Itoosoft releases Forest Pack 9.3 for 3ds Max
Itoosoft has released Forest Pack 9.3, the latest version of its scattering toolset for 3ds Max.
The update makes it possible to set up wind animation for climbing plants generated with the new ForestIvy plugin, and to control scatter density using texture maps.
A powerful set of 3ds Max plugins for scattering and scene layout
Forest Pack is a growing set of 3ds Max plugins for object scattering and scene layout, for architectural visualization, VFX and motion graphics work.
(Strictly, Itoosoft tends to write the product name as ‘ForestPack’ these days – ‘Forest Pack’ is the older branding – but you still see both versions in its marketing material.)
The core Forest plugin is designed to distribute objects across a scene: usually plant models, but also rocks, buildings or lights.
It can generate scenes with hundreds of thousands of scattered objects, with a point cloud display mode to improve viewport response, and the option to convert Forest Pack objects to Max’s native instances.
The scattering process is fully parametric, and object distribution can also be controlled by image maps, splines or painting directly onto terrain geometry.
Forest Pack also includes a number of ‘helper plugins’, including Forest LOD for managing Level of Detail assets, and ForestSet, for grouping scene objects.
Forest Pack 9.3: ForestIvy now supports wind animation
Forest Pack 9.3 features a major update to ForestIvy, the plugin for generating 3D ivy and other climbing plants included with the software since Forest Pack 9.0.
The main change is that the previously static ivy now supports wind animation, with the option to set wind strength globally, or separately for branches and leaves, for more control.
When generating ivy, new parameters control the way that branches taper towards their tips, and the way that offshoots rotate around the main stem.
And when painting in the overall course of the ivy manually, it is now possible to select the end of an existing baseline and continue extending it, rather than starting over.
New options for controlling scatters
There are also a couple of updates to the core scattering tools: notably the option to use grayscale maps to control the density of scattered objects, rather than simply to mask them out.
In addition, each scatter area can now have its own scale range, making it easier to apply realistic vegetation to a scatter: for example, at the edges of paths.
There are also new keyboard shortcuts to switch between paint and erase modes when using the Paint tool.
Pricing and availability
Forest Pack 9.3 is compatible with 3ds Max 2022+ running on Windows 10+. You can find a list of compatible render engines here.
New perpetual licences cost $275. There is also a free Lite edition. It’s feature-limited, but can be used on commercial projects.
Read a full list of new features in Forest Pack 9.3 in the online release notes
Read more about Forest Pack on the product webpage
(The download link for the Lite edition is at the top of the page)