thinkingParticles for 3ds Max, Annual

Material Point Method Revolution

thinkingParticles has reached another Major milestone in its development history! With a plethora of new simulation tools and new features, this release of thinkingParticles is worthy to be named a 7.0 Release!

As with all things in life, it’s not only about the good looks, -no- it’s more about the inner values which really matter. thinkingParticles Version 7 is no different, it got a complete engine flush, washing out all the “dirt and grime” of the old times. Version 7 offers a brand new, state of the art memory handling architecture specifically optimized for modern multi-core systems.

finalRender continues to be an important part of thinkingParticles. A full commercial license of finalRender is included for free.

NANOVDB & FINALRENDER – FREE WITH THINKINGPARTICLES

NanoVDB is a highly optimized subset of OpenVDB, optimized to leverage the power of massive parallel processing units. Such processing power is usually found in modern CPUs and GPUs. However, while NanoVDB really shines on modern high performance GPUs, it does also render remarkably well on modern multicore CPUs. GPU accelerated NanoVDB functionality, in thinkingParticles, is offered through the use of the fastest and most advanced Unbiased Physically Based Spectral renderer available for 3ds Max: finalRender. It is the only renderer offering trueHybrid™ rendering technology, delivering to you the best of both worlds. CPU, GPU or both of the devices can be used, leveraging the full potential and rendering power of your Workstation.

THINKINGPARTICLES 7.0 – MATERIAL POINT METHOD

thinkingParticles Release 7.0 brings to you many bug fixes, workflow enhancements and new features, features like a brand new state of the art MPM Solver. MPM is short for Material Point Method, it is a grid based system that accelerates the physically accurate simulation of real world material properties. Materials one could simulate with MPM can range from hydro fluids, rubber to rock solid metals.
In contrast to spring based or breakable joint type particle hacks, thinkingParticles own MPM solver opens up a whole new world of visual FX for 3ds Max! A real world physics based simulation of a material simply can’t be replaced by brute hacks or simplified dumbed down hacks. Real world material properties and behaviors allow to create the most amazing simulations, never seen before in 3ds Max.
With the addition of OpenVDB PointDataGrid support, and highly efficient GPU accelerated NanoVDB rendering through finalRender at no extra cost, the 3ds Max VFX Powerhouse just became elevated to new heights.

Download Features list

V7 NEW FEATURES

Snow MPM Solver

thinkingParticles 7 introduces a 100% procedural Material Point Method to simulate real world material properties. Snow, and many more to come, is one of the most advanced and refined Material propertyies for Visual Effects you can find on any platform.

Sand MPM Solver

thinkingParticles 7 procedural Material Point Method to simulate real world material properties comes with one of the most advanced Sand simulation material properties. In depth control of every single grain of sand is guaranteed!

FlowData

This new node is used to query and set Flow parameters for MPM and SPH solver data. Use this node to affect MPM clusters, density and sleep states. Every single particle can be easily checked for its flow solver type (Fluid,Snow,Sand).

GPU Sprites

Thanks to a new GPU hardware accelerated particle viewport display type, updates and redraws are faster and interactive. Now, use thousands or millions of particles in the viewport. Bonus: better volume and density perception with large particle simulations.

Voronoi/Cellular Node

This 100% procedural helper Node generates volumetric 3D noise patterns, including Voronoi. This new Voronoi function allows you to procedurally create your own 3D patterns while still maintaining full control over it.

ShapeElement

ShapeElement automatically extracts new particle meshes from existing mesh elements within an object. While the standard fragmenter node still offers a similar functionality, this new node is much more optimized and stripped down.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 10 NEW FEATURES

Point Rendering

Drop 10 brings to You: Unlimited point rendering through NanoVDB! Experience GPU-Power like never before or embark on trueHybrid™ rendering: add the power of your CPU to the mix and do lightning fast renderings, even with 100 million points!

OpenVDB 7.2

Drop 10 uses now OpenVDB 7.2 the latest and greatest version with immense speedups and new features.

• Multithreading enhanced throughout
• Many bugfixes
• General workflow and performance enhancement

DirectVolumeRendering

DirectVolumeRendering, a feature unique to thinkingParticles, allows you to render OpenVDB volumes and points without exporting or doing any weird dances. In fact, it is a first in 3ds Max, use OpenVDB volumes like native 3ds Max effects!

Subscription Drop 10 New Feature: SmokeSolver

Cleaning house and dusting off – actually it got us Fuming  SmokeSolver in Drop 10 delivers faster and better whirls and vortices – like never before! Enjoy a more predictable and stable version of SmokeSolver, the fastest solution for dust and fumes.

Subscription Drop 10 New Feature: Flow 6.10

Flow Solver 6.10, the evolution continues – faster, more stable and easier to setup than before. It was never simpler to get splashier fluid simulationswith full control of volume. Meet the fastest and best SPH Particle based fluid solver for 3ds Max Flow 6.10.

Subscription Drop 10 New Feature: Power of OpenVDB

thinkingParticles offers the most advanced OpenVDB integrations into 3ds Max. Now, thinkingParticles 6.10 natively supports volume Point Data, thanks to NanoVDB, rendering Points or Volumes on GPU and CPU happens at lightning fast speeds.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURES

Particle Based Fluids

The introduction of a new fluid solver: SPH VE 6.9 marks a landmark achievement for all 3ds Max users who usually experience a lack of realistic all-purpose particle based SPH fluid solver options. The new algorithm creates a more stable fluid simulation with less experimentation and guesswork in parameter setup. Automatic foam generation in fluid simulations is now more predictable and accurate as it aligns with the real world phenomena of air bubbles rising to the top of the fluid surface.

TIME INDEPENDENT SIMULATION CACHES: THINKINGPARTICLES 6.9

3ds Max and thinkingParticles combined serves up a killer application to beat any other visual effects production pipeline out there in the market. Nothing compares. To put it simply, you get quality, speed, and return on investment add a 3ds Max/thinkingParticles FX pipeline. Continuous updates and free enhancements empower our professional vfx artists to stay at the cutting edge of competition.

For the first time, thinkingParticles offers the concept of truly time independent simulation caches. In the past, once a simulation was cached out to a hard disk, manipulation was no longer possible. With thinkingParticles’ new time independent simulation caching, get ultra fast interactive timeline scrubbing and the possibility of easy particle manipulation.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: FLOW SOLVER 6.9

In its latest incarnation, the new Flow solver offers an even further enhanced stability, a better dynamic splashing reaction than any previous version. Fluid foam creation and simulation has been re-written from the ground up!

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: SHAPECOLISSION (SC)

thinkingParticles Rigid Body visual effects workhorse; ShapeCollision has been brought
forward to the 21st century! Now, Rigid Body dynamics are set up in the exact same way as every other Rigid Body system in thinkingParticles.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: SOFTBODY ENHANCED

Soft bodies have been enhanced a lot. For example, pressure based soft bodies, which were exploding before, are now more stable and controllable than ever! Cluster mode performs better and is less prone to sticking or exploding.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: SHAPEDEFORM

Velocity Catch has been added as a new option to the deformation type menu in ShapeDeform. This option enhances vertex deformation caused by particle velocity, it deforms meshes independent from
the particle’s distance. This is useful to tightly match particle and vertex movements.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: HEROCUT

Soft bodies offer now an enhanced option to control cutting and tearing.This new feature is meant to create “hero cuts” into cloth or soft bodies. thinkingParticles soft bodies offer better control to define where and when tearing happens and what material should be applied.

SUBSCRIPTION DROP 9 NEW FEATURE: TIME INDEPENDENT

In the old days, once a simulation was cached out to hard disk, there was not much you could do to a chached simulation. In contrast: The new concept of Time Independent simulation caches, at the DynamicSet level, offers now ultra fast time line scrubbing and interactivity.