Most of my scripts are project specific and wouldn't be very useful for general use (though I do have plans to generalize a few of them to contribute back to the tech art community). However, here's one that I find particularly interesting and might be fun for someone else to play around with. I should add that this is about 5 years old now, definitely getting long in the tooth. Also sorry maxscript, but PyMel + Python ftw!
3ds Max curved relief mapping coefficient generator
This script computes the quadric curvature of an editable_mesh per vertex, and stores the calculated quadric coefficients in a vertex data channel (map channel). Combine this with the provided "Curved Relief Mapping" HLSL shader, and you should be able to recreate the effect seen in the vfx section.
Maxscript: Super Quadric Computation (Currently has no UI - just run the script while an editable_mesh is selected)
HLSL: Curved Relief Mapping Shader (Requires PixelShader 3.0 capable GFX card AND the script above)