiling
- Fixes a bug with alpha and shininess being swapped when exporting standard materials
- Fixes a bug with particle systems not being exported as attached objects for bones

OgreMax is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v4.537 are:
- Fixes a bug that ruins your output setup data if you used the output setup dialog

This version of RPManager is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $300. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0.16 are:
- Fixes a crash with animation masks
- Fixes a problem with loop and ping-pong animation for non proxy geometry

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €200.

Autodesk have released new hotfixes for Max 2009, 2010 and 2011. For a full list of fixes and download links, head over to Shane Griffiths' blog.

Asymmetric Bridge is a fast and reliable way to transfer model and animation data between 3D applications. It is designed for VFX production companies with more than one 3D package in their pipeline. Asymmetric Bridge is able to seamlessly transfer polygon meshes, UV coordinates and animation between software packages much faster than standard ways.

Key features include:
- Fast data processing
- Transfer of characters and props between 3D applications
- UV transfer (including animated UV's)
- Character animation transfer
- Camera transfer (including animated cameras)
- The ability to reload animation and model data without rebuilding the scene
- Baking of complex animations
- Baking of dynamic simulations

Asymmetric Bridge is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $99. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.4.5 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 and Max Design 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds the ability to select multiple starting paths
- Adds a new influencing parameter called 'Parameter: offset' for Distributor in point
- Adds a new option named Scale length by Radius to UVW Mapping
- Fixes minor bugs

GrowFX is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $325. A demo version is available here.

cebas VISUAL TECHNOLOGY Inc. have released a demo version of ThinkingParticles v4.0.
Restrictions to the demo version are:
- Max 2011 support only
- Particles can't be rendered
- Meshes are not created except for viewport display
- Materials are not supported for rendering output
- Particle caching is not available in the Demo Version
- Physics Simulation caching is not supported
- thinkingParticles scenes can't be saved
- Black Boxes can't be saved
- 3rd party plugin support is not available in the demo
- Particles can't be exported
- External particle is not available (Mesher/Snapshot)
- TD-Tool support for creating TP Particle Systems is not available

ThinkingParticles is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €1595. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v9.0 are:
- The polygon crunching algorithm has been reworked, making optimization results better than ever
- Normal inversion is now extremely rare and polygons are better equilibrated
- Optimization is more than twice as fast
- Optimization requires less memory (approximately 25% less)
- UV coordinates are now interpolated
- Normal interpolation gives smooth results when optimizing normals
- You can now lock the point position in the advanced panel
- The viewer now displays anti-aliased lines (eg. wireframe display)
- The viewer now supports transparent materials
- Improved 3D preferences (PBuffer)

Polygon Cruncher is available for Max 6 to 2011 and costs $129. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 and 2011 (32-bit only)
- Changes the default output for Japanese Max versions

DirectX 9.0c X-File Exporter is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs ¥5000. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5 RC2 are:
- Fixed crashes when closing UVWUnwrap if Live was active
- Fixed the viewport freezing occasionally

XRayUnwrap is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs €5. This beta version is only available for 32-bit Max 2008 to 2011.

Changes for v0.1.39 are:
- Adds UV data export
- Adds maps support (for now only with standard material)
- Finally adds some GUI to the render tab

Changes for v6.0.6 are:
- Further optimization of massive operations on the Dispatcher
- Fixes a bug with the Console crashing when deleting folders and/or multiple jobs
- Fixes a bug with the Console going into an infinite recursive loop when updating instances
- Fixes sort by date and restored pools display for folders in the jobs views
- Fixes a memory leak on the OS X platform that could lead to a renderclient crash
- Progress colours in the jobs views are now uniform
- The templates updating system has been reviewed
- Configured pools now issue a warning to other users connected to the Dispatcher to let them resync
- You can now set a default size and position for the chunk view and the logs view
- General speed improvements by delegating log generation to a different thread
- You can now directly open a log in an external editor
- You can now override the log severity level from the preferences
- Fixes a bug when using the -connect flag on an already connected Console

Muster is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $85. A demo version is available here.

Changes for SP2 are:
- finalToon no longer shows missing lines when thinkingParticles caches are used
- Fixes an updating problem when using line color maps
- Fixes flickering edges appearing when using finalToon outlines
- Fixes a possible issue with missing intersection points on very small units

finalToon is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €495.

Changes for SP2 are:
- Fixes an issue caused by the self-illumination options not working with maps
- Fixes an issue which caused artifacts when using fast blurry reflections
- Distributed rendering no longer hangs when rendering slaves respond too quickly
- Fixes possible artifacts caused by area lights and translucency effects
- Fixes artifacts when using physical units along with self-illumination
- Fixes a potential problem with motion detection

finalRender is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €995 (Standard) / €1295 (Studio Edition).

Changes for v0.1.27 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds support for the instancing system
- Adds support for Multi/Subobject materials
- Fixes some minor stability issues

Changes for v1.4 are:
- Adds compatibility with Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Updated the Di-O-Matic menu
- Includes Cluster-O-Matic v1.71
- Includes Facial Studio v2.2
- Includes Hercules v1.3
- Includes Morph-O-Matic v2.3
- Includes Morph ToolKit v1.71
- Includes Voice-O-Matic v3.1
- VIP includes VOMBatch v0.79
- VIP includes Pose-O-Matic v0.96

Character Pack is available for Max 6 to 2011 and costs $999. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2011.3 are:
- When importing Revit 2011 FBX files into Max 2011, .FBM folders are now created
- Fixes a problem where exporting to FBX 2010/2009/2006 files dropped all layered textures
- Rigid bind from Maya now imports into Max correctly
- A number of Revit 2011 to Max 2011 crashes have been addressed

Changes for v2010.06.16 are:
- Adds custom camera settings, giving access to a load of new functions

Changes for v1.081 are:
- Removes all licensing: LPM is now free
- Fixes a bug with script nodes still executing when disabled
- Fixes a bug with V-Ray where type was forced to vrayimg
- Fixes a bug with rendering a preview with V-Ray with seperate channels checked
- Reintroduces command line mode in 'Max File Network Submit Mode'

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Huge speed improvements
- You now need to double click the models and materials to apply both in the scene
- Adds new interface elements, similar to the Explorer
- Improved the UVW panel
- You can now add multiple objects to a Model folder
- Adds new functions when you right click the items
- Adds new functions when you right click folders or libraries
- Adds an easy installer to install the script
- Manage tools improved, you can now drag and drop, copy, cut and paste materials and models
- You can now replace the content of a .max file with the selected objects in the scene
- Adds Custom thumbnails for selected model items
- Fixes the queue of thumbnails to render bug
- Fixes a problem with Material libraries and other items that aren't Materials

HCG Asset Browser PRO is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $99. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v4.536 are:
- RPM now turns region render off in network renders when the V-Ray region access plugin is installed
- An underscore or period at the end of the stereo strings will be translated into the file name
- Stereo camera setup is now carried over when creating a new pass
- Preview overrides for V-Ray motion blur / DOF now also try to disable them for the Physical Camera
- Command line BB submission now works in Max 2011
- An invalid captured BG map no longer errors on pass restore
- The render element UI no longer errors when setting pass paths via script
- Stereo support now repaths V-Ray auto-pathed output correctly
- Edit text fields now show the text correctly in Windows 7
- Stereo preview no longer errors if cancelled

This version of RPManager is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $300. A demo version is available here.

P SOFTHOUSE Co., LTD. have started open beta-testing of their upcoming new version of Pencil+. There are 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Max 2008 to 2011, and the beta version will work until August 31st, 2010 (rendered images are watermarked).

Changes for v1.5.3.11231 are:
- Fixes render elements not being captured properly in state sets
- Large preview images are now available in schematic view for all textures
- Updates to supporting libraries
- Fixes reordering state sets not working if a scene is saved and reloaded
- Scene redrawing is now disabled while the current state set is changed
- Fixes layer tree view icons not updating when a state set is applied/unapplied
- Updated version info

Zookeeper is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $249. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v3.0.1 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds Octaga VRML importer (v0.1)
- Adds experimental support for shader based material export
- Fixes a bug with registration
- You no longer need special object names to control the export
- Adds support for XRef scenes
- XRefed objects are no longer exported as Inline
- Exports X3D ParticleSystem instead of deprecated MPEG4 Particles
- Fixes a bug with export of objects with missing sub materials
- Adds revision number to the About box
- Improved indentation in the exported file
- Restructured and improved animations and routing
- Bug fixes

Octaga Exporter is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €49. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0.15 are:
- Object properties (incl. V-Ray properties) now work properly with MultiScatter
- Fixes a bug with XRef scenes
- Fixes a bug with regular pattern distribution

MultiScatter is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €200.

This plugin gives MAXScript access to some of the properties of the V-Ray frame buffer. Currently only the rendering region is exposed, but more parameters will be added.

This plugin only works together with V-Ray 1.5 SP5, so you need to put it in the 'vrayplugins' folder.

Changes for v3.5 are:
- Adds support for After Effects CS4 and CS5

MAX2AE is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.8.1 are:
- Increased stability
- Fixes crashes due to running out of memory
- Improved instancing support
- Minor fixes

Changes for v1.0.454 include:
- Fixes accidental texture decompression on incremental mi_api_texture_begin()
- Fix to cached based finalgather searching algorithm
- Adds support for control of cache-based finalgather via script interface
- Fixes FG file writing to ensure path exists before attempting to save
- Fixes minor memory leaks
- Fix to incremental changes to api_data blocks

Rendition is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $395. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.2a are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 and Max Design 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Overlay is a tool for spreading multiple copies of an object (eg. a rooftile) over another object (in this case a roof). It it great for things like the roof example, or rivetting. It works on sub-object selections, and can automatically trim your cloned objects to fit the area needed. Overlay also comes with a tool called the Offset Utility to help you calculate the X and Y distances needed between your clones.

Overlay is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs $45.90. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v0.5.1 are:
- Fixes a few problems with the installer
- Adds support for Softimage

Changes for v6.2.1.7282 / 7283 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Assignments have been implemented for steps
- Focus folders have been implemented for steps
- Adds the ability to lock the camera
- High quality thumbnail generation
- Adds additional functionality for the Home button
- Adds a new mode for navigation - Fly Mode
- Adds a 'Remove Unused' tool for materials, animations and nodes
- Adds a new option in F3 search - Query
- You can now generate step templates by saving out a *.stxml file
- Adds 'Continuous Select' in the mesh select tool
- Adds 'Print to scale' to the Print Dialog
- And much more... the full list of changes and bugfixes can be found here

Deep Exploration CAD Edition is available for Max 6 to 2011 and costs $2995. A demo version is available here.

Both jobs that I had lined up for June and July were cancelled / postponed yesterday, so if anyone needs a freelancing generalist that can also script, let me know. Ideally I need home-office work, but if you think I can help you out in any way, just mail me.

Dave

Siger Studios have announced the upcoming release of the latest version of their V-Ray Material Presets Pro plugin. The new version, which should be released in about 6 weeks, will be more expensive than the current v1.5, but all registered owners of v1.5 will be able to upgrade for free, so if you purchase at the cheaper price now you will also get v2.0 when it's released.

New features include:
- A new dotNet interface
- More than 1000 materials
- All materials have been tested by professionals on real projects
- Most of the textures and materials have been corrected
- All textures used are seamless
- The majority of the materials have been updated and many new ones added
- The code has been completely rewritten
- Optimised memory usage
- And more...

e-on Software are looking for talented Max users willing to take part in the beta testing of their upcoming Carbon Scatter plugin for use with mental ray and V-Ray.

Carbon Scatter is a set of plugins that allow the creation of complex populations using the native instancing technologies of leading DCC applications. The plugins integrate e-on's EcoSystem algorithms directly into the host applications, allowing users to populate native scenes with millions of instances, and render them with their renderer of choice. The actual release date of Carbon Scatter has not been set yet.

If you are interested in applying as a beta tester, you can find all of the information you need here.

This is a scripted helper object that gives you all of the array options in the tool that ships with Max, but it also allows you to change the settings of the array. This means that everything in your array stays parametric: you can change all of the settings in your array at any time, you can even animate them!

Features include:
- The ability to array objects in three dimensions
- Control of the number of items in the array
- Interactive interface
- The ability to control all numerical properties of the object
- Linear arrays
- Free-form deformation using linear interpolation
- Arrays on spline objects
- Arrays on NURBS geometry (non-trimmed surfaces)
- Arrays on mesh geometry using UV-mapping information
- Surface-panelling using 3D panels and the FFD modifier
- Surface-panelling using 2D shape based objects
- The ability to transform vertices of spline based objects along the array
- The ability to transform the gizmo box of modifiers
- Generation of random values for selected properties
- The ability to script custom controllers
- The ability to integrate controllers inside the script
- Interaction with objects outside the array
- Time values and animation of array members

To help you get started with the plugin, the author has made a load of video tutorials available on his blog.

It's not often that I say anything about the plugins I list here, but I've been testing this all morning, and it is very good at what it does. Creating arrays interactively is very intuitive, and the animation functions are great. It is a very cool plugin.

Parametric Array is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs $24.90 until July 31st. After that it will cost $40. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.4.6 are:
- Fixes a bug with the Pause flag when editing a net job so that it needs to be restarted
- All of the net job event parameter names are now correct
- Fixes a possible crash in the Ethernet adapters info retrieval function
- New net jobs due to frame checking will be now set to the original submitter
- Fixes the automatic frame checking creating too many chunks
- Fixes slash directions in Cinema 4D
- Net jobs created by automatic frame checking are now always rendered

RenderPal is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs €45 for a single node license. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.8.38.0 are:
- Memory addressing bug corrected in GrannyBuildSkeletonRelativeTransforms in the 'in-place' pathway
- Corrected a pointer math error that could cause problems for the 64-bit exporters
- Adds some extra helper routines to the PhysX mapping layer
- Fixes an indexing error in the GenerateTangents preprocessor routine
- Fixes some PS3 math intrinsic operations, notably acos
- Changed to new RAD base library
- Adds a new Preprocessor sample: 'Create16BitTexCoords'

Granny Exporter is available for Max 6 to 2011, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.

Changes for v0.25a are:
- Adds 16Bit RAW volume support
- Loader now displays file length in bytes as well as calculated length in memory
- Adds anisotropic specular component to ISO surface rendering mode
- Adds a couple more transfer function settings
- All material parameters can now be animated
- Fixes mental ray transfer function export issue
- Fixes some mental ray rendering crashes
- Fixes point light sources in mental ray producing weird results

Changes for v3.0 are:
- Fixes distortion directions in all maps
- Replaced old coordinate rollouts with new 'Mapping' rollout
- Optimized Worley noise, it is slightly faster now
- Filtered Perlin and Simplex noises
- Removed legacy noises from Noise
- Adds 2D, 3D and 4D versions of Perlin and Simplex
- Fixes Worley Noise with 3 feature points
- Fixes bump being inverted in Gradient
- Adds bumpmap support for Gradient map in UVW mode
- Adds Gradient support for randomizing Tile colors
- Removed UVW loop controls from Gradient
- Fixes Gradient crashing with Max's Composite map
- Fixes Gradients keys' map slot names so they show up in the node editor
- Fixes not being able to write Gradients keys
- Fixes bump being inverted in Wood
- Tile has been completely rewritten
- Adds a Herringbone pattern to the Tile map
- Distortion now works on one channel at a time
- Distortion now has a Mapping rollout for randomization per object / matID / particle
- Adds support for BerconTile to the MultiTexture map from www.cgsource.com

Known limitations:
- 'Key texture' is visible in Slate Material Editor
- Using 'Mirror' in Mapping rollout produces incorrect bump map results
- Viewport previews match poorly with the actual rendering results

Warning: the maps are not compatible with previous BerconMap versions. You should be able to have both versions installed at the same time, but because the names are the same it may cause confusion and is not advised.

Changes for v1.0 Build 1737 are:
- Bug fixes
- Infinity shader bug fixes

Changes for v4.0 are:
- VolumeBreaker is now completely integrated
- Many of the operators have been enhanced
- The NVIDIA PhysX dynamics solver is now true 64-bit
- New menu categories have been added to streamline workflow
- Adds an advanced Joint helper for use with the new ShapeCollison rigid body solver
- Adds a load of new operators
- Adds the new TP Collapse utility to automatically assemble complex constructions
- Adds the new ShapeCollision rigid body solver with multicore support
- Adds several new textures and modifiers
- The handling of cached simulation files has been greatly enhanced
- Adds an additional licensing model allowing network simulation of files
- Adds several new additions to the MasterDynamic Set dialog
- MAXScript access is now even better
- Adds support for spin motion blur on rotating particles in finalRender R3
- Support for FumeFX has been improved
- And much much more... The full list of changes can be found here

ThinkingParticles is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €1595. An update from Thinking Particles R3 costs €595, and an update from Thinking Particles R2 costs €795.

Changes for v1.022 beta2.2 are:
- Adds support for multiple GPUs
- Adds plugins for Max, Maya, XSI and Blender (Sketchup and C4D are in development)
- Adds recursive textures
- Adds many new procedural texture nodes and mixing/scaling textures
- Extends command line arguments for batch rendering / network rendering
- Improved material preview object
- New saturation slider in the camera imager/tonemapper
- Fixes the blocky horizontal artifacts/shading problem
- Fixes GPU memory management bugs
- Speed has been improved
- Bump mapping now works and can be scaled with float or float2
- The turbulence procedural can be scaled with float, float2 and float3
- Fixes a crash on exit on Windows 32-bit, Linux and Mac
- Fixes a crash when changing resolution
- Fixes render display sometimes showing cards having 0MB video ram
- CTRL key on linux now works for panning viewport and zooming mousewheel
- Focal length command line argument is now working
- OBJ's MTL file can now contain spaces and a path
- Linux multi-gpu now works without errors/exit
- Fixes loading OBJ's without vertex normals on Linux and Mac
- Fixes autofocus differences between single and multi-gpu modes
- Turntable animation without motion blur has been fixed
- Rhino compatible OBJ import fixes
- Fixes vertex normal interpolation flip in the render core
- Fixes the node inspector not jumping back to the top after changing something
- Fixes the UV scale float2 node issue
- RGB swatch now updates after node parameter changes
- Reset camera now remembers the last loaded camera position
- The root project tabs name now updates the project root nodes name
- Fixes many nodegraph connections
- Fixes a load of other minor bugs

Octane Render is available for Max 2008 to 2011 and costs €99 during the beta phase. A full license for the release version will cost €199. A demo version is available here.

Hair.Basic, as the name says, is a very basic way of getting hair onto your characters utilizing some traditional tools already in Max with its proprietary functionality. This is currently an early 'alpha' (0.5) version of the tool and it is neither feature complete nor stable (or optimized), so please use it with that in mind.

Hair basic is compatible with Ornatrix/Hairtrix so owners of that plugin can use its styling and rendering tools to do more with it. However, for anyone else the geometry export should allow rendering with any renderer for now.

Changes for v2.0.70 are:
- You can now exclude objects from rendering per Stage

VrayMultiStageRender is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs $15. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.70 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 and Max Design 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- New mental ray shader is faster, especially with large scenes (millions of rendered objects)
- UI bug fixes and miscellaneous optimizations

GroundWiz is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $245. A demo version is available here.

I'm off to Utrecht for the End User Event in a couple of hours, so I won't be able to update the site until the weekend. I'm looking forward to meeting any of you there, and for those of you who aren't going, you don't know what you're missing :o)

Changes for v1.8 are:
- Adds the SnowPrint feature
- Optimized the 'extrusion method'
- Adds a new 'shell method'
- UI enhancements
- Adds a new activation system
- Adds a new V-Ray material without transparency
- The plugin can now check for updates on startup (can be disabled)

SnowFlow is available for Max 2009 to 2011, and costs €48.

Changes for v3.1 are:
- Add support for Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds support for compressed wave files in Max 2010 and higher
- Improved integration with ProSound
- Get Current Wave now lets you select from multiple audio files
- Adds support for Custom Attributes tracks
- You can now modify picked tracks with MAXScript
- Fixes some minor cosmetic UI issues
- Opening a .vom file from the Viseme Mapping rollout now works
- Fixes a problem loading Visemes presets
- Fixes a problem with 'Save as default'
- Fixes a Start Frame issue with ProSound

Voice-O-Matic is available for Max 6 to 2011 and costs $349. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5 RC1 are:
- Redesigned UI is fully integrated inside the UVWUnwrap modifier
- Speed increases
- New 'Live Unwrap': select your edges and see the result in realtime
- It now works on any primitive (no longer restricted to editable poly)
- Adds packing functionality
- Seams can now be edited inside the UVWUnwrap modifier
- Adds subobject unwrapping
- Map seam flags are now preserved within instanced unwraps
- You can now instance unwrap over multiple objects
- Backwards compatible to v1.0

XRayUnwrap is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs €5. This beta version is only available for 32-bit Max 2008 to 2011.

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2011 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds support for V-Ray v1.5 SP5
- Reduced the price from €22 to €15

SigerShaders VMetal is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs €15.

Two weeks after releasing the latest version of RealFlow, Next Limit have now released the demo version. Head over to the demo page to try it out.

RealFlow is available for Max 7 to 2011 and costs €2995. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.0.4 are:
- Fixes all tracks becoming active when selecting keyframes in curve editor

Changes for v2010.05.30 are:
- Adds a null material
- Adds support for NK Data files in the metal material
- You can now output renders to EXR files

Changes for v0.97.6 Beta are:
- Tuned the interior and exterior presets
- Adds a new modular GUI
- Adds new color mapping types: Linear, Exponential, HSV expo, intensity expo
- You no longer need to run Max with admin rights for activation
- OverX button now shows pixels that are too bright / too dark in the minipreview
- Modified bucket size behavior to avoid buckets being too large
- Gamma correction now restores Max gamma values when quitting SolidRocks
- Fixes some minor core bugs

SolidRocks is available for Max 9 to 2011 and costs €64.58. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v1.5.0.17465 are:
- Object parameters are now scanned using their param ID rather than index
- Adds 'Create compositing view' option to master state set
- Fixes demo install not installing correct R2011 version
- Adds a PSD-File generator from Composite maps
- Refactoring
- Internal project fixes

Zookeeper is available for Max 2009 to 2011 and costs $249. A demo version is available here.

Changes for v2.3.1 are:
- Added logic to prevent plane tiling from being exported as 0
- Added logic to prevent light range from being exported as 0
- The OgreMax scene viewports now respect the 'Ignore Hidden Objects' scene setting
- Modified the default light range, increasing it from 100 to 10000
- Modified installer to change the 'Install' text to 'Uninstall' when performing an uninstall
- Modified OgreMax material initialization to only rename bitmaps during export
- Modified object removal handler so it doesn't change the programs selection set
- Modified the OgreMax scene window to create plane objects for planes
- Increased the limits on all controls dealing with world units
- Fixes a bug with mesh merging that caused incorrect skeleton bindings for some meshes
- Fixes a bug with cubic texture files requiring an Ogre resource path to be set
- Fixes a crash bug when setting shadow caster or receiver materials
- Fixes a bug with the mesh animation time scaling setting not being saved
- Fixes a crash bug when opening a file with a floating OgreMax scene window open
- Fixes a bug when selecting, deselecting then selecting an OgreMax material
- Fixes a bug with the texture unit alpha blend function not being read correctly from the UI
- Fixes a bug with the animated bitmap file count not being used
- Fixes a bug with the OgreMax material taking over the parent multi-subobject material

OgreMax is available for Max 8 to 2011 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.