You will still have to ensure TBB.DLL and Helium.DLX are installed manually before launching Max. The latest Helium download contains a Max 2010 version, too.
The major new features and updates since Beta 5 are:
*Added support for Max 2010
*Added Emission channel support (Self-Illumination) in both Particle and Voxel modes.
*Added support for the Absorption channel in Particle mode (previously available in Voxel mode only).
*Added native DOF support in Voxel mode.
*Added support for Global Channel Overrides via KCM modifiers applied to ANY particles in world space after loading. See new Global Render Values rollout.
*Added support for Fire Channel from FumeFX
*Added support for Custom Named Channels saving.
*Multi-threaded the Camera Pass in Voxel mode resulting in a significant speed up of Environment Reflections etc.)
*Added new Krakatoa PRT Loader Birth and Update modifiers which can use a scene PRT Loader as the particle source. Also added support for Viewport % when loading particles with an ID channel.
*Updated the Krakatoa Geometry Test and Krakatoa Collision operators to better support static and animated objects.
*Fixed a significant number of problems with Matte Objects rendering, removed the old slower methods.
*Renamed the Krakatoa Channels Editor to “MagmaFlow” and made a large number of improvements including Debug Mode, Macro Recording/Editing, better auto-reordering algorithms and more.
*Local KCMs on the stack now support deformation modifiers (e.g. a Bend updates the Position and Normal channels passed up to a KCM)
*Improved support of the Falloff map both in Materials and inside KCMs, including Fresnel mode, Object-Based Falloff modes etc.
Please note that the Max 2010 build has not been tested much yet. We found and fixed some startup problems, but then discovered missing PFlow operators and rollouts (see next post for details). At this point, consider testing in earlier versions.
Also note that the name change of the KCE editor caused some file extensions to also change, so previously saved Flows and Editor Presets won’t show up in Beta 6 unless you rename/move them into the new folders with the new extensions. BlackOps have not changed though.
EDIT: June 5th, 2009
It was reported that the support for TP4 was broken in the original Beta 6 build posted on May 14th. We have replaced the installer with a fixed one. If you use TP4 Beta, please reinstall or wait for Beta 7.
All Versions of Max:
*Krakatoa Collision Test is broken in the case where the velocity is only along Z (which it typically is in the default case). Any other angles work.
(On the positive side, 100K particles against 40K faces runs at 20+ FPS, while Max UDefiector+Collision Test needs minutes per frame.)
Max 2010:
*PFlow Operators appear as (null) in Depot and are missing their UI. Completely broken. Something must have changed in the PFlow SDK.
*Render Dialog Renderer tab shows no rollout. Use the MacroScript icons to open Krakatoa GUI.
We support the Max Falloff Map directly now, you can just add it to the Material assigned to the Node and set PRT Loader to use Node’s Material. It won’t look right in the viewports, but will render correctly. So no need to use MagmaFlow for that. If you want to use the MagmaFlow, you will have to keep in mind all calculations would be in Object space unless you apply the KCM through the Global Overrides.
Can you explain in detail what you are trying to achieve?
If you do want to create a form of falloff map in MagmaFlow, you would take the Z axis of the camera (or whatever axis you want), calculate the dot product with the Normal, clamp between 0 and 1 and control a Blend operator with the value - this will give you the Parallel/Perpendicular Falloff mode. For the other modes (like Fresnel), it might need more complex calculations.
Here is what you could do:
*Create a PRT Loader with PRTs containing a Normal channel
*Create a Camera01
*Add a Krakatoa Channels modifier to the PRT Loader.
*Open MagmaFlow
*Switch the Channel Color Input node to load the Normal channel.
*With the Normal channel node selected, hit N to add a Normalize operator.
*Add a Channel > Position Input (press SHIFT+P)
*Add a Vector input (press V) and press Connect To Scene Track. Select the Camera Position track.
*With the Vector selected, add a Transform>FromWorld node to convert into object space
*With both the FromWorld and the Position channel input selected, hit the Num.Pad - (Minus) key to add a Subtract node.
*With the Subtract node selected, hit the N key to create a Normalize operator.
*Select the Normal channel input and the Normalize operator and hit the . key (>) to add a Dot operator.
*With the Dot op selected, add an Absolute op to remove the sign.
*With the Absolute node selected, hit B to add a Blend operator - the Dot will be wired in the first input, but you want it in the 3rd, so you press Ctrl+W to switch 1 and 2 and then Shift+Ctrl+W to switch 2 and 3 and it will be in the 3rd Input!
*With the Blend selected, hit V twice to add two Vector inputs. Set the first to 1,1,1 (white), leave the second to 0,0,0 (black).
*Wire the Blend to the Color Output of the KCM - the flow will be evaluated and the particles in the PRT Loader should be shaded by the angle to the Camera’s Z axis.
, you guys have been busy. looking forward to trying this out! Will give it some play time with 2K10 
