iToo Software has released the first public beta of Forest Pack 7.0, the next version of its scattering plugin for 3ds Max, making it possible to scatter lights as well as geometry.

The update also adds new colour correction features, support for Chaos Group’s Project Lavina, and the option to export scenes for use in the Unity game engine.

The ‘ultimate scattering tool for 3ds Max’
Described by iToo as “the ultimate scattering tool for 3ds Max”, Forest Pack is designed to distribute objects across a scene: as the name suggests, usually plant models, but also rocks or buildings.

The plugin 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.

Discover 1000s of premium WordPress themes & website templates, including multipurpose and responsive Bootstrap templates, email templates & HTML templates. Forest pack pro 6.1.1 Forest Pack is the world’s most popular scattering plugin for 3ds Max. It provides a complete solution for creating vast areas of objects, from trees and plants to buildings, crowds, aggregates, ground-cover, rocks and more. If you can model it, Forest Pack can scatter it.

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 can scatter both static and animated objects, with the option to randomise both texture maps and the time offset of animation cycles, or control them via image maps.

New in version 7.0: scatt4er lights throughout your scene as if they were geometry
To that, Forest Pack 7.0 adds the option to scatter non-geometric objects like splines or lights: the latter shown to spectacular effect in the demo video above.

Users of Corona Renderer and OctaneRender can use all of Forest Pack’s standard scattering options; in Arnold and V-Ray, the light distribution cannot be animated or changed after frame 0.

New colour correction options, plus support for Project Lavina and Unity
Other new features include global colour correction, with users now able to adjust Hue Shift, Saturation and Brightness for all the Forest Color textures in a scene.

Users can also now export scenes that use Forest Pack to the Unity game engine via an experimental new plugin: the download link is in the release notes, available via the link at the end of the story.

Scenes using Forest Pack are also now supported in Project Lavina, Chaos Group’s new real-time tool for exploring large V-Ray scenes.

Updates to the accompanying asset libraries
The Library Browser has also been rewritten, primarily to make it easier to develop new features in future, although in version 7.0, it does improve search capabilities, including the option to use Boolean queries.

iToo also says the the final release will be accompanies by new asset libraries, including one with 40 photoscanned tree stumps, and one with 89 new presets for generating 3D hedges.

There are also a number of workflow improvements and bugfixes: find a full list via the link below.

Pricing and availability
Forest Pack 7.0 is available in beta. The current stable release, Forest Pack 6.3 is available for 3ds Max 2012+. You can find a list of compatible render engines here.

New licences start at €220 (around $260) including one year’s support. There is also a free Lite edition. It’s feature-limited, but can be used on commercial projects.

Read an overview of the new features in Forest Pack 7.0 on iToo Software’s blog

Read more about Forest Pack on the product webpage
(The download link for the Lite edition is at the foot of the page)

Forest Pro Plugin Tutorial

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