by Jon Seagull·Workflow
Illustrative cover generated by AnyPlugins — no product screenshot available.
fr Material2 earns its place for tackling a specific pain point: the finalRender material's stock interface. Just note it's beta code, with duplicated navigator entries and broken toon parameters that the developer is upfront about.
fr Material2 is a MaxScript-based replacement for the interface of the shipping finalRender material in 3ds Max. Built by Jon Seagull, it rebuilds how the material's parameters are laid out. The rollouts are made more compact to cut down on scrolling, and commonly used parameters like fresnel IOR are moved to places that are easier to reach.
Related settings are regrouped for quicker access. GI, caustics, and SSS controls sit together in a single 'lighting' rollout, while reflection and refraction controls are gathered into a 'raytracing' rollout. Some settings get more sensible defaults and labels, including supersampling and glossy reflection sampling, and controls that have no effect are grayed out when their features are turned off.
It's beta code, version 0.5. Due to MaxScript limitations, a few standard material features are missing, such as the specular curve preview and drag-and-drop on the small map buttons in the basic parameters rollout, and the toon parameters are broken because of a finalRender bug. The current build also includes debugging features that make items appear twice in the material/map navigator, so the developer advises using it in production at your own risk.
fr Material2 is best for 3ds Max artists using finalRender who want a more compact, reorganized material interface with grouped lighting and raytracing controls.
fr Material2 is completely free to download and use.
fr Material2 lists compatibility with 3ds Max 4 and 3ds Max 5. It's built as a replacement interface for the finalRender material, so you'll need finalRender in place alongside those versions of 3ds Max. Because it's written in MaxScript, a couple of standard material features are absent, including the specular curve preview and drag-and-drop on the small map buttons in the basic parameters rollout. For any newer releases of 3ds Max, check the developer's page for current details before relying on it.
fr Material2 is labeled beta code, version 0.5. It works, but it currently includes debugging features that cause everything to show up twice in the material/map navigator, and the developer advises using it in production at your own risk, noting that he doesn't. The interface also isn't fully standardized with the rest of 3ds Max's materials. If you depend on stable behavior, keep those caveats in mind and test it in a non-critical scene before committing it to a project.
fr Material2 has toon parameters that are completely broken, which the developer attributes to a bug in finalRender rather than the script itself. If your work depends on finalRender's toon shading, this interface won't help with those particular controls. The rest of the material parameters remain available, including grouped lighting controls for GI, caustics and SSS, and grouped raytracing controls for reflection and refraction. For toon-specific needs, you'd have to work around the underlying finalRender bug directly.
fr Material2 is listed as free here in the catalog. For current licensing terms, check the developer's page. The tool is distributed as MaxScript and functions as a full replacement for the shipping finalRender material interface in 3ds Max, reorganizing rollouts and regrouping controls. Since it's beta code at version 0.5, availability and terms may change over time, so the developer's page is the best place to confirm the current situation before you download it and use it in your pipeline.
by JTB World Inc.
JTB FlexReport LT is a freeware add-in from JTB World for 3ds Max that creates HTML reports on current usage of FlexNet/FLEXlm network licenses. Autodesk Network License Manager and other FlexNet vendors are supported.
by Colin Senner
Relink Bitmaps is a 3ds Max script for relinking missing assets — bitmaps, VRay proxies, VRayHDRI, IES files and Mental Ray proxies — when files change directories or you move to a new computer.
by Inglobe Technologies
AR-media, developed by Inglobe Technologies, exports Autodesk 3ds Max models directly into the AR-media Studio platform, where you can create Augmented and Virtual Reality experiences and add events, interactions, digital assets and media.
by SiNi Software
Forensic is a scene-cleanup and diagnostics app from SiNi Software for 3ds Max that interrogates 3D scenes, removes CAD and Revit blocks, unifies normals, and searches for and removes malicious MAXScripts, ADL, CRP and ADSL.
by 3DZver
V-RayMax Converter PRO is a 3ds Max script that converts materials, maps, lights, cameras, proxies and render elements from various render engines to V-Ray, and from V-Ray to Corona Renderer. It also outputs Standard, Physical, PBR/OpenPBR and glTF materials.
by Hannes
Dark Listener enables dark mode for the 3ds Max listener, switching it on automatically at startup. The darker background is easier on the eyes and reduces eye strain during late-night work, with no manual setup after install.
