Note 1: If you use network licenses, you must also upgrade the Licenser Server to version 1.05 (download it from User Panel->My Products)
Note 2: The installer overwrites the default libraries. If you have modified them, make a copy before upgrading (C:\Program Files (x86)\Itoo Software\Forest Pack Pro: lib, maps and matlib folders). However, we suggest don't modify the default libraries and create a new Category/Library for your plants.
Forest Pack Pro 3.05b
- Fixed misaligned shadows on asymmetric trees ("Center" different of 50%)
- Fixed crash when loading "default" preset
- Added option to disable warning messages when Forest checks texture paths
- Fixed crash when using empty custom objects and display option was set to "Planes"
- Library Browser crashed occasionally when a Forest object was in the "Undo" buffer
- Some buttons of Custom Edit panel were not enabled when a single item was selected
Forest Tools:
- Improved speed in the creation of instances
- Added button to delete instances created previously
- New option to create instances in a separate layer
Library Editor:
- Added visual guides for "Center" and "Z-Offset" parameters
- Thumbnail scales dinamically when modifying size values
- Added Lock aspect ratio checkbox
- Material was not updated properly after selecting a library item (dark trees on scanline render)
- Fixed bug when selecting materials on the import dialog
- All libraries have been reviewed, fixing sizes, center, z-offset values and some textures
Licensing:
- Improved support for networks without name resolution (DNS or Hosts file)
- Fixed internal bug with network licenses
Forest Pack Pro 3.04b
- New parameter to Material->Mental Ray: "Irradiance Color", use it to adjust the effect of Global Illumination (Final Gathering) over Forest objects.
- Fixed a bug with "Four Planes" geometry template, that was creating an invalid mesh under certain conditions.
Forest Pack Pro 3.03b
- New full editor for the Library Browser. It allows to edit standard libraries, add new items and import materials to create new libraries automatically.
- Improved support of paging keys and scroll bars for the Library Browser.
- Mental Ray shader fixed to work with IES Sun lights.
- Fixed bug when loading scenes that use "Following Spline".
- Forest Tools instancing was not taking random transformations. Fixed.
- New options for Self-shadowing detection: full object (trees don't cast shadows to other trees on the same Forest object) or only each tree to itself.
Custom Edit mode:
- Added button to reset trees to its default size.
- "Use Mesh Dimensions" parameter now is used for custom objects.
- Random mirror was not working. Fixed.
- New button to select trees by ID.
Licensing:
- Network protocol improved to avoid issues with some firewall devices.
- License Manager now works with bigger fonts.
- Fixed error with workstation names longer than 15 characters.
- "Change License Mode" utility now remembers that last mode configured.
Installer:
- Microsoft Runtime libraries are installed when needed.
- Network render nodes installation supported.
Forest Pack Pro 3.02b
- In Max 2009, network rendering nodes were requesting a license. Fixed.
- All parameters are compatible with Imperial Units.
- Batch Rendering issues fixed.
- Added support for Vertex Color in Custom Objects.
- New parameter: "Animate only at render time". Enable it if you use high-poly animated custom objects, as Onyx trees.
Forest Pack Pro 3.01b
- Button "Places Trees" on surface options was always disabled for Custom Edit mode. Fixed.
- New option for Custom Edit mode: "Linked Surface", places automatically the trees over the surface.
- Creating trees in Custom Edit mode now generates random geometry IDs, and get the size from the Geometry List.
- Creation Tools is fixed to use random geometry IDs as well.
- "Randomize Geometry" button moved to Custom Edit rollout. Added new parameter to reset trees size
- New parameters in material rollout for use with Mental Ray:
* Prevent Self-Shadow / Fast opacity: these parameters has been moved from "Forest Material" to "Forest" plugin, to make easy to adjust the Mental Ray behavior without modifying each material used by Forest.
* Trace depth: maximum raytrace depth used in Forest Material rendering (default 3)
* Opacity Level: defines the minimum level of opacity of the mask textures used by Forest Material. As instance, a value of 80% considers all pixels darker than RGB=204,204,204 (255*80% = 204) as opaque)
(these last two parameters are used to speed up rendering with Mental Ray, but in some situations using lower values would create image artifacts. To disable them use Trace Depth=99, Opacity Level=100%)
* Self-illum factor: used to adjust the self-illumination of all materials used by the Forest object (works only with Forest Material)
- Fixed compatibility with "mr Photographic Exposure" control
- The rendering algorithm of Mental Ray shader has been modified, some scenes may look different (brighter or darker) in Forest 3.01. Use to new "Self-illum factor" parameter to adjust it.
- Mental Ray render speed has been greatly increased. As instance, a sample scene with 5000 trees that needed 3m27s in Forest 3.0 now renders in only 22s.
Installation
Use the supplied setup program, is not needed to have Forest 3 installed previously. If you want to upgrade it manually in other computers (as slave render nodes), these are the files that you need to overwrite:
<maxdir>\plugins\ForestPackPro.dlo
<maxdir>\mentalray\shaders_autoload\include\FShader3.mi
<maxdir>\mentalray\shaders_autoload\shaders\FShader3.dll
C:\Program Files\Itoo Software\Forest Pack Pro\LicenseMode.exe
C:\Program Files\Itoo Software\Forest Pack Pro\licpanel.exe
Where <maxdir> is your 3DS main directory.
Topic: Forest Pack Pro 3.05 beta (Read 27162 times)
