DreamScape and AfterBurn: plug-ins add power to 3ds max.(Effects Plug-ins)

Sitni Sati upgraded DreamScape to Version 2.0 and AfterBurn to 3.0. Available for purchase from Turbo Squid, both new editions are tightly integrated into the Discreet 3ds max core program, working hand-in-glove with its many components.

DreamScape offers a suite of modeling and animation tools for building complete environments with realistic skies, 3D clouds, and beautiful bodies of water. The program comes with such objects as DreamScape Terrain and SeaSurface, lights, atmospherics, materials and maps, space warps, and daemons (helper objects that affect the objects and volumetrics in DreamScape, as well as in AfterBurn).

Among DreamScape's new features are enhancements to the Terra editor, including instant mesh preview inside the view-port and support for MAX script and pressure-sensitive digital tablets. The new Terrain Map includes a falloff parameter for smooth transitions between regions defined by altitude and/or slope. The sky and cloud tools have been upgraded to include 3D clouds, full sky and cloud antialiasing, and a reduction in rendering time of up to 50 percent. DreamScape Terra also uses new rendering technology that occupies less of the computer's RAM, enabling users to render very large, detailed terrains.

New daemons make it possible to write a helper object that can communicate with SeaSurface and perform various calculations using internal data. This feature enables ship models, for example, not only to interact with the ocean perfectly, but also to cause secondary effects, such as wake and spray.

Always a fan of terrain-generating tools, I found DreamScape to be intuitive, powerful, and able to generate excellent results. In comparison to other terrain-creation tools, Version 2.0 is much easier to use, and I was able to produce the results I desired in less time. Yet, if I were to compose a wish list for future features, I would request the ability to create waterfalls and to add surface vegetation. For anyone who needs to build realistic and fantastic terrain models, Dream-Scape 2.0 should top the list of must-haves.

Another new release, AfterBurn is a popular and powerful advanced volumetric particle effects engine plug-in. Used in such films as Armageddon, Dracula 2000, and K-19, AfterBurn turns standard 3ds max particles into realistic smoke, clouds, explosions, and other organic fiery and gaseous effects. The software is designed to work in concert with the integrated 3ds ...