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.
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:
NOTE: Users of Puldownit 5.x cloud floating licenses must install this update to can connect to the licenses server.
Pulldownit 5.7 is here! this new version introduces a new Fast Stacking & Deactivation solver which computes up to 4 times faster in massive destruction scenes, in addition instanced shapes are supported for dynamics and shattering so you can compute thousands of hi-poly objects in dynamics seamlessly and with much less memory overhead.
Animated characters now 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 animated allowing to decrease or disable the crack effect at any frame.
Regarding shattering, PDI Jagginess gets a new “Asymmetric tessellation” mode which generates nearly 50% fewer polygons with a similar look of rough faces than when using Uniform Tessellation.
There are also useful improvements to the UI, a new option to create several fractures at once and you can add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click. Hierarchies of rigid bodies can be auto created just by selecting its parent group, 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,you can review below all performance and usability improvements and you can check the whole list of fixes in the Pulldownit version logs page:
Licensed users can already access Pulldownit 5.7 from his account and there is a demo version for Maya 2024 in the Thinkinetic web site.
Shatter New Features
Shatter it support instanced shapes, instanced shapes are supported and can be shattered and reshattered seamlessly.
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 as rigid bodies, PDI solver now supports instanced shapes in dynamics, allowing to compute massive simulation of thousands of objects 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.
UI Enhancements
New parameter Anim Speed Multiplier, allowing to easily control the strength of the impact between animated objects and dynamic ones.
New ability to animate cracker multiplier, user can now modify the strength of the crack effect during the simulation or disable it completely at desired frame.
New Fracture setup option “One per Shatter Group”, allowing to create several fracture bodies at once from the current selection of objects.
New option “Add Jagginess to All fragments”, allowing to add jagginess to all PDI fragments in scene with one click.
New “Fast Stacking” simulation option, user can revert to classic, more accurate, but slower stacking solver by disabling this option.
New ability to auto assign unique names to duplicated nodes, when selecting nodes to create rigid bodies from them PDI will rename any duplicated node automatically if authorized by user.
Animatable fracture parameters are auto displayed for current selected object.
New ability to create hierarchies of rigid bodies just selecting its parent group.
New UI option “set all dynamic values to default” for rigid bodies.
Some users has asked if it is possible to decide the leaning direction of a model before breaking it completely with Pulldownit; the answer is yes, you can do it and very easily.
For choosing the leaning direction you have simply to select the fracture object in PDI Basic Fractures tab, then go to Fractures->Dynamic Properties tab and set initial velocity according to your desired leaning direction, that’s all.
If your initial velocity parameter is greyed out you have to set Basic Fractures->Activation to “at frame” or “At first hit” to enable it. Here a demo video of the effect:
Notice the bigger initial velocity, the leaning will be faster, so better to set it to small values to get a natural motion of the model.
Maya 2024 itself brings a number of updates in animation, modeling and performance, and native support for Apple Silicon chips in Macos systems. This new version introduces a novel Graph Editor Sculpting feature, allowing to drag or smooth animation curves in brush-like style to make adjustments on the fly. In addition, animators con now display all skin weights values directly in the viewport and multiple Skin Clusters are supported. Besides the Time Slider has been redesigned for better handling of keys selection ranges and audio waves visulaization. Finally Autodesk claims of significant performance improvements, especially when playing back animation on complex rigs.
Regarding modeling, Retopology tool has got a number of updates,a new symmetry option allows to get the same exact topology at both sides of the model, and there is new options for preserving edges by angle or component tag, also user can now display both input mesh and retopologized one simultaneously, allowing to compare result and adjust areas visually and there is a new option to pre-check mesh during Retopologize to quickly identify and fix mesh issues.
An there is a new unsmooth option which lets you simplify a smoothed mesh, useful for creating low resolution versions of 3D models, although currently only works with meshes subdivided by the Catmull-Clark method.
The old good Make Live tool has got an useful improvement aswell, now It supports multiple objects, speeding up the drawing of splines or quads over existing geometry.
USD support introduces LookdevX, a new material editor for creating USD shaders inside Maya. It is independent of the classic Maya Hypershade tool therefore counts with its own editor, according to Autodesk it is intended to work seamlessly across multiple DCC tools in the pipeline.
In the simulation field Bifrost updates to version 2.7 introducing a new MPM solver able to simulate snow and high viscous matter like toothpaste, ketchup or ice-cream along with improved volume rendering in the viewport.
AntCgi review and test many of Maya 2024 new features in this nice video:
Pulldownit 5.5 is here and comes with useful updates, Shatter it tool has been multithreaded and highly optimized, getting up to 8x faster shattering with regards to previous release. Chipping areas of the model is also faster and you can discard shatter centers directly in the viewport just by clicking the mouse over it.
Bounded Cracks introduced in version 5.0 has been enhanced with the ability to turn them dynamic at the desired frame, allowing to create easily stress cracks that ends up tearing the surface completely at some moment.
Working in complex destruction scenes is easier and more intuitive, in cases of many objects colliding, dynamic solver has been adjusted to get nice fracture results with default parameters and when two objects impact each other you can decide which one will break in first place simply by reducing its hardness value.
Maya Cache Playback is now supported after baking simulation keys for the whole scene, this allows user to play the simulation at a fast, sustained rate and recover dynamic data afterwards to make changes if needed.
There are also useful improvements to the UI, you can modify parameters for several fractures at once and create several crackers at once or toggle display of all crackers paths with one click.
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:
Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5.5 from his account and there is a demo version for Maya 2023 in the Thinkinetic web site.
Shatter New Features
Shatter it multithreaded along with other performance improvements that makes shatter an object in hundreds and thousands of pieces around 8x faster than in previous release.
New ability to remove shatter centers directly in the viewport, when in Shatter it draft mode simply by clicking mouse + ctrl key, the selected shatter center is deleted.
Dynamics New Features
New ability to generate Bounded Cracks until frame , stress crack propagation can be set to last until desired frame, after that it continues as an usual dynamic crack.
Initial velocity can be set for “activation at frame” fracture bodies, linear and angular velocity can be added to static fractures bodies, setting in this way the initial motion direction when the object becomes dynamic.
More intuitive behaviour in collision between fracture bodies, user can decide which of them will break in first place simply by reducing its hardness value. Besides small fragments collisions don’t trigger fracture anymore, therefore fracture activation starts always at the exact impact moment between the two objects.
UI Enhancements
Maya Cache Playback supported after baking PDI keys for the whole scene, deleting PDI data before using Maya Cache Playback is no longer needed, allowing to recover simulation afterwards to make changes if needed.
New option to auto clean all PDI data after baking simulation, this new option allows to use Maya Cache Playback at the fastest speed right after baking PDI keys.
New ability to set parameters for several fracture bodies at once. New ability to edit name of selected Cracker. New ability to show/hide all Crackers paths at once. New ability to set parameters for several Crackers at once. New ability to create Crackers for all selected curves at once.
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.
Pulldownit , the destruction plugin, is already available for Maya 2023 an brings an important enhancement, Shatter it tool is now 4 times faster. This new update v 5.3 will be available for the rest of supported Maya versions in the following weeks.
Maya 2023 itself brings quite a lot of improvements in animation, modeling, and performance. Boolean operations have been revamped with new modes, more intuitive visualization in the viewport and a new Boolean Stack editor for easily manage your changes. Retopology tool has been boosted with a new auto remesh option allowing to get quickly good results with less preparation of the scanned model. There are more deformer options and important performance improvements when modifying hi-poly meshes, besides you can now control the transparency level of the wireframe on shaded, which is very useful working with dense meshes.
Regarding Animation Autodesk has introduced a new Blue Pencil tool allowing to create 2D drawings and annotations directly in the Maya viewport which are saved with the scene.
There are also usability improvements to the Sweep mesh tool and Arnold render has been updated, besides Bifrost now support USD assets.
Since several years ago Autodesk is focused in strengthen Maya for animation tasks, and probably it counts with the most powerful toolset on this area, this new version includes also important enhancements for modeling, that’s good, however making Bifrost supporting USD assets isn’t the most appealing update for those working in VFX , hope Autodesk moves forward and devotes time to improve seriously Bifrost aswell.
AntCgi review and test many of Maya 2023 new features in this nice video:
In this new tutorial Esteban Cuesta show us how to create appealing 3d text shatter effects in Maya using new features for destruction included in Pulldownit 5, in a few and easy to follow steps he shows how to crack letters in diferent ways or turn a 3d text dynamic to get a nice crumbling effect, worth to review it.
More news are coming in September, until then have a great holidays!
Ideaform3d has published a nice tutorial showcasing Pulldownit new bounded cracks feature. The tutorial shows step by step how to create a crack along a Moai statue all inside Maya 2022 using PDI plugin,
Project files can be downloaded by clicking in the link included in the text of the tutorial below,
Ideaform3d is a youtube channel featuring nice and easy to follow tutorials showcasing useful plugins and scripts for Maya, 3dsMax and After Effects, worth to check it!
Pulldownit 5 for Maya is here! and brings important updates in performance and usability, fractures solver now computes at least 2 times faster and gets more debris in impact areas without the need of further adjustment.
Create long surface cracks is now much easier, a new ability to shatter along part of a curve, lets user refine the crack as many as needed in a visual way. Reversing dynamics cracks involves just one click, besides surface cracks can be bounded, so broken fragments are forced to stick on the surface or fall as desired.
Jagginess, the nice ability to add roughness to cut faces, receives also an important update, by default roughness now only applies to broken areas in simulation, getting much 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:
Licensed users can access already Pulldownit 5 from his account and there is a demo version for Maya 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 Draft Mode, 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 much lighter meshes for rendering or exporting it to game engines.
Dynamic New Features
PDI Fracture Solver 2x faster, scenes involving hundreds or thousands of fragments in dynamics now computes at least 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 impact or detaching 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.
New Add Particles option “Visible Faces Only”, when combining fragments to emit from, this new option spread nParticles only over the visible faces of the combined node.
UI Enhancements
Load PDI scenes 2x faster, massive destruction scenes now load at least 2 times faster in Maya.
New ability to reverse Cracker direction, reverse a dynamic crack is now as easy as click on the panel button.
New option to update Cracker Path when user changes reference curve.
Create fracture body 4x faster, fracture bodies made of thousands fragments now needs only a few seconds to be created by PDI solver.
Stresses view “break at frame” clusters are now displayed in green color, when in Stress View user can differentiate easily clusters set to break at frame( green) from the rest.
Create fracture cluster is now an almost instant operation.
KineticThoughts 