MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  January 2018
 

Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.0 are:
- New user friendly UI design
- Shelf dummies are now generated after adding polygons or instantly in array
- Adds the ability to set shelf dimensions in viewport by moving vertices of dummies splines
- New 'Test my books' option to check if 3D book models have proper pivot orientations
- Adds a sample 3D book model to the package to help understand book pivot orientation
- Adds a books rotation option to define books XY orientation on shelf polygons
- Adds pre-saved presets for quick start and the ability to create your own
- Adds a 'Generate random' preset to test your luck
- New 'Exclude from clone object color' option to define books that should be placed once only
- Adds an option to quickly remove all or selected books added to Bm
- Adds an option to quickly remove all shelves added to Bm
- The quantity of added books and shelves is now shown in the UI
- Adds check buttons for Leaning, Horizontal, Flipped books and Books series to turn them on/off
- Adds ? buttons for every rollout to open help for the section
- Adds protection against adding polygons with normals turned downward
- Adds Edit poly modifier support
- Adds support for Max 2018
- Adding books and polygons to Bm is now more intuitive
- The Min fill(%) and Max fill(%) options have been changed to Quantity(%) and Random(%)
- The Cancel button now closes Bm and removes everything and the X button clears generated books
- The Min/Max shelves slider has been changed to Shelves number(%)
- The Help documentation was moved from the package to the website
- Books are now generated in portions: shelf after shelf
- The name field was removed from the UI
- Fixes Bm from creating an unlimited number of books and freezing Max under certain conditions
- Fixes the same polygon being added several times
- Fixes a Max 2017-2018 error if the Max command panel is undocked

Bookmanager is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs $25 (individual license) and $40 (corporate license). A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v3.0.1 are:
- Updates the application to use the latest version of the VC++ Redistributable 2017 Package
- Adds a new camera preset designed to resemble the Unreal Engine's controls
- Adds a right-click option in the viewport for importing a background model
- The model importer now supports non-8 bits per channel textures
- Adds an anima Render Node option to access the configuration panel
- Adds support for Nexlimit Maxwell Render to the 3ds Max Plugin
- Adds support for Cinema 4D R19
- The installer now asks you to manually select directories for undetected applications
- The small update installer no longer allows users to install to an empty directory
- A new shortcut is created when installing to configure the application before it starts
- Adds support for Unicode characters in paths and filenames to most parts of the application
- Fixes the surface tree of the scene not being regenerated when re-importing the background
- Corrects a few lines of displayed text in several locations
- Fixes the tool overlays causing conflicts with the viewport
- Fixes an issue where importing an existing model or clip didn't overwrite the previous one
- Fixes a bug where the list of actors in a crowd node would get cleared if no option was picked
- Fixes the 'Save as...' and 'Merge...' options not copying the backgrounds directory properly
- Fixes an issue where the OpenGL renderer would not work properly with shadows disabled
- Shadow resolution can now be changed without needing to restart the application
- Fixes an issue where changing a resource's name wasn't reflected in the other windows
- Fixes baked frames from another scene sometimes being deleted when using the scene browser
- Fixes a scene browser issue where scenes couldn't be deleted even if they weren't open
- Fixes a Render Node issue where the installation path would not be verified properly
- A clearer message is now displayed if an anima project could not be loaded properly
- Fixes the FBX exporter crashing with rigged and ready-posed characters in the same scene
- Fixes a V-Ray Scene Exporter issue where the texture paths would not be saved properly
- Fixes an installer issue with material scripts conflicts caused by the new directory structure
- Fixed an installer issue where the required DirectX version was not detected properly

Anima is available for Max 2011 to 2018 and costs €249. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.91 are:
- Adds support for the new Border Spline primitive (Wall Worm) and NGon by Edge (Swordslayer)
- Adds an Interpolation Multiplier option for splines
- Adds a Test Splines option to collect data about splines that might cause issues
- Adds a button to select splines that have overlapping vertices and highlight those locations
- Adds Force Steps and Force Steps Amount options to override the interpolation steps of splines

CorVex is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs $10.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v10.0.10.4 are:
- Updates the botocore library to 1.8.22
- Updates the boto3 library to 1.5.8
- Fixes the Output Directory browse button in the Client installer being cropped in OSX
- AWS Portal Improvements
- Adds BYOL (Bring Your Own Licensing) for V-Ray on Windows
- A new modo AMI is now available
- Fixes an issue with old Spot Fleet requests that were left in a cancelled_terminating state
- The Asset Server's S3 credentials are now permanent, preventing 'token has expired' errors
- The Asset Server can now retrieve CloudWatch logs based on failed/rendered tasks
- Fixes issues creating S3 buckets and modifying policies if the AWS Portal Link isn't installed
- Fixes some display issues in the Configure AWS Portal Settings window
- Fixes an issue with the 'Estimate Cost' button that stopped it from working sometimes on OSX
- Asset transfer pre-loading is no longer handled by the GlobalJobPreLoad.py script
- Fixes a couple issues in the Asset Server Settings window
- Reduces how often Launcher tries to reconnect to the Repository and Database if disconnected
- Adds a new 'Find Render Candidates' option to the right-click menu in the Jobs panel
- The 'Reset Settings' button in the Repository Options window now works properly
- Double-clicking a docked panel in the Monitor no longer undocks it if the layout is locked
- Reduces the amount of communication between the Deadline Slaves and the License Forwarder
- Mixing IPv4 and IPv6 on the farm no longer prevents 3rd Party UBL from working properly
- Improves License Forwarder logging
- Fixes an issue where requests to 'POST /api/jobs/' started causing errors after 99 requests
- Fixes the Web Service from crashing when repeatedly refreshing an API-connected web browser
- Fixes an SMTD bug where scene names were blank when submitting the file to the Repository
- Cleans up some log messages printed out by the 3dsmax plugin
- Adds Corona 1.7 support
- Fixes a bug where changing the Monitor user showed up in the SMTD UI but not on job submission
- When submitting 3ds Max jobs to the AWS Portal, the scene file is now added to the asset list
- Fixes a camera culling issue when using Batch submission alongside iToo Forest Pack Pro
- Adds a popup ignorer for the MAXScript 'Recording' popup for German language users
- V-Ray split/raw output is now handled correctly when Local Rendering is disabled
- Modifiable After Effects settings layout in the Jobs panel has been improved
- Prints a render log message if the submitting AFX version differs from the rendering version
- Fixes issues with some sticky settings in the integrated After Effects submitter
- Adds new sanity checks to the integrated After Effects submitter
- Errors and progress logging is now enforced in After Effects jobs
- Adds an AFX check to create output directories prior to rendering if they don't already exist
- Fixes integrated submitter logic bugs in the After Effects 'Submit Layers' sub-window
- Adds a new 'Delete XML File After Export' option to the After Effects submitter
- Fixes an issue when rendering jobs that use C4D relatively mapped files
- Fixes an issue in Fusion 9 when loading the comp if Fusion hasn't been fully initialized yet
- Fixes Houdini scenes failing to render when ROPs are locked or not included in the Take
- The submitter installer now respects HOUDINI_PATH and HOUDINI_MENU_PATH environment variables
- When submitting from within KeyShot, the submitter frame range now starts at 0 instead of 1
- The MayaCmd plugin now properly sets the environment variable when using Legacy Layers
- Submitting a V-Ray Export job with no export path in Maya now shows an error, not a warning
- Fixes black lines in the assembled image when tile rendering with Maya and Arnold
- Fixes an issue in the integrated submitter installer when installing for Maya 2018 and 2018.5
- The Maya submitter installer no longer needs to be run as an Administrator
- Adds support for Mistika VR to Deadline
- Adds AWS Portal pre-caching option to the integrated modo submitter
- Fixes a syntax error in the job right-click script to create a new Shotgun version
- Updates Spot event plugin with the latest AWS regions and instance-types
- Limits are now taken into consideration when determining how many Spot instances to start
- Pools can now be set alongside other Spot Fleet configuration settings
- Updates the Amazon cloud plugin with the latest AWS regions and instance-types
- Whitespace is now removed from some Amazon configuration values before using them

Deadline is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs $48 per node per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Import / Export

Changes for v0.36.0 are:
- Removes ActionBuilder folder from binaries
- Adds Max 2018 binaries
- Raises a warning when environment texture format is not DDS
- Fixes mesh position and vertices position to be relative to pivot instead of object
- Updates samples: position values are slightly different due to matrix computations
- Fixes CartoonHouses sample: exported pivots are now correct
- Modifies RiggedElf sample: Hips bone position is now set to (0,0,0) to avoid pivot offset
- Adds a RiggedFigure sample for extra reference about bones
- Merging images without the same dimensions now raises an error instead of a warning


New Plugin: Utilities

Radially lets you add any actions to a so-called pie menu which you can assign to a keyboard shortcut. You can call any Max actions simply by pressing the shortcut, hovering over the desired action with your cursor and then letting go of the shortcut key. It is very fast and needs no mouse clicks. Pie menus can contain up to 12 items, so you would need only one keyboard shortcut for the menu itself, instead of 12 (each one for an individual action).

Radially is available for Max 2017 to 2018 and costs $19.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v3.061 are:
- Fixes some problems when 're-writing' animation affecting Max 2017 and 2018

MadCar is available for Max 2009 to 2018 and costs €200. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Texturing

This commercial MAXScript offers an extended GUI for material ID assignment.
Features include:
- Multi material assignment
- Customizable button colors
- Save and load GUI presets
- Double click on button changes button color
- Right click on button changes button text
- Single click on button changes the matID of the selected polygon or element

Color ID Pro is available for Max 2014 to 2018 and costs $3. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

This updated commercial version of the material converter adds support for more materials, maps and other scene components, additional selection of materials for conversion, as well as more flexible options for converting and fixing the scene and its components. Renderers currently supported are Scanline, Corona, Brazil R/S, finalRender and mental ray. It also converts standard cameras to V-Ray Physical Cameras, CoronaDisplacementMods to VRayDisplacementMods and CoronaProxies to VrayProxies.

V-RayMtl Converter is available for Max 2013 to 2018 and costs $16.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2.5.52 are:
- Adds support in Max for the 'State' node
- Exposes proxy node's 'Material Mode' and 'Display Mode' to the channel box in Maya
- Fixes a Maya camera settings translation bug when rendering anamorphic images in the Redshift RV
- Adds C4D support for per-instance user-data
- Adds experimental Auto-Optimize Node option to the C4D GraphEditor
- Adds C4D support for automatic node coloring in the ShaderGraph
- Fixes a C4D crash during IPR under certain conditions
- Fixes a case where the C4D IPR would not detect scene changes under certain conditions
- Fixes a C4D issue in the interpretation of texture tags with missing materials references
- Fixes a C4D issue where plugin windows sometimes operated incorrectly when unfolded
- Adds an option to Houdini in the custom AOVs to set the EXR file or layer data type
- Lack of valid GPUs for rendering is now reported to the GUI in Houdini
- Adds Houdini viewport support for the Material, SSS, Skin and CarPaint VOPs main parameters
- Adds Houdini viewport support for the Incandescent and Hair VOPs main parameters
- Adds an option to disable Redshift errors/warnings reporting to the ROP node in Houdini
- Fixes a Houdini SyntaxWarning message reported to the console by the RSRenderView pane
- Fixes a Houdini crash after clicking the RSRenderView pane render region button with IPR stopped
- Fixes a Houdini RSRenderView crash clicking the start button after toggling the render region
- Fixes a crash in the Houdini RSRenderView pane on scene reload after changing the current frame
- Fixes the broken connection of Houdini RS VOP nodes with multiple outputs to the 'Surface' input
- Fixes a Houdini RSRenderView crash when updating shader nodes after clicking start/stop or update
- Adds some code to try to improve multi-thread extraction code stability in Houdini on Linux
- Fixes the 'Apply Color Processing' option in the custom AOVs in Houdini
- Adds Houdini support for the main Override Camera Resolution parameter
- Fixes the Houdini RSRenderView image distortion in 'Fill Window' render size mode
- The RenderView AOV drop-down combo-box now expands automatically to fit longer AOV names
- Fixes a RenderView bug where IPR would refresh region when panning
- Fixes a bug that could cause a crash when generating custom AOVs with default shaders
- Fixes a bug that could cause a crash when generating volume fog AOVs
- Fixes a bug that caused excessive ray memory usage and obscure GPU crashes
- Fixes EXR autocrop not working on exported full-scene proxies rendered with redshiftCmdLine
- The texture processor can now handle bad numbers (infinite etc) in dome light textures
- Fixes a bug that caused inconsistent results for 'opaque' textured single scattering materials
- Fixes a bug that knocked out environment GI for matte objects
- Matte objects now have an option to ignore shadows from other mattes

Redshift is available for Max 2013 to 2018 and costs $500. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Utilities

This plugin helps you to prepare your 3D model to use in MR Builder on Microsoft HoloLens and get a full experience while working with your model. You can get inside your 3D model (see it in 1:1 scale), work with layouts (hide them, highlight or make transparent), and create viewpoints so you can travel through your model without any gestures, simply using the voice command 'Next point'.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v0.4.7 beta are:
- Adds Plastic and Metal materials
- Adds a Blend material to blend up to 10 materials together
- Adds a log window
- The output amount parameter is now treated as exposure for light-emitting environments
- Improves the Sky map
- Fixes bump mapping in Use Max Procedurals mode
- Fixes depth of field in ActiveShade mode
- Fixes titles on small texture buttons
- Changes the default Max Ray Intensity value to 1.0


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.62 are:
- Fixes a UI error in the About roll-out of ATiles object

ATiles Pro is available for Max 7 to 2018 and costs €25. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.2.6 are:
- Fixes a bug where Navisworks crashed when leaving planned task dates empty and trying to export
- Adds support for Actual task dates - these take priority over Planned task dates
- TimelinerSet script no longer uses the Arnold Mix Shader, it now uses the Blend material

NaviSet Transfer is available for Max 2016 to 2018 and normally costs $20. At the moment you can get a license for $10.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v1.0.3 are:
- Adds support for Max 2018
- Adds support for Asset Tracking
- Adds support for XRef Scenes
- Adds support for bump mapping and normal mapping
- Adds support for color mixture and color correction
- Adds an option to control shutter efficiency for motion-blurring
- Fixes self-intersections of co-planar triangles without introducing any light leak
- Fixes a bug in the KuaFu Material
- Fixes a race condition bug
- Fixes a bug with ray-tracing acceleration structures
- Updates documents


Plugin Updates: Felix Joleanes plugins recompiled for Max 2017 and 2018

I only just discovered that Felix Joleanes has released the source code for his Animatable Pivot and IKFK Solver plugins. I've recompiled them for Max 2017 and 2018, you can download them here:
- Animatable Pivot v1.0.6
- IKFK Solver v1.1.5b


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v8.6.18 are:
- Fixes an issue when using the web server and/or http REST APIs to download the chunks details
- Fixes an issue when using HTTPS in a multithread context

Muster is available for Max 6 to 2018 and costs $85 per node. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Big speed improvements on large models
- Fixes having to manually delete the previously generated modifier if you need to regenerate it

Improved Face Weighted Normals is available for Max 2008 to 2018 and costs $5.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.05 are:
- Replaces dotNet dateTime functions with MAXScript custom functions

The same changes have also been made to SuperHelix v1.05 and Spiros v1.01.

TurboSplines is available for Max 2012 to 2018 and costs $40. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.2 are:
- Adds a preset system to easily create/load different presets for different replacements

miauu's Objects Replacer is available for Max 2009 to 2018 and costs €6.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v2.61 are:
- Fixes UI alignment for all parameters when using a HiDPI display or Windows scaling > 100%

ATiles Pro is available for Max 7 to 2018 and costs €25. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v3.7 are:
- Fixes a bug with Nested Isolation when only one object is selected

miauu's Script Pack Volume 1 is available for Max 9 to 2018 and costs €12.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.68 are:
- Replaces dotNet dateTime functions with MAXScript custom functions
- Fixes an issue with the 'Fix Extrusion Axis' tool

Spline Cleaner is available for Max 2012 to 2018 and costs $30.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.9 are:
- Fixes zero-area face problem on wall mode CorVex with 0 height using the Slop Increment setting
- Updates the Bake function to be compatible with the latest brush tracking functions in Wall Worm
- Adds a new setting in the Wall Worm Connection rollout to Exclude from Export

CorVex is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs $10.


New Plugin: Utilities

NewView VR allows you to view your scenes in real time with the Oculus Rift headset, and also offers screen mirroring to window to show others what is the viewer is seeing. It also has independent keyboard navigation, so VR Camera panning is possible along independent walkthroughs for the viewer, and viewport projections mirror the current MAX scenes in realtime, including during animation playback.

NewView VR is available for Max 2015 to 2018 and costs $75. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling / Texturing

Changes for v1.067 are:
- Adds suport for V-Ray Next (4.x)
- Adds support for VRayToon exclude
- Fixes some problems with V-Ray Matte

MultiScatter is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs €200.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.078 are:
- Adds support for Max 2018
- Adds suport for V-Ray Next (4.x)

VRayPattern is available for Max 2010 to 2018 and costs €150.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2.1.5.0 are:
- Adds support for Max 2018
- Adds a ray epsilon setting for fixing artifacts with large scale size scenes
- The Shadow Catcher UI has been redesigned
- The UI is now more responsive whilst rendering
- Stability improvements with interactive rendering
- PBR shader fixes
- Fixes various issues with compositing objects for shadow catchers
- IBL illumination intensity is now always the same on CPU vs GPU
- Fixes various issues with differences between CPU and GPU rendering
- Compositing semi-transparent objects in front of IBLs no longer has artifacts
- Fixes an issue with inverted shadow opacity on shadow catchers


Site News: Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish all visitors to the site a Happy New Year, and all the best for 2018!

Dave