MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  August 2009
 

Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.0.436 include:
- Fixes mi_query() to return a zero result on failure as well as the failed return code
- Fix to ensure filename is suitably amended when image format is forcibly changed
- Fix to Max plugin - removed x64 CRT dependencies
- Adds support for Max and Maya 2010 parser & further MI API functions

Rendition is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs $395. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for Build 1716 are:
- Bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for 2010.2 are:
- Adds support for Mudbox 2010
- Adds support for Maya smooth meshes
- Adds support for subdivision surfaces
- Improved SDK documentation
- Developers can now add their own abstraction layer to the plugin


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.0.435 include:
- Fix to handle potential crash with incorrectly defined materials
- Fixes mi_sample_light functions to support further light area types
- Fixes to handling phenomenon declarations and incremental changes
- Adds support for material phenomenon
- Fixes incremental changes to hair objects

Rendition is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs $395. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds new section 'Wood' with 78 Fine wood material presets

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2010 and costs €100. A demo version is available here.


New Shader: mental ray Shaders

HK Volume consists of two volume shaders, a simple volume shader with support for textures, and Coat3DVolume which can read in voxel files from 3D-Coat as well as raw voxel files.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v3.3 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit only)
- Fixes unnecessary UV map creation when exporting the material color
- Adds support for exporting from MAXScript
- Fixes a problem with the Keep Original Key feature
- Fixes a bug in the export dialogs animation list
- Fixes a bug with automatic processing of weights


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.8.24.0 include:
- Adds a script to the MAXScript tutorial to hide bone helper meshes
- Adds a sample MAXScript to batch export all Puppetshop clips associated with a model
- The Max TrackMask UI scripts has been rewritten
- And much much more... a full list of changes can be found here

Granny Exporter is available for Max 6 to 2010, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.4.58 are:
- Fixes issues updating external files when adding xRef and when 'Refresh at Start' is off
- Adds the ability to work with an unsaved Max file

FilePathFinder Pro is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs $25. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.1.5.2 are:
- MaxWrapper superclass ID is now upcast as ReferenceTarget
- Controls are now upcast properly when returned from functions
- Warning box no longer pops up if an assembly attempts to load twice


New Plugin: Texturing

The SigerShaders are scripted plugins for use with V-Ray v1.5 and higher that control many components of the V-Ray Material based on specific Material criteria.

This set contains 25 Wood presets which can be customized flexibly and, most importantly, quickly, for all needs. The Wood shader only exposes the settings that are important in creating a highly realistic and optimized material.

SigerShaders VWood is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs €35.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for Alpha 2 update are:
- Fixes some issues with Max default lights
- Fixes a few problems with materials
- Adds the LR Custom Material
- The Glass Material is now completed


Plugin News: New hotfix for Max 2009 released...

Autodesk have released a new hotfix for Max 2009 and Max Design 2009 which addresses the following issues:
- Fixes the Camera Map texture / modifier from projecting bitmaps behind and in front of the camera
- Due to changes in the InfoCenter, Max 2009 is now more responsive during CPU-intensive tasks
- Fixes a problem with encrypting MAXScript files
- Fixes a bug with parameter wire subcontrollers being removed during a reset


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit only)


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v1.0d are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)

RTTGroup is available for Max 6 to 2010 and costs €250. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

This commercial MAXScript lets you read in key data from a text file and apply that data to multiple objects with either absolute or relative offsets.

KeyLoader is available for Max 2008 to 2010 and costs ¥5000. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for Build 1715 are:
- Adds per channel JPEG-2000 export quality control
- Adds DirectX material export with support for Infinity shaders from within Max
- Adds normal, specular, and reflection map export
- Experimental hardware shader support
- Bug fixes


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v2.1 are:
- With Service Pack 1 for Max 2010, MX Driver now loads correctly in Max 2010

MX Driver is available for Max 2008 to 2010 and costs $400 CAD.


Plugin News: Thea Render calls for beta testers...

The makers of Thea Render have started a call for beta testers in a closed-beta phase to fully test the application and the various DCC plugins. More information can be found here.


Plugin Update: Global Utilities

Changes for v2009.1.205838 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Fixes a bug where the Perforce menu could be left behind after uninstalling


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit only)

Thanks go to Hewster for recompiling this for Max 2010!


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.2 beta5 are:
- No code changes, just adds a version for Max 9 (32-bit only)


New Plugin: Global Utilities

This plugin allows you to export your scenes and objects from Max to Thinking Worlds, an intuitive and easy to use 3D simulation authoring platform.


New Plugin: Texturing

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is a powerful material collection for Max and V-Ray. Version 1.0 contain 338 V-Ray material presets and templates:
- Leather Materials (27)
- Ceramics Materials (58)
- Metal Materials (64)
- Glass Materials (22)
- Liquid Materials (53)
- Fabric Materials (32)
- Carpaint Materials (37)
- Parquet Materials (33)
- Plastic Materials (12)

V-Ray Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2009 to 2010 and costs €100. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v0.2 beta5 are:
- Fixes a crash when exporting high poly meshes
- Unused materials are no longer exported
- Adds optimization (directly from Racer Modeler, thanks Ruud!)
- Adds a 'Generate Basic Shader' option
- Adds a 'Generate geometry.ini' option
- Adds a 'Generate Log' option
- Minor redesign on the plugin UI


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.21 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for 2010 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)

OCTAdesign is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs between €810 and €3800. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

Autograss is a one-click grass solution completely integrated with V-Ray. It is a V-Ray primitive so it works with all of V-Ray's features including shadows, reflections, global illumination, and depth of field. Thanks to an advanced memory management system, it never runs out of memory no matter how many acres of grass you put in your scene, so you do not need to break scenes into passes.

Autograss comes with eleven grass presets, twelve grass material presets, and four earth material presets. It supports mapping and variation for density, length, cutoff, thatch, and direction, so you can create scenes with off-road grass, lawn mowed grass, dried grass in winter, and sports fields.

Autograss is available for Max 2008 to 2010 and costs $275 for a workstation license with five render node licenses.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds support for Voice-O-Matic v3.0

VOMBatch is only available to Di-O-Matic VIP members. For more information on VIP membership, take a look here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.1.5 are:
- Adds upcasting of multiple, previously inaccessible, interfaces
- Fixes to the assembly loading process
- Installer now provides an uninstall option through Windows standard add/remove dialog


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.0.6 are:
- Adds an export setting to indicate whether light is on
- The exporter now uses the mesh name in the Object Settings dialog as the skeleton name
- Fixes a bug with manual LODs causing a crash in the OgreMax scene viewports
- Fixes a bug with mesh names not being checked for invalid characters
- Fixes a bug with the 'Morph Whole Object' setting in the Mesh Animation settings dialog
- Fixes a bug with instanced geometry helper objects not being exported


New Plugin: Utilities

This utility exports geometry from Max to the .DOF file format used by Racer, a free and open car simulation project created by Ruud van Gaal.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.7 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit only)

Digital Map Importer is available for Max 6 to 2010 and costs ¥30,000.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.8 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010
- Adds options for object animation output

REMO Exporter is available for Max 2009 to 2010 and costs ¥210,000. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v5.0.0.55 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit only)

ADG Exporter is available for Max 4 to 2010 and costs $199. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v3.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Adds 64-bit support for Max 9, Max 2008 and Max 2009
- Enhanced and updated user interface
- Improved lipsync quality
- Improved LWV audio file support
- Optimized integration with Facial Studio (3ds max edition)
- New additional presets for phoneme mappings
- New feature allows you to save Voice-O-Matic data on 3d objects
- New feature allows you to use weighting when creating keyframes
- New feature lets you restrict time range for keyframe creation
- You can now use the Microsoft SAPI engine for phoneme recognition

Voice-O-Matic is available for Max 6 to 2010 and costs $349. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.1 are:
- Adds support for Max 2009 (32-bit only)


Plugin News: Max 2010 Connection Extension is live...

Autodesk have released the Connection Extension for Max 2010 and Max Design 2010 over at the Subscription site.

The Connection Extension consists of:
- A new high-fidelity SAT data translator (from nPower Software)
- A new Google Sketchup importer
- A rewritten OpenEXR translator with vastly improved support for layers
- The MatchMover 3D camera tracking plugin (used to be MMTrack from Realviz)
- A license for ImageModeler 2009
- A 6 month trial version of Mudbox 2009


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for Alpha 2 are:
- Adds support for Metal, Car Paint, RoughGlass materials
- Adds support for Sunsky and Portal lights
- Bumpmaps now work
- Unit size is now fixed to 1 Max unit = 1 cm
- A load of bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for 2009 include:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- The other non-Max changes can be found here

FaceFX supports Max 9 to 2010. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for Build 08072009 are:
- Improves handling of DoF in the viewport

Photo Studio Pro is available for Max 2008 to 2010 and costs €50. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.75b are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)
- Google Warehouse integration into Max
- Full support for importing and exporting COLLADA 1.4.1 and 1.5.0 files
- Performance improvements


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.0.432 include:
- Adds support to ignore incremental camera instance changes from IPR plugin
- Fixes preferences to correctly update IPR Port Number changes

Rendition is available for Max 9 to 2010 and costs $395. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.4.55 are:
- Removes some restrictions from the demo version

FilePathFinder Pro is available for Max 9 to 2010 and normally costs $25. If you buy a license before August 11th, it will only cost you $15 (a 40% discount). A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Particles / Animation

Changes for v1.5.0.37033 are:
- Voxel Rendering - particles can now be rendered as voxels
- Adds Krakatoa Channels Modifier / Krakatoa Channels Editor
- Adds a number of light scattering phase functions
- Adds support for absorption and emission
- Adds support for environment reflections
- Adds a new geometry object: PRT Volume Objects
- Adds particle skinning to deform particle clouds or mesh vertices using other deformed meshes
- New Matte Objects rendering approach results in impressive performance boost
- Adds support for opacity mapped Matte Objects
- Adds the ParticleOStream MAXScript Interface
- FumeFX grids can be converted to particles and rendered directly in Krakatoa using less memory
- Adds support for Max 2010 including redesigned VFB Extension controls
- Enhanced User Interface experience

These are just the major new features, the whole list of changes is huge and can be found here.

Krakatoa is available for Max 8 to 2010 and costs $495 plus support ($123.75) for the standard bundle (1 workstation license and 2 rendering licenses). A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.2 are:
- Adds support for Max 2010 (64-bit only)
- Significant improvements have been made to image sampling quality and performance
- Improved MELT change super-sampling
- Improved progressive rendering performance for glossy materials
- Shaderlight can now be kept on top of the Max window

With the launch of Shaderlight v0.2 ArtVPS has introduced a nominal introductory pricing scheme. New customers will pay $75 for version v0.2 but will be able to upgrade to interim versions for free, as well as receiving a significant discount on the purchase of Shaderlight v1.0 to be released at the end of the year. Existing users of v0.1 can upgrade for free.

ShaderLight is available for Max 2008 to 2010 (64-bit only) and costs $75 during the beta phase.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v3.2.5 beta are:
- Items can now be rotated along any axis, not only Z
- Adds random rotation for X,Y axis, including negative ranges
- Fixes distribution issues using more than 100 items in the Geometry List
- 'Hide Custom Objects' parameter (Display rollout) no longer hides objects randomly
- 'Add Multiple' selector (Geometry rollout) now accepts XRef objects
- Adds support for XRef Materials
- A new random scattering algorithm creates more uniform distributions
- Adds button (R) to randomize probabilities of Geometry List
- Random translation can be used with Custom Edit mode
- Simplification Level (Display rollout) now works with Custom Edit mode
- Fixes issues with Align to Surface option
- New Creation Tools modes using reference objects: Pivot, All Faces, Area
- All Creation Tools now work in 3D, making scattering over complex surfaces possible
- Fixes reactivation issues in multiprocessor systems
- All of the details can be found here

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 7 to 2010 and normally costs €250. For a limited time it is on sale for €200. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.0 are:
- Just recompiled for Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit)


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.0.5 are:
- Fixes a bug where instance checking often caused a crash during export


Misc Update: Service Pack 1 for Max 2010 available...

Autodesk have released Service Pack 1 for Max 2010 and Max 2010 Design. It includes nearly 30 fixes for issues with undo, performance, responsiveness, viewports, material workflow, and mental ray.

Specific areas addressed are Biped, Bitmap Pager, Bitmap Proxies, Containers, Edit Poly, Interoperability, Licensing, Materials, mental ray, Particle Flow, Performance, Photometric Lights, ProOptimizer, Render To Texture (RTT), Rendering, UVW Unwrap, and Viewports.

Full details can be found here. (If the page doesn't display properly in your browser, try switching the character encoding to UTF16.)


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.0.4 are:
- Adds 'Remove Bones With No Influence' setting to the Mesh Animations page
- Modified the scene 'Fast Export' setting, making it true by default
- Modified the scene views to ignore bone objects
- Fixes a bug with skeletons being offset incorrectly
- Fixes a bug that prevented spinner controls from being traversed with the tab key
- Fixes a bug with the way mesh instances are detected
- Fixes a bug with the mesh bounding radius being 2x too large
- Fixes a crash bug with the manual mesh radio button on the Mesh LOD page


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v4.212 are:
- Adding an object to an existing capture set now initialises the captured data correctly

This version of RPManager is available for Max 9 to 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit) and costs $300. A demo version is available here.


Plugin News: New hair plugin for Max

Hair Farm is a new plugin from Cyber Radiance for modelling and rendering hair. Due to be released on September 21st 2009, Hair Farm is fully integrated into Max (better than the integrated plugin) and comes with 30 different tools for hair modelling, animation and rendering.

There is no pricing info yet, but there are a number of images and videos in the gallery. A demo version will also be available when the plugin is released.


Plugin News: finalRender R3 announced

cebas VISUAL TECHNOLOGY Inc. have announced finalRender R3, which is expected to ship early Q4 2009. Among a load of new and improved features (full details here), there is now going to be 2 versions of finalRender: a standard version of finalRender R3 targeted to the mainstream user base, and finalRender R3 SE (Studio Edition) for bigger production houses and advanced users seeking the maximum in quality and flexibility.


Plugin News: Cebas announces volumeBreaker

cebas VISUAL TECHNOLOGY Inc. have announced an upcoming new plugin called volumeBreaker, a highly accurate 3D volume breaking tool that allows the destruction of virtually any 3D object into individual elements while retaining the original object's surface and details, including UV texture coordinates.

The plugin, developed to meet the needs of Roland Emmerich's upcoming film '2012', will be available for Max 2008 to 2010 (both 32-bit and 64-bit) from October 2009. Pricing will be $395, with an introductory price of $195. The full press release can be found here.


Site News: Tweet tweet

Just a reminder that all of the headlines from here now get fed to Twitter, so if that's your thing head over there and start following.