SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.3.1 for 3D Max

SOFTIMAGE®|CAT is packed with new features that make life easier than ever for character animators using 3Ds Max. Highlights include:

CATMuscle Integration
CATMuscle—a fully scaleable solution for solving skin deformation problems—is fully integrated in CAT 3. CATMuscle provides you with the tools you need to achieve a smooth, organic skin deformation across a wide range of motion. It's easy to learn, and requires no understanding of anatomy.

CATMuscle rigs can be as simple or as complex as you wish, so they can suit your purposes whether you are working in film or game development.

Rigging
New rigging features include:

Setup Controllers
Layers can now have a setup controller rather than just a setup value. Any complex procedural animation can be configured onto the "Setup" or "Base" controller.

Bones can also contain a setup controller, which is used to drive animation. These controllers can contain procedural animation such as constraints, and script controllers.

Setup controllers for layers and bones are are saved, and loaded with rig presets.

Layer Configuration Baking
Now each layer controller can save a mini clip file that defines all of the settings for that layer.

New Rig Nodes
You can now add extra information, like props, muscle configurations and skin meshes, to rigs. The extra information is saves, merged, and/or deleted with the rigs.

New Rig Saver
A new rig preset system allows you to save rigs by themselves, without their animation.
New CATUnits Position, Rotation, and Float Controllers
These controllers are used to create rigs that resize with the CATRig when CATUnits are changed.

New Inheritance Settings on Bones
Bones now have Inheritance options for Animation and Setup Mode.You can disable position, rotation or scale inheritance for the entire bone, including all layers, using a single toggle.

Layers
New layering features include:

Layer Collapsing Tool
A new layer collapsing tool allows you to collapse layers while preserving source keyframe times, keep constraints, and plot constraints to keyframes.

New Layer Manager
An all new layer manager has been written for complete CATRig layer management. It is both simpler and easier to use than the previous layer manager. Most layer operations can now be applied to many layers at once simply by selecting them in the layer manager.

CATMotion
New CATMotion features include:

Arbitrary Numbers of Feet Per CATMotion Limb
CATMotion now supports arbitrary bones as feet. You can turn any bone that is the child of a limb—a walking stick, for example—into a foot using a simple toggle.


CATMotion Foot Nodes Automatically Placed on Ground Plane
Should your rig's setup pose not place the character's feet flat on the ground (for example, the "Da Vinci" pose), CAT 3 can place them there automatically. Previous versions required the use of large offsets.

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RayFire Tool 1.55

RayFire Tool 1.55 3DsMax 9 - 2011 32Bit & 64Bit



RayFire Tool gives you the ability to fragment, destroy, demolish, wreck, break down, wreak havoc, blow up, burst, detonate, explode and do other similar things you have always dreamed of to do in Max…

Feature list

* Nvidia PhysX Rigid Body dynamic support for 32 and 64 bit 3ds Max.
* Nvidia PhysX Force support
* Nvidia PhysX Glueing
* Interactive Dynamic Demolition System for Nvidia PhysX engine
* Uniform, Irregular and Continuous Fragmentation types
* Voronoi and Wood Splinters Fragmentation types
* Draw Fragment mode
* Fragmentation by custom shapes
* Reactor Rigid Body dynamic support
* Interactive Layer Manager
* Automatic update system






More info here : http://rayfirestudios.com/
you can download demo version here : RayFire Tool 1.55 Demo

Enjoy !!

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What’s New in 3ds Max 2011

Autodesk^® 3ds Max^® 2011 3D modeling, animation, rendering software includes the following new and enhanced features:

• Slate, a new node-based material editor, enables you to more easily visualize and edit material component relationships.
• Quicksilver hardware renderer enables you to create high-fidelity pre-visualizations, animatics, and games-related marketing materials in less time.
• Graphite modeling and Viewport Canvas tools help accelerate modeling and texturing tasks.

• The new 3ds Max Composite feature offers high-performance, HDR-capable compositing tools and is based on technology from Autodesk^® Toxik^® software.
• 3ds Max 2010-compatible format enables you to save scene files to help manage the transition to 3ds Max 2011.

Watch Videos of these new features in Autodesk^® 3ds Max^® 2011

More info here : >> 3ds max 2011

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Cebas volumeBreaker

volumeBreaker is a volumetric geometry fracturing tool that will instantly create sub-geometry within any mesh - geometry that perfectly fits together and fills any given volume. With volumeBreaker Cebas brings a Hollywood quality destruction tool to 3ds MAX. volumeBreaker was developed in consultation with, and to meet the very exacting demands of, VFX artists working on multi-million dollar movies - because of this, volumeBreaker truly is a production proven tool.

Still image from Roland Emmerich's movie "2012" courtesy of Uncharted Territory. volumeBreaker was used extensively by Uncharcterd Territory in the production of many of the destruction shots used in the film. Used with permission.

More info

Cebas volumeBreaker

Sam Khorshid talks about the making of 2012

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Perfect UVs by Pelt Mapping in 3ds Max

In this 3ds Max tutorial Korosh Ghanbarzadeh explains the Pelt Mapping function, which is a perfect tool for creating UVs for objects.

UVs are the key to taking full advantage of 3D software. In fact, you can’t do much without a good UV set. Many Important functions such as Displacement concept and Texturing are directly depended on an object’s UVW mapping. So I’ve decided to show you how to create qualified UVs inside 3ds Max.

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ParticleIllusion 3.0

particleIllusion 3.0

particleIllusion is a standalone application that allows you to quickly and easily create amazing effects: explosions, smoke, fire, sparkles, motion graphics backgrounds, space effects, creatures, and abstract artistic effects -- literally hundreds of different types of effects.

particleIllusion 3.0 is our fully-featured professional version. It uses the latest version of our particle engine, and can create the largest number of effects, with amazing realism and complexity.











You can download demo here Download Demo

More info Here
Hope u enjoy ^^

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Swift 3D MAX Plugin for 3dsMax

Swift 3D plug-ins allow 3ds Max and 3D* users to render their 3D scenes as high-quality, low-bandwidth vector or raster Flash animations viewable by more than 97% of the entire Web audience. Powered by the industry-leading RAViX 4 vector rendering technology, Swift 3D plug-ins offer superior integration with Flash and unrivaled vector output. From cartoon to full gradient shading, Swift 3D plug-ins are certain to produce the style you need for your next Flash or print project. Additional export formats include Adobe Illustrator, EPS, SVG and Toon Boom’s PNT format.

You can download free trial here Download free trial

More info Here

Hope u enjoy ^^

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