MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  July 2014
 

Site News: Lack of updates

It's been a bit quiet here the last couple of weeks, I just had too much work to get finished to update the site as often as I would like to. And now I'm going to be on vacation for a couple of weeks, so there will be no updates until the beginning of August.

A few days after I get back from vacation, I'll be travelling to Vancouver for Siggraph, so if you're there come and see me on the RebusFarm stand (booth 833)!

I also missed another site birthday last week, MAX Plugins.de turned 14. I would usually post all sorts of stats with how many plugins, how many visitors and so on, but I just haven't had the time to do it. All the same, thanks to everyone who uses the site, and thanks for all of the positive feedback I get from you guys. If anyone feels like being really nice, click on the PayPal button on the left and help to keep the site running!

Thanks, Dave


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.1.145 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- No longer preallocates 100 UV channels
- No longer writes only one value (e.g. velocity) when all values are equal
- Exporter particle instance references are now compatible with Maya
- Archive is now created as late as possible to avoid creating invalid file on error
- Adds validation of scene node paths before export

Alembic for 3DS Max is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $399. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.28 are:
- Adds new 'Remove Isolated Edge Verts' function/button
- Adds support for the above function in the native carving tools and the Fix Coplanar button
- Adds some tooltips to UI elements that were missing them

Carver is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $3.95 .


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v3.6.1.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- License check now works better when using roaming profiles in Windows

Ghost Trails is available for Max 6 to 2015 and costs $100. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Import / Export

This plugin lets you make aircraft and scenery objects for use with the flight simulator X-Plane, exporting files to the Object8 format (.obj). It supports the following:
- Export global attributes
- Export base attributes
- Export animations
- Export material attributes
- Export manipulators
- Export lights
- Export lines
- Export meshes
- Validate entered parameters


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v5.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- Adds support for the latest version of SolidWorks 2014

SolidWorks Importer is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $150. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

Bullet4Max lets you simulate physics in Max using the Bullet physics engine. Current features are:
- Support for box, sphere and cone shapes (joints are being worked on)
- Easy to use MAXScript API
- MAXScript GUI created with the API
- Easy customizable MAXScript based modifiers and helper objects
- Bullet serialization is supported for easy physics export to game engines


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.59 are:
- Adds a new parameter to flip normals
- Adds new Reference System controls to the CorVex Utility floater
- Fixes the last side of a Block CorVex section not getting the correct MatID
- Changed the U/V Scale spinner labels to Tile rather than Scale

CorVex is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $10.


Plugin Update: Materials

Changes for v2.01 are:
- MultiTexture can now be used as a bump map again
- Improved compatibility with old v1.02 scenes
- Fixes a crash when disconnecting bitmap nodes in the Slate material editor
- Various minor bug-fixes


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.3.3 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- New 'Conform to Surfaces' enables segments to conform to the geometry of a surface
- New Surface object for assigning the surface object
- Adds a Surface slot to Linear and Array generators
- New Segment parameter: 'Deform->Align Y with Surface'
- Adds 'Fixed Size' for Segment and Transform nodes
- Adds a scale mode to the Fixed Size feature in Segment and Transform nodes
- Adds a checkbox to enable 'Fixed Size' in the Transform operator
- Adds Corner->Bevel Corner for Linear and A2S Generators
- Adds Generator->Rules->Corner->BC Offset
- Adds Corner segment for Array Generators (Inner Corner slot)
- Adds Corner->'Fillet Radius' and 'Align to Path' properties to A2S Generator
- Random node can now use its own seed
- Improved instancing efficiency when using stepped segments
- Adds support for vertex alpha and vertex illumination channels
- 'Display->Adaptative->Degrade to' changed to Boxes as default mode
- Improved V-Ray render performance on many core machines
- Adds Evenly->Reverse for all generators
- Display->Adaptative mode may degrade to Boxes or Pointscloud (default value)
- Improved behaviour of A2S Generator->Evenly segments on Free mode
- Fixes stability issues with Thea Render/Corona Render/V-Ray RT
- Fixes geometry issues with clipping area when scene units is meters
- Fixes a rare 'Display limit exceeded' error with scale mode
- Fixes geometry errors using bevels and negative Y segment offsets
- Fixes a crash on Conditional operator using 'Material ID->Multiple of'
- Fixes viewport / render differences when using high values in Segment->Transform
- Fixes a crash turning on Generator->Reverse without a spline assigned
- Fixes a bug that would change random values when editing a style
- Display->Render settings are no longer ignored with certain render engines
- Fixes an error loading scenes saved on computers without RailClone installed
- Fixes a geometry error on A2S Generator using Spline Y and X Rotation
- Evenly rule now modifies the type of line (Curve/Line) in the spline
- Arithmetic->Expression->XVertexAngle and XVertexAngle functions were switched
- Fixes geometry errors using bevels on closed splines
- Materials are now properly displayed in the viewport when assigning library styles
- Fixes the Style Editor disappearing on certain multimonitor configurations
- A2S Generator->Clipping Area->Projection is forced to Z when using 'Extend X/Y Size to Area'
- Fixes rendering issue with V-Ray RT
- Closing Style Editor on dual monitor setups no longer generates a rightclick event
- 'Fixed Size' feature now works properly with all alignment modes
- Fixes an error when the Conditional operator used 'Multiple Of' and certain values
- 'Fillet Radius' no longer modifies material ID on closed splines
- Fixes Display->Build->Auto being ignored when modifying segments
- Fixes a rare bug in 'Flatten Stepped' with mirrored End segments

RailClone Pro is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs €190. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v2.2.1 are:
- Adds support for MultiScatter with V?Ray 3.0 and Corona Renderer
- Adds support for proportional texture scaling
- The new algorithm eliminates the mutual influence of varying parameters on each other
- The new algorithm for varying texture mapping makes it easier to get the desired result
- Adds MAXScript parameters UseIndependentRandomSequences and UseNewTextureTransformation
- Fixes minor bugs

Ky_Color Variator is available for Max 9 to 2015 and costs €43. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v1.4 are:
- Adds rotation visualization to show node's local axis on trajectory
- Fixes edge case with zero strength handles
- New 'Hide on playback' option fixes performance drop on playback
- Fixes various bugs including false update notifications

ProTrajectoryHandles is available for Max 2012 to 2015 and costs €7.50. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for Alpha v7 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- Adds a new intelligent universal proxy format: .cproxy
- Adds viewport illumination from CoronaLights and CoronaSun to both D3D and Nitrous viewports
- Saving is now multi-threaded
- Adds a new Shadow Catcher material for compositing rendered objects into real camera footage
- Adds support for PFlow and simple particle systems
- Color mapping controls are now directly in the VFB
- Adds support for spherical and cylindrical cameras
- Adds a quad menu Proxy Creator script
- Updated material convertor is now bundled with the installer
- Adds the property 'Invisible in masks' to CoronaMtl
- New VFB skin
- Small UI fixes and improvements
- Default VFB internal resolution changed to 1
- Adds support for the Shell material
- Adds an option to use textures with CoronaLight object
- Fixes occasional incorrect reflections when using portals
- Default displacement value changed to 1cm
- Adds support for water level (height cutoff) to displacement
- Output of kelvin temperature color in all lights/textures is now more visually plausible
- Faster CoronaSky parsing
- Adds Corona display and selection filters to Max
- Adds an option to directly pick objects from the scene when creating proxies
- Restored online interactive help for users without access to Max tooltips
- All popup error messages now respect Max silent mode
- Improved the DR dialog and added the ability to load IPs from file
- Adds the ability to save all images slaves send for debugging
- DR sidebar now displays the number of updates and passes from all slaves
- Improved HD cache save/load
- Better viewport display of materials
- Faster display of CoronaProxy meshes in viewport when using Nitrous
- The state of render settings tabs and VFB sidebar is now saved into the .max file
- Instant Cancel Render option without saving anything
- Adds an option to Save All Render Channels into separate files
- Adds string render options, new MAXScript functions and Corona EXR metadata
- Massively decreased the incidence of self-intersection-related problems
- Fixes crashes when running Corona with custom processor affinity
- Fixes random crashes when using motion blur
- Noise pattern now remains constant when rendering an animation with constant seed
- Fixes problems with scatter objects randomly glitching in some frames
- Asset tracker no longer displays blank assets in Corona proxy/light
- Fixes a problem with pixel rendering pattern not being random for extreme resolutions
- Improved HD cache accuracy in animations with textured scenes
- Fixes custom bokeh images randomly not working
- Fixes excessive memory consumption in some types of geometry-heavy scenes


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v4.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2015
- Adds support for After Effects CC 2014
- Improved layer accuracy
- Improved layer display options

MAX2AE is available for Max 2010 to 2015 and costs $250. Upgrade prices for registered owners vary from $50 to $200 depending on the version being upgraded. A demo version is available here.