A new version of Forest Pack beta is now available for testing. Registered users of Forest Pack Pro can download the upgrade from the
User Panel->Beta versions.
For any question about this release, please use the
Forest Pack beta forum.
Note 1: Beta versions include new features and fixes, but a beta version is NOT the final version of the product and therefore we don't guarantee there won't be errors that may disrupt the computer's operation and/or result in data loss. Use it always at your own risk.
Note 2: Licenses need to be reactivated. This should be done automatically by installer. If not, please reactivate your license using the License Manager tool. Users with Network/Floating licenses will need to update their License Server to v1.5.0 or above, available now from your User Panel.
Forest Pack Pro 7.0.0bScattering Lights
- The Items List now accepts non-geometric objects, including lights, splines and more. There are several things you need to know, depending on the render engine you use:
* V-Ray & Arnold. It's not possible to animate or change the distribution. Items are scattered as in frame 0.
* Corona Renderer & Octane. fully supported, no limitations.
* Other engines may be supported in the future.
* A 'Non Geometric Object' option has been added to the Geometry rollout. When enabled, the object is handled as a non-geometric object.
Forest will try to instance it keeping the original format, instead getting a mesh. (For many objects this is not necessary and Forest will detect the correct format automatically).
Colour Correction
- New colour correction tools allow the user to adjust Hue Shift, Saturation and Brightness for all "Forest Color" textures used by the object.
* The effects can be disabled for specific textures by turning off 'Apply Color Correction' in a Forest Color map.
Animation
- Animation modes are now supported in Corona.
- Scattering over animated UV Surfaces is improved to generate a more consistent result during the animation.
Export/Real time
- Added specific Unity option to Forest Tools->Forest Exporter.
* Import is done using a new experimental script available. Please find it attached to this post.
Using References
- Reference mode has been improved with the following features:
* Multiple Items per face.
* The ability to randomise each items position on the marker.
* The ability to filter markers by material ID.
* The ability to select multiple references from a scene using Max’s pin stack option.
Usability
- Added General->Settings->Use Single Rollout.
* When enabled, a single Forest rollout is open at time. Opening one rollout collapses the others.
* For 3DS Max 2017 and earlier, this feature works only clicking the rollout title, not using the contextual rollouts menu.
- The Creation window has been simplified and improved:
* Default with/height for billboards is removed.
* Custom Edit mode is removed. To create a FP object in Custom Edit mode, create as icon and next open the "Tree Editor" rollout as usual.
- The Geometry List can be populated from scene selection (first select objects in the scene, next create Forest object). If there are items selected both in a library and the scene, the library has priority.
Two new ways to add items to the geometry list based on a scene selection:
a) When creating a new Forest Object:
- Select items from the scene.
- Go to the Create panel and click to create a Forest Object.
- Ensure 'Populate From Selection' is checked.
- Create a Forest Object as normal.
b) Using Pin Stack:
- Click the "Pin Stack" icon below the Modifier panel.
- Select objects from the scene.
-Click the Geometry->Add button.
-Reselect the Forest object.
-Turn off Pin Stack.
- Default mode for Geometry List changed to "Custom Object". Also, the Pick button is enabled automatically when a new item is added.
- Camera rollout is reorganized and simplified.
* The 'Camera' parameter is removed. Now Camera data is fetched automatically from the active view/render, in a much more reliable way.
* To improve viewport performance, Camera features are disabled on viewport by default. You must turn on the "Enable on Viewport" checkbox.
* Fixed issues with Batch render when rendering from different cameras.
* "Use Environment Range" option is removed for LOD/Falloff.
Library Browser
The library Browser has been rewritten from the ground up to make it easier to develop new features in the future. This initial release adds the following improvements:
- New process to import objects/presets to the Library:
* Library Items are created from scene selection.
* Material Library and Max scene is generated automatically.
* Assets can be collected to a maps folder.
- Added toolbar option to open Library Browser.
- Improved search that filters matching items across all libraries.
Forest Color
- Forest Color works on items instantiated by Forest Tools., to use it:
* Forest Color->Override must be on.
* Tint/Map works by Item only. Element mode is not supported.
* V-Ray GPU is not supported.
* Forest Color can even be used on non-Forest objects, with the same restrictions as items instantiated by Forest Tools.
Other Improvements
- Supports GBUFFER - object ID in V-Ray
- Added support for 'Instance ID' when using VRayUVWRandomizer and VRayMultiSubTex with Forest Pack
- Improved randomness for other Distribution modes than "Image". Previous versions would create visible patterns.
* To keep the distribution of existing scenes, this is applied only to new FP objects.
* If you want to "upgrade" your FP object so it works as created with FP7, select it and run from Maxscript: $.trees.resetCreatedVersion()
- V-Ray now uses the materials assigned to each Custom Object, instead of the Automaterial.
- When there’s no surface applied, items are now aligned with the height of their spline.area. In previous versions the topmost spline area would be used.
- Added optimization for Interactive Rendering (Corona and V-Ray), when using Viewport->Mesh mode.
- Now proxies and non-geometric objects are rendered using the V-Ray instancing engine (similar to VRayInstancer), instead of iToo functions.
* For other animation modes than 'Disabled' and 'Follow Animation', the old method is still used due to limitations of the VRayInstancer mode.
Other Fixes and changes
- The minimum V-Ray version supported is 3.6.
- Nested Forest objects in Corona no longer require 'Meshes' mode.
- Macros can now be used on all attributes of Library Items (such as object names).
- Motion blur now works again with distributions driven by particle systems.
- Fixed inconsistent distribution using exclusion of other Forest objects due to multithreading.
- Switching between Paint Areas no longer disables the paint button if it was enabled.
- Distribution Maps path is always added to External Files->User Paths, even if the user selects 'No' to the Paths configuration dialog.
- Adjusted default Distribution Units to 1x1 meter.
- Links to the documentation are now included for license error dialogs.
- Data dependent on UV coordinates is now preserved when switching to Custom Edit mode.
- V-Ray motion blur is now applied to non-animated Forest objects when Custom Object is used in other animated FP Objects.
- Added workaround to avoid Mental Ray missing DLL errors loading Library items, or loading scenes which uses Forest presets. (only for Max 2017 and above).
- "lookat" parameter is renamed to "lookattarget" to avoid conflicts in Maxscript with the "lookat" controller.
- Fixed crash using Animation modes with interactive render modes.
- Added optimisation for Interactive Rendering (Corona and V-Ray), when using Viewport->Mesh mode.
Topic: Forest Pack Pro 7.0.0 beta (Read 7390 times)
