MAX Plugins.de News Archive

Archived Plugin News  –  February 2020
 

Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.78.01 are:
- Adds support for ArchVision RPC
- Adds support for *.MC files from the Point Cache modifier
- Adds the ability to render previews using the Corona Frame Buffer
- Drops support for Max 2013
- Rewrites the preview generation methods for Substance and additional Max image formats
- Moves the plugin to a 'Kstudio' directory and category
- Fixes a bug with relinking scenes that contain IES files using the Batch Render&Relink tool
- Fixes a display issue on some monitors when the plugin window is maximized
- Fixes an issue with refreshing the listview using the F5 key
- Fixes some minor issues with the interface
- Fixes an Asset Management bug with scenes containing Containers
- Fixes other minor issues and performance improvements

FilePathFinder is available for Max 2014 to 2020 and costs $35 (Pro version) or $22.50 (Lite version). A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.524 are:
- Improves viewport speed
- Significantly improves MultiPainter
- Adds a new distribution type: by reference objects
- Adds new regular distribution on spline: A,B,C,D, A,B,C,D
- Adds scattering of V-Rray lights
- Adds group scattering
- Adds multiple camera clipping

MultiScatter is available for Max 2016 to 2020 and costs €200.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2.6.52 are:
- Fixes a Max issue where hidden objects were being evaluated at render-time
- Fixes a Max freeze when stopping IPR while rendering a shaderball
- Fixes a crash when rendering shaderballs for Multi/Sub-Object in Max 2014
- Fixes a Max bug introduced in 2.6.48 where OCIO View Transform is not saved with the scene
- Fixes an issue in Max 2014-2017 where the Redshift toolbar remained visible in Expert Mode
- Fixes an issue in Max 2014-2017 with the Redshift toolbar in vertical-docked orientation
- Fixes an issue in Max 2019 onwards where the Redshift toolbar is always visible after startup
- Fixes a Max issue where light include/exclude lists and Trace Sets did not work inside XRef scenes
- Increases the IPR restart 'grace period' in Max following the rendering of a shaderball
- The Proxy Export dialog in Max now matches the initially-selected camera to the active viewport
- Fixes Direct AOVs in C4D using the wrong frame number when rendered using the RenderQueue
- Fixes a C4D bug where Cloners with instancing enabled sometimes triggered a crash
- Fixes a C4D bug in the handling of Irradiance Point Cloud and Irradiance Cache files
- Adds a new build for Houdini 18.0.348
- New HScript command 'Redshift_IPRRenderingState' gets the IPR/RenderView rendering state
- Fixes a Houdini crash in the strands feature while working with the Maxon noise shader
- Adds support for Katana 3.5v1
- Adds Katana support for hidden polygons from the geometry.arbitrary.hiddenFacesList attribute
- Adds Katana support for hidden polygons from invisible facesets
- Fixes live updating of the solo/mute lights state inside the GafferThree rigs in Katana
- Adds custom GafferThree package classes for RS Lights in Katana
- Fixes a Katana issue in the RedshiftOutputChannelDefine node hide parameters logic
- Fixes a RenderView issue when a snapshot was deleted or removed
- Improves mouse hit-testing in RenderView for region box adjustments
- Fixes some comment-related bugs with the LUT readers (cube and 3dl)
- Altus now renders without watermarks
- Adds a potential fix for a random crash when changing block size during progressive rendering
- Fixes handling of invalid AOVs that could cause a rare crash
- The Cryptomatte hashes are now zero-padded
- Fixes a verbose logging issue that reported a bogus error message when allocating pinned memory

Redshift is available for Max 2013 to 2020 and costs $500. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Animation

Changes for v2.6 are:
- Fixes an After Effects export error due to incorrect values like 'ind', 'nan' and '- 1.#INF'
- Sets animatable to false for all checkbuttons in the UI
- Adds a 'Camera FOV' parameter to the 'Animation Copy Paste' list
- Adds undo functionality to the 'Animation Copy Paste' action

Rapid Camera Pro is available for Max 2010 to 2020 and costs $39. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.3 are:
- Adds a 'Select Object from Selected Texture' feature
- Adds a Filter feature
- Adds a 'Delete Unused Map' feature
- Adds more Rename features

P_TexturePathManager is available for Max 2015 to 2020 and costs $3. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.0.9 are:
- Adds the ability to specify search depth in the 'Auto-Assign Preview' dialog
- Adds the ability to specify several favorites to multiple items at once
- Adds the ability to specify the number of points for the preview Arnold Proxy
- Adds the ability to 'Clear Gallery' for selected items
- Speeds up merging of models to complex scenes
- Extends interface customizability: you can now add some menu items to the toolbar
- Adds the ability to assign shortcuts to some menu items from the menu
- Fixes interactive rendering of 3D files in a separate window for Max versions below 2019
- Fixes an issue with pasting and dragging directories into virtual catalogs
- Fixes potential issues with the asset view dialog

Project Manager is available for Max 2014 to 2020 and costs $75. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.5.0 are:
- Fixes an error when 'Use the same name as the original' is used
- Certain checkboxes now remember their states

miauu's Extended Clone Tool is available for Max 2014 to 2020 and costs €5.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16071 beta are:
- Adds the tySmooth modifier for much faster mesh auto-smoothing than the Smooth modifier in Max
- Adds offset and speed options to the operator keyframes rollout
- Adds 'at rendertime only' settings to cloth/actor mesh generation
- Adds a 'max neighbors' setting to the Particle Physics operator
- Adds MAXScript listener performance warnings to the Particle Physics operator
- You can now save the current animation frame to a custom float channel in the Shape operator
- Adds 'current selection' and 'relax' selectors to the tySelect modifier
- Fixes an issue where the Subdivide operator would crash if the Macrorecorder is enabled
- Fixes a bug that caused tyParticleSkin to run much slower when 'use mesh verts' is enabled
- Fixes a crash that could occur in the Grow operator if clustering was enabled
- Fixes an issue where the 'real-world value' gravity menus weren't respecting system unit scales
- Fixes a crash that could happen while processing a mesh with no faces
- Fixes a bug that could result in NaNs being generated by surface proximity tests
- Fixes an issue where a retimed sim that's an input object for another sim didn't update properly
- Fixes an issue where tyConform wouldn't update after landing on a keyframe with 0% influence


New Plugin: Utilities

Layama closes the gap between old-fashioned 360 tours and VR by transforming your current 3D projects to a pseudo-VR webpage that allows you to navigate your scenes, share your concepts, and visualise them in high quality everywhere. It keeps maximum quality by mixing pre-rendered images and low-weight 3D data to impress your clients. It runs flawlessly on any device that can be connected to the internet, including low-end smartphones, without needing any third-party plugins or the needs for viewers to install any software. Layama creates a web page that can be hosted on your own server, so you won't pay any kind of royalties after purchasing your license.

MOTIVA Layama is available for Max 2014 to 2020 and normally costs €180. You can get a license today for €121, but the price will go up by €1 a day until it reaches €180.


Plugin Update: Modelling / Texturing

Changes for v6.2.4 are:
- Fixes problems with V-Ray IPR and Corona IR
- Fixes the Library Browser from loading scene models multiple times instead of re-using them
- Improves performance with Corona Interactive Render
- Fixes the Forest LOD 'Screen Size' mode not working with V-Ray
- Fixes Custom Edit mode with Surface->'Link to Surface' off overwriting custom item rotation
- Tooltips have been removed from the rollups to speed up the user interface initialization
- Adds specific support for V-Ray 4.3

Forest Pack Pro is available for Max 2012 to 2020 and costs €220. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v1.13.1 are:
- The SiNi Toolbar now includes Preflight
- Updates the reset button on Desipher License Manager
- Changes to software now displays the correct version
- Updates the Help Links (?) in all plugins
- Springboard: Adds a Help Link (?) question mark to IgNite
- Springboard: Changes the Effect Pivot button to Affect Pivot
- Springboard: Playblasts are no longer affected by light exposure settings
- Forensic: Changes the Modifier Tab layout to make it more accessible
- Sculpt: Attaching objects no longer moves geometry because of bad pivot points on objects
- Illumi: Adds VRay and Corona cameras
- Preflight: Adds an option to export proxies (ProxSi, VRay and Corona)
- Preflight: Adds the ability to copy the task list to the clipboard
- Preflight: Attaching objects no longer moves geometry because of bad object pivot points
- Unite: Fixes a crash when stripping paths on hidden objects
- ProxSi: Updates the Export MAXScript to return new objects

SiNi Software is available for Max 2015 to 2020 and costs £180 per year. A demo version is available here.


New Plugin: Modelling

Cityscape Pro is a parametric site modelling plugin for Max. It provides a complete solution for modelling complex sites, parametric roads, curbs, curbcuts, sidewalks, grass, complex pavement areas, lakes, terrain, snow and more. Cityscape Pro comes with a state of the art material library. Its non-destructive workflow uses splines as input objects, generating geometry automatically with a single click. The plugin can handle massive city scale models, and has the potential to save up to 40% of production time on complex architectural visualization projects.

Cityscape Pro is available for Max 2017 to 2020 and costs $299.99 per year. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Renderers

Changes for v2019.1.5 - 8.18 are:
- Fixes missing geometry from Forest Pack and other plugins when using XRef objects
- Changes the range of floating points of texture pins from [0-1] back to [0-100000]
- Moves all broadcast settings to kernel settings, all are now scene specific
- Fixes updating of image textures compression and layer settings
- Updates the Material Editor UI for better performance

OctaneRender is available for Max 2013 to 2020 and costs $619. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Utilities

Changes for v3.08.25 are:
- Adds the ability to Auto-Assign Preview for selected items or files in selected directories
- Extends the capabilities of directory multi-selection
- Changing paths in the database is now faster when converting paths to local or network
- Searching in the database is now faster
- Fixes a bug when searching for comments
- Fixes a pivot issue when merging as a proxy
- Fixes an issue where material previews didn't show on some computers
- Fixes some other issues with materials that occurred on some computers
- Fixes an issue with slow renaming/copying of files and directories
- Fixes an issue in version 3.07.91 when renaming files and directories
- Fixes issues when merging an animated model using the standard Max dialog
- Fixes a problem saving materials with modifiers from selected objects when using drag&drop
- Fixes a potential issue when rendering materials from Favorites
- Fixes some other issues

Project Manager is available for Max 2014 to 2020 and costs $75. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Particles

Changes for v0.16068 beta are:
- Adds a Filters rollout to the Resample operator
- Adds a Particle Bind ID filter to the Resample operator
- Adds a 'limit per particle' option to Particle Bind Modify
- Adds additional custom data settings to the Resample operator in interpolation mode
- Adds surface area culling to tyCache
- The tyConform raycast mode can now cast rays along an object Z-axis
- Adds an 'open edges only' option to the tyWeld modifier
- The tyCache scale multiplier now has X/Y/Z controls
- Adds a global breakability override to PhysX Bind break settings
- The Element Attach operator now has a filters rollout
- Find Target alignment settings now have interpolation parameter for smoother docking
- The script operator GetMonoVal/GetColorVal functions can now take Point3 arguments
- Fixes a tySelect modifier issue with vertex colors not properly updating over time
- Fixes an issue where tyMesher in input geometry mode wouldn't apply matID/mapping overrides
- Exporting a tyParticleSkinned actor to tyCache now results in a properly deforming mesh
- Fixes the GetMonoVal/GetColorVal script operator functions taking ages to evaluate
- Removes the not-very-useful 'facing average' rotation operator mode
- The 'facing closest' rotation mode has been renamed to 'Look-at'
- The 'Look-at' rotation mode now properly accepts mesh objects
- Fixes an issue where Birth Flow/Flow Update were not loading mapping channels from input tyCaches
- Fixes an issue where tyCaches would load empty basemeshes as particles


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v4.1.2 are:
- Fixes the Random node generating different values when used on multiple generators
- The 'ArrayCounter' and 'XSplineMatID' attributes are now properly updated for Clipping arrays
- The Generator offset can now be handled by expressions when applied to multiple sub-splines
- Improves performance of macros with exported parameters
- Improves the Generator->Fillet algorithm
- Fixes Compose->Grouped segments having different alignment on curved splines
- Fixes the tangents of nested generators along paths with non-curved segments
- Fixes a crash with Quick Mesh mode and disabled objects
- Fixes a bug with A2S Generators when 'Limit by ID' is controlled by an expression
- Fixes Markers + A2S generator not filtering correctly by the Spline number
- Fixes Nested Generators producing a different result depending if Instancing is enabled or not
- Removes the extra dialog in RailClone Tools->Instantiate when no RC object is selected
- RailClone Color can no longer be used in Forest Pack as a replacement for Forest Color
- RailClone no longer stops updating the Style Editor after editing nodes in a macro
- Fixes a rare stack overflow error when dragging spinner controls in the Style Editor
- Parameter descriptions character limit has been increased to 2000 characters
- Fixes Update Manager login credentials being invalidated by Forest Pack

RailClone Pro v1.0 is available for Max 2013 to 2020 and costs €220. A demo version is available here.


Plugin Update: Texturing

Changes for v3.1 are:
- Adds packing using the default Unwrap pack methods
- Adds new buttons in Transform for Move Right, Left, Top, Bottom, U, V
- Adds new QuickPeel action macros
- Fixes the checker on group error introduced in 3.0.9

UV Tools is available for Max 2013 to 2020 and costs $20.


Plugin Update: Modelling

Changes for v1.1 are:
- Adds support for V-Ray Next

NeatScatter is available for Max 2016 to 2020 and costs $139. A demo version is available here.