Changes for version 1.02:
Installer has been modified to improve handling of 3ds Max Design 2010, especially when 3ds Max 2010 and 3ds Max 2010 are both installed on the same system.
Installation support for Japanese and Chinese versions of 3ds Max has been improved to avoid compatibility problems.
Occasionally occuring compatibility problems with other plugins corrected.
A few minor user interface fixes.

UV-Packer is compatible with:

• 3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit (new)
• 3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit (new)

 All users can now download the latest version of UV-Packer from the download page here.

UV-Packer is an UV map packing and auto-rescaling plug-in for Autodesk™ 3D Studio Max™. It was developed for the high demands of graphics designers in real world production environments and provides a fast, simple and optimal packing and auto-rescaling solution.

UV-Packer is compatible with:

• 3D Studio MAX 9 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 9 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2008 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2008 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2009 32 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2009 64 bit
• 3D Studio MAX 2010 32 bit (new)
• 3D Studio MAX 2010 64 bit (new)

Download of a free trial version and ordering can be found on the UV-Packer homepage:

http://packer.3d-plugin.com/order/

The trial version can be used for 30 starts of 3ds Max with 7200 faces.

This release of Packer (1.0) contains also numerous changes and optimizations:
+ better compatibility with different objects
+ overlapped UVs preliminary support (compatibility will be improved in the next versions)
+ licensing system got upgraded to 2.0.1.1, with compatibility fixes and additional checks

UV-Packer is the new UV map packing and auto-rescaling plug-in for Autodesk™ 3D Studio Max™. It was developed for the high demands of graphics designers in real world production environments and provides a fast, simple and optimal packing and auto-rescaling solution.

Easy to use and with robust results, this plug-in saves artists from doing purely technical, arduous, and time consuming work, and at the same time increases the quality in the final rendering result. Besides that, texture usage is improved by rescaling of the UV map parts relative to the model area they cover, providing uniform detail distribution, and improving the average quality of the processed scenes.

One-click fully automated packing and rescaling operation – saves time

At minimum, simple application of the modifier and one press on the “Apply” button is required for the full packing and rescaling operation. The previously unwrapped UV map is rescaled to reduce pixel stretch and packed tightly to cover as much area of the texture as possible. In vast majority of the cases, no additional artist tweaking is necessary. This saves signicficant amounts of time usualy spent on manual packing and rescaling, and improves the final texture quality, when compared to the same, artist performed results.

Uniform distribution of texture details on the model – improves the final rendering quality

Packing algorithm is based on 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in technology, offering noticeably better results then MAX built-in “UV packing”, when final rendered images are compared side-by-side. The packing process rescales the UV map charts based on the area covered on the 3d model, providing uniform distribution of details and improving the quality of texture space usage.

Optimal UV space usage – chunk padding fully supported

Packing large numbers of chunks for hundreds of unwrapped objects is done with 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in based UV packing technology. Charts are packed quickly and optimaly, yielding high texture space usage, and at the same time respecting user selectable gutter padding and final texture sizes.

Versatility

UV-Packer consistently delivers quality results with all kinds of 3d models from 3d game objects to industrial designs to complex, irregular organic shapes.

The UV-Packer, UV map packing and auto-rescaling plug-in, for Autodesk™ 3ds Max™ is now available in a free and fully functional “Open Beta” release on its homepage:

http://packer.3d-plugin.com
http://www.3d-plugin.com
http://www.3d-io.com

About 3d-io
3d-io games & video production GmbH is a Germany based software company founded 1996. It is dedicated to provide digital content, high-quality 3D and 2D design and affordable and easy-to-use software products like Games and Infotainment. 3d-io has an established presence in design production, digital content creation and graphics animation. Major German and international game and infotainment companies including Braingame, CDV, Related-Designs, 3DO, Koch-Media, Data Becker, and Hannah-Barbera, as well as industrial and telecommunication key players such as Thyssen, Mercedes, Deutsche Bank, Sony, Wunderman, Bayer, M.I.T. GmbH, Hoechst, Krupp and Ferrero have utilized 3d-io’s unique graphic style and technology.

During the exploration of the workflows and production pipelines in game development and 3d design 3d-io has encountered the demand for robust, simple, reliable and optimized unwrapping methods. Unsatisfied with the suboptimal performance of available tools for this task, the company set out to create its own solution, the UV packing solution, to meet the high quality requirements of productions under tight schedules. After the tool proved it’s practicality during in-house production the company decided to make it available in this commercial release for 3d artists and game developers worldwide.
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Easy to use and with robust results, this plug-in saves artists from doing purely technical, arduous, and time consuming work, and at the same time increases the quality in the final rendering result. Besides that, texture usage is improved by rescaling of the UV map parts relative to the model area they cover, providing uniform detail distribution, and improving the average quality of the processed scenes.

One-click fully automated packing and rescaling operation – saves time

At minimum, simple application of the modifier and one press on the “Apply” button is required for the full packing and rescaling operation. The previously unwrapped UV map is rescaled to reduce pixel stretch and packed tightly to cover as much area of the texture as possible. In vast majority of the cases, no additional artist tweaking is necessary. This saves signicficant amounts of time usualy spent on manual packing and rescaling, and improves the final texture quality, when compared to the same, artist performed results.

Uniform distribution of texture details on the model – improves the final rendering quality

Packing algorithm is based on 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in technology, offering noticeably better results then MAX built-in “UV packing”, when final rendered images are compared side-by-side. The packing process rescales the UV map charts based on the area covered on the 3d model, providing uniform distribution of details and improving the quality of texture space usage.

Optimal UV space usage – chunk padding fully supported

Packing large numbers of chunks for hundreds of unwrapped objects is done with 3d-io’s Unwrella plug-in based UV packing technology. Charts are packed quickly and optimaly, yielding high texture space usage, and at the same time respecting user selectable gutter padding and final texture sizes.

Versatility

UV-Packer consistently delivers quality results with all kinds of 3d models from 3d game objects to industrial designs to complex, irregular organic shapes.

The UV-Packer, UV map packing and auto-rescaling plug-in, for Autodesk™ 3ds Max™ is now available in a free and fully functional “Open Beta” release on its homepage:

http://packer.3d-plugin.com
http://www.3d-plugin.com
http://www.3d-io.com

About 3d-io
3d-io games & video production GmbH is a Germany based software company founded 1996. It is dedicated to provide digital content, high-quality 3D and 2D design and affordable and easy-to-use software products like Games and Infotainment. 3d-io has an established presence in design production, digital content creation and graphics animation. Major German and international game and infotainment companies including Braingame, CDV, Related-Designs, 3DO, Koch-Media, Data Becker, and Hannah-Barbera, as well as industrial and telecommunication key players such as Thyssen, Mercedes, Deutsche Bank, Sony, Wunderman, Bayer, M.I.T. GmbH, Hoechst, Krupp and Ferrero have utilized 3d-io’s unique graphic style and technology.

During the exploration of the workflows and production pipelines in game development and 3d design 3d-io has encountered the demand for robust, simple, reliable and optimized unwrapping methods. Unsatisfied with the suboptimal performance of available tools for this task, the company set out to create its own solution, the UV packing solution, to meet the high quality requirements of productions under tight schedules. After the tool proved it’s practicality during in-house production the company decided to make it available and is proud to announce the start of the public beta phase for the UV-Packer Autodesk™ 3ds Max™ plug-in for 3d artists and game developers.
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UV-Packer not only moves and rotates your UV parts, it also takes the mesh surface area into account and scales the parts independently to provide a uniform pixel distribution. Your models will never again have different texture sizes and therefore varying amounts of texture quality on legs, arms and body textures, since UV-Packer keeps them all even.