MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  July 2007
 

Plugin Update: Connection

Changes for v5.0.3.1555 are:
- Lots of new and updated functionality, a full list is here

Deep Exploration CAD Edition is available for Max 4 to 9 and costs $1995. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Connection

Changes for Build 291551 are:
- Fixes black dots/buckets and blocky artefacts when using Global Ambience, GI or Global Radiosity
- Fixes radiosity computation on meshes (slowdown)
- Fixes missing GI shadows from some hypertextured materials
- Fixes a crash when rendering imported models with invalid UV coordinates
- Fixes ignored UV mapping on OBJ imported models containing non UV mapped faces
- Fixes a possible crash when switching animated object motion type
- All atmosphere settings are now saved in environment mapped mode
- Fixes bad default python material lookup folder
- Fixes a random crash due to render scene preview
- Fixes a potential crash when using 'make constant velocity' option with zero length trajectory
- Fixes a potential crash after setting custom terrain brush size to minimum
- Stops keyframe creation when modifying non-animated objects at non-zero time
- Fixes unexpected glitches and shifts when quickly moving several keyframes at the same time
- Fixes a numerical precision issue sometimes causing doubled camera backdrop frames

Vue 6 xStream is available for Max 7 to 9 and costs $895. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.5.1 are:
- Too many to list here, take a look at the full list of bug-fixes

Maxwell Render is available for Max 7 to 9 and costs €895. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.3.5 are:
- Changes the plugin file name from OgreMaxSceneExporter.dle to OgreMaxSceneExporter.gup
- Adds an OgreMax menu that appears within the Max main menu
- Adds a feature for renaming exported bitmap/texture file names
- Adds support for compiling with Ogre 1.2.x
- Fixes the documentation for the particle system object type
- Adds a 'visibility' export property
- Modifies the method for exporting scene node animations


Plugin Update: Objects

Changes for v0.65b are:
- Fixes Max crash when cancelling bitmap heightfield textures
- Fixes Max crash when canceling bitmap probability textures
- All lawn parameters are now animatable
- Adds bending control to the lawnmower modifier
- Adds translucency to the Mental Ray grass shader


Plugin Update: Materials

Changes for v1.2.9 are:
- Adds Musgrave noise
- Adds bump map support
- Minor UI changes
- Fixes a few bugs with MAXScript access


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.3.2 are:
- Recompiled with Ogre 1.4.3
- Fixes the documentation for the 'Skeleton + morph animation' mesh animation type
- Fixes some typos and added some clarifications to the documentation


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.2.1 are:
- Fixes a bug inroduced with animation pose matrices
- Adds a work-around for when bad normals are received by IGame
- Adds 'Export Comments' features to export node user props
- Re-linked with the June 2007 SDK


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v5.71 are:
- Adds an auto-shutdown function
- Fixes a bug with the 'Every Frame' rendering function

VRay Batch Render is available for Max 6 to 9 and costs $59. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Audio

Changes for v1.3.1a are:
- Adds support for Max 9 (32-bit and 64-bit)

The update costs $100, and is available to registered customers here.

Sound Trax is available for Max 6 to 9 and costs $250. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: NodeJoe Public Beta 0.85 available

The developers of NodeJoe have released a new public beta version for testing (v0.85).

Changes for v0.822 are:
- The Material Pool has been completely rewritten
- Adds collapsable Categories
- Adds support for Max material libraries (import, export, manipulation)
- Adds fully customizable Categories, Groups, Subgroups, Order, Colors, Names
- Adds different display modes (with icons, no icons, icons only)
- Adds an intelligent caching background rendering system for previews
- Full support for drag'n'drop inside and outside of the pool
- Adds an option for hiding renderer incompatible materials / textures
- New fast, optimized graphics
- NodeJoe now runs on systems with 120dpi screen resolution
- Minor bugfixes


Plugin News: 3DDragon Software lowers prices

3DDragon Software have lowered the prices for their 2 plugins Super Material v2.0 and VRay Batch Render v5.7. Super Material now costs $49 (used to be $99) and VRay Batch Render now costs $59 (used to be $149).


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.7.0.24 are:
- Adds new preprocessor command: 'RemoveUnchangingTracks'
- Adds new preprocessor command: 'RenameElement'
- Adds triangle annotation for Max 9
- Adds new exporter option for granny_vector_tracks: 'Don't oversample vector tracks'
- Adds protection for Max visibility tracks when they are constant
- Changes the way meshes that are referenced by more than one transform node are handled
- And a load more... The full ChangeLog is available here

Granny Exporter is available for Max 5 to 9, and is part of the Granny Toolkit which costs $12500.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Adds mesh pose animation export
- Adds mesh morph animation export
- Adds mesh skeleton animation export
- Adds support for exporting the selected objects
- Adds logic to ensure all node names are unique
- Adds a workaround for an IGame problem with the 'Optimize' modifier
- Adds a 'common problems' section to the documentation
- Adds a scene setting for enabling the sorting of output mesh bone assignments
- Adds a 'simple mesh' flag for complex meshes which allows much faster export
- Changes exported scene file name to have a lowercase extension
- Changes the method for calculating the exported light attenuation
- Removes redundant parsing of node user properties


Plugin Update: Renderers

The latest new build of Brazil r/s v2, build 1295, is now available from the SplutterFish FishMarket Account (if you have upgraded to Brazil r/s v2). You can find a full list of enhancements and bugfixes here.


Site News: MAX Plugins.de is 7 today...

Seven years ago today, MAX Plugins.de went online after a month or so of getting everything set up. Since then the site has been getting more an more popular, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down.

I was hoping to crack the 11 millionth pageview in time for today, but I didn't quite make it. The actual total up to yesterday is 10,791,278 pageviews. Never mind, let's see what the next few years bring.

I'd like to say a big thank you to the few people who have actually helped support this site, and the rest of you shouldn't be so shy about clicking on the PayPal button :o)

All the best, Dave


Plugin Update: Particles / Animation

Changes for v4.3 include:
- The stacking procedure in the rigid body solver is now faster and more stable
- New tools have been added to reset the transformation matrices of nodes / objects
- Improved interaction between fluids and rigid bodies with 'dynmotion' set to 'No'
- A new command line option '-reset' has been added
- Adds a new system script to normalize the age of the particles
- A number of bug-fixes

Registered users can download the update from the RF4 download area, where they will also find full details of the new features, improvements, and a full list of bug-fixes.

RealFlow is available for Max 7 to 9 and costs $2700. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.75b are:
- Fixes a problem with non-square terrains
- Adds support for 64-bit Max 9


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v2.04 are:
- Fixes a problem importing large .XSI files
- Fixes a problem exporting asset + rig
- Texture alpha driven transparency now exported as fully transparent in Collada
- A couple of other non-Max changes


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.93b are:
- Spinner-undo is now working correctly


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.96b are:
- Adds support for 64-bit Max 9
- Minor bug-fixes


Plugin News: More EffectWare recompiles...

Effectware have recompiled a load more of their plugins for Max 9 (32-bit only).

These are the new ones:
- Array Image Generator v1.0
- Calculate Image Compositor v1.1
- Frame Counter v2.5
- Flip Image Generator v1.5
- Glow+ v2.0
- Gray v1.5
- Particle Killer v2.5
- Mosaic v1.2
- Fractal Mountain Landscape Generator v1.21
- SGI Image v1.1
- Rotate v1.1
- SuperQuadrics v1.1
- Stairs v1.0
- Text Printer v1.0
- TrackView Utiities v1.0
- User-Defined Filter v1.1
- Z-Buffer Viewer v1.1
- Wing v1.1


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.2 are:
- No longer crashes when trying to export a spline (IGame bug)
- No longer crashes when exporting partially un-textured objects
- Re-linked with April 2007 SDK


Plugin Update: mental ray Shaders

Changes for v1.01 are:
- Adds support for 64-bit Windows and 64-bit Linux


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.92b are:
- Adds support for 64-bit Max 9
- Adds support for incorrectly formatted OBJ files from other applications
- Adds import and export of lines, which can also have materials applied
- Adds import of multisided polys (not only quads)
- Minor material fixes
- The plugin now has MAXScript access
- The middle mouse button now pans listviews and treeviews
- Adds a script to help with 'mass-imports'
- Adds export of polygons (no limit)
- Removes 'split polys by MatID/smGroup'
- Adds an additional preset for Mudbox


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.594 / v3.9095 are:
- Per capture set override material no longer fails to be assigned
- Capture set list now uses F2 again for renaming

RPManager is available for Max 6 to 9 and costs $300. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v5.10 are:
- Adds support for Philips 3DSolutions WOWvx and WOWzone stereo displays
- Adds new VMX2MAX plugin for importing legacy files into Max
- Export speed has been improved
- Improved material and map handling during export
- Full support of multiple texture channels
- Miscellaneous performance improvements
- Multiple texture channels allow real-time combining of diffuse- and opacity maps
- More Max materials and maps are now supported using real-time equivalents
- Face maps are now calculated at run-time
- Edge flags are now exported so wire frame objects look the same in VR4MAX and Max
- Normal maps and Tangent Space maps are now standard real-time features
- Self-Illumination maps are now exported
- The VR4MAX LOD object is 100% compatible with the standard Max / VR4MAX runtime LOD object
- New real-time point light objects allow you to add many artificial light sources
- New Sequence object and DOF object (degrees of freedom) for compatibility with OpenFlight designs
- 64-bit Max 9 support coming soon

VR4MAX is available for Max 6 to 9 and costs €850. A demo version is available here.


Plugin News: Nova Ω 5.9 open beta test

Vertice have started an open beta test of Nova Ω 5.9, their real-time 3D engine. It can be downloaded and tested for 60 days, by which time the final product should start shipping.

Changes for version 5.9 include:
- Adds support for the Blend material
- Adds support for vertex alpha
- The video capture engine has been rewritten
- A new octree engine has been implemented to improve performance
- Adds companion scenes, which can be displayed over the main scene
- Adds region rendering
- Adds a number of new events for scripts
- Adds new action launchers and actions
- Adds PickingBlocker, a new object option
- Shaders can now be cached, so that same shaders with different parameters don't get recompiled
- Adds support for compiled .fxo shaders
- The ControlCenter now supports an unlimited number of joysticks simultaneously
- Xbox 360 peripherals are now supported
- The real time shadow engine has been simplified for more speed
- Adds a particle graphics editor (only Max 9 and higher)
- and much more...

Full details on taking part in the beta test can be found here.


Plugin News: Effectware plugins for Max 9

Effectware have started recompiling their plugins for Max 9 (32-bit only).

The following plugins have been recompiled so far:
- Advertisement Plate v1.0
- Airfoil Shape v2.0
- Beams v1.0
- Helicoid v1.2
- Portable Bitmap File I/O Driver v1.0
- Rubik's Cube Animator v2.0 Beta2
- Softimage Picture File I/O Driver v1.0 Beta


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.2.15 are:
- Fixes issue with bhkRigidBody object not saving and restoring data
- Fixes many issues with transforms and bhk shapes
- Fixes a crash when exporting animations
- Fixes issue with exported Skin data causing missing vertexes in nifskope
- Fixes issue with exporting textkeys for morrowind and geomorph faces
- Adds animation export support for accumulate transforms
- Fixes some issues with geometry Morpher exporter and bad UV data
- Fixes importer not ignoring root node when option unchecked
- Fixes issue of bhkRigidBody object not importing data properly
- Accumulate Transforms now accumulate y-data by default


Plugin Update: Particles / Animation

Changes for v1.3.17 are:
- Adds support for 64-bit Max 9
- Fixes a bug where the solver failed after reloading a glu3D scene

This version of glu3D is available for Max 9 and costs €495. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v1.0.6 are:
- Adds Max 9 compatibility
- New Dll structure
- Automatic unload and load of Ogre DLLs
- Vertex colour toggle in shaders


Plugin News: Renderers

SplutterFish has announced that the 64-bit pre-release version of its Brazil Rendering System is now available, taking advantage of the latest in 64-bit technology to improve speed, handle even larger, more complex datasets, and provide 64-bit precision for greater quality.

Brazil r/s v2 is available for Max 4 to 9 and pricing starts at $795 for the Basic Edition, and $995 for the Professional Edition.