MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  April 2021
 

Site News: Recompiles, Updates, etc.

I've already had a couple of people asking, so I thought I'd post the answer here instead of replying with the same answer multiple times. I had been planning to have all of the recompiles for Max 2022 finished and uploaded by now, but unfortunately real life got in the way. I need to be away from home for another few weeks, and I won't be able to do much about the plugins until I get back. They will get done eventually, and just because they aren't done yet it doesn't mean that this site is 'dead'! (Yes, that is a rumour I've already heard.)

I'll try to keep up with news updates, and please keep on sending me any things you think I should post. Cheers, Dave


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.9.1.2 are:
- Distance measurements in orthogonal viewports are no longer misplaced
- Fixes bounding box snap staying on after using the Offset and reDimension tools

DesignToolBox is available for Max 2015 to 2022 and costs $22.99. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

This commercial MAXScript is basically copy-paste on steroids with some extra features such as clipboard history, drawing and placing objects on top of your geometry, and copying objects between Max instances. You can choose whether to duplicate materials when you paste an object.

MaxCopyPaste is available for Max 2010 to 2022 and costs $19.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.8.7916-beta are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Adds support for object instancing
- Adds support for object references
- Adds support for non-Latin languages
- Adds support for decimal commas
- Adds support for huge names in Max
- Adds an option to flip normals for mesh light/material
- Undo, macro recorder, animation and auto backup are now suspended during rendering
- Unnecessary objects are now removed to free up memory after each render
- Submaterials are now handled better
- Improves handling of subtexures
- Adds more information about render total objects/light/faces
- Adds render time information at the end of the render (aborting render will cancel this feature)
- Adds render information in script listener
- Adds a Lock/Unlock View Draw option at render time
- Fixes a huge memory leak
- Fixes the metal and carpaint presets
- Fixes the first line of render output always being black
- Fixes Math map values not working
- Fixes the perspective view sometimes rendering in the wrong way
- Fixes an issue with FileSaver causing a crash if it enables when saving a project
- Fixes an issue when rendering multiple objects with the same name
- Fixes incorrect detection of fog environment and atmosphere
- Fixes a conflict with the V-Ray Toon material
- Fixes a crash caused by a change in halt conditions
- Fixes a crash when changing maps in Max 2021.3
- Fixes a crash when changing material types in Max 2021.3
- Fixes lux lights not loading in Max 2021.3
- Fixes glass issues with non-mesh object types such as body objects
- Fixes a Max crash after uninstalling the plugin


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.9.1.0 are:
- You can now drop objects on surfaces, aligning them to the surface form
- Direction and length of distribution can now be determined by the position of two objects
- When arranging objects, you can now track the objects new position's in real-time
- When arranging objects, you can now track the objects new position's with marks in the viewport
- Renames the 'Move around' tool to 'Polar array' to better reflect its intent
- Updates some icons to better match the overall look
- The Combined tools launch floater dialog has been updated to include the latest tools
- The Combined tools launch floater dialog is now treated as a 'legacy' feature
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Fixes UVWmapping mode in the Eyedropper, it was broken in 2.9.0.0
- Some minor internal changes

DesignToolBox is available for Max 2015 to 2022 and costs $22.99. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Import / Export

This Parasolid importer allows you to import native Parasolid files and doesn't require Parasolid to be installed.

PARASOLID Importer is available for Max 2020 to 2021 and costs $199. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.14.32 are:
- Adds the ability to batch export 3D files to the Max file format
- Supports converting V-Ray and Corona Proxies to the Max file format
- Supports specifying the Max version when exporting 3D files to the Max file format
- Adds the ability to set hotkeys for programs in the 'Open with...' menu items list
- Renames the 'Asset Files' tab to 'Asset Tracking'
- Fixes some minor issues with ProxSi
- Fixes an issue with converting objects to proxies

Project Manager is available for Max 2014 to 2022 and costs $60. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16115 beta are:
- Adds a Timing rollout to the Script operator
- Adds a stuck IZ limit option to the Particle Bind Solver settings
- Fixes a CCCS crash with error 13 on newer GPUs during matrix-vector multiplication
- CCCS now uses rolling memory buffer, preventing VRAM from overflowing
- IZs are now periodically optimized each IZ iteration, resulting in faster IZ processing overall
- Fixes a regression that could cause tyActors using tyParticleSkins to crash
- Fixes an issue where Max 2022 tyModifiers would all display their names as 'Object'
- Fixes bind to parent and siblings not working simultaneously in the same PhysX Bind operator
- Fixes an issue where velocity inheritance was not working correctly in Object Bind sticky mode
- Fixes a bug where copying a non-instanced operator would instance internal spinner controllers
- Fixes an issue where Birth Voxels 'nth' mode would emit on subframes
- Fixes the Script operator 'GetAge' function from returning particle age in ticks, not frames
- Adds a 'GetAgeTicks' function to the Script operator to return age in ticks
- Multiple Spline Paths operators in the same flow can now select the same tySplines object


Plugin Update: Particles / Animation

Changes for v4.40.00 include:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Implements mutual collisions between Active Bodies, using the Bullet Solver option
- Adds a new Property Lister window for quick access to the per-node properties of the scene nodes
- New Massive Wave Force enables simulations of large scale stormy oceans or tunnel waves
- Adds a new mappable colored absorption option for more interesting volume rendering effects
- Adds support for motion blur of Bubbles and Splashes in V-Ray GPU (requires a latest V-Ray 5)
- The Phoenix standalone previewer can now be fully controlled via the command line
- All remaining parts of the simulation have been multithreaded
- Simulation, previews and rendering are now significantly faster
- Improves the toolbar presets
- Adds more options to the cache converter tool
- And much much more... a full list of changes and fixes can be found here

Phoenix FD is available for Max 2018 to 2022 and costs €750. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v4.1.1 are:
- You can now choose between CPU / GPU video decoding when booting in safe mode for the first time
- Minidump debug information is now stored in my documents folder
- The Command-line Deploy tool now supports Cinema4D R23
- Extra information is now stored in the log file created by the Command-line Deploy tool
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Adds a message warning if the scene has been changed and it was not reloaded in Max
- Improves Cinema4D performance in plugin scene loading
- Adds initial Cinema4D support for V-Ray 5
- The Unreal Engine plugin is no longer installed if you select render node install mode
- Adds support for Maya 2022
- Adds an anima controller option to manually enable Motion Blur generation on 4D models in Maya

Anima is available for Max 2013 to 2022 and costs €279. A demo version is available here.


Plugin News: Boomer Labs updates

Boomer Labs has announced that MAX 2022 updates to MAX2AE, SuperMesher, GeoMaps, pMorph, NewView and NewView_VR have been released. An update for Vexus should be ready in the coming weeks.

They have also announced the start of an open beta for their upcoming plugin IFL Turbo. IFL Turbo is a super fast IFL (Image File List) file loader, cache and resizer within MAX. Performance is generally 3 to 8 times faster than MAX's native playback, particularly for high resolution images or files residing on network drives..


Plugin Update: Atmospherics

Changes for v5.1.0 are:
- Renames Object Source to Geometry Source
- Geometry Source can now emit from tyFlow and Particle Flow particle shape geometry
- Fixes a crash during the NSim simulation if the grid spacing was very large
- Adds support for Arnold render 6.2.0.1
- Fixes tyPreview causing a crash with GPU viewport enabled
- Fixes an incorrect GPU viewport display when the FumeFX .systemscale is less than one
- Adds support for Max 2022

FumeFX is available for Max 2014 to 2022 and costs $695. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v3.2g are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- New 'Super Stitcher' allows you to stitch many elements sequentially
- Align In Place now lets you optionally Loop and Ring before aligning
- The Geometry Tools now let you do a non-destructive conversion from UV to 3D and vice versa
- You can now assign the previous checker from the folder (Shift+Click)
- Adds a Disable tiling option to Checker
- Adds 2 new textures with stripes to Checker
- You can now disable unnecessary checker textures in settings
- New UV Smooth to Editable Poly baseobject
- Adds a new 'Element centers' option to planar mapping
- Improves the UV Tools Settings dialog
- Adds an option to use the Unwrap Pro plugin if it's installed
- Removing a checker now also cleans the internal Unwrap texture list
- Improves the speed of planar mapping by element
- Improves the speed of transferring UV edges
- Improves stability and adds some memory and speed optimizations
- Fixes errors related to the Unwrap selection filter
- Fixes errors related to Unwrap added to selected faces
- Flatten by SmoothGroups now updates the changed smooth groups
- Fixes a rare selection bug in Tweak and Align
- Fixes a Tweak memory leak in Max 2016+
- Fixes a Collapse points by distance bug

UV Tools is available for Max 2013 to 2022 and costs $20.


Plugin News: SimLab Soft updates

SimLab Soft have updated all of their plugins to add support for Max 2022.

Their collection of importers and exporters now also support PBR materials as well as rigid body animation (3D PDF Export, USDZ Import/Export, GLTF Import/Export) and skeleton based animation (USDZ Import/Export, GLTF Import/Export).

For more information and demo versions, head over to their Max page.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.6.1 are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Fixes several minor bugs

PolySmoother is available for Max 2014 to 2022 and normally costs $35. You can currently buy a license for just $20.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16114 beta are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Adds new tyRelax vertex filtering modes
- Adds a 'multiply original' mode to the PhysX Modify operator
- Adds a tyPush modifier for pushing vertices along normals, or local/world directions
- Adds an FPS multiplier to tyPreview for increasing FPS without changing scene time settings
- Adds a 'short circuit' option to the binding search mode of the Property Test operator
- Adds the ability to tyProperties modifier to save the scene node handle to a custom float channel
- Adds a stuck IZ jitter option to the CCCS settings
- Adds an impulse multiplier option to the CCCS settings
- Adds new VRAM usage modes to the CCCS settings
- Adds an implicit parent option to the tyProperties helper
- Adds timing/filter rollouts to the PhysX Shape operator
- Fixes a major issue causing CUDA to hang in many setups (on 2080ti GPUs and newer)
- Improves CCCS memory usage
- Fixes an issue where tri/quad layouts were skewing tyRelax results
- Adds a setting to enable/disable invisible edge processing
- Fixes an integer precision error when input values were very large
- Improves Modify Bindings operator performance when inflating many small, individual cloths
- Fixes an issue where the Export Particles tySwitcher override was not working
- Fixes an issue where tyCaches would not properly apply mapping overrides to cloth meshes
- Fixes a divide by zero issue when particles have a mass of 0
- Fixes an issue where tyPreview progressive rendering would de-activate randomly
- Fixes an issue where tySelect was not adjusting soft selection correctly


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2020.2.1 - 11.07 are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Fixes enable/disable of AOV layers causing the render to restart
- Fixes issues with EXR backgrounds for AOV images
- Adds support for tyFlow particle Age
- Fixes issues that prevented some UV transforms connecting to some image textures
- Removes auto-creation of 2dTransform UV on Alpha Image, Greyscale Image, Tile Texture creation
- Removes the Quick Update and Multi Pass buttons from the viewport

OctaneRender is available for Max 2013 to 2022 and costs €699 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v2.1.0 are:
- Improves Color Correction map support
- Adds specific Color Correction properties
- Adds a UserName and PcName option to output modules
- Adds an animated camera transition option
- Adds the ability to create a Sky map directly in the Dome module
- Adds pick selected map to the Environment and Dome modules
- Adds an option to copy paste a module between setups
- Adds an option to loop through the setups and run a custom script
- Adds an FStorm direct light property
- Adds Daylight System properties
- Fixes an issue with the map browser showing empty and unnecessary items
- Fixes an override issue with fetch property in some special cases
- Fixes a resize issue with the Todo module
- Fixes an issue with the Hdri Quick Browser not loading the selection to the Dome
- Fixes a wrong camera issue with the batch render and bake function
- Fixes a bake issue when scene names are the same
- Fixes a bug where the maximised window state was not saved
- Fixes too frequent update issue with the output module
- Fixes an issue with the camera/light module freezing after merging and delete old is chosen
- Fixes an issue with the Hdri Quick Browser loading label
- Fixes an issue with locking the entire UI while switching between setups
- Fixes an issue with using special characters in camera, light, object, layer and map names
- Fixes an issue when fetching the current map also returns unsupported map types
- Fixes the layer dropdown order to be alphabetical
- Fixes a resize issue in the output module
- Fixes a resize and path trimming issue in the render output modules

Pulze Scene Manager is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs €80 per year. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

Edge Loop Length Tool is a commercial MAXScript which lets you copy/paste, or unify, the length of a selection of edges, edge loops, vertices, or objects. It includes a variety of options meant to give it a high degree of flexibility and usefulness across many different modelling tasks. Whether you are dealing with high precision modelling that requires exact measurements, or simply need to clean up sloppy/hastily made topology, this tool should help make the task easier then ever before.

Edge Loop Length Tool is available for Max 2012 to 2022 and costs $4.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v4.3.7 are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Fixes Render and Tools icons
- Drops support for Max 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013

PolyUnwrapper is available for Max 2014 to 2022 and normally costs $45. You can currently get a license for $25.


New Plugin: Modelling / Animation

Clothify Pro is a modifier that makes modelling and animating cloth easy, controllable, artist-friendly, fast and non-destructive. You get instant results, no waiting around for a simulation to finish. Painful sculpting of cloth can also be avoided. Edit a parameter and see instantly what it does. Every parameter can be controlled by soft selection, vertex weights or vertex colors, giving you unprecedented control. Any deformation applied underneath the modifier affects the cloth so you can make use of any of the many modifiers Max has such as Edit Poly, Skin, FFD, Bend, Affect Region, Path Deform etc. It can also be used with the Freeform brushes. Actually it can be used with anything that deforms the mesh.

Clothify Pro is available for Max 2013 to 2022 and costs €80.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.243 are:
- Adds support for Max 2022
- Adds support for Tractor (Pixar's network rendering solution)
- You can now color pass(group) using the right click menu or the 1-9 shortcut
- Adds SHIFT support for multi selection to the Layerset editor
- Adds a single level expand/collapse
- Holding SHIFT while expanding/collapsing limits the action to one level only
- Adds a few more functions to the layerset editor right click menu
- RoyalRender users can now define their own temp .max file path for submission
- You can now rename the pmodifier with hotkey, button or rightclick menu
- Fixes an issue with VRayRenderMask
- Fixes a problem when cancelling a pmodifier rename with the ESC key in the treeview
- Fixes the rename dialog giving a wrong name due to the treeview node tag not updating properly
- Fixes some text color issues in the light UI
- A UI crash in Max 2016 has been fixed

renderStacks is available for Max 2015 to 2022 and costs $59.99 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.61 are:
- Up to 10 UVW Map Channels are now supported per polygon mesh
- Vertex Color / Illum / Alpha channels are now supported per polygon mesh
- 10 UVW Map Channels may now be used as tangent space base for anisotropic reflections
- Fixes UVW tangent space artifacts when displacement is applied
- Fixes motion blur issues with some artifacts