January 1

4 Free Max 2.0 Scripts added

Multi Object Tangent Utility

Pivot
Small floater. Modifies pivots without having to enter the hierarchy panel and click affect pivot only.

NURBS Subobject Utility
This utility displays the nurbs subobjects contained in a Nurbs entity.

Velocity Grapher
This utility creates items in Track View enabling you to view the position velocity of up to 9 objects simultaneously.


2 more free plugins to grab if you aint got em already
Printer Output Driver
Render directly to your Windows Printer - margins, headers, footers, setup...., multi frame

Euler rotation utility
Use in place if Rotate transform type-in dialog to enter rotational values, as it does not cycle from 180 degrees to -180 degrees.


UltraShock Is Now SHIPPING!!!

UltraShock is an image filter that works with particle systems to create particle
effects for 3D Studio Max. It works by applying plug-in shaders to selected
particle systems, when these shaders are animated the user can control effects like
smoke, steam and flames.

It's true! The long wait is over, and you can order it right now from Digimation.
Also, the image galley in the UltraShock pages has been updated with a small
collection of AVI's for you to download and enjoy.
http://www.maxplugins.com/ultrashock/index.htm

List Price: $295.00 (US)
Order Now: Digimation 1-800-854-4496

P.S. Digimation may have a delay in updating their web site. Please be patient. :-)


Dec 30  1997 Raymax v2.0_max2 was released


Animetix ships upgrades for 3D Studio MAX® R2.

Animetix has announced that applicable upgrades of its products, compatible with 3D Studio MAX R2, are now available to registered users.                                Please follow this link to the 'Product Upgrades' page for more information on how to upgrade.
Also new on the 'Product Upgrades' page is GAMUT-PSm version 1.2 for 3DS MAX R1. This version of the product fixes some bugs, includes the RSD Import capability described above, and also includes the Animetix AGT plug-in and
file readback toolkit.
GAMUT-PSm™ now features RSD Import for 3D Studio MAX.

GAMUT-PSm is now shipping with a plug-in for 3DS MAX that allows users to import RSD files directly into 3DS MAX.
This plug-in is really useful if you have RSD files lying around from the first release of your killer shoot-em up game and now you want to do the sequel using 3DS MAX. Likewise, if you have art created in another art package, you can export it from
there using RSD and bring it into 3DS MAX for a touch up. The plug-in reads geometry and creates materials using polygon colors and any TIM textures that are applied.



EZLIST MAX 0.5 Beta. SourceCode is avail for download

I managed to include some comments, but there is much more to do...Also I
realize there are parts that could be optimized, but I don't want to change a
code that is working... for now.

Here is the updated TIME CENTER 1.1

There is a new check box to turn interactive update of current time on and off -
helpful when used as SMPTE to Frame calculator only.

 

January 10

Cloud Maker Beta.1.2-3dsMAX MaxScriptUpDate1/10/98
Download it Here

HABWARE Updated some of his plugins for both MAX 1.* & MAX 2

3DStudio Max 2.0 PlugIns

DEM2MAX V2.1

DEM2MAX is used to import Digital Elevation Maps to 3DStudio MAX. It
creates an elevation object, which allows you to define the detailing. You can
also set materials depending on the elevation. This version allows you to read 7.5
min USGS DEm files and (some/many) VistaPro DEM files.

Download:
Plugin(15K zip)
Help file (26K zip)

If someone who reads this know where to get DEM files over Europe/Sweden Please write me an E-Mail

HSPLINE V2.1 (former NSPLINE)

HSPLINE is spline modifier. It creates vertices with a given distance and supports
segmentation of splines.

Download:
Plugin(8K zip)
Help file (12K zip)
Source Code (11K zip)

OBJ2MAX V2.1

OBJ2MAX imports Alias|Wavefront OBJ files into 3DStudio MAX. In this version
material files (MTL) and texture vertices are handled. Surfaces are not handled
in this version!

Download:
Plugin (22K zip)
Help file (34K zip)

ROLLER (Version 2.1)

ROLLER is a controller to roll a wheel (or a coin ...) along a path. FOLLOW is
a controller to follow a rolling wheel, without rolling the object.

Download:
Plugin (44K zip)
Help file (21K zip)



3DStudio Max 1.2 PlugIns

DEM2MAX V1.1

DEM2MAX is used to import Digital Elvation Maps to 3DStudio MAX. It
creates an elevation object, which allows you to define the detailing. You can
also set materials depending on the elevation. This version allows you to read 7.5
min USGS DEm files and (some/many) VistaPro DEM files.
Download:
Plugin(14K zip)
Help file (32K zip)


NSPLINE (Version 1.2)

NSPLINE is spline modifier. It creates vertices with a given distance and supports
segmentation of splines.

Download:
Plugin(10K zip)
Help file (14K zip)
Source Code (18K zip)


OBJ2MAX (Version 1.5)

OBJ2MAX imports Alias|Wavefront OBJ files into 3DStudio MAX. In this version
material files (MTL) and texture vertices are handled.

Download:
Plugin (23K zip)
Help file (36K zip)

Ishani Draws back his MIX 1.*
Because of current Kinetix developments, MIX 1.x
will no longer be available for download or registration.
Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

News from Johnny Ow
01/09/97 (1934) Just recompiled IDSelect for Max R2.
GlowBaby v2.0b1 is simply a recompile of v1.1b1. There are no new features, but R1 files should load fine.


IDSelect v2.0b1 is a simple port of IDSelect v1.0b1. No new features and no new bugs (I hope).



Max2 Fundamentals released
Source: Dave Stripinis
3D Studio Max r2 Fundamentals is now in bookstores. Fundamentals for 3D
Studio Max v1 was a book that goes through all the basic functions of Max. If
the manuals weren't enough for you, I'd suggest take a look at this book.
Amazon.com among others carry this book on the internet.


 

January 12

This first section contains recompiles of all Release 1.x plugins that were released last year.
If you have used R1.x Ishani plugins in your scenes, you need to download these
updates to make the scenes load into R2.

The second section contains some information about the plugins I wrote for Jon Bell that will be released with his new 3D Studio MAX F/X book, available in April.

 
MAX Surfaces #1 R2


A set of 5 procedural materials, including: 
Electrolize - Advanced material transition effects 
Frenetic - Highly controllable graded noise and turbulence 
Stratus - Fluffy clouds and fractal patterns 
SoftSpot - Blended wave patterns for dots, spots etc 
WireMap - Use an object's wireframe as a material channel!

MAX Form R2

A set of handy object modifiers, including: 
Melt - Melts and sags objects with control over viscosity, etc  
Bulge - Bulges and ripples objects 
Decay - Roughens objects with option for 'edges only' 
Spin - Twirls object geometry 
Pinch - Pinches object geo

VideoPost Pack R2

A set of simple video post filters, including: 
Outline - Outlines by object/material ID. 
Crunch - Block data compression (for FLI/FLC) 
Ambient - Tinting and radiance tool with plenty of options.. 
Lossy - Simple line removal filter


Utility Pack R2

A set of 2 utilities: 
SnapGrab 2 - Lots of options for object capturing, jittering,etc 
Ident - Renaming tool for scene objects

Plugins Included in '3D Studio MAX R2 f/X'
Book published by Ventana, Written by Jon Bell

Gradynt -
Advanced gradient materials, with options to colour particles and spawns, 6 types of
gradient applications, noise and displacement. Any number of gradient colour
keys can be added to create an infinite number of blends. Saving/Loading features
and copy and paste of keys. Comes with external gradient file editor.


Tornado -
Swirly, twirly procedural texture with controls over the two colour blends, amount
of twist and various controls like contrast and smoothness.


Stacker -                                                                                                                blocks and tiles, procedurally. With proper antialiasing and smoothing controls,
options for stack size, shape, spacing, holes, jaggies and more.


ghostMap | ghostMatte -
control the background as a texture map or material, with controls
to have additive fading (for 'glowing' objects..) or blending based on background intensity.

Twister -
Swirl those particles! Turn any particle system into a twisting blizzard with
the Twister spacewarp. Controls over amount of twist, scale and lifespan.

MeshPort -
Turn any object into an object plugin!

Rock -
Procedural rocks and pebbles

NEW TUTORIALS
SHOCKWAVE FOR A SPACE SCENE

                                               
This tutorial shows how to make decent looking shockwave
(I know that this isn't nothing if we compare this to some movie effects).
I used three plugins: animated glow, superglow and particle+
(you can do it without any of those plugins, but it WILL look very bad).
I assume that you know basics of 3D Studio MAX.
Press here to see tutorial animation

Here is another animation


Organic Modeling Tutorial

Plug-in.
A set of four tutorials that launch from the Max r2 control panel to teach "streamlined" modeling techniques. Quoting:
Each tutorial features Show Me buttons that illustrate what the user should have on screen at any given time.

$ 39.95. Published by Applied Logic, Inc..

January 13

Another Bug found by Marco ??
Topic: checkbutton highlightcolor bug?
From: Marco Vogel
Date: Sunday, January 11, 1998 12:24 PM


Hi, I was about to give my checkbuttons a blueish touch ( like the affect pivot only
button ), when I noticed that I can't set the blue color for the highlightcolor:(color x y
z) option.

And (color 0 255 0) actually turns it to cyan ( green+blue ).
So I'm kinda limited to combinations of shades of red and cyan ? :)

I tried using the built-in colors, blue, green, but they gave the same effect.

Regards,
MarcoV



Two more tutorials 

2D fire tutorial, and the other one is by Yonni Cohen, who wrote a tutorial on how to
use particle array to create great looking fire. I also fixed a problem in the 2D
Smoke/steam tutorial which was that since the smoke/steam used a diffuse
noise map between white and black, if you had anything but a black
background, it would break this effect. I fixed this simply by moving the noise to
the opacity map and added a mask. Go to the tutorials section to read the new
tutorials, and to read the update to the 2D Steam tutorial. Enjoy.

1. Creating 2D smoke (2D Effects part 1)
This tutorial shows you how to create 2D smoke/steam using materials. This is very
useful for adding foreground and background elements, where rendering intensive
volumetrics or particles isn't neccessary. Written by Toby Olsson

Enter the html version here
Download the Word6 version here

2. Creating 2D fire (2D Effects part 2)

This tutorial shows you how to create 2D fire using materials. Using 2D fire is mainly
for speed advantages, and should just be used in backgrounds, where going around
or through the fire isn't necessary. Written by Toby Olsson

Enter the html version here
Download the Word6 version here (coming soon)

Using Particle Array to explode objects

This is a simple tutorial that demonstrates how to use Particle Array to blow apart a
mesh object and allow the fragments to collide with objects in your scene. Written by
Brandon Davis

Enter the html version here
Download the Word6 version here



RealLensFlare is moving on to it's next generation. RLF 2.0 will have a new name: Cebas Pro Optics Suite.

Here's a taste of some of the new features you can look forward to:

Completely multithreaded - if you have a 2 processor system, all effects will calculate twice as fast as RLF 1.x or anything built in to Max (including the object motion blur module!). RLF was by far the fastest post effects available, in it's version 1.5. Now it can be up to 4x faster depending on the number of CPUs your system has installed.
Pyrocluster flames and fire created with a single hidden particle system!


An incredible new 3D environment simulator called PyroCluster that can create true 3D effects like dust, smoke, clouds and mist using particle systems. Because these effects work from 3D data, they cast shadows and interact correctly with volumetric lights and scene geometry. Other companies separate effects like these and ask for hundreds of dollars extra, but you get it built-in to Pro Optics Suite!
for more info klick here:


New MaxScripts
no links are working yet it only says Document contains no data so please try it often or later :)

World Grabber 0.23b (MaxScript Encrypted)
First public Beta of the VRML2-to-Max Importer.

TIME CENTER 1.2 (MaxScript Source)
Made floaters smaller, fixed some bugs.

January 14

New Tutorials
Snapshot Tutorial For MAX 2.0

Clay Studio Pro Tutorial

Particle Madness Tut #1

StarBlur Update
The StarBlur image filter has been updated.
The new version corrects a crash bug which
resulted in users exiting 3D Studio Max to
the desktop.

You should download the new version from
the software page. Follow this link.

StarBlur

StarBlur is a modified version of the StarField image filter. The motion blur
calculations in StarField have been completely rewritten, and you will see a
dramatic increase in image quality. There is also a real-time preview window, and
you can change the colors of the stars. This plug-in is available for download, and
you may use it as freeware. If you experience any problems, please send
me an e-mail.

This plug-in is for 3D Studio Max 2.0

New Version 2.0
Download StarBlur.zip (94KB)

WorldGrabber Beta
MAXScript
From: Borislav Petrov (bobo@email.archlab.tuwien.ac.at)
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 04:47 AM
Please take a look at my new script called "World Grabber".
It is a VRML2 Importer for MAX2.
Please visit the WG page for the latest Beta and for more info:

Will love any comments and suggestions...

Download WorldGrabber Beta 0.24 - incl. Docs and Demos (334K)

Download WorldGrabber Beta 0.24 - Script Only (39K)



Batch Renderer Script
MAXScript
From: Ravi Karra (ravi.karra@ktx.com)
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 1998 10:40 AM


Hi All,

The Batch Renderer I posted earlier had some bugs in it, which are fixed now. I am
attaching an updated version of it.

Thanks for finding the bugs.

Cheers,
Ravi

BAT_REND(1).ZIP
Batch Renderer



More UI and other bugs?
From: Marco Vogel
Date: Monday, January 12, 1998 05:13 PM


I keep stumbling into this win95-bug-or-not thing, but I'll just keep posting them :)

1: I can't seem to use the colorpicker fieldwidth and height parameters as they should.

The colorpicker swatch doesn't get sized.
Also, I don't see what the difference is in using width: and fieldwidth: although they
appear different in the UI.

2: I can't seem to set the height: parameter for a slider item.

I can set the width for a #vertical oriented one, which makes the slider nice and
compact.
I see myself forced to rotate my UI 90 degrees now, although it doesn't matter too
much, it's still a bit irritating.

3: When I specify a non-16-color bitmap for a bitmap item, the item appears in grey
with no image.

However, if I specify [bitmap].bitmap = openbitmap filename in a 'on rollout open' or
'no utility open' area, the image gets put in the item just fine.

4: The labels / titles of some items don't appear disabled if the initial state is set to
enabled:false

When setting the appropriate item to enabled = false later in the script, the label / title
turns grey just fine.
I get around this using dummy labels, but that eventually takes up a load of script work
:)

5: When launching an application using DOSCommand ( in my case : "hh.exe
script.chm", my screen blanks out as it goes to a DOS screen, and then back to
windows, causing my monitor to produce instant volumetric effects, not to mention the
superb glow :))

I think this is actually something I caused 'somehow', by setting the default dos prompt
to 'Full Window', but I can't figure out just HOW I did it.

Besides, why launch a(n) ( windows ) application by going to DOS first ?
Or is there some other command I should use instead ?

And these were mentioned before :

highlightcolor doesn't work correct, green component yields cyan, and blue doesn't
work at all.

image checkbuttons don't show the 'disabled' set of images when the checkbutton is
pressed.

Regards,
MarcoV
PS. Need samples ? Just scream.

January 15

Script for converting max 1.* to max 2.* files
Topic: Script to convert R1 files to R2?
From: Larry Minton 
Date: Wednesday, January 14, 1998 06:20 AM

is a script for loading all .max files in one directory, and then
resaving them in the same or another directory.

Larry Minton
Avguard Animations

Download CONV_R1.ZIP
"Load and resave script"


New Free Plugin Bugfix From EFX
Squadric.dlo - Superquadric ellipsoid and toroid (bug fix!)


Organica is a revolution in 3D
A new way of making 3D objects that will make your work easier
faster, and above all more FUN!
Revolutions don't come around to often,
Organica is a revolution you can be a part, join us.

Click here to download the ORGANICA Demo.  Enjoy


AB Textures

AB Textures are a set of plug-in procedural textures/shaders written for the Imagine for Windows software package. Imagine textures are much like Renderman shaders, but each texture is written as a Windows DLL and includes Windows code to provide an easy interface to the texture's parameters.

AB Textures are free to download and use. Perhaps the best term to describe AB Textures is
"donation-ware". You are not required to send any money, but if you like the textures, a donation of $20 would be greatly appreciated. Donations in the form of a cheque made out to "Alibi Images" can be sent to the following address:

Alibi Images
#304 - 811 Helmcken St.
Vancouver, BC, V6Z 1B1
Canada

Download
AB Textures Volume 1

AB Textures Volume 2