html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" New features in thinkingParticles 7.4, the latest version of the 3ds Max particles plugin. The video also shows features added in thinkingParticles 7.3 and its service pack updates. Cebas Visual Technology has released thinkingParticles 7.4, the latest version of its particle effects and multiphysics plugin for 3ds Max.The update extends thinkingParticles’ ME-L scripting language with new functions for manipulating meshes, and adds a SplineForce node for guiding particles along splines. Other features added in recent updates include the Explosion Tool, a set of readymade nodes for creating explosion effects. A versatile simulation tool for 3ds Max-based VFX pipelines First released two decades ago, thinkingParticles is a procedural simulation tool that has been used by leading VFX studios including Scanline VFX, FuseFX and Bottleship VFX.Originally geared towards particle-based destruction and gaseous fluid simulations, it later added a SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) solver for liquids and soft bodies, MPM solvers for granular fluids and elastic materials, and tools for manipulating OpenVDB data. The software is also now bundled with finalRender, cebas’s GPU renderer. ThinkingParticles 7.4: new ME-L functions for controlling meshes ThinkingParticles 7.4 further extends the capabilities of ME-L (Math Expression Language), the plugin’s new scripting language.Initially a means to manipulate OpenVDB data, it was broadened out into a more general-purpose system for creating custom particle simulations in thinkingParticles 7.3. ME-L scripts have “almost unrestricted access” to the core simulation data created by the plugin, making it possible to create most of the same effects as through its standard node-based workflow, but since evaluation of particle data via the ExpressionME-L node is multi-threaded, unlike most of the standard nodes, performance can be much greater. The 7.4 update introduces over 160 new ME-L functions for modifying meshes, making it possible to perform operations like edge subdivision and dynamic remeshing. You can see examples of simulations created using the new functions in the video embedded at the top of this story. New SplineForce node, plus updates to SimpleDeform and the MPM Sand solver Other new features in thinkingParticles 7.4 include the SplineForce node, which creates a virtual force along the length of a spline curve.Particles within the radius are drawn along the curve, making it possible to create “stylized trails, flows, and guided motion effects”. The existing SimpleDeform node, for using particles to deform meshes, gets new Pose Matching controls, enabling the meshes to “maintain or revert to their original pose even after extreme deformation”. In addition, the MPM Sand solver now has a moisture-based activation threshold, for realistic damp-to-dry granular fluid simulations. Added in the previous service pack release: new Explosion Tool Other features added in recent releases include the Explosion Tool: a collection of readymade nodes for creating explosions.It includes nodes for generating the initial burst of the explosion, the shockwave it generates, and trails of debris thrown up by the blast. Price and system requirements thinkingParticles 7.4 is compatible with 3ds Max 2024+. The software is available on a rental-only basis. Subscriptions cost $660/year.Read an overview of the new features in thinkingParticles on cebas’s website Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.