Frequently Asked Questions

What does VanguardFX make?

Three plugins for Autodesk 3ds Max: VanguardLiquid (GPU fluid simulation), VanguardCity (procedural city generation) and VanguardFX DML (audio-reactive animation, also called Audio Reaction).

They are separate products, bought separately. A licence for one does not unlock another.

Which versions of 3ds Max are supported?

3ds Max 2024, 2025, 2026 and 2027. The installer detects which of them you have and puts the right build in each one.

Do I need anything else to use what I make?

No. Anything you produce with the plugins — simulations, caches, meshes, geometry, renders — is yours to use commercially with no royalty and no further permission.

What hardware do I need?

An NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support and a current driver. VanguardLiquid does its simulation on the GPU, so the GPU and its VRAM decide how large a simulation you can run.

More VRAM means more voxels and more particles. There is no fixed minimum: the plugin adapts the resolution it can allocate and tells you in the panel what it managed.

Will it run on an AMD or Intel GPU?

No. The solvers are written in CUDA, which is NVIDIA-only. This is the first thing to check with the free trial before you buy anything.

Does it work on macOS?

3ds Max itself is Windows-only, so the plugins are too. Our website works on any modern browser, including Safari on macOS and iOS.

How does the free trial work?

Every product has a free 7-day trial. It is the complete product — every feature, no watermark. For VanguardLiquid and VanguardCity there is one limit on output: a trial can export 40 frames in total, and the machine has to reach vanguardfx.pro once before its first export, so it has to be online at least that once. VanguardFX DML has no export limit. That is enough to prove the plugin works in your scenes and in your renderer, and not enough to finish a shot with. One per email address per product.

You do not need a card to start it.

What does “40 frames” actually stop me doing?

The trial simulates without limit — any resolution, any particle count, any length — and you can play it back, scrub it and render the viewport as much as you like. What is counted is exported frames: forty in total, across every export you ever run on that trial, in every format. A frame costs one whether it lands in one file or in eight.

Forty frames is a second and a half. It is deliberately enough to take a cache into Krakatoa or your renderer and satisfy yourself that the channels, the velocities and the whitewater are all really there, and deliberately not enough to deliver a shot.

The panel shows what you have left. That count applies to VanguardLiquid and VanguardCity; VanguardFX DML has no export limit at all. Buying any plan clears the count. The 30-day plan exports up to 3,000 frames per sequence; the 1-year and 2-year plans have no export limit.

What plans are there?

30-day, 1-year and 2-year, for each product. The 1-year and 2-year plans are perpetual licences: the term buys you updates, and the build you are running keeps working after it ends. Prices are on the product page and in your customer panel.

What happens when my licence expires?

It depends on the plan, and it is worth knowing before you buy.

Trial and 30-day: the plugin stops working at the end of the term.

1-year and 2-year: the build you are running keeps working. What ends is your access to newer builds — a version released after your term will not activate. So a year buys you a year of updates, and the software you have does not switch itself off.

If I install an update, could my licence term change?

No. The term is fixed inside the licence when it is issued, and installing a newer build never extends or shortens it. A 30-day licence cannot become a 2-year one, and a 2-year one cannot be cut short by an update.

Do licences renew automatically?

No. Nothing is ever charged to you again unless you place a new order yourself.

I changed my PC. Do I have to buy again?

No. Licences are tied to a hardware id. Contact support and we will reset the binding so you can activate on the new machine. Genuine hardware changes are reset as a matter of course.

Can I use one licence on my desktop and my laptop?

A licence is for one machine at a time. If you need two, buy two — or ask us; for a single artist moving between two of their own machines we will usually find a sensible answer.

How do I install it?

Download the installer from the product page, close 3ds Max, and run it. It finds every supported version of Max you have installed and places the plugin in each. Full walkthrough on the Get Started page.

Where do I find my Hardware ID?

Open the plugin's panel in 3ds Max. The Hardware ID is displayed there and can be copied with one click. Paste it into your customer panel when you request a licence.

Where does my licence come from?

Sign in to your customer panel at vanguardfx.pro/panel.php, choose the product and plan and paste your Hardware ID. A trial is issued immediately. Paid requests are reviewed by a person, usually the same day.

The plugin says the key is for a different product.

Licence keys end in a product code — -LIQ for VanguardLiquid, -CTY for VanguardCity. A Liquid key will not open City and vice versa. If you have the wrong one, contact support and we will exchange it.

What solvers does it have?

A GPU FLIP/APIC liquid solver with narrow-band support, and an MPM solver for granular and elastoplastic material such as sand, snow and mud.

Does it do whitewater?

Yes — foam, spray, bubbles, mist and related classes, generated from the simulation and colliding with your scene geometry.

Can I render the mesh and the whitewater without the domain box showing?

Yes. The domain is a simulation boundary, not geometry, and there is a switch for whether it appears at render time. Turn it off and the surface mesh and whitewater render on their own.

How do I get the simulation out to another application?

Simulations are cached to disk and the surface can be exported as geometry, so it can be taken into your renderer or another package.

Why is my simulation smaller than I asked for?

The resolution you can reach is limited by VRAM. The plugin allocates as much as your card allows and reports what it actually used in the panel, rather than failing outright.

What does it generate?

Street networks and procedural buildings, driven by parameters rather than modelled by hand, so a layout can be changed and regenerated instead of rebuilt.

Is the output editable geometry?

Yes. What it produces is geometry in your scene, which you can edit, texture and render like anything else.

What is DML?

Dynamic Material Link — the audio-reactive animation plugin, also referred to as Audio Reaction. It drives parameters in your scene from an audio track.

The plugin does not appear in 3ds Max.

Check that you installed for the right Max version and that Max was closed during installation. If it still does not appear, the plugin panel has a Write Diagnostic Log button; send us that file and we will read it.

Something crashes or behaves strangely.

Use Write Diagnostic Log in the plugin panel and attach the .txt file to a support message. It contains a section headed "what is wrong, in words" and usually turns a long conversation into a short one.

I did not receive the verification email.

Check spam. If the link has expired, do not register again — the account already exists. Ask support to resend it.

How can I pay?

Card through our checkout provider, bank transfer, or USDT. For bank and USDT you upload a receipt in the customer panel and we review it by hand.

Can I get a refund?

Yes, in the circumstances set out in the Refund Policy. Because every product has a free 7-day trial, we ask you to use it — but if something has genuinely gone wrong, tell us.

Is there a discount for studios or education?

Ask us. Write from your studio or institution address through the support page and tell us what you need.