Forest Pack 7.0.0

You asked, we listened - Forest Pack 7 is out now with an amazing line up of features and updates that cement its reputation as the most powerful and flexible scattering tool on the market.

For this release, we significantly expanded Forest Pack 7's versatility. This means you can now scatter lights; there's support for real-time engines including Unreal, Chaos Vantage and a new beta importer plugin for Unity; Corona users can now use animation modes; the library browser has been completely rewritten to make creating your own libraries a whole lot easier, it's even possible to colour correct entire scatters; and there are two new high-quality asset collections!

New Features​

Scattering 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 Colour map.

New Libraries​

Several new Libraries are available as follows:

• New Hedge Library of 89 presets. Two types are available, linear presets that distribute hedges along a spline, and Topiary presets that use a surface to create bushes of any shape.
• New Stumps Library of 40 photoscanned assets. Optimised presets are also included for scattering over large areas.
• The3DGarden samples are now integrated into Forest Pack, creating a free and growing collection of high-quality plants.

Animation​

• Animation modes are now supported in Corona.
• Scattering over animated UV Surfaces is improved to generate a more consistent result during the animation.

Real time​

• Supported by Unreal Datasmith.
• Supported by Project Lavina.
• Unity compatible, export through new Forest Tools options and import to Unity (using a new experimental plugin package available by clicking here .

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.
  • When creating a new Forest Object:
    1. Select items from the scene.
    2. Go to the Create panel and click to create a Forest Object.
    3. Ensure 'Populate From Selection' is checked.
    4. Create a Forest Object as normal.
  • Using Pin Stack:
    1. Click the "Pin Stack" icon below the Modifier panel.
    2. Select objects from the scene.
    3. Click the Geometry->Add button.
    4. Reselect the Forest object.
    5. 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 finds matching items across all libraries and includes.
• New options added Library Browser→Settings:
  • 'Add maps to 3DS Max texture paths'. When enabled, Forest scans recursively all Library paths, searching 'maps' folders, and adding them to 3DS Max User's paths. (this is the same option collectTexturePaths defined in forestpack.ini).
  • 'Exclude Network paths'. If enabled, network paths are excluded the scan maps process.
  • Both options are enabled by default.

Forest Colour​

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.
• Added optimization for Interactive Rendering (Corona and V-Ray), when using Viewport->Mesh mode.
• Added TForestIntance::tintUVW to the Forest API.
• Updated the Material Optimiser tool.
  • Added support for Corona.
  • Added speed improvements when many items share the same material.
  • Added WIP support for adding Forest Colour maps to translucency inputs.
  • The .ini file now is saved in userscripts folder instead of program files so no admin rights are needed.
• Added support for picking multiple items from the Quad menu > Select tools.
  • Hold down Control to select multiple items.
  • Right-click on the Select button to select all.
• Added Font selector to General->Settings. It affects only to custom Forest dialogs (as Library Browser, Effects, etc.).
• Added support for TyFlow in Distribution->Particle Flow mode.
  • In order to use it, you must turn on "Interfaces->Enable Particle Interace" in the TyFlow object.

Improvements​

• 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()
• 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.
• V-Ray now uses the materials assigned to each Custom Object, instead of the Automaterial.
• 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.
• Improved UI responsiveness adding or updating multiple items of Geometry List.
• Updated UI performance for Geometry->Normalize/Randomize operations.
• Changed behaviour of 'Object ID' in V-Ray, to keep compatibility with previous versions:
  • The ID of the Forest object is used when is greater than zero. If not, the ID of the source Geometry.
• Updated Qt style to match better with 3DS Max style.

Fixes​

• Fixed bug in Collisions Checking using geometries with different X/Y aspect ratio.
  • To keep distributions on existing scenes, the fix is applied only to new created objects.
  • If you want to "upgrade" your FP object, so it works as created with FP7, select it and run from Maxscript: $.trees.resetCreatedVersion().
• 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.
• Fixed crash using Forest Color/Forest with Arnold + Active Shade.
  • Currently Color/Edge is not supported with Active Shade in Arnold. This fix just avoids crashing.
• Fixed wrong scale instantiating with Forest Tools when Display mode is set to Proxy.
• Fixed issues with Distribution Path/Particle modes and grouped geometry.
• License is released inmediately after closing Max, as well as at File->Reset/New events.
• Fixed Library Browser->Edit Item->Material/Object selector doesn't work when filename uses macros.
• Fixed updating issues with V-Ray interactive render mode.
• Fixed: License configuration is not loaded from enviroment variables.
• Fixed crash creating Forest object when there is not a license.
• Fixed bug checking texture paths using normal slashes, instead backslashes.
• Fixed: Distribution by Reference displays on viewport less items than intended, when using large meshes and Material ID filter.
• Fixed crash opening "Library Browser->Import Billboards" with an item selected.
• Fixed: V-Ray Selection Mask has no effect with selected Forest objects.