In brief
- Forest Pack is an environment and vegetation scattering plugin for Autodesk 3ds Max, developed by ITOOSOFT.
- Chaos Scatter offers three distribution modes for Corona: 1D (spline), 2D (surface) and 3D (volume).
- Corona 12 Update 1 added Random Distribution and Position Distribution options for surface scattering.
- The Edge Trimming feature prevents scattered objects from spilling outside surface boundaries, improving both visual quality and performance.
For users doing architectural visualization or landscape design in 3ds Max, placing repetitive objects such as trees, shrubs, grass or even crowds one by one is impractical. This guide walks step by step through two popular scattering solutions for 3ds Max: ITOOSOFT's Forest Pack plugin and Chaos Corona's built-in Chaos Scatter tool.
What you'll learn
After following this guide, you'll be able to realistically scatter vegetation, ivy, ground cover or crowds in a scene, and use advanced settings such as slope and altitude constraints, clustering modes and edge trimming to make your scene both more natural and more performant.
Requirements
Autodesk 3ds Max (according to the Forest Pack version history, 3ds Max 2020 and later are officially supported; for the latest version, the most current Forest Pack release is recommended).
Forest Pack Lite or Pro (some tools such as the ForestIvy Generator are only available in the Pro version).
Corona Renderer to use Chaos Scatter (some advanced surface scattering options arrived with Corona 12 Update 1, while Edge Trimming updates came with Corona 9 and later).
A valid Chaos or ITOOSOFT license (during Forest Pack installation you'll be asked to choose Workstation or Render Mode).
Step by step: scattering with Forest Pack
Run the Forest Pack installer, accept the license agreement, and select Workstation as the installation type; if installing on a render node, Render Mode should be selected instead.
On the license type screen, select Standalone and continue; the installer automatically detects the 3ds Max versions installed on your system.
From the update manager that opens after installation, install the additional library and macro content; according to ITOOSOFT, these libraries are included for free and would otherwise cost several times more than the plugin itself if purchased separately.
Inside 3ds Max, create a Forest object, select the surface to distribute on (Distribute-on object), and choose the models to scatter via the Library Browser.
Use the Forest Lister and Forest Tools panels to organize the Forest objects in your scene; in large scenes these panels are useful for grouping objects and performing bulk edits.
For ground cover, experiment with settings such as density maps, clustering and natural boundary transitions to achieve a distribution that matches the terrain topography.
Step by step: scattering in Corona with Chaos Scatter
After creating the Scatter object, choose the distribution mode from the Scattering rollout: 1D for distribution along a spline, 2D for distribution on a surface, and 3D for distribution within a volume.
On sloped or mountainous surfaces, use the slope limitation option in the Surface Scattering rollout to prevent objects such as trees from growing on steep walls; for example, it can be set so that no instances appear on surfaces steeper than 45 degrees.
If you want different plant types at different elevations (for example, broadleaf trees at lower altitudes and conifers higher up), use the altitude limitation option to define a height range relative to the world zero point.
From the surface distribution options introduced with Corona 12 Update 1, choose Random Distribution or Position Distribution mode; with Position Distribution you can create regular patterns such as Grid, Running Grid or Hex Grid, along with precise placements using Spacing, Jitter and Offset settings.
For more organic, grouped distributions, use the Clusters feature; in Generate mode, adjust the size and naturalness of clusters with the Size, Roughness, Edge Blend and Diversity parameters, while in Paint with Instances mode you can manually paint distribution areas similarly to Photoshop layers.
To prevent multi-part meshes such as grass tufts or flower clusters from spilling outside surface boundaries, connect the ChaosScatterEdgeTrimming map to the opacity slot of the model's material; as of Corona 12, this feature can also be enabled with a single checkbox.
Impact on the architectural visualization workflow
These tools provide significant time savings compared to manual placement, especially in large-scale landscape, campus or urban design projects. Thanks to Forest Pack's native geometric shader support, millions of high-poly trees, meshes and proxies can be rendered, offering an advantage in memory usage and render time for large landscape scenes. Chaos Scatter, on the other hand, offers similar functionality for studios already using Corona without requiring an additional plugin license, which can create a cost advantage for smaller offices. In both cases, since scenes with large numbers of instances can increase GPU and RAM usage on the hardware side, it's recommended to evaluate performance-oriented settings such as point cloud mode or edge trimming.
Common mistakes
Moving, rotating or scaling the original model after manually editing instances, which resets all manual edits made.
In scenes with a high face or area count, trying to select and edit more than 100 instances at once instead of adjusting the general Scatter settings, which is more efficient.
Connecting the Edge Trimming map to only one material while leaving the opacity slots of other materials used on the same model empty.
Looking for tools only available in the Pro version, such as the ForestIvy Generator, while using the Forest Pack Lite version.
Next steps
Once you've learned the basic scattering logic, you can build your own landscape library by exploring the ready-made tree and ground-cover libraries in Forest Pack's Library Browser; on the Chaos Scatter side, you can enrich your presentation visuals using the Look At option to make crowd figures face a single point, such as a stage or an entrance gate. The video tutorials in the official documentation of both tools will be especially useful for more advanced topics like clustering and surface color maps.
Source and license
This guide was compiled and translated from the Forest Pack page on Chaos's official documentation portal, the Forest Pack Lite product description and version history on the Autodesk App Store, and the Chaos Support Center's official article titled "Using Chaos Scatter with Corona for 3ds Max - Advanced Features."
Sources
3 sourcesSource texts are not republished; short quotes are marked, everything else is our own summary and commentary.
For offices in Turkey, Forest Pack and Chaos Scatter are tools that significantly reduce manual modeling time, especially in landscape-heavy residential and urban design projects. While Forest Pack comes with a separate license cost, Chaos Scatter is already included with the Corona license, which is an important advantage for smaller studios since it requires no additional budget.
On the other hand, since distributions containing millions of instances in large scenes can increase GPU and RAM consumption, offices working alongside real-time engines such as Vantage or Enscape are advised to plan their hardware capacity and scene optimization settings (such as point cloud mode and edge trimming) at the start of the project.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between Forest Pack Lite and Pro?
Tools for creating ivy and climbing plants, such as the ForestIvy Generator, are only available in Forest Pack Pro; Lite users can still take advantage of the Library Browser, Forest Lister and core scattering features.
Which 3D application can Chaos Scatter be used in?
Chaos Scatter is a tool used together with Corona Renderer for 3ds Max, and it supports 1D, 2D and 3D distribution modes.
Which Corona version introduced the Edge Trimming feature?
Edge Trimming was introduced with Scatter 2 in Corona 9, and in Corona 12 it became available as a separate checkbox.
