The release of Ornatrix 8 for 3ds Max

Originally released over a decade ago, Ornatrix is a versatile plugin for 3ds Max designed for creating hair, fur, and feathers, supporting both parametric and brush-based workflows. This software has been utilized across various VFX and gaming studios, including Blur Studio, Pixomondo, Scanline VFX, Blizzard Entertainment, and Ubisoft.

Ornatrix 8 for 3ds Max introduces several new features that were released in Ornatrix 4 for Maya, the Maya plugin version, earlier this year. Among them is Graft Grooms, a new type of presets designed for creating full hairstyles through a straightforward "point-and-click" workflow. Users trace their finger across the character's surface to draw a guide from which Ornatrix automatically generates hair. Presets for various hairstyles exist, but users can also craft their own graphs, which can then be reused across different projects or shared with other artists.

Among other changes, Ornatrix 8 introduces a new system called "boxing" operators within Ornatrix, consolidating a set of operators into a single Groom operator. Unlike the existing Bake command, operators grouped in this manner remain procedurally editable and can be unboxed for individual editing purposes.

Additionally, many key modifiers have been updated in this release, including Surface Comb, Edit Guides, Clump, Curling, and the hair baking system. Ornatrix has been transitioned to Embree 3, a new version of the ray-tracing library for Intel processors, significantly boosting performance. The Alembic file format support has been expanded, allowing for the export of duplicated strands as feathers and an MXS flag when exporting hairstyles to the Unreal Engine.

Ornatrix 8 is compatible with 3ds Max 2014 and above. The cost of new perpetual licenses is $599, while rental options are available at $50 per month or $420 annually.