MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  September 2020
 

Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v3.4 are:
- Adds a puzzle for typing multi-line text in the Text category
- Implements a puzzle for executing JavaScript, available from the Advanced category
- A new Skeletal Root checkbox in Max makes child bones be regarded as a single animation skeleton
- Updates the 'Augmented Reality' demo to make use of the Skeletal Root feature
- You can now track the scroll input from the user
- Adds support for the HDRi Environment OSL node (Max 2021 only)
- Adds support for the Uber Bitmap OSL node
- You can now create your own real-time shaders using OSL code
- Adds a new, more robust OSL-to-GLSL converter to the exporter which generates compacter code
- Adds support for Arnold's node Map to Material
- Environment maps are now supported for Standard materials, not just for Physical ones
- Exporting is now performed a bit faster
- Fixes the plugin code so that MAXScript's deprecation warnings are no longer shown in Max 2021
- Messages in the MAXScript Listener have been made more consistent
- The option in the Export Settings called Export within playback range now works correctly
- Fixes an exporter crash when a mesh without vertices but with a UVW Map modifier is in the scene
- Fixes export crashes specific to Windows 7
- The load sound puzzle can now switch between sound and music
- The Web Audio backend allows for low-latency sound playback and gap-less audio looping
- Updates all demos to use better audio (Scooter, Teapot Heater, Farmer's Journey, etc)
- The feature available puzzle gets a Web Audio API option to check if the browser supports it
- The Puzzles editor's category Sound/Video has been renamed to Audio/Video
- Sound puzzles now work in the Puzzles editor Init tab, so sounds can be pre-cached in advance
- Adds an 'Add fog puzzle' which can be used for adding the fog effect without coding
- The ray cast puzzle is now available, with a description and usage example on the reference page
- The 'Enter AR mode' puzzle now supports various positioning modes, similar to the VR counterpart
- Adds Connectors, new convenience puzzles useful for organizing puzzles with return values
- The Windows installer executable now has an Extended Validation (EV) certificate
- The 'Replace texture' puzzle now supports assigning video textures to gltf-compatible materials
- The 'Replace texture' and 'Get texture param' puzzles now correctly work with video textures
- Reduces memory consumption for JPEG textures by using the RGB format rather than RGBA
- The 'Export to gltf' puzzle now exports JPEGs directly instead of first converting them to PNG
- Horizontal camera panning can now be turned on using an API property
- The set style and set attribute puzzles now work in IE 11
- The set style puzzle's slot @media now works in Safari browser on macOS and iOS
- Adds a new chapter to the User Manual which outlines hardware limitations you may encounter
- The puzzle 'Active camera' now works properly with enable/disable rendering puzzles
- Image-based lighting can now be properly switched in VR mode
- Fixes an issue where the export to a gltf puzzle resulted in missing UVs
- Fixes a bug with camera tweening when the finished callback was not firing
- Fixes a bug with shape keys and assigning materials
- Removes a duplicate point event option from the event puzzle
- The JavaScript method Material.toJSON() no longer crashes with node-based materials

Verge3D is available for Max 2018 to 2021 and costs $290. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modifiers

Changes for v2.5a are:
- Adds support for Max 2016 to 2021


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.00.33 are:
- Adds Spanish localization
- Fixes some minor issues

Sweep Profile Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $12.50.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.12.17 are:
- Adds the ability to colorize Favorites
- Adds the ability to display sub-folders in Favorites
- Adds the ability to display assets from multiple selected Favorites
- Adds the ability to sort Favorites alphabetically
- Adds the ability to optimize the database from the Preferences dialog
- Speeds-up adding files to Favorites using drag & drop
- Adds support for Corona 6
- Opens the 'Mass Rename' tool using the F2 hotkey when multiple assets are selected
- Fixes an issue with upgrading large databases to the third version
- Fixes some issues with lighting and camera views when rendering previews for 3D models
- Fixes an issue with dragging materials/textures to multi/sub-object materials in Max 2021
- Fixes a bug with auto-updating
- Some optimizations and speed improvements

Project Manager is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs $60. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Adds rearranged UI elements with interaction
- Adds a new offset algorithm
- Adds a radial menu UI
- Adds docking UI types: 'Top', 'Left', 'Floater', 'Bottom', 'Right'
- Adds clone shape types: 'Grid', 'Radial'
- Adds viewport drawing with icons and text shortcuts

FormCutter is available for Max 2017 to 2021 and costs $35.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v4.3.6 are:
- Fixes some icons not showing correctly when the UI is scaled

PolyUnwrapper is available for Max 2010 to 2021 and costs $45. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.15 are:
- Object properties and user properties are now transferred between proxies and original objects

Q-Proxies is available for Max 2015 to 2021 and costs $45. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v3.5.03 are:
- When drawing arcs, the default transition between segments will now be as smooth as possible

Polyline Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2021 and costs €25.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for Build 200910 are:
- Adds a new toolbar
- Adds a quick menu

TerrainAxe is available for Max 9 to 2021 and costs $217. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2020.1.5 - 10.17 are:
- Updates to Octane render 2020.1.5
- Fixes missing viewport update when hiding/showing sun lights with Quick Mode
- Fixes missing viewport update when changing Object Layer Helper parameters with Quick Mode
- Adds an object list in Object Layer Helper for objects matching layer ID and baking ID
- Fixes the context menu for Quick export which was incorrectly hidden if multi-passes was off
- Fixes an issue with texture drag and drop in the material editor
- Adds support for standard vertex color map in material conversion / 'on the fly' conversion
- Fixes material conversion of vrayNormalMap which is now separated to normal and bump pins
- Fixes material conversion of bitmap gamma which is now set to 1.0 for data channels
- Updates the material conversion dialog and adds progress / status message
- Adds a 'Target focus' mode for the Universal camera
- Fixes UI scaling issues for Octane Light (4K monitor, Windows display scale)
- Fixes invalid class names for MAXScript usage
- Fixes hidden object state change undetected while not rendering
- Improves support of the Vertex Paint modifier to handle any map channel
- Fixes issues when converting materials with the classic material editor opened
- Changes the default Movable proxy settings to be Enabled
- Adds an option to keep the material layer group empty on creation

OctaneRender is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $euro;699 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v2.4.0 are:
- Bug-fixes
- Adds new Silk materials (12 V-Ray, Corona, Octane)
- Adds new Anodized Aluminium materials (20 V-Ray, Corona, Octane)
- Adds new texture maps (4)

XS Material Presets Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs €180.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.995 are:
- Adds support for Corona 6
- Improves the licensing system on computers with unstable network connection settings

V-RayMtl Converter is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $28.


New Plugin: Texturing

Material Manager gives you a one-click solution for saving out materials and also reapplying them. You can choose to save the selected objects materials, or the entire scenes materials. Features include:
- Export selected or scene materials with a single click
- Import materials with a single click
- Auto apply materials based on object names
- Quick click editing for materials in default material editor
- Save and reuse material libraries

Material Manager is available for Max 2012 to 2021 and costs $5.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v7.07 are:
- Adds support for Max 2021
- Improves UI support for V-Ray 5

This version of RPManager is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $300. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

This tool displays all the image files found within the scene along with the resolution and file size of each image. With a one-click solution you can resize images using a non-destructive method, always leaving the original file untouched and unaltered. At any point in time you can choose to restore your textures to the full resolution if you wish. Anytime a new lower resolution is generated, it uses the original image to generate it.

Image Texture Resizing is available for Max 2012 to 2021 and costs $3.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16090 beta are:
- Adds a CUDA cloth collision solver
- Adds relaxation parameters to the tyConform modifier
- Adds MXS functions to the Export Particles operator for programmatically generating caches
- Adds a 'GetClosestFaceAccurate' function to the Script operator
- Adds an option to make spawn offspring count relative to particle property
- tyConform can now use vertex normals as the conform direction (raycast mode)
- Adds a recursive subdivide mode to the tySlice modifier
- Adds resample options to the VDB Copy Out operator
- tyFlow's various element split operators can now work with spline meshes
- Adds a 'set' operation option to the Particles to SDF operator
- Adds point cloud cluster settings to the Voronoi Fracture operator
- The Voronoi Fracture operator relative-count settings now include various threshold options
- Adds a 'treat post-step particles as new' option to the Timing rollout
- Adds 1/6, 1/12 and 1/24 time step options
- Modifies the tyPreview window layout so it doesn't get cut off on limited screen resolutions
- Fixes PRT operators not working if the input PRTLoader object has a space in its name
- Fixes tyCache-exported splines not properly retaining internal mapping/transform data
- Fixes an issue where non-VRay renderers got incorrect motion blur transforms from tyFlow
- Fixes a rare bug where the PhysX convex hull algorithm could crash
- Fixes a bug where new particles generated during a cloth tear have the wrong event age
- The bone display option in tyPreview now applies to biped/CAT bones
- Fixes a bug where the VDB Export operator progress bar was not updating during manual export
- Makes optimizations to the tySelect modifier to do with extraction of ngons from Poly objects
- Fixes the utility menu 'assign randomized multi-material' option not working in Max 2021
- Fixes a bug where tyPreview was not properly exporting alpha channels in Max 2021
- Fixes tyProperties modifier property changes not triggering a simulation reset of flows
- Fixes a crash when copying an SDF grid into an event with a different voxel size
- Fixes an issue where certain Birth Spline setups could cause the Resample operator to crash
- Pushes Spline Paths evaluation after link/physx evaluation in the simulation stack
- Fixes a bug where animating a tyBend gizmo over time didn't trigger a modifier update
- Fixes grouped objects imported into a Shape operator not exporting to tyCache properly
- Various element extraction functions have now been multithreaded and should perform faster
- Fixes an issue that could cause the tySelect modifier to evaluate recursively
- Fixes a crash in the Element Fracture operator if any element meshes are empty
- Removes the Voronoi Fracture operator 'particle filter' settings
- Fixes a divide-by-zero error that could occur if spin values were sufficiently small
- Improves performance of the tyFaceFracture modifier when working with editable poly objects
- Fixes a bug that could cause the PhysX Fluid operator to crash when calculating particle hulls
- Fixes proximity collisions in the Collision operator not contributing to particle velocities
- Fixes certain shape-affecting operators from overriding existing pivot offset values
- Fixes the tySplineMesher ignoring spline-related modifiers
- Fixes capped faces of splines extruded by the tySplineMesher modifier not getting matID values
- Fixes corrupted baseObject retrieval from preventing V-Ray from rendering particles properly
- The Modify Bindings inflation logic now works on cloth meshes derived from splines


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v6.0 are:
- A new Sky model provides greater accuracy
- The UvwRandomizer now has Randomized Texture Tiling
- A new Adaptive Environment Sampler is more accurate than when using portals
- Adds 78 new materials to the Material Library
- Foam in Phoenix FD can now be rendered using Corona Renderer
- Adds the cool features and power of V-Ray's lens effects
- Masking render elements can now be propagated through refraction/reflection
- CoronaBitmap memory optimizations
- Improves the speed and UI responsiveness of Corona Scatter
- The Corona Toolbar now uses High-DPI icons in Max 2017 and newer
- You can now have more than one version of Corona Renderer installed at once
- Adds optional collection of anonymous product usage data
- Blue noise dithering is now used producing noise which is less visually distracting
- Adds a 4K Cache (experimental only) for faster precomputation and rendering
- The Abbe Number can now be set as low as 1
- Improves the UI of the Corona Converter, to make it more consistent and organized
- Adds support for the Max Mix map mixing curve feature
- The render history A/B comparison vertical line is now always initially drawn in the middle
- Autobump is now turned on in old scenes when clicking the warning about 2.5D displacement
- World displacement size is reduced by 1.5 if 2.5D displacement is enabled in the warning dialog
- The File Open dialog is now the Corona dialog instead of the Max dialog in all 4 usages
- Adds support for .psd files to the Corona Converter script
- Opening pre-Corona 5 scenes with no displacement now auto-switches to 2.5D displacement
- Adds a render stamp token %ptg for the scene geometry preprocessing time (in milliseconds)
- Adds a render stamp token %pts for the secondary GI precomputation time (in milliseconds)
- Memory statistics and scene parsing time are now accessible through MAXScript
- Fixes the MAXScript function getStatistic returning slightly different values to the VFB stats
- The Intel AI Denoiser has been updated to version 1.2
- Adds support for RailClone 4 segment materials
- Optimizes rendering of the Falloff Map
- Lowers memory usage when Denoising is not enabled
- Corona Standalone has been rewritten from the ground up
- Removes perfect backwards compatibility of very old CoronaMtl Corona Materials
- Adds 'Dissolve with previous image' to the IR options in the System Settings
- CIE now saves JPGs with a quality of 100 (previously, this was 98)
- Adds a clamp tiling mode to the Corona Bitmap
- Adds clamping of Light Material intensity
- Makes the effect of the 'Conserve memory' checkbox more pronounced
- Renames the inputs of some Corona maps that are shown in the slate material editor
- Fixes the wrongly greyed out 'Next' button in the licensing dialog
- Introduces a new way to activate Corona
- Adds missing support of SiNi SiClone sweeps
- Removes support for Max 2013
- FumeFX no longer supports Corona Renderer
- And much much more... a full list of changes and fixes can be found here

Corona Renderer is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs €24.99 per month. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.618 are:
- Adds some fixes for V-Ray 3.6 and 3.7

MultiScatter is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs €200.