Deep Dive into ForestPack 9.3 for 3ds Max

Itoosoft has announced the release of ForestPack 9.3, the latest update to its powerful scattering toolset for 3ds Max. This new version introduces major creative flexibility, making it possible to set up realistic wind animation for climbing plants generated with the new ForestIvy plugin, and offering artists more precise control over scatter density using texture maps.

ForestPack: Essential Tool for Scattering and Scene Layout

ForestPack is an essential set of 3ds Max plugins designed for sophisticated object scattering and scene layout, commonly used in architectural visualization, VFX, and motion graphics.

The core plugin efficiently distributes objects, typically plant models, but also rocks, buildings, or lights, across a scene. It can handle hundreds of thousands of scattered objects with ease, featuring a point cloud display mode to keep the viewport responsive. The entire scattering process is fully parametric, meaning object distribution can be precisely controlled using image maps, splines, or by painting directly onto the terrain geometry.

The software package also includes useful ‘helper plugins,’ such as Forest LOD for managing Level of Detail assets, and ForestSet for grouping scene objects.

ForestPack 9.3: Wind Animation Comes to ForestIvy

The headline feature of ForestPack 9.3 is a significant update to ForestIvy, the plugin introduced in version 9.0 for generating realistic 3D ivy and other climbing plants.

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Animated branches and leaves (source: Itoosoft)

The main change is that the previously static ivy now supports wind animation. Artists have fine-grained control, with the option to set wind strength globally or separately for branches and leaves, ensuring highly controllable and realistic movement.

Other enhancements to the ivy generation process include:

New parameters to control how branches taper toward their tips.
New parameters to control how offshoots rotate around the main stem.
Improved workflow for manual placement: it is now possible to select the end of an existing baseline and continue extending it, eliminating the need to start the entire baseline over.

New Options for Controlling Scatters

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Distribution maps using grayscale (source: Itoosoft)

The core scattering tools also received targeted updates to enhance creative control:

Density Control with Maps: Artists now have the option to use grayscale maps to control the density of scattered objects, moving beyond simply using maps to mask objects in or out.
Per-Area Scaling: Each scatter area can now have its own independent scale range. This makes it much easier to apply realistic variation to vegetation, such as creating smaller plants at the edges of paths while keeping larger objects elsewhere.
Workflow Shortcuts: New keyboard shortcuts have been added to quickly switch between the paint and erase modes when using the Paint tool.

Pricing and Availability

ForestPack 9.3 is compatible with 3ds Max 2022+ running on Windows 10+.

A new perpetual license costs $275. There is also a free Lite edition available; while feature-limited, it can still be used for commercial projects.

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The massive, detailed scenes created using ForestPack, featuring hundreds of thousands of scattered objects and high-resolution textures, require immense computational power for final rendering. To efficiently handle these complex 3ds Max scenes, a high-performance rendering solution is essential.

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