3ds Max. Changelog

RayFire 1.84 – 18 June 2019

Build 1.84.01
3ds Max 2020 support.

RayFire 1.83 – 4 January 2019

Build 1.83.01
Interactive Demolition support for new dynamic workflow: “To Fragments” demolition type in Rigid modifier.
Increased simulation and fragmentation speed.

RayFire 1.82 – 7 July 2018

Build 1.82.01
3ds Max 2019 Support

RayFire 1.81 – 1 April 2018

Build 1.81.01
New Dynamic simulation workflow based on RFBullet object and RFRigid modifier.
RayFire 1.81 – Part 1 – Bullet Object. Range & Loop modes
RayFire 1.81 – Part 2 – Rigid Modifier
RayFire 1.81 – Part 3 – Quiet Mode
RayFire 1.81 – Part 4 – Relax Mode
RayFire 1.81 – Part 5 – Demolition
RayFire 1.81 – Part 6 – Dead Objects
RayFire 1.81 – Part 7 – Kinematic Objects

RayFire 1.71 – 27 February 2017

Build 1.71.01

RayFire Shatter. Tetrahedron based damaging and fragmentation modifier.

RayFire 1.69 – 23 November 2016

Build 1.69.01

RayFire Bullet V1. Bullet Rigid Body simulation.
Support for Nvidia PhysX plugin for 3ds Max 3.3.1
Simulation buttons moved to main UI.

RayFire 1.68 – 4 August 2016

Build 1.68.01

RayFire cache. Support for Deformation animation and Topology changes
RayFire cache. Adjustable FPS
RayFire cache. Adjustable Adjustable Scale from/to different System Units
Exclude from Sim by Size. Allows to exclude very small objects from simulation after they get rest.

RayFire 1.67

Build 1.67.01

3ds Max 2017 support.
Remove Interpenetration tool: YouTube
Reduce Keys tool

RayFire 1.66

Build 1.66.03

Select by Size in Tools rollout: YouTube
Exclude from sim by  size in Advanced Simulation properties rollout
Glue options moved to own Glue rollout
Advanced Sim properties moved in own Advanced Simulation properties rollout.

Build 1.66.02

Revive Dead by Offset: YouTube
Revive Dead by Continuity: YouTube

Build 1.66.01

RayFire Bricks modifier.
RFSlice:
FIX | Normal assignment sometimes incorrect
FIX | Bug in vertex welding code causing capping to fail in certain conditions
FIX | Improved capping algorithm
RFCache:
FIX | memory leak in vertex/face memory allocation
ADD | support for specified normals
ADD | MXS properties:
.cacheStart : time
.cacheEnd : time
.cacheStepSize : integer (specified in ticks)
.cacheFrameRate : integer
.cacheNumNodes : integer
.cacheNumSamples : integer
.cacheHasVisibility : boolean
.cacheHasSpecifiedNormals : boolean
FIX | incorrect interpolation when using non-uniformly scaled objects
Brick fragmentation type removed from Main RayFire floater UI

RayFire 1.65

Build 1.65.01

RayFire Slice modifier.
Selected Elemets Only checkbox for Voronoi modifier. Allows to fragment only selected elements.

RayFire 1.64

Build 1.64.01

RayFire Voronoi modifier.
Removed Fragmenter modifier.
Removed Voronoi – Geometry|particles fragmentation type.
Removed Add Fragmenter button
Changed Voronoi – Wood Splinters properties accordingly to Voronoi Stretching properties

RayFire 1.63

Build 1.63.01

RayFire Asperity modifier.
Revive by Geometry for Dead Sleeping objects.
Fixed bugs.

 

RayFire 1.62

Build 1.62.04

Fixed bug for Fragmentation by shapes feature.
Fixed bug with Rifts for Voronoi fragments.
Fixed bug for Demolition Depth Ration feature.
Build 1.62.01

RayFire Voxels modifier.
RayFire CLusters modifier.
Various Fixes and Speed improvements.

RayFire 1.61

Build 1.61.07

Fixed bug with ProBoolean Wood Splinter fragmentation in case Matarial ID property in Advanced properties is not default 0 value.

Build 1.61.06

Objects do not have auto key at frame 0 after simulation start.

Build 1.61.05

Fragments do not have auto key at frame 0 after fragmentation in case of original object has animation.

Build 1.61.04

Interactive Demolition property in Material Presets.
Transparent Material property in Material Presets.
Fixed exponential range for RF_Bomb.

Build 1.61.02

Fixed RF_Bomb bug.

Build 1.61.01

RayFire Cache object.
Support for kinematic Alembic objects.
Enhanced and improved clustering.

 

RayFire 1.60

Build 1.60.01

RayFire Trace object. Image tracing to fragments.
RayFire Bomb now SDK implemented. Range is always visible.
Enhanced UI. New images for buttons and checkboxes.
Dead Objects and Home Grid as Ground moved in Simulation properties rollout.
Simulate from Timeslider feature simulates untill End frame, not whole TIme Range frames.
Trace Maps link in About. Opens page with some Trace maps to start.
Changed Fragmentation by Shapes feature. Now it doesn’t cache images to shapes. Instead you can add shapes which you want to use to fragment Dynamic objects. Shapes can be created using RayFire Trace object.
Fixed Bake Group function.
Small fixes and Improvements.

RayFire 1.59

Build 1.59.01

RayFire Cracks modifier. Animated 3D Cracks inside refractive object.

Interactive Demolition by Velocity.
Size filter for simulated objects. Objects less than defined value will not be added in simulation.

RayFire 1.58

Build 1.58.06

Tesselation now applied after Remove Inner faces evaluated.
Fixed bug for fragments corruption. Turns out Editable Poly fragments may cause file corruption in some cases. In current build fragments converts to Editable Mesh and back to Editable Poly which prevents file corruption. IMPORTANT: In case you use RayFire Fragmenter modifier you will need to manually convert fragments to Editable Mesh and back to Poly after detachment. In next major build 1.59 this will be fixed.

Build 1.58.05

Fixed bug for Secondary fragmentation.

Build 1.58.04

Particle Flow support. Allows to convert particles to objects and simulate them after their death.

RayFire Shooting is back. Fully functional Shooting tool is completely FREE to use and is available in Demo installer.
Support for PhysX plugin 2.86
Modified Material Preset list. IMPORTANT: Now there are 5 less materials in Preset list. If you already have scene with set up, make sure you have the same materials after update. Now you need only to pick Material, if you need to edit it’s density, friction or bounciness you can do this in new Material Presets rollout. In next build it will be possible to add new Materials in preset. Also there is new Solidity property for materials which allows tomake objects harder or easier to break during Interactive Demolition.
Home Grid as Ground property moved in Simulation Properties List.

Build 1.58.02

Support for 3ds Max 2013
Support for Nvidia PhysX plugin 2.85
Support for Included Entropy Bullet plugin (Beta)
Clusterizing for All fragments
Tesselation for Voronoi fragments
Dead Objects feature for Sleeping objects with ability to Revive by Velocity
Biped and CAT support for Kinematik objects
Extend mode for UI
Clusterize tool for selected objects
Point Cache tool for selected objects
Remove Inner Faces tool for selected objects
Solidity for Interactive Demolition can be 0
sep

RayFire 1.57

Build 1.57.10

Cluster feature for Fragmentation. Fragment objects into complex clusters.
Cluster feature for Glueing. Glue fragments into clusters.
Revive by Speed property for Dead Objects. Turns Dead objects into Dynamic after collision by collision force. NOTE: Enabled only with PhysX plugin 2.71 installed.
Change Wire color property in Advanced fragmentation properties. Slightly changes fragments wire color to make clusters noticeable.
Fixed bug which in some cases corrupted scenes.
Support for PhysX plugin 2.71

Build 1.57.09

Tesselate property for Voronoi Fragmentation type. Makes Voronoi frags more natural looking.

 

Build 1.57.07

Fixed Interactive Demolition objects with Radial fragmentation type, now Impact point used as center.
Fixed Deformable objects feature.
Fixed Interactive Demolition with Affect by Mouse feature ON.

Build 1.57.06

Convex simulaton geometry creates convex shape for each element in object.
Improved Glue properties. Whole strength range is between 0 and 100. Second spinner add variation.
Minor build version now can be seen in the title.
Optimization and small bug fixes .

Build 1.57.05

Dead objects feature for sleeping objects.
Fixed bias at demolition for Sleeping objects.
Send to Sleeping list button if Dynamic objects menu.
Small bug fix.

Build 1.57.04

Bug fix, increased stability, yeah, even more.

Build 1.57.03

Bug fix, increased stability.

Build 1.57.01

Support for 3ds Max 2012
Support for Nvidia Physx plugin 2.7
Fixed bugs.

RayFire 1.56

Build 1.56.00

Support for 3ds Max 2012
Support for Nvidia Physx plugin 2.61
FIxed bugs.

RayFire 1.55

Build 1.55.01

FIxed bug with assigning Physx modifier for each glued demolished fragment
Fixed bug with Physx influence list.

RayFire 1.51

Build 1.51.02

Support for NVIDIA PhysX plugin 2.4 in 3ds Max 2011 advantage pack.

Build 1.51.01

Rebars support for already prefragmented objects.

Build 1.51.00

Rebars for Interactively demolished objects.
Radial fragmentation type.

 

RayFire 1.5

Build 1.5.09

Voronoi Radial fragmentation type. Uses pivot point as center and local Z axis as direction. Iterations defines amount of radial circles, Detalization defines their detalization.

Build 1.5.07

Fixed bug with activation deactivated animated objects.

Build 1.5.02

Fixed bug with Glueing grouped objects.

Build 1.5.01

Fixed bug with static Unyielding objects. Now RayFire use for them concave simulation geometry instead of convex.

Build 1.5.00

Support for new PhysX plugin v.2.0, 32 and 64 bit. Warning: for RayFire Tool 1.5 you need to get it and install manually.
Ability to use Home Grid as infinit Unyielding plane. Check box in Unyielding Objects rollout
Removed Mass property in Impact and Inactive rollouts.
New Density property in Impact, Inactive and Unyielding rollouts
New Density property in Custom Properties.
Removed “Simulate group of objects as one concave object” feature due to new PhysX plugin restrictions. Will be added back later.
Removed “Demolish group” feature. The same reason.
Removed “Gluedemolished” and “Glue linked” features. Will be added back later.
New “Remove PhysX modifier” tool in Tools menu.
sep

RayFire 1.46

Build 1.46.0

Wood splinters fragmetnation type. New fragmentation types creates wood splinter like fragments along objects Z axis direction. Might be unstable on hi poly objects. With very few iterations and average noise value can create hundreds of splinter, so use it carefully
Deactivate animated Impact objects. Ability to deactivate animated Impact objects so later you will be able to activate them. Deactivated objects keeps their original animation and behaves like unyielding objects until something will activate them. After that they will become dynamic.
Deactivate Impact objects checkbox in Custom RayFire properties. In this way you can deactivate only objects you need, not only static or animated Impact objects.
Demolition Depth ratio. Value which defines how many iterations RayFire will use to demolish fragments from each next depth level. For instance, if your iteration is 100, on first level your object will be demolished on 100 fragments, with Depth Ration 0.3 each new fragment will be demolished further on 30 fragments.
Demolition by RF_Bomb. Using that feature you can demolish solid objects using RF_Bombs and explode created fragments at once. Useful for exploding glass like objects.
Reduce Keys function it tools menu. Allows you to reduce unneede position and rotation keys for objects and decrease scene’s size. More then 200 times faster then original max’s Reduce key function
Glue radius. Allows you to define glue distance between objects which you want to glue.
sep

RayFire 1.45

Build 1.45.0

Glue. Allows you to glue objects together and break connection between them during simulation. Three types of glue available.
“Glue demolished objects” – glue together demolished and fragmented objects, including demolished groups.
“Glue objects in groups” – glue together objects in groups, objects should be positioned close to each other.
“Glue linked objects” – glue together linked objects
Deformable\Pointcached objects support. Allows you to use deformable objects as Unyielding objects and affect on simulated objects.
“Simulate by timeslider” checkbox. Allows you to create simulation by manually dragging timeslider. Useful for simple quick simulations.
Edited User Interface. All rollouts logically separated from each other.All shooting rollouts now in one tab. All fragmentation rollouts in another. Reactor rollouts in third and so on.
“Treat group as” selection box. Allows to define how RayFire should treat groups. Two types for now: “One concave object” – allows you to simulate group as one concave object and demolish group later. “As group of object” – simulates each object separately keeping them in group, also gives ability to glue objects.
“Attach selected” tool. Simply attach all selected objects into one object.
“Bake group” tool. Explode group and bake animation for objetcs in group.
Fixed bugs.
sep

RayFire 1.43

Build 1.43.02

1. Fixed bug with different resolutions and hidder floater.

2. Fixed bug with different system fonts and unpressed Impact buttons.

3. Fixed bug with demolitions of objects inside group.

4. Fixed bug with deforamble Unyielding objects. Now you can use deformable Unyielding objects even for demolitions.

RayFire 1.42

Build 1.42.03

1. Fixed bug for PhysX simulation with RF_Bomb while some objects selected.

Build 1.42.02

1. Fixed bug for objects with the same name for PhysX simulation.

2. Fixed bug for sliding Impact objects in Interactive Demolition System simulation.

Build 1.42.01

1. Significantly reduced “popcorn” effect for PhysX simulations.

Build 1.42.00

1. Interactive demolition support for groups. Gives You ability to break groups using Interactive Demolition properties.

2. Minimum size limit for Interactive demolition. Decide if You want to shatter your objects to dust or keep ´em nice and chunky.

3. Demolition depth level property in custom RayFire properties. Now You can defineDecide if You want to shatter your objects to dust or keep ´em nice and chunky.

4. Substeps support for Unyielding objects. Get precise on your non breakable objects!

5. Interactive physical properties for Physx dynamic simulation. Gives You ability to change objects physical properties, like friction, elasticity and material interactivel even while the simulation is running.

6. “Simulate as concave” property for unyielding objects. Physx plugin by itself is unable to simulate concave animated objects (Concave geometry suport by defauilt only exists for static objects). With “Simulate as concave” ON, You can simulate animated concave geometry now.

7. Activate by texture. Now You can activate Deactivated Impact objects using animated texture.

RayFire 1.41

Build 1.41.03

1. Groups support. Ability to simulate a group of objects as one solid object. USAGE: just select group or all objects in group and add it in Impact or Inactive list. IMPORTANT: Interactive demolition doesn’t support groups yet.

2. Separated “Update Viewport” toggle in Options menu for dynamic simulation and fragmetation. Turned OFF viewport updating can significantly decrease simulation time.

3. Fix. “Bake Animation” mode automatically turns ON “Move Timeslider” property since it is useles to create and bake animation with unmoving time slider.

Build 1.41.02

1. Collision damping property for Physx dynamic simulation.

2. Fixed bugs.

Build 1.41.01

1. Fixed bug with visible glass fragments in case You use Interactive Physx demolition with depth level more then 1

Build 1.41.00

1. Interactive Demolition System ( IDS ) for NVIDIA PhysX engine.
Creates dynamic simulation and demolishes objects accordingly to their material and collision strength. Each fragment can demolish further with proper amount of collision strength.
Different material types for simulation characteristics: Metals, Concrete, and Glass.

2. New Stick Selected To Mouse feature for NVIDIA PhysX engine.
Gives You the ability to effect objects right inside dynamic simulation.

3. Fixed bug with Bomb’s range visualization. Now You can Turn On or Off Bombs range via Options menu \ Show bombs range toggle.

sep

RayFire 1.4

Build 1.40.03

1. New Time Scale property for dynamic simulation. This property interactive for PhysX dynamic simulation.

2. New RF_PhysX object in Helpers\RayFire Tool category. Allows You to animate physical properties for PhysX engine. You should add this object in PhysX Influence list to make it active.

3. RF_Bomb object moved to Helpers\RayFire Tool category. IMPORTANT: Old Geometry RF_Bomb object not supported anymore.

Build 1.40.02

1. Fixed bug in Reactor Explosion feature.

Build 1.40.01

1. NVidia PhysX engine support. Supports for PhysX Rigid Body animation, PhysX explosions and PhysX Demolition.

2. PhysX influences rollout. ABility to use RF_Bomb, Pbomb, Wind, Gravity and any geometry objects to influence on PhysX animation.

sep

RayFire 1.34

Build 1.34.02

1. Fixed bug with small objects fragmentation.

Build 1.34.01

1. Reactor Demolition. Fast and easy way for smashing and falling objects.

2. New RF_Bomb object. Allows You to set up a lot of bombs with different explosion options.

3. Custom Fragmentation Options. Allows You to assign custom fragmentation options for each object.

4. Multiple bomb support for Reactor Explosion

5. New Reactor Explosion directions:
Spherical – explodes objects in all directions from bomb.
Planar – explodes objects in Bomb`s Z axis direction.
Cylindrical – explodes objects in all directions from Bomb, but only on Bomb`s XY plane.

6. Fragmentation seed: Using fragmentation seed You can fragment object every time with the same pattern.Set fragmentation seed to 0 to fragment object each time in different ways.

7. Selection sets: After each fragmentation RayFire will create selection set with created fragments.

8. Fixed bug with dds textures.

9. New fragmentation type. Relative to Pivot point. RayFire will fragment objects relative to their`s Pivot points

10. RayFire saves properties in scene and restores them on scene oppening.
sep

RayFire Tool 1.33

Build 1.33.06

1. Fixed bug causing Max freezing and crashing.

2. Ability to choose which method (ProBoolean or ProCutter) use for fragmention.
ProCutter more stable, but less accurate. If for some reason ProBooelan cannot
fragment object try to use ProCutter.

3. Fragmentation of parented objects, after fragmentation RF will link all fragments back to parent.

4. Fixed bug with big (Really big) object fragmentation.

Build 1.33.05

1. Backup preservation: Before cut fragment RayFire create fragment backup. RayFire restore fragment if fragmentation failed. This significantly reduces fragments disappearing. All backuped fragments will have bright red wireframe. To use this feature check On Preserve Backups checkbox in Advanced Fragmentation rollout.

2. Interactive selection for Impact Object list: RayFire will interactively update Impact Objects list
when You select objects. Using this mode You dont ought to add object in the list every time You want to fragment or explode something, just select objects and do whatever You want.
To use this feature rigth click Impact list Menu and activate Interactive selection.

3. Continuous fragmentation: RayFire will fragment object until You push and hold ESCAPE button.
To use this feature set Iterations spinner to 0.

4. Material ID spinner: Ability to set material Id for fragment surface.
Pay attention that value should be greater then biggest material ID value of Impact object.
Set it to 0 to apply Material ID automatically.

Build 1.33.04

1. Accelerated fragmentation : New build fragments object 6 times faster. For instance,
Build 13301 with 300 iterations fragments box 219 seconds.
Build 13304 with 300 iterations fragments box 35 seconds.

2. Decreased memory leaking.

Build 1.33.03

1. Advanced Fragmentation rollout: Some rarely used parameters like Face threshold, Volume threshold, Jitter amount, Detach by elements, Animate impact\fragments visibility moved into Advanced Fragmentation rollout. Also in this rollout added:
Fill Rifts checkbox – let You create objects which fill rifts.
Bake animation checkbox – bake fragments in case impact object has animation.
Quadrangle faces checkbox – make all fragment`s faces four sided.
Remove middle edge vertices checkbox – removes two-edged vertices after fragmentation is finished.
Remove angle threshold spinner – defines maximum angle for two edge which shares middle edge vertex.
You can open Advanced Fragmentation rollout via New Options menu or rigth clicking big “Fragment Impact Objects” button.

2. New tools in Tools menu:
Clean up scene from RayFire info – clean all objects from RayFire info.
Clean up selected from RayFire info – clean only selected objects from RayFire info.
Detach by element selected – allows You to detach selected objects by element.
Remove middle edge vertices – removes two-edged vertices on selected objects. You can specify angle threshold in Advanced Fragmentation rollout.
STL check selected – performs STL check on selected objects, suggest to select objects with errors in case found them.

3. Upper limit for Step Size spinner in Draw Fragment Mode rollout increased in 10 times.

Build 1.33.02

1. Scale factor spinner in Reactor Tab\Reactor rollout: Using this value RayFire Tool scale down Impact and Inactive objects before reactor starts creating animation and scale them back after animation is created. It completely removes gaps between simulated
objects and unyielding objects like ground and walls. Also thanks to this reactor calculates simulation on 20-30 % faster. Set spinner to 0 to disable it. Pay attention that spinner works in conjuction with Collision tolerance spinner.

2. Explosion radius spinner in rayXplosion Tab\RayXplosion Tool rollout. Now rayFire tool can explode objects in defined radius. Set spinner to 0 to disable it and explode all objects.

3. Accelerated fragmentation : Improved fragmentation algorithm works on 30-60 % faster.

4. Automatically defined Bomb object : RayFire marks Bomb objects. So You dont need to define it every time when launching the scene or launching RayFire Tool.

5. Ability to use biped as unyileding object in reactor simulation. Now You can use animated biped to collide it with Impact and Inactive opbjects
sep