Best 3DS Max Plugins [UPDATED]

3DS Max is perhaps the most famous program in the world for 3D modeling and rendering, but not the only or even the most intuitive to use. However, it offers plenty of opportunities and plugins to improve the work experience and make the workflow even faster, thus solving some small shortcomings of the program itself.

Below is a detailed and constantly updated list of the most useful and interesting 3DS Max plugins that you can download and install within the program, divided by category.

MODELING NATURE

One of the biggest problems when creating a 3D scene set in a forest or presenting vegetation, is the insertion of trees and plants, in most cases made up of thousands of polygons that heavily weigh down the entire file, slowing down program performance and rendering times.

Here, then, that some 3D graphics software companies and many developers have ventured into the creation of programs and plugins to facilitate this task, succeeding even in the arduous intent of allowing the insertion of thousands of objects without affecting the heaviness of the files.

Here are some programs that will do for you.

iTOO SOFTWARE

Forest Pack Pro

It is the most famous 3DS Max plugin, and was designed to quickly and easily create large areas of a 3D model, without affecting memory by burdening the file, using a large number of polygons and objects virtual.

Forest Pack is the definitive solution to give life to entire scenes of nature by inserting trees, plants, stones, flowers in a completely random way. This plugin is provided with a large library of objects and materials to draw from, which expands from day to day thanks to the work of many modelers who contribute to generating ever more detailed tree models and plants that are faithful to reality.

It is possible to download the trial version of the software, which will give you access to the basic functions, or choose one of the two annual or three-year subscriptions with all the complete functions.

https://www.itoosoft.com/forestpack

ROCK GENERATOR

Yes, there is a script to give life to rocks, stones and so on. Very often making rocks can be a patient and demanding job, having to use a multitude of modifiers and parameters to create realistic rocks with all the necessary imperfections.

Fortunately, this very useful 3DS Max plugin comes to our aid, helping us to create realistic rocks in just a few clicks. By playing with the various parameters we can increase or decrease the details, also choosing the type of rock most suited to us. Once the parameters have been established, the script will generate rocks of different shapes and sizes in a totally random way, which we will be able to modify manually to our liking using the modification panel and the various modifiers that will be generated automatically.

The tool can be downloaded at this address:

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/scripts/rock-generator

and if you want to know more about how it works below you will find an introduction video that will explain the main commands to you.

AVIZSTUDIO TOOLS

ATrees3D

If you want to add green to your models without wasting time shaping vegetation yourself, this 3DS Max plugin will help you in a few steps to create a whole series of very realistic plants and trees, thanks to the modification of some parameters. If instead you want to save time, from the blog ….. you can download models already ready to be able to load in the script and insert in your scene.

The script is particularly useful, but the only problem I encountered in using it is that the insertion of each plant significantly increases the size of the file.

http://www.avizstudio.com/tools/atree3d/

MODELING FLOORS AND ROOFS

To facilitate and speed up the creation process, especially for floors and roofs, here are some really appealing solutions, which you can’t do without.

CG SOURCE

FLOOR GENERATOR

It is perhaps the most famous plugin and used for creating perfect and interesting floors, especially in parquet. The plugin allows you to create and modify, through the control of various parameters, the length, width and height of the strips, also operating on the distance between them, and on the chamfering, as well as on many other parameters. The basic version of the plugin allows you to work on just one type of floor. Very simple and intuitive to use. It also supports the plugin for managing more materials to make imperfections and material differences even more realistic.

Inside the site you can also find a wide library of materials, especially wood for the parquet, of different colors, and downloadable in packages of about a hundred high-resolution images, at the price of 20 euros each.

The basic version of the plugin can be downloaded at the following address, with the purchase of a license you will have the possibility to access the rest of the functions and thus be able to create other types of flooring.

www.cg-source.com

AVIZSTUDIO TOOLS

It is a design studio that has developed some very interesting 3DS Max plugins and scripts, among which the most useful are ATiles and ATrees3D (seen above).

AViz Studio ATiles
ATiles

The script allows you to create different types of floors, walls and roofs. This last function is particularly useful for generating different types of roofs. In addition to the basic meshes that can be completely modified using the different parameters, it is possible to add customized meshes directly from 3DS Max models, to make the 3D models even more detailed.

The basic version allows only certain types of floors, walls and roofs to be created, but by purchasing a license it will be possible to access a higher quantity of parameters, including the control of multiple materials.

http://www.avizstudio.com/tools/atiles/

MULTISCATTER

It is a very useful plug-in for V-Ray, Mental Ray and Corona that allows you to create rather complex scenes, for example with a lot of vegetation, or with similar elements repeated over and over, using little memory in the HDD, solving some important problems during the rendering phase.

To learn more you can download it by connecting to the page from the link below, where you will find lots of information, all in English.

www.multiscatter.com

To the Next

Valerio