Overview of Principal features

These are just a few of the many features of Fangorn.

A Scalable Layer Manager that Works with You

Using Fangorn can significantly reduce screen clutter especially in a scene with complex heirarchies, as this picture will attest. The motto here is: 'Use only what you need', don't use a portion of a massive dialog that wastes space with information you will never use.

Hierarchal Structure

Tree based heirarchies are an ideal paradigm for organizing data, especially for scene objects that already contain hierarchal relationships like character rigs and other such things. No more searching for data when everything can be organized cleanly and accessed efficiently. The ultimate power of a hierarchal layer system is manipulating layer data by hierarchies and not one layer at a time. Thus turning off a parent layer also in turn turns off all child layers. It's all automatic.

Seamless Max Layer Integration

Fangorn saves no special data in the scene, but simply sits on top of the Max Layer system. No worrying about special file formats or file readers... All Layer data is simply saved by Max's native layer system. Therefore all standard 3ds Max layer shortcut commands also work with Fangorn!

Thus people who use Fangorn can ship max files to people who don't have Fangorn.

Mass Layer Property Editing

Fangorn can display many more properties than the standard layer manager. These properties are easily arranged simply by dragging and dropping layers. See this image to see all the layer properties Fangorn can use. A layer manager is much more useful when the user can pick and choose from such a large list of properties to manipulate scene data with.

Custom Themes

Looking at archaic buttons in software you use 8 hours a day can get old. Therefore key parts of the interface is customizable by the end user. The four main buttons, all the icons, and almost all the colors are customizable. Themes can be switched by simply picking an option in a preferences list. New themes are recognized automatically when Fangorn starts up, and presented to the end user. No more boring grey windows.

Customization of Layer Sets

Fangorn allows for saving and loading of layer definitions into the scene. This is ideal for studios that rely on consistent naming of layers throughout a production pipeline. Fangorn feature can also be set up to automaticly load a layer set when you first open it, thus ensuring consistency throughout a production pipeline.

Fangorn Material Manager

Fangorn also comes with a program that allows for assigning materials to Layers via a simple interface. No more selecting objects in the viewport, opening the material editor and selecting 'Assign' in the material editor. The user can simply drag a material onto a list of layers. Once a material library is opened, it is saved in a list of previously viewed material libraries. The Material Manager also has functionality for automatically assigning materials to newly created objects in the 3DSMax scene.

Future Development

Fangorn is still developing as ideas are realized and goals are met.

Disclaimers and some important Tech Specs

Fangorn is currently issued for 3ds Max 6 - 8 and Max 9 32 bit.