MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  June 2006
 

Plugin Update: Particles / Animation

Changes for v4.0 are:
- New optimized export file formats
- New editable cameras
- New user-interface
- Adds RFNative objects, basic primitives for use in simulations
- Adds currents and depth simulation to RealWave
- Adds Python scripting
- Improved workflow

RealFlow 4 is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $2700. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.5b are:
- Fixed bugs in LWO import
- LWO's should display quads correctly when in modifier stack
- Mesh smooth modifier should now work correctly on mesh
- Previous problem meshes should now load correctly

Point Oven is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $99. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.2a are:
- Minor bugfixes


New Plugin: Animation

Craft Motorcycle is a two wheel motorcycle simulator. It was developed as an effective production tool that would enable very quick rigging of any type motorcycle mesh. After the dummies have been scaled and aligned to match your modeled motorcycle your parts are simply bound/linked to the corresponding plugin dummies. The steering, braking, booster, skidding etc is done in real-time with any supported input device (DirectX compatible, keyboard, 3dxmouse (beta)) making the animation process more flexible and creative.

Craft Motorcycle is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $395. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v2.5 are:
- System-wide particle recorder/baker for caching simulations
- Incorporates AGEIA PhysX technology
- Adds new A-Bomb operator
- Adds new ThinkingParticles Joint Helper object
- Adds new PathFollow operator
- Adds new SurfaceFollow operator
- Adds new Shape Material operator
- Greatly enhanced geometry instancing
- New Multi/Sub-Object material for use with the new Geometry-Instancer
- New Variation Texmap creates unlimited variations of a texture
- MetaShape operator much faster and more stable
- Enhanced MatterWaves operator
- ParticleDraw now has a frame offset function

ThinkingParticles is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $1295. The update is free to all registered users.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.04 are:
- Fixes the export of hidden bones
- Fixes a crash when importing skins with missing joints
- Fixes the map channels in the geometry importer
- Fixes a crash when importing empty effects
- Implements the export of morphers and skins
- Fixes a crash when exporting area lights
- Corrects the export of empty curves
- A complete list of changes is available here


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.7.0.4 are:
- Fixes an export error with skin modifiers
- Restores standard options for model bones in the exporter
- Adds help to the plugin scripting commands
- A complete list of changes can be found here.

Granny Exporter is available for Max 5 to 8, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.


New Plugin: Utilities

Switcher allows you to use the same mouse and keyboard accelerator keys to navigate your viewports, make selections, and snap objects together in Max as you would in Maya. Artists that use both Max and Maya in production will save time and energy with a unified user interface. Additionally, Switcher has many flexible settings that allow for certain features to be toggled on and off depending on how you would like to work.

Switcher is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $49.99. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Adds full scene anti-aliasing support
- Adds rendering interruption capability
- ATI support (beta)
- Support for old generation nVIDIA cards
- Memory optimizations

Redviewer is available for Max 7 and 8, and costs €290. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

The Mechanical Desktop 2007 Object Enabler is a freeware application that allows object data created in Autodesk Mechanical Desktop 2007 to be accessed in Max 8.


New Plugin: Modelling

This is an easy-to-use tree generator for creating 12 different types of high detail tree.

The plugin is available for Max 4 to 8, and costs $65.

Update: I've just been informed that this is the AEC Foliage plugin that comes with Max 7 and 8 (I can't remember if it was already in Max 6), so I'll be removing it from the database.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.505 are:
- Render Elements were incorrectly disabled for Mental Ray
- Spline objects flagged as non-renderable are back to being hidden

RPManager is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $300. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Animation

Craft ObserverCam Lite is a Craft ObserverCam without any extra features (such as shaker and real time zooming) and without the ability to roll. It can be used for filming a scene, an object or a building. By binding/linking the camera to an animated object the camera will follow the object.

Craft ObserverCam Lite is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $198. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v2.0 are:
- More accurate lipsync recognition
- Enhanced user interface
- .lwv file support
- Audible phoneme audio cues
- Weightable intensity for visemes
- Ability to change default visemes mapping
- Ability to delete existing keyframes
- Custom tangent types for keyframes

Voice-O-Matic is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $349. A demo version is available here.


Site News: Search function improved

I've updated the site a bit so that search results can now be sorted by Author, Name or Date. A couple of people had asked for this, and I finally got around to doing it :o) Dave


New Plugin: Modifiers

This modifier can be used as an alternative to Linked XForms for animating vertices. It is based on the Select Poly modifier, and exposes controllers for every vertex. A button activates a scripted dialog to create/edit control dummies for the (soft) selection.


New Plugin: Controllers

Use this controller to attach any objects' position to a particle. It is based on Peter Watje's Particle Controller and corrected to work with PFlow and to allow banking.


New Plugin: Materials

This is a variant of the Noise Map which adds a fade option. The color will fade to an average of two colors/maps away from the camera. Intended to avoid 'buzzing' with fine grain noise.


New Plugin: Objects

This is a compound object which creates meshes from particle trails. It requires a specific PFlow setup with a script operator. You can download demo Max files here.


New Plugin: Modifiers

This is a UV mapping modifier where the V coordinate is mapped according to edge distance. You can use it to create an x-ray effect by combining it with a gradient map.


New Plugin: Modifiers

This is a modifier that tries to conform a mesh to another mesh. Both meshes must be located at [0,0,0]


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.7.0.3 are:
- There are too many to put here, take a look at the complete list

Granny Exporter is available for Max 5 to 8, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.


New Plugin: Animation

Craft ExtraWheel was developed as an extension to Craft CarCam and Craft Trailer. Use it to attach extra wheels to trucks or trailers to make the extra wheels rotate correctly and follow a rough terrain.

Craft ExtraWheel is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $49. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v4.38 are:
- Adds methods to get and set properties of type vmxMatrix
- Fixed 'Convert to LOD object' generating errors
- Fixed 'Convert to LOD object' moving the object
- Fixed 'Hide/Unhide' action not updating the object tree
- Log window on VR4MAX Listener now works
- VR4MAX no longer crashes loading a library from a folder
- Visibility action now works recursively
- Recording a session no longer crashes VR4MAX
- Latest SpaceMouse driver now works

VR4MAX is available for Max 3 to 8, and costs €850. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Connection

Changes for Build 283828 are:
- Fixed rendering of Alpha planes
- Improved management of connections to the license server
- Fixed flattened out procedural terrains
- Fixed a freeze when rendering transparent / reflective materials with GI
- Fixed OpenGL preview of objects inside a locked layer
- Fixed overall slowdown after starting Vue 5 xStream
- Other minor interface fixes and improvements

Vue 5 xStream is available for Max 7 and 8, and costs $495.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Less intrusive, more stable capture
- Much lower memory usage in '1 object = 1 drawcall' mode
- Capturing all 8 texture coordinate sets
- All 8 texture stages are assigned as sub-mtls in Max
- Minor enhancements


New Plugin: Animation

Craft Trailer was developed as an extension to Craft CarCam, and is a two wheel passive trailer simulator (use Craft ExtraWheel for multiple wheels). It was developed as an effective production tool that would enable very quick rigging of any type of trailer. After the dummies have been scaled and aligned to match the real trailer the real parts are simply bound/linked to the corresponding plugin dummies. Then the hook dummy is bound to a car or any animated object making the trailer follow the object.

Craft Trailer is available for Max 6 to 8, and costs $198. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v3.15 are:
- Adds 'Unite Layers' parameter
- New preview mode - layers splitting
- Fixes non-ASCII charsets problem
- Adds support for exporting Unicode layers names
- Adds layer set support
- Adds 'Layer Blending' mode
- Adds auto-setup blending mode for render elements
- Create adjustment layers for quick color tuning
- Adds tooltips support
- Adds help drop-down menu in 'Export Parameters' dialog

AF Export Channels is available for Max 3 to 8, and costs $99.99. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.2 are:
- Adds compatibility with Mental Ray
- New parameter 'Back Offset' extends creation of trees behind the camera
- Max. value for 'Width Scale' in 'Shadows' rollout is now 300%
- Fixes a bug in the assignment of Material ID by probabilities
- New tool to fit the distribution map exactly over a position on the scene
- Fixes a bug when cloning Forest objects
- Added interface to modify sub-planes from MaxScript
- New option in Planes Tools to create elements along a path
- Fixes a bug in automatic camera assignment to the active view
- Fixes a bug in the randomness algorithm
- Default parameter values may now be stored in a preset named 'default'
- New option to adjust self illumination of the material

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 4 to 8, and costs €250. A demo version is available here.