For those who don’t know the tool: Forest Pack scatters huge scenes inside Autodesk 3ds Max, living between layout and lookdev where forests, rocks, and crowds multiply faster than notes.
The headline change: collisions stop playing favorites
Forest Pack 9.3.5 expands collision checking to every distribution mode, including Path, Reference, and Particle Flow.
That sounds simple, but it lands right in the messy middle of environment work, where you swap distribution approaches as the shot evolves. One day you block a treeline with a path, the next day you need to reference hero trees, and then someone asks for “just a bit more variation” and you end up driving density through a different method. In 9.3.5, collision checking no longer depends on which distribution mode you picked.
The practical result is consistency. Your layout rules do not have to change just because your distribution method changes. If your day-to-day involves dense assets where intersections become a constant cleanup tax, collision checking across modes targets that pain directly.
This release also frames collision parity as a feature-parity and consistency push across distribution methods, with the stated goal of removing limitations that force workarounds. That positioning is a marketing claim, but the core functional change is specific and concrete: collision checking now covers all distribution modes in the tool, including Path, Reference, and Particle Flow.
Materials that travel: .pmat lands in the Library Browser
9.3.5 adds support for portable material libraries in the Library Browser using the .pmat format. The .pmat format is a custom material library format used internally for the developer’s own libraries. The key design point is independence from specific 3ds Max versions, which supports a wider range of releases without maintaining separate libraries per version.
That same mechanism now applies to user asset libraries through the Library Browser for Forest objects. In practical pipeline terms, the feature targets studios that keep multiple 3ds Max versions in flight, plus anyone babysitting long-lived projects with legacy requirements.
Effects gets two new levers, one of them watches the camera
The Effects system in Forest Pack picks up new attributes aimed at more precise control of items and camera-based logic.
First up is fpItem.geomSubID. It returns an item’s sub-index in the Geometry List. The use cases include defining indices within groups, ForestLOD, and ForestSet, and targeting individual elements inside grouped geometry, ForestLOD setups, or Forest Sets.
That matters because many environment assets arrive as grouped geometry, or they become grouped once the shot starts demanding variants and LOD juggling. With a sub-index available, Effects can target specific components inside an asset. The examples given for what that enables include enabling or disabling a component, plus adjusting scale, rotation, or position independently from the rest of the asset.
Second is Max.cameraPos. It returns the camera position in Forest local coordinates. The functional promise here is camera-aware behavior in Effects, including custom look-at logic or changes based on distance from the camera.
Together, these two attributes push Effects toward finer-grained procedural control without changing existing setups. The release messaging says the additions aim to expand what Effects can do without adding more UI complexity or affecting existing scenes. That intent statement is not a measurable guarantee, but the attributes themselves are explicit and new.
One caveat for production sanity: camera-driven logic often looks great until you cache, render, and discover that one overlooked camera switch turns your forest into a mutating alien organism. Test new setups before you bet a delivery on them.
Pricing and licensing: what is stated and what is not
Forest Pack 9.3.5 is available to users with an active Maintenance Plan.
A store page lists Forest Pack with a total price excluding VAT of 250,00 €.
A Maintenance Plans page lists a total price excluding VAT of 80,00 € for Forest Pack maintenance.
A free edition, Forest Pack Lite, is also availabe here Forest Pack. It includes many of the core features of the Pro version and can be used in commercial projects.
https://docs.itoosoft.com/changelog/2026/03/15/forestpack-9_3_5
https://www.itoosoft.com/blog/forestpack-935-released
