MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  February 2021
 

Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v3.6.1 are:
- New 'Drop File' puzzle lets users drag a local file and drop it onto the browser tab
- The demo Custom Image has been updated to use this feature
- The limit for files that are compressed with LZMA is raised from 256 Mb to 1024 Mb
- Enabling the External server interface in App Manager settings no longer freezes the App Manager
- Setting the External application directory now works immediately without an App Manager restart
- The Puzzles editor now loads faster
- Fixes a critical issue with AR/VR related to the recently released Chrome 88 for Android
- Not copying the OpenType.js library to the application folder no longer crashes the application
- The Preloader's JavaScript callback is now called with 0% value
- Improves the rendering of environments in Chrome under macOS
- Sheen values > 1 are now allowed for Blender's Principled BSDF node
- The 4-channel controllers (Bezier RGBA Color, Bezier Point4, Color RGBA) now work again in Max

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


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.8.2705-beta are:
- Fixes an issue with non-existant bitmaps
- Fixes an issue with corrupted bitmaps
- Fixes an issue with not supported file formats
- Fixes an issue with unreachable network files
- Fixes an issue with objects having no mesh
- Fixes an issue with abnormal meshes imported from other software
- Fixes an issue with objects having missing vertices
- Fixes an issue with meshes having no faces or less than 3 connected vertices


Plugin Update: Modelling / Animation

Changes for v7.1.7.27045 are:
- New 'Modify Roots' option in Edit Guides allows editing guide shape in root mode
- Adds an option to use control guide strand groups instead of input hair in Adopt External Guides
- Fixes a crash when using Mesh from Strands proxy meshes as Hair from Mesh Strips
- Fixes Use Groups as Parts not updating until the Hair from Guides is recomputed
- Mesh from Strands Proxy objects now update regardless of viewport interaction
- Roots created with Create brush now inherit the closest strand's group
- Fixes a problem deleting strands when Edit Guides references non-existing deleted strands
- The Closest Neighbor method now always generates guides in Input Root Interpolation
- Fixes hairs disappearing when setting Guide Count to No Interpolate in Hair from Guides
- The Merge operator now takes into account world space transforms of merged strands
- The Surface Comb with Triangulation algorithm now uses slope and orientation maps
- V6 scenes now load correctly in V7 with multiple stacked Edit Guides operators

Ornatrix is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs $599. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

PolySnow Plus is a C++ based and multi-threaded plugin that creates realistic snow with a click. It includes 5 custom objects and 6 modifiers specifically designed for snow creation workflow. A variety of parameters let you get the desired results in every situation.

PolySnow Plus is available for Max 2016 to 2021 and costs $79.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16108 beta are:
- Adds an option to disable tapering on closed splines in the tySplineMesher modifier
- Adds editor buttons for enabling/disabling/refreshing a simulation
- Adds the ability to switch editor rollups to the left side of the editor grid
- Moves the script editor API to a secondary window
- Adds a GetObject(name) function to the Script operator for run-time access to any scene object
- Adds a unified 'tfMesh' class to the script operator for retrieving particle / object mesh data
- Adds an 'every nth' option to the Display Data operator
- Fixes an issue where tySelect wasn't calculating mesh selections properly
- Fixes a VDB Copy Out operator bug which could result in a crash
- Fixes a regression where deconverted cloths would not inherit particle mapping overrides
- Fixes an issue where Collision operator bounce vectors were not being calculated correctly
- Improves the way the CCCS handles cloth tearing
- Fixes an issue where exporting particles to objects didn't respect particle pivot modifications
- Fixes an issue where deleted particles were not always destroying their binds
- The Spline Paths operator now calculates particle velocities more accurately
- The Particle Bind Solver partitioning now allocates double the partitions
- Fixes an improper IKey->IBezFloatKey cast that crashed Max during calls to Set/GetKey
- Updates to the latest build of OpenVDB
- Fixes an issue with VDB intersection mode not working correctly
- The tyPreview camera list scene camera names are now sorted alphabetically


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.229 are:
- Adds support for the 3dsMax File Number Base value
- Adds a V-Ray raw image file checkbox
- rsUserPreSubmitFn now returns a true/false value, useful for implementing sanity check code

renderStacks is available for Max 2015 to 2021 and costs $59.99 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v3.6 are:
- 3D text objects created with the TextPlus object are now supported by Verge3D
- The text objects are dynamic, so they can be updated with new textual content via Puzzles
- You can also bake text objects using the Bake Text option
- Rectangle photometric lights are now supported
- The 'Dark Standard' template now comes with its own scene
- Optimizes the internals of Physical materials to load and render faster
- Adds a new User Manual section describing various aspects of handling animation in Verge3D
- The syntax for defining new puzzles has been simplified making it more declarative
- The E-commerce plugin has been updated for new syntax so that you have a usage example
- Adds a sample plugin to serve as an example on how to create typical puzzle blocks
- Plugin development was made more fault tolerant
- Human readable errors are now posted to the browser console to help you debug your plugins
- The right-click menu on puzzles now produces the option Print Puzzle XML Tree
- The new Plug.provide() method is for re-using functions, resulting in more efficient code
- Optimizes the code generated by plugin puzzles
- Adds a new puzzle for creating objects out of thin air
- By default, a white glTF-compliant PBR material is applied to meshes
- Adds a new 'Create Text Object' puzzle making it possible to add Text objects at runtime
- The slot 'on error do' was added to the puzzles 'Load Scene' and 'Append Scene'
- The 'Load Scene' and 'Append Scene' puzzles now load scenes faster
- The 'allow HTML' option was added to the 'Enter AR Mode' puzzle
- A MIDI compatible sound synthesizer was wrapped in a puzzle for this release
- You can now also use MIDI files as quality soundtracks that load much faster than MP3
- The Verge3D core has been synchronized with Three.js r124
- The engine .js file has been made more compact thanks to removing some legacy code
- Adds an extensive guide on creating desktop Verge3D applications using Electron
- Numerous improvements in other doc pages (Puzzles, Verge3D plugins, etc.)
- Verge3D now supports WebGL 2.0 on iOS
- Fixes the bug with materials assigned to flat shaded and smooth shaded objects at the same time
- Shared materials assigned to objects with different UV or vertex colors sets now work properly
- Fixes a serious issue with the undo operation (Ctrl-Z) which caused puzzles to disappear
- The multi-line/exec script puzzle now looks fine in Safari browser
- The overall responsiveness of the multi-line/exec script puzzle has been improved
- Fixes the screen-space reflection/refraction puzzle from producing colors with incorrect gamma
- Shadows from morphed objects now cast correctly
- Fixes the crash issue with scene loading using the load scene or append scene puzzles
- Fixes the issue with camera offsets when using supersampling anti-aliasing
- The detect collision puzzle can now be in-lined in other puzzles slots
- Fixes the bug with special symbols used in Verge3D plugins
- Plugin puzzles can now be placed in the Init category
- Fixes various issues with plugin naming
- Fixes a bug with saving puzzles that contain non-Latin characters
- Fixes a memory overflow issue which prevented saving the Puzzles when there were many of them
- Fixes the issue with WooCommerce integration in Verge3D WordPress plugin

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


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.0 are:
- Better overall performance
- Your assets are now optimized for simulation automatically and non-destructively
- Adds new icons
- Adds a 'Reset Default Settings' button
- The current UI settings are now stored in the helper
- You can now access the UI with the brush active to modify parameters for your next brush stroke
- Adds a Colliders list
- Adds new shortcuts for mass properties editing in the Assets and Colliders list
- Adds a new 'Select from Scene' button to highlight the selected scene assets in the list
- You can now modify the optimisation with the Vertex Count spinner
- Brushes now have Undo functionality
- The editable mesh limitation has been removed
- You can now paint over multiple Collider/Ground meshes
- The data is now stored on a PhysXPainter Helper
- New shortcuts mean you only need one paintbrush
- Painting is now faster, even over a lot of meshes
- Distance value is now based on the assets volume and is more adaptable to different scene units
- Adds Gravity, Attract and Explode forces
- Adds an option to display the simulation state as wirecolor, or keep materials
- Position and Rotation Axes now have homothetic locks
- Adds a new Drop Brush
- Adds Turn to Instance or Copy functionality for assets
- Display Low lets you display the original mesh or the low res version used for simulation
- Big speed improvements on the attach functions
- New Physics tab controls ground collisions and custom Gravity values

PhysX Painter is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs €50.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v3.0.37 are:
- Fixes a potential Max crash when rendering previews in the Material Editor
- Addresses a C4D issue leading to a crash when OptixRT is used in conjuction with empty curves
- Adds Blender support for VDB sequence files using the native Blender modes
- Adds Blender support for the new 'UVProjection' node
- Updates the Blender Material node with Sheen parameters
- Updates the Blender SDK ColorCorrection python bindings
- Enables applying Blender compositor effects after render when 'use_compositing' is enabled
- Adds Hydra support for custom cameras in the camera map shader node
- Fixes an issue where the Feedback Display did not scale correctly
- Fixes a bounds check bug that was triggering bogus asserts on pre-RTX GPUs
- Fixes pre-converted 'rstexbin' texture UDIM/UVTILE files from not being found for proxies
- Fixes a rare noisy-looking sampling issue due to a CUDA compiler bug
- Fixes an excessive brightness issue with GI 'sheen' reflection energy compensation

Redshift is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $500. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.601 alpha are:
- Fixes non-working displacement map for bitmaps for the first frame of the final render
- Fixes non-working scratches, pattern, flakes shader for emission and transparent materials
- Fixes the preview of materials with random shaders
- Fixes missing post-processing settings in render settings for the Max plugin


Plugin Update: Modelling / Animation

Changes for v7.1.6.26898 are:
- Fixes the Hair from Guides modifier parting plane tool not always working
- Fixes the Hair from Guides Use Groups as Parts from not working
- Auto Parting is no longer activated by default
- Adopt External Guides now evaluates when control strands don't have strand ID's

Ornatrix is available for Max 2014 to 2021 and costs $599. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.13.53 are:
- Renames 'Favorites' to 'Categories'
- Adds new abilities to filter items using categories
- Adds the ability to specify the output filename on rendering previews for models
- Adds the ability to sort and exclude files from the Gallery
- Adds the ability to export .VRMESH and .CGEO files to other formats through the menu
- Speeds up merging complex scenes
- Speeds up opening Material Libraries
- Adds support for Q-Proxies
- Fixes an issue with updating render settings for the Batch Render&Relink tool
- Fixes an issue with the render settings dialog in 3ds Max 2016 and below
- Fixes an issue with isolated nodes when rendering previews
- Fixes an issue with using whitespace when renaming items
- Fixes a bug with creating materials from bitmaps in 3ds Max 2014
- Fixes an issue with creating PBR materials from textures for Corona
- Fixes an issue with creating PBR materials when V-Ray GPU is active
- Fixes an interface issue with using a high screen resolution
- Fixes an issue with relinking 3ds Max files with the Batch Render&Relink tool in Fast Mode
- Fixes an issue with relinking textures on merging 3ds Max files
- Fixes an issue with collecting and relinking material libraries on the Explorer tab
- Fixes an issue with saving the size of Categories panels
- Fixes some minor issues and optimisation improvements

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


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v3.2f are:
- Adds new 'Planar mapping by element' which keeps existing UV shells and seams
- Improves the 'Orient elements to longest side' algorithm
- The whole stack is now collapsed if no modifiers are selected
- Improves the Planar mapping 'Weighted normals' option
- Bitmap to UV now uses a new method without using Unwrap, it is a lot faster with no memory leak
- Fixes a memory leak when using 'Collapse points by distance'
- Fixes a memory leak in 'Interactive scale' caused by an Unwrap bug

UV Tools is available for Max 2013 to 2021 and costs $20.


New Plugin: Texturing

DecalPlacer is a commercial MAXScript that simplifies and speeds up the placing of decals on objects.

DecalPlacer is available for Max 2017 to 2021 and costs $20.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v10.1.13.1 are:
- Performance improvements to the Remote Connection Server and its commmunication with Workers
- The Repository installer now installs MongoDB 3.6.21
- Adds the ability to disable TLS on Deadline Database by re-running the Repository installer
- Arnold, Max, Maya, Renderman usage-based licensing now usable on AWS outside of AWS Portal
- The Deadline Linux installers are now code-signed with GPG
- Fixes an issue where auto-upgrades on Linux would not update libssl or libcrypto
- Adds C4D R23 AMI with Arnold to AWS Portal
- Updates to V-Ray version 5 for the Maya and 3ds Max AWS Portal AMIs
- Deprecates RepositoryUtils.AddOrUpdatePluginConfigSetting
- Deprecates RepositoryUtils.DeletePluginConfigSetting
- Adds support for V-Ray 5 with 3ds Max
- Allows specifying frames per task for V-Ray Standalone export workflow in 3ds Max
- Fixes 3ds Max SMTD V-Ray Standalone Workflow bug when exporting in file per frame mode
- Fixes a bug in IFL path mapping and asset transfer in 3ds Max
- Adds support for After Effects 17.5
- Adds support for Houdini 18.5
- Changes the integrated submitter to use Houdini packages
- Fixes a MayaBatch GPU Affinity error with an unset 'VRAY_GPU_PLATFORMS' environment variable
- Adds support for Nuke 12.2
- Adds (CUDA) and (RTX) options to the 'V-Ray RT' engine options (Standalone, Monitor, SMTD)
- Updates FTrack support to version 2.0.0
- Updates the NIM python client to use the latest 4.0.x version
- Fixes a Spot bug where idle on-demand instances were mistakenly terminated

Deadline is available for Max 2010 to 2021 and costs $48 per node per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v4.3.0.78 are:
- New Light Mixer imager lets you interactively edit the contribution of light group AOVs
- The imager_lens_effect now implements a bloom effect
- The Arnold Noice denoiser is now also available as a post-processing effect
- The OptiX denoiser is now available as a post-processing effect
- Arnold now uses an updated version of OCIO and is able to load and run OpenColorIO v2 configs
- The number of supported light AOVs is now 256, up from 15
- The cell_noise shader is now about 2.5x faster on CPU and 4.3x faster on GPU
- The base and base_color parameters on standard_surface now default to 1.0, and (0.8, 0.8, 0.8)
- Faster and higher-quality sampling improves progressive and adaptive rendering performance
- Adds constant color detection to maketx
- OpenEXR file inputs to maketx/AiMakeTx will now by default generate an OpenEXR based .tx file
- maketx/AiMakeTx now by default allow creating TIFF based .tx files with half floats
- Generating half TIFF .tx files should now be several times faster on certain Linux machines
- Metadata from OSL shaders is now visible on Arnold nodes and can be read via the AiMetadata APIs
- With more than 100 lights, per-light sampling log messages are output with debug log verbosity
- ADPClientService should now upload data more quickly and consume fewer CPU resources
- Autodesk Desktop Licensing has been updated to version 11.0.0.4854
- When crashes occur while Arnold is running, a stacktrace is now printed out
- Most of the Arnold API now has associated profiling blocks
- kick now displays imagers in interactive mode
- Arnold should now be able to properly use both the big and small M1 cores
- Arnold now uses OpenVDB 7.1
- Imagers can now be applied, removed, re-ordered, edited, directly in the Arnold RenderView
- Imagers now expose the layer_selection string
- Removes the optix denoiser flags from rendering options and AOVs as it is now an imager
- New Compatibility Mode replaces the Legacy Map support flag
- 'Auto Convert TX' should imply 'Use Existing TX' OFF
- The Arnold RenderView snapshot pane no longer needs resize handles
- Support for shadow groups has been added to the GPU renderer
- Improves initial startup time when rendering a scene for the first time with the GPU renderer
- When there is a GPU crash, the amount of GPU memory used is now reported
- And much more... a full list of changes and bug-fixes can be found here


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v2.7.0 are:
- Miscellaneous bug fixes
- Updates the licensing server and libraries
- All wood materials have been remade
- Adds a new wood materials category - Raw

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