Tag Archives: 3d

Pulldownit for Maya 2025

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Pulldownit 5.8, is already available for Maya 2025, this version includes instanced shapes supported in the core solver allowing to create hundreds of instanced rigid bodies almost instantly and a 20% faster simulation with instances, along with several fixes you can review in the version logs page.

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

2000 skulls instances in Maya viewport

Maya 2025 itself brings a number of updates in animation, modeling and rendering. Originally introduced in 3ds Max , Smart Extrude is now available in Maya, this powerful mesh modifier lets to interactively extrude faces in the viewport and eliminates the need to manually repair geometry, you can cut faces partially or even make holes in the model in one run.

Maya 2025 brings several useful updates in animation, a new deformation widget has been added to the Attribute Editor which lets quick review deformers and topology modifiers that affect an object,  Bake Deformer now allows to set a custom range of motion for Poses/keys aside other various customer requests included.There is a new Motion Trail Editor with an icon shelf for faster access, this new feature gather all Motion Trail-related utilities in a single spot, also the Dope Sheet has been reworked for a quick, intuitive way to understand, manipulate, and adjust animation timing.

USD plugin update to version 0.27 with the ability to bulk load and unload multiple prims, and the LookdevX editor introduces support for the MaterialX data format alongside USD shaders.

In the simulation field Bifrost now integrates the classic Maya Ocean Simulation System but with several improved features, as new nodes for simulating ocean waves with foam.

Finally Arnold render updates to version 5.4.0 with faster GPU rendering and MaterialX support.

OnMars3D review and test many of Maya 2025 new features in this nice video:

Steampunk:New History 3D Competition

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3dModels “Steampunk: New History” Challenge has started!

“Let your imagination run wild and create a unique piece that captures the essence of the steampunk genre,
which combines Victorian-era aesthetics with steam-powered machinery and retro-futuristic designs”

Pulldownit Pro license is one of the valuable prizes and there are plenty of them!
those interested can check rules and prizes here:

Visit Challenge Home Page

Remember you can submit your work until June 5th, 2024.

Pulldownit 5.8 for 3ds Max released

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NOTE: Users of Puldownit 5.x cloud floating licenses must install this update to can connect to the licenses server.

Pulldownit 5.8 is here! this new version introduces a Fast Stacking & Deactivation solver which computes up to 4 times faster in massive destruction scenes, in addition instanced shapes are now supported in the core solver allowing to compute thousands of hi-poly objects in dynamics faster and with much less memory overhead.

Animated characters computes faster when colliding and fracturing other objects, and a new Anim Speed Multiplier parameter allows to fine tune the strength of the impact between animated objects and dynamic ones, besides cracker multiplier can be synced to node visibility allowing to decrease or disable the crack effect at any chosen frame.

Wind & Gravity Fields decay is now considered as exclusion volume, animated decay is supported, getting finer control over force fields affecting rigid bodies and fractures.

Regarding shattering, PDI Jagginess gets a new “Asymmetric tessellation” mode which generates nearly 50% fewer polygons with an appearance of rough faces close to that achieved using Uniform Tessellation.

There are also useful improvements to the UI, you can add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click, and there is a new option to set all dynamic values to default for selected rigid bodies.

Last but not least we have fixed quite a few annoying issues from previous version, making the tool more predictable and reliable than ever. You can review below all performance and usability improvements, and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5.8 from his account and there is a demo version for 3ds Max 2024 in the Thinkinetic web site.

Shatter New Features

New Jagginess mode “Asymmetric tessellation”, this new tessellation mode generates nearly 50% fewer polygons than the Uniform one with a similar appearance of rough faces.

Dynamics New Features

New Fast Stacking & Deactivation solver, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes up to 4 times faster, besides this new solver highly reduces drift motion of fragments resting in the ground.

Instanced shapes supported in core solver, optimized support for instanced shapes in dynamics, allowing to compute massive simulation of thousands of objects faster and with less memory overhead.

Improved performance in fracture against animated bodies, animated or deforming objects now computes faster when colliding and breaking other objects, besides user can easily control the strength of the impact with the new anim speed multiplier parameter.

Wind & Gravity fields range as exclusion volume, rigid bodies and fragments outside of the field decay area are not affected, animated range is supported.

UI Enhancements

New user parameter Anim Speed Multiplier, allowing to easily control the strength of the impact between animated objects and dynamic ones.

New ability to sync cracker multiplier to node visibility, allowing to modify the strength of the crack effect during the simulation or disable it completely at desired frame.

New option “Add Jagginess to All fragments”, allowing to add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click.

New Jaggines user prompt, displaying quick info about current jaggy mode and selected fragment state.

New “Fast Stacking” simulation option, user can revert to classic, more accurate, but slower stacking solver by disabling this option.

New UI option “set all dynamic values to default” for rigid bodies.

Pulldownit for 3ds Max 2024

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Pulldownit , the destruction plugin, is already available for 3d Max 2024 , you can learn more about latest features of PDI in this great tutorial by Esteban Cuesta:

Oneiric temple destruction in 3ds Max

3d Max 2024 itself brings quite a lot of new features for modeling, animation and rendering and a high performance boost when working with STL models.

In the modelling field introduces a brand new boolean modifier, contrary to classic compound objects,  boolean operations are now managed in the modifiers stack so user can remove or re-order them seamlessly, in addition it can convert the model to an OpenVDB version making the boolean operation more robust and independent of the source topology. Array Modifier introduced in previous version gets a new Phyllotaxis distribution mode for generating spiral pattern as seeing in many natural structures like flowers. The whole Modifiers tab has been ported to QT making it faster navigation and includes a handy search filter for fast selection on the long modifiers list.

The slate material editor has been rewritten using QT making it much more customizable, and besides user can now package several nodes into one single compound for better legibility when working with complex graphs. In addition there is a new Material Switcher node allowing to quickly change the material of an object for fast look-dev workflow

Animation has got also an important update, a new “Transform List” controller allows to add multiple controllers to an object and blend them together, in addition motion paths can now be displayed and adjusted in viewport for all controllers types.

Max 2024 introduces support for the OCIO colour-management broadly used in the animation industry although Gamma workflow is still the default mode, MaxToA now supports OCIO standard as well.

So a noticiable amount of improvements, Autodesk continues strengthen 3ds Max for polygonal modelling and visualization task, though there are some important enhancements for animation this time, hope it continues in the following updates this year.

Eloy Andaluz introduces all of these new features in a great demo video you can review here:

Sci-Fi Industrial Zone 3D Competition

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Hum3D “Sci-Fi Industrial Zone” Challenge has started!

“Your goal is to design and create a highly detailed and atmospheric environment, rich with elements of science fiction and industrial design”

Pulldownit Pro license is one of the valuable prizes and there are plenty of them!
those interested can check rules and prizes here:

Visit Challenge Home Page

Remember you can submit your work until June 3rd, 2023.

Black Friday 2022: VFX Software Deals

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Black Friday/Cyber Monday is here!,  at Thinkinetic we are offering 20% Off in all our licenses for Autodesk 3ds Max or Maya, including one year of support and updates.

If you think our destruction tools can be useful for your Cg projects next year, that’s a good deal!, just visit thinkinetic shop when you are ready, discount is already applied in the final cost,  no special code needed.

Actually many companies in the CG  market are offering important discounts up to 50% Off in useful VFX and 3D tools, you can find them listed nicely in these great sites,

Review VFX software deals at the Toolfarm site

Review 3D/Render software deals at the Toolfarm site

Review best CG tools software deals at the CG Press site

Review best CG tools software deals at the CG channel site

happy shopping!

Cracking an Ancient Statue in Maya

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In this polished tutorial, Esteban Cuesta shows us how to create long cracks over
an ancient statue and shatter it using Pulldownit plugin in Maya,

Bounded cracks is a new feature introduced in Pulldownit 5.0
allowing to create cracks over the surface of 3d models and controlling the strenght and extent of the crack easilly.

Thank you Esteban for this great tutorial!

Hum3D Ukraine Aid Campaign

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At Thinikinetic we are concerned by the invasion in Ukraine, and want to express our affection for all Ukranian people these terrible days.

Recently we have known our friends of Hum3D, a well-known site offering quality 3D models, counts with several employees living in Ukraine, actually its main office was in Járkov (the city that is bombing regularly since 2 weeks ago) and they had to evacuate all employees to other cities and safe places, surprisingly they continue working as normal as possible among the havok.

Hum3D has launched a campaign to help all his employees from Ukraine and their families, at Thinkinetic we have already contributed to it and want to spread the word with our community , you can join its Ukraine Aid Campaign here:

Hum3D Ukraine Aid campaign

we hope all its employees get in a safe place and this terrible and unfair war ends soon.

Pulldownit 5 for 3ds Max released

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Pulldownit 5 for 3ds Max brings new destruction features and important updates in performance and usability.

Fractures solver computes around 2 times faster and gets more debris in impact areas without the need of further adjustment.

A new ability to shatter along part of a curve lets user refine cracks as many as needed in a visual way, surface cracks can be bounded to create easily nice stress effects and reversing a crack involves just one click, all of this making the creation and adjustment of surface cracks easier than ever.

Jagginess, the ability to add roughness to cut faces, receives also an important update, by default jagginess now only applies to broken areas in simulation, getting lighter meshes for rendering or when exporting it to game engines.

There are several other performance and usability improvements you can review below and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page:

Read the full list of fixes in the Pulldownit web site version logs

Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5 from his account and there is a demo version for 3ds Max 2022 in the Thinkinetic web site.

Shatter New Features                                                                                                 

New Extent parameter for Shatter it tool, this new parameter allows to shrink the shatter region in a visual way, making very easy to increase the density of fragments in any area of the model.

New ability to exclude part of the curve in Shatter it, simply by dragging the mouse you can select the extent of the curve to be used for shattering, as many times as needed, therefore one single curve is enough for all reshattering operations.

Jagginess applies to broken fragments only, by default Jaggines now only applies to the areas which has been broken in simulation, getting lighter meshes for rendering or exporting it to game engines.

Dynamics New Features                                                                                         

PDI Fracture Solver 2x faster, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes around 2 times faster with the same stability than previous version

Improved quality of Fracture solver, cracks are now more realistic, pulling out small fragments in borders of fracturing areas without the need of further adjustment.

New bounded behaviour for crackers, user can now control the distance detached fragments can move, from making them stick on the surface to let them free and falling.

UI Enhancements                                                                                             

New ability to reverse Cracker direction, reverse a dynamic crack is now as easy as click on the panel button.

Create fracture body 2x faster, fracture bodies made of thousands fragments now needs only a few seconds to be created by PDI solver.

Create and modify fracture clusters is an almost instant operation.

Improved visualization in Stresses View, when in Stresses View all fragments are now displayed in solid colour, regardless of its material.

Stresses view “break at frame” clusters are now displayed in green color, in this way user can quickly identify clusters set to break at frame( green) from the rest.