Autodesk 3ds Max Changelog

What's new in Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.2.1

Feb 2, 2024
  • This release provides an additional fix to 3ds Max 2024.2, resolving a Color Management issue where RGB color swatches in various tools lost precision/values for dark colors.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.2 (Nov 16, 2023)

  • What's Fixed:
  • ATF:
  • The importing speed on some SketchUp models has been significantly improved. A new import option, Image Quality, is introduced in SketchUp import. When checked, distorted texture maps are redrawn; when disabled, better speed is achieved with possible distortion. MAXX-71434
  • Alembic:
  • Fixed an issue when exporting Alembic files to directories that contain non-English characters that could 3ds Max to crash. This problem was caused by an inability from Windows to handle utf-8 filenames with non-English characters. MAXX-72581
  • Resolved an issue when exporting Alembic data where specified ranges of animation data sometimes didn't export out correct. MAXX-71438
  • Resolved an issue that was introduced in 3ds Max 2024 that could cause some Alembic data to take longer to export than it did previously. MAXX-73338
  • Animation:
  • Improved playback performance with the Skin Modifier, notably when there are two or more Skin Modifiers with different numbers of bones present in them. MAXX-75426
  • Improved stability in the Skin Modifier when using the Heatmap weight solver. MAXX-74012
  • Improving the reliability of Undo/Redo when rescaling units in Biped and selecting, scaling or adding keys in Biped Workbench. MAXX-74894
  • Users should no longer experience the Curve Editor window auto-resizing smaller upon closing and re-opening using the toolbar button. The Dope Sheet, Particle View and Workbench windows have also been verified to not have any resizing issues. MAXX-74263
  • A proper undo restore has been added to the Biped when using Time Configuration > Re-Scale Time. Enabling the Bipeds keys to return to their previous position if the animator was to undo the Re-Scale Time action. MAXX-74638
  • Resolved an issue where the key range on the time slider was missing when the time slider is set to float and the mini curve editor was open in 3ds Max. MAXX-73515
  • Resolved an issue where the Assign Controller Treeview in Motion Command Panel wasn't displaying controllers properly when the Biped was in Mixer Mode. MAXX-74825
  • Resolved an issue when using Time Configuration > Re-Scale Time with a Biped, where the Biped keyframes were not snapping to whole frames even if the option was enabled. We have update Biped so that the biped body controller performs the remapping (BipBodyControl::MapKeys) instead of the Biped foot step controller. MAXX-74767
  • Fixed issued with the Biped copy/paste function where the copied collection posture or pose was not correctly mirroring data from a multi-bone neck when the data was pasted. Now when pasting Biped neck data found in a collection with the mirror or mirror in place tool, the animator will now get the expected results. MAXX-72292
  • Splines with animated vertices will now properly notify 3ds Max that they have changed, this change will help to improve viewport performance when these types of objects are in the animators scene. MAXX-74153
  • We have corrected a significant issue that existed in the CAT Capture Animation UI that prevented this retargeting functionality that is a part of CAT from working as expected as it once did prior to 3ds Max 2016. This fix corrects issues with Auto Map, along with save and load mapping that prevented this functionality from operating as expected. MAXX-72880
  • Resolved an issue when importing a FBX file where if the Motion Command Panel was open while this import action was taking place, the Motion Command Panel could become stuck in a blank state until 3ds Max was restarted due to an error with how the FBX import process was attempting to control the Command Panel UI. MAXX-74063
  • Fixed a bug with List Controllers when using the Delete or Cut actions where the weight value of the remaining controllers did not update correctly to reflect their actual values. MAXX-73827
  • Rollouts in the command panels should now better remember the last state they were in, even between Max sessions MAXX-73909
  • Fixed a bug where the Biped Motion mixer was slightly slowing down viewport performance in 3ds Max, even when a Biped was not used in the scene. MAXX-73962
  • Resolved an issue where the Motion Command Panel UI could redrawn blank (empty) if it was the active Command Panel that was in use when importing a FBX. This issue was caused by a problem with the Status Bar UI not properly unlocking the UI after the import process was completed. MAXX-73928
  • When loading a CAT Rig with the Open Preset Rig button in the Command Panel, the rig data that you are attempting to apply will be correctly loaded at the location of the currently selected CAT Parent instead of the location where the Preset Rig was saved. MAXX-47323
  • When loading Clips onto a CAT rig, if the user attempted to load animation data where a LookAt constraint was attached to one of the CAT bones, it could cause 3ds Max to crash. To resolve this we improved the LookAt constraint code to better handle working with CAT bone Clip data. MAXX-54860
  • Resolved a crash that could occur when saving a CAT Clip when there is no animation data in the CAT layer (or any of the CAT layers). MAXX-72009
  • When the user detaches a CAT Tail bone (or series of CAT tail bones) from the main rig it is generated with, it can break a dependency within the CAT rig and can cause 3ds Max to crash when the animator attempts to manipulate or interact with the now detached CAT Tail. To resolve this crash 3ds Max now handles this broken dependency to enable the animator to continue to work with the CAT Tail objects that they have purposely detached and broken away from their CAT rig and related controllers associated with the rig. MAXX-70909
  • Resolved a pair of crashes that would occur when playing back animation data, or moving the time slider to a range of bad data, on a CAT rig where 3ds Max encounters a problem with CATMotion Layer due to destructive changes that the user has made to the layer's controllers or limb references. When this problem is encountered 3ds Max will no longer crash, but any corrupt animation data that exists during this frame range where the corruption is detected will not play. MAXX-45120
  • Fixed an issue where the Paste Controller as Instanced failed with a parameter block entry that already had a controller MAXX-73503
  • Resolved an issue with the Copy / Paste functionality found in Biped when pasting data between Xtra bones where the "Paste" and "Paste Opposite" data was not properly interpolated against the existing keys, causing a "spike" or "noise" in the animation curve. This problem would persist until the scene was reloaded, impacting workflow and productivity. Now when Pasting a Pose to Xtra Bones the animation data interpolation is properly updated, and these distortions to the animation curve between existing keyframes and the newly pasted keyframe no longer occurs. MAXX-72294
  • Resolved an issue where the Mini Curve Editor can grow slightly taller each time it is opened and closed in the 3ds Max session. MAXX-72606
  • Resolved an issue where information contained in the CAT Layer Manager list view UI would appear squished together making the information difficult to read when viewed on screen resolutions higher than 1080HD (and especially difficult to read on a 4k monitor). This UI fix should also resolve other similar listview UI rollout squished display information found in older components of 3ds Max. MAXX-73761
  • We have reduce scene file size bloat that some customers were encountering. With 3ds Max 2024.2 we have added code to:
  • Remove duplicate note track keys in a note track when loading and saving.
  • Remove note tracks that contain no, or only garbage, note track keys when loading.
  • Ensure all note tracks are removed from the scene when doing a file reset, file load, file new.
  • MAXX-73151:
  • On scene file open/merge, Anim Layers that contain no layer controllers are now deleted. This will eliminate the possibility of a large number of Anim Layers accumulating in Track View under the Anim Layer Control Manager track, and as such will also help to further reduce unnecessary file bloat that some customers were experiencing. MAXX-73184
  • CivilView:
  • CivilView Signs are now created with correct size MAXX-70083
  • CivilView - Fix .NET runtime exception when importing traffic simulation .FZP file. MAXX-69521
  • CivilView traffic simulation (FZP) can now import PTV Vissim V11 files. MAXX-62435
  • ColorManagement:
  • Predefined palette colors are considered as sRGB. Under OCIO mode, colors should not show the warning when opened in the Color Picker. MAXX-74561
  • When changing Color Management modes, rules are applied automatically to existing bitmaps in SME. MAXX-71390
  • Fixed a crash that would happen when closing an open Bitmap View after changing color management modes and after reloading scene file. MAXX-74321
  • Most of the legacy components that drove color swatches and color pickers through 8-bit functions are updated to use floating point functions so that color fidelity is preserved during the roundtrip and thus color picker erratic behaviors are eliminated. MAXX-74572
  • Some legacy components were driving the color swatches and color pickers through legacy 8-bit functions and this was causing color degradation and picker stability issues. Now colors retain their fidelity between the components and the the color picker.
  • Color picker HSV sliders are now more stable during transient ambiguous colors (such as hue collapse when color is set to black). MAXX-74544
  • Fixed an issue with Color Picker sliders jumping around when using Legacy maps. MAXX-74329
  • Bitmaps saved with PNG extension accept Gamma Override values between 0.2 and 5.0. MAXX-59045
  • Bitmaps in Unmanaged mode now show as "Color Mgmt: OFF" MAXX-73226
  • OCIO Custom File>Lock status is kept after Re-Initialized. It can be changed only through Maxscript. MAXX-72025
  • Fixed minor issues with the mouse cursor appearance in Preferences>Color Management UI. MAXX-70814
  • The Display and View Transform settings applied by the user in the Color Management OCIO modes are now saved with the scene file and do not reset to the default "Automatic" setting when the scene is reloaded. MAXX-73496
  • Core:
  • Added code to detect when a too long filename (>= 260 characters) is specified in file open/save dialogs, and display a warning dialog. MAXX-72462
  • Fixed Undo Stack text for Recursively Opening Group MAXX-74606
  • Added core exported methods: EnableDisableRefMsgsOverride(), DisableDisableRefMsgsOverride(), IsForceDisableAllMsgsOverriden(). This allows override of DisableRefMsgs().
  • MAXX-74591
  • Fixed crash when Detaching group nodes when list of nodes to detach include all the nodes in a group plus their group head. MAXX-74245
  • Fixed issues with Shift+Move cloning of nodes when selected nodes had unselected targets, and more than one copy was being made. MAXX-73123
  • Fix crash when opening/saving file in folder with long name (260+ characters). MAXX-73371
  • Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would become semi-transparent when moved around.
  • MAXX-71341
  • Fix Viewport statistics in edge case when have spline with no vertices. MAXX-73784
  • Added menu item Options / Check Network Paths to Asset Tracking dialog. By default, existence test of assets on networks paths is not tested. Turning this option one causes them to be tested. MAXX-61269
  • Resolved situations where a docked SME would grab focus of the Alt key from the main UI preventing many common keyboard shortcuts from being available. Note that pressing the Alt key will no longer allow the user to access the SME menus when it is in a docked state. MAXX-73291
  • The filePostMerge3 file merge notification callback now returns the correct array of information instead of undefined. MAXX-74315
  • General performance improvement - A timer used to update the status of Container objects now performs any action only if Container objects exist. MAXX-75335
  • Improved performance of MassFX post-load callback scripts to be significantly faster when loading scene with lots of nodes and modifiers. MAXX-58518
  • Multi-resolution icons are now loaded from app plugin folders via packageContents.xml. MAXX-73687
  • FBX:
  • Improved FBX import performance during envelopes import stage. MAXX-69305
  • Fixed a crash when undo after an FBX import. MAXX-59139
  • Fixed a crash in FBX import due to outdated reference. MAXX-72117
  • FileIO:
  • Fixed issue where textures are lost while exporting obj file if the assigned physical material is nested in Multi/Sub Object material. MAXX-73686
  • MAXScript:
  • Unrecognized keyword parameters in rcmenu, mouse tool, macroScript, scripted plugin, and scripted custom attribute definitions now output a '-- Compile Warning:' message to listener rather than throw a compile error exception. MAXX-74772
  • Exposed maxops.GlobalScaleTime function to scale time in the same manner as is done via 'Re-scale Time' in Time Configuration dialog.
  • Added == and != support for MAXScript Interval values. MAXX-74879
  • MAXScript methods resetMaxFile, importFile and exportFile now accept, in addition to existing #noprompt argument, keyword argument quiet: MAXX-74651
  • MAXScript .mse can be deleted while it is open. MAXX-73510
  • MaterialEditors:
  • Fixed DEL key behavior when SME is open. MAXX-71644
  • Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would not update if a reference message is sent in a preRenderEval callback during rendering. MAXX-75421
  • SME: Pick from Object tool is not active if selected and SME is then closed. MAXX-74225
  • Nodes in SME with a single input handle will not show a second handle when trying to connect a wire in a collapsed state. MAXX-75089
  • When a node is selected in the Preview list and is deleted, the Preview list will now update to another node and show it in the Preview as expected. When the Preview is set to Follow Current Selection, when the node is deleted, nothing is displayed in the Preview as there is no current selection anymore. MAXX-75035
  • Added support to drag & drop a Compound node into a Material Library. MAXX-74909
  • Restored the tooltips on buttons in SME when the focus is on the material editor window. MAXX-67983
  • Fixed orphan connections in SME when Hide Child Tree is used on a node that has a connected node shared with another one. MAXX-71533
  • Follow Current Selection option in material Preview Window is now more robust and is sticky when switching View tabs or working with nodes in SME. MAXX-74881
  • In SME fixed Material Preview>Follow Current Selection behavior: the preview shows the currently selected material. MAXX-68014
  • Fixed an issue where Maxscript could not get material from selected when SME is open. MAXX-74330
  • Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would not open with the correct View tab displayed after scene load. MAXX-73959
  • Fixed the SME>Show Shaded/Realistic Material in Viewport button functionality.
  • New nodes should respect the hide-unused preference that can be toggled by the toolbar button with no node selected. MAXX-73335
  • When the Thumbnail cache is deleted, there will not be any cache stored left and consumed by Compound nodes. MAXX-73141
  • Modeling:
  • Resolved an issue where the soft-selection of an Edit Spline was not always properly passed up the modifier stack. MAXX-75279
  • Fixed an edge case issue with memory access when using the Boolean Modifier that could result in 3ds Max crashing to desktop but not generating a CER. MAXX-75328
  • Resolve a crash that could occur with the Boolean Modifier when attempting to use the Mirror tool on the Boolean modified object. MAXX-73486
  • When cloning an object using Edit > Clone (CTRL+V) 3ds Max will now properly preserve the state of the "Display as Box" object attribute that the user had set on their source object, to the newly cloned result. MAXX-72312
  • We have resolved an issue where Fluid Simulations that are driven by an animated mesh were not properly storing the Motion Fields in the output Fluid simulation mesh data. This fix resolves an issue that was introduced in 3ds Max 2024.0. MAXX-75282
  • Resolved a crash that could occur when moving a modifier that exists below the Boolean modifier on an operand so that it is now above the Boolean modifier by creating an invalid history. When this occurs the modifier that has been moved will become invalid and not apply because it holds invalid data. MAXX-74218
  • Fixed an issue with the Push modifier where it was not updating the state of the polygonal normals after the modifier was first applied, resulting in an output that could be visually wrong or incorrect. MAXX-74915
  • Resolved an issue where the Poly Select modifier was enabling the edge selection that it contained to be passed into the Boolean Modifier (which selects edges based on the intersecting edges of the boolean operation results), resulting in an incorrect edge selection result. MAXX-71799
  • Resolved an issue where UV data on some operands could become reset or altered after cloning the Boolean Modified object. MAXX-74543
  • The artist will now get the result that they expect when using the "Cut" and "Paste" or "Paste to new Boolean Modifier" functionality found in the Boolean Modifier when working with operands in the Operation List. MAXX-74174
  • Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where some types of degenerate geometry were not being fully caught and repaired and as a result could cause a crash of 3ds Max. MAXX-73764
  • Improved the results that the Boolean Modifier's Subtraction operation can give when attempting to cut a very thin strip of geometry away from an object that doesn't have enough support geometry. MAXX-74057
  • Resolved an issue with the Array Modifier where changes to the location of the Pivot Point were not being reflected until the scene was reloaded. The Array Modifier will now properly update to reflect changes to the location of the Pivot Point when the changes are made. MAXX-74364
  • Operands that are brought into the Boolean Modifier will now have their pivot data properly maintained. Now when the artist selects the operand in the Boolean Modifier's Operands List, they can manipulate the operand object with the pivot located at the same location that it was on the object before it was added to the Boolean modifier. This will greatly help improve manipulation of operands. MAXX-70048
  • Fixed a crash that could occur when using the Intersect operation of a Shape Boolean compound object where the operand spline shape contains a spline element with no knots. When a spline shape or element with no knots is now encountered with the Shape Boolean compound object, these spline shapes will now be excluded from the boolean actions. MAXX-74259
  • Resolved an issue with the Data Channel modifiers Smooth operator that could cause a crash. MAXX-65567
  • Resolved a crash that could occur when using the Boolean Modifiers subtract operation utilizing multiple operands and the faces of these operands are perfectly coplanar to one another. MAXX-68015
  • Resolved an issue where entering into a Sub Object component level of one of the Boolean Modifier operands and using Show End Result could generate "Non Watertight Geometry" errors with the Boolean Modifier which would affect the boolean output in an unintended way. MAXX-73983
  • Resolved an issue with the Array Modifiers "First Middle Last" type where it required a minimum of 4 elements to operate. This has since been resolved so that it requires a minimum of 3 elements to operate (a first, a middle, and a last). MAXX-73511
  • Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where the objects Material IDs would be shifted to ID 1 if the object had no material assigned to it. MAXX-74061
  • Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where undoing all of its actions, removing operands, and restoring the modifier back to its initial state before anything was added didn't result in the mesh visually representing the data that was passed up the stack to the modifier. MAXX-73298
  • Fixed an issue where the MaterialIDs on the Boolean Modifier output would change when the artist had "Use Material" disabled MAXX-73719
  • Fixed a crash that could occur with the Collapse Utility MAXX-73939
  • Fixed a crash that might occur with the Boolean Modifier when using a folder with multiple operands, and the operation type of the folder is set to Split. MAXX-73368
  • Hollow shapes produced by a modifier such as Shell, will remain hollow when remeshed through the Boolean Modifiers OpenVDB method. Enabling the expected results from OpenVDB based Union, Subtraction, or Intersection operations. MAXX-73297
  • Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where when using OpenVDB as the boolean meshing option, the animated parameters contained on an Operand were not being properly used to drive the boolean results as frames change. Now when using OpenVDB with the Boolean modifier, animated parameters affect the result as expected. MAXX-73675
  • Resolved an issue where shading artifacts could occur when performing a non-uniform scale with Smart Extrude on an Editable Poly object. MAXX-73470
  • Resolved a crash that could occur with the Optimize Modifier when it attempts to perform its operations to horribly malformed mesh data. When this error is encountered Optimize will now fail to process. MAXX-73198
  • Fixed a problem with the Symmetry modifier when working with data from older 3ds Max scenes (2021 or earlier) where the Modifier was not correctly utilizing the same specific version of the Symmetry code when the object was cloned in a newer copy of 3ds max. This would result in the vertex IDs of the cloned object changing and affecting Modifiers high in the stack (i.e. Edit Poly), making the cloned results look distorted. MAXX-72538
  • Resolved an issue with the Physical Camera where it was not updating the validity properly when only the Zoom is animated and Specify FOV is unchecked. MAXX-73447
  • Fixed an issue where you could not search the modifier list if you were using a Line base object. MAXX-75271
  • Python:
  • Fixed an infinite loop in pymxs. MAXX-73737
  • The state of the "Set Key" button (grey/red) reacts to changes of key mode triggered by pymxs script. MAXX-73689
  • Rendering:
  • Fixed the crash produced when loading a Render Preset with empty Layers. MAXX-75317
  • Right-click on the FOV icon opens the Active Viewport Preferences tab, where the Perspective Field of View setting is exposed. MAXX-67883
  • Fixed a crash that could have occurred while loading custom OSL files. MAXX-68284
  • Fixed Color Picker lag that could occur when the OCIO config file has a large LUT for the default display/view transform. MAXX-74155
  • Scanline>Raytrace Message checkbox remains OFF when importing objects from scenes having this checkbox ON. MAXX-72623
  • Fixed a random crash produced when using OSL maps. MAXX-68224
  • SDK:
  • acap.lib is now distributed as part of maxsdk. MAXX-73907
  • UVW:
  • Corrected an issue where UVs generated with an Unfold3D Peel or Reset Peel could appear distorted in the Edit UV window and were unable to be further modified/edited, but the UVs were actually correct on the geometry and display properly in the viewport. This Edit UV display issue was specifically caused by how selection data was passed up the stack to the Unwrap UVW modifier, through Unfold3D Peel or Pack, and then back to the Edit UV window; and would resolve itself when the user either reloaded the scene or applied a new Unwrap UVW modifier. MAXX-75471
  • Resolved an issue where in rare circumstances, UV data from older 3ds Max scenes would no longer match the data that exists in the Unwrap UVW modifier, which could cause a crash when attempting to perform various actions within the Edit UV window. MAXX-72933
  • Resolved an issue with malformed UV data that could cause Unwrap UVW modifier to crash 3ds Max when using the Unfold3d methods for Peel, Pack, or Relax. MAXX-70774
  • Fixed a crash that can occur with the LSCM version of Quick Peel due to a mismatch of the data found in the geometry and in UV data MAXX-74104
  • Fixed an issue where Unwrap UVW was crashing on File > Reset when the scene contains mesh geometry with some malformed data. MAXX-73465
  • ViewportTransfer:
  • Fixed issue where Quicksilver would render images without lighting and shadows. MAXX-71316

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.1 (May 18, 2023)

  • 2024.1 Update:
  • Updates to the Boolean Modifier
  • Assign Defaults
  • Enhancements to the Copy and Paste Animation Data Commands
  • Array Modifier Improvements
  • Spline Improvements
  • VertexPaint Enhancements
  • FFD Performance Improvements
  • Color Management Updates
  • USD (Public Beta) Enhancements
  • MaxtoA 5.6.2.0

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2024 (Apr 2, 2023)

  • 2024 Update:
  • Boolean Modifier
  • Array Modifier
  • Robust Modeling Tools
  • Color Management
  • Material Switcher
  • Interactive Rendering Tools
  • USD in 3ds Max (Public Beta)
  • Enhanced Animation Capabilities
  • Artist-friendly Updates

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2023 (Mar 31, 2022)

  • Retopology Pre-processing:
  • Handle larger amounts of data with less setup and preparation by enabling the Remesh option as a pre-processing step.
  • Retopology Data Propagation:
  • Use the display mode pull-down menu to view the input and output mesh results of the retopology action.
  • Snap Working Pivot:
  • Introducing a new way to modify your Working Pivot.
  • Autobackup Toolbar:
  • A new Autobackup toolbar has been added to the default user interface in 3ds Max.
  • glTF Material & Exporter:
  • Use glTF materials and export your 3ds Max files as compact .gltf or .glb files.
  • Physical Material Aligned with Autodesk Standard Surface:
  • A new mode has been introduced to the Physical Material called Autodesk Standard Surface Compliant.
  • Arnold Renderer - MAXtoA:
  • 3ds Max 2023 includes MAXtoA 5.1.0 which introduces new features, bug fixes, performance optimizations, and production improvements.
  • Smart Extrude:
  • Smart Extrude allows for a partial cut-through on an Editable Poly object.
  • What else is new?
  • Occlude Selection Improvements: Occlude Selection is now three times faster than before. In addition, its accuracy is also greatly improved, especially when using various marquee-style selections, such as rectangle, circle, and freeform.
  • Unwrap UVW Keyboard Shortcuts: New user-requested keyboard shortcuts for the Unwrap UVW modifier were added to 3ds Max for 2023. They include shortcuts for Stitch, Pack, Grow, Shrink, and much more. Please see the Keyboard Shortcut Table for a full list of the new Unwrap UVW keyboard shortcuts.
  • Compressed Scene File Save Performance: For many releases, 3ds Max's ability to compress scene files while saving has been freeing up storage space for our users. In 3ds Max 2023, compress scene file on save has been optimized to be almost two-times faster than before thanks to a new archiving library, multithreading, and other optimizations.
  • Active Manipulator: Users can now only display the manipulators for the active level of the modifier stack that the user is on (instead of displaying all possible manipulators). Please see the Gizmos Preferences for more details.
  • Per-Viewport Filtering - Multi-Select: Users can now work with the same style of multi-select options they use in 3ds Max to interact with the Per-Viewport Filtering dialog. This includes using Shift to multi-select in a sequence, and Ctrl to multi-select one-by-one.
  • Safe Scene Script Execution (SSSE) for Scene Script Assets: 3ds Max's SSSE feature has been extended to ensure that execution of unsafe scripted commands found in Script File Assets, such as pre and post render scripts, is blocked by default.
  • On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports: 3ds Max now includes a new On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports, letting you install the Revit Interoperability and Inventor Interoperability components only when you need them, instead of during product installation. For more information, see On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports.
  • Python 3.9.7 Update: 3ds Max ships with the visual effects platform-recommended Python 3.9.7. Python 3.9.7 boasts performance improvements, new string functions, and improved quality that will aid Technical Directors and pipeline integration.
  • Support for Visual Studio 2019: 3ds Max 2023 supports Visual Studio 2019, enabling the software and all third-party plug-in developers to benefit from compiler optimizations and run-time improvements.
  • What's Fixed in 3ds Max 2023:
  • Animation:
  • TCB Rotation Controller default WindUp setting now honors setting in Preferences. MAXX-55303
  • Fixed corruption of Animation Layers when an object having an animation layer is deleted from the scene. MAXX-62692
  • Fixed issue where user could not add Tracks to Track Sets. MAXX-60667
  • Fixed crash that could occur when loading CAT objects and object xrefs, saving scene, and then loading the scene. MAXX-65214
  • Resolved an issue where a scene could have a bone that influences the same vertex more than once, this could have a negative affect on performance. When this issue is encountered in 3ds Max, the influences for duplicates bones on a single vertex are combined into one single entry for that bone. MAXX-66795
  • Anim Layers were not being removed when the the controlling node was deleted. Now when a node is deleted any anim layers referencing that node are also deleted. Also on file open/merge anim layers that are orphaned are deleted. MAXX-62018
  • Core:
  • Fix for MAXScript garbage collection sometimes setting Scene Save Required flag. MAXX-64417
  • The following operations now flag a scene as dirty:
  • Enabling a modifier.
  • Disabling a modifier.
  • Disabling a modifier in the viewport.
  • Disabling a modifier in renders. MAXX-65587
  • Fixed issues with export dialog toggling scene dirty state in Autobackup toolbar. MAXX-64959
  • Fixed situations where 3ds Max signaled that the scene has been changed and so Autobackup was required. Now this happens less frequently. MAXX-64165
  • Fixed issue with temporary .sv$ file not being deleted if cancel out of an Autobackup save. MAXX-65606
  • The pluginManager.pluginDllDirectory MAXScript function has been fixed to return only the directory of the specified plugin, instead of the full path (directory and filename). MAXX-44678
  • Opening the Render To Texture dialog no longer flags the scene as dirty. MAXX-64969
  • The Welcome Screen can now be dismissed the very first time it opens on 3ds Max launch. MAXX-66113
  • Fixed crash when rescaling the EggShape object MAXX-65278
  • Fixed issue with xref objects where plugin for xref'ed object is missing, and object version is different in master and xref'ed file. MAXX-59365
  • Fixed issue that when merging scene files saved prior to 3ds Max 2015, the scene node layers were not being added to Layer Manager. MAXX-64755
  • If set node's base object via maxscript, do not reset Create panel or Modify panel unless node in that panel is the node whose base object is being changed. MAXX-64202
  • On scene file load / merge, clean up node layers that exist but are not in Layer Manager. If the orphaned layer has the name "0" and has no parent layer, the nodes in that layer are moved to the layer "0" held by Layer Manager. For other orphaned layers, the layer name is prepended with "Recovered " and added to Layer Manager. Additional '_' may be prepended to name to make layer name unique. MAXX-64807
  • Fixed an issue that caused the log-file longevity settings to not be loaded from 3dsmax.ini when 3ds Max was launched. MAXX-63697
  • When merging XRef objects in the scene, custom attributes are now properly cloned on merged objects. MAXX-59971
  • Fixed an issue that caused log entries to be missing from Max.log and from the session log file when more than one instance of 3ds Max was running at the same. MAXX-63493
  • Fixed handling of parameters in ParamBlock2 that were previously flagged as containing external file assets, but now are not flagged as such. MAXX-57392
  • Fixed issue with enabling 'Pick Material from Object' in Material Editor, starting a new action such as Animation Playback, exiting Material Editor. and then exiting that new action. MAXX-42165
  • Removed the "Civil View Plugins" entry from plugin.ini, since that plugin package is now a 3ds Max component. MAXX-62902
  • Fixed a crash related to the undo system by not allowing the undo stack to be flushed while in the middle of undo operations MAXX-63301
  • Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs MAXX-63337
  • Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs MAXX-58810
  • Fixed bug that caused MAXScript errors to be displayed when Pop-up Notes were read, deleted or suppressed. MAXX-60380
  • Fixed SME node parameters not being exposed in Trackview. MAXX-63076
  • Used float version of functions to remove warning messages indicating the possible loss of data due to a conversion from double to float when compiling the headers. Updated the relative path of includes of certain files to remove errors. MAXX-64954
  • Fixed a problem where Interface8::RevealInExplorer() called with a path to a folder would open Windows Explorer in the parent folder instead of the folder itself. MAXX-66018
  • Fixed an issue that caused INI files included in the plugin.ini file to be added to the Plugin.UserSettings.ini file when 3ds Max was launched. MAXX-64644
  • FBX:
  • FBX import support for vertex colors from some 3rd party applications is now working as expected. MAXX-50829
  • File IO:
  • Removed the "Save to Previous" setting in Containers Preferences settings because it was related to versions of 3ds Max that are outside of our supported releases. MAXX-11634
  • Fixed 3ds Max crash while performing XRef Object update when only reference to the XRef Material is SME. MAXX-66497
  • Removed the "Save to Previous" setting in Containers Preferences settings because it was related to versions of 3ds Max that are outside of our supported releases. MAXX-58118
  • Fixed not being able to do Drag and Drop of scene file onto 3ds Max if scene file size was greater than 2 GB. MAXX-37539
  • Add protection against attempting to save scene file while already saving scene file. MAXX-66483
  • Improved scene file load performance of Scene Converter when file contains large number of missing plugin instances. MAXX-58781
  • When in non-interactive mode (3dsmaxbatch.exe or 3dsmaxcmd.exe), the quiet mode cannot be overwritten through the quite parameter for some Maxscript commands such as loadMaxFile. MAXX-58790
  • Improved scene load performance when a large number of animation clips are present in scene. MAXX-62499
  • Interop:
  • ATF SketchUp import now correctly handles cut-out maps. MAXX-60140
  • Fixed a crash when importing a large JT model. MAXX-62009
  • MAXScript:
  • Fixed issue accessing xref scene in #sceneXrefPreMerge callback gives access violation.
  • Fixed issue where could not specify subAnim keyword argument for type paramBlock2 parameters in scripted plugins. MAXX-65971
  • Scripted plugins now forward any REFMSG_CHANGE notification as REFMSG_CHANGE / PART_ALL. This fixes issues such as in some cases not invalidating the instance if the instance holds a NoteTransformMonitor in a parameter and the monitored node is moved. MAXX-66665
  • Fixed argument count checks for MAXScript functions getSubTexmapSlotName, getSubMtlSlotName, getClassName, and getObjectName to allow localizedName: keyword argument to be specified. MAXX-66572
  • Removed obsolete rc2mxs.ms example script file. MAXX-62644
  • Fixed capture of scripted custom attribute definitions when the definition contained a resource id (RESID) whose value consisted of multiple tokens, such as a point3 literal ([1,2,3]). MAXX-66051
  • Fixed validation of Function Publishing System parameter values for TYPE_ANGLE and TYPE_WORLD, TYPE_PCNT_FRAC, TYPE_WORLD, and TYPE_COLOR_CHANNEL parameters. MAXX-66899
  • Fixed an issue where persistent.isPersistent would always return false when passing variable names as a string. MAXX-65995
  • Fixed a bug where calling getMaxSaveFileName with an existing directory would cause an error. MAXX-65996
  • Corrected the Macro Recorder output associated with selecting subobject elements in an Editable Mesh. MAXX-51224
  • The quiet parameter available in several MAXScript commands cannot overwrite the quiet mode that defines 3ds Max in non-interactive mode such as batch (3dsmaxbatch.exe) or command line rendering (3dsmaxcmd.exe). MAXX-65066
  • The mouseTrack MAXScript function used to not detect left clicks when the construction plane and the view were orthogonal. We have changed that behavior to the following:
  • If the "on:" keyword argument is specified, all forms of input (left clicks, right clicks, left click drags and mouse moves) are always detected, even if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal.
  • If the "on" keyword argument isn't specified, all forms of input except right clicks are ignored if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal. Right clicks are still detected because they are commonly used to exit the mouse tracking mode.
  • We implemented the behavior described above because if a node isn't supplied to the mouseTrack MAXScript function using the "on:" keyword argument and the construction plane is orthogonal to view, it doesn't really make sense to process any mouse events because rays casted from the mouse position will never intersect the construction plane. MAXX-63450
  • Fixed an issue that caused the getINISetting MAXScript function to change the encoding of the files it read to UTF-16 LE with BOM. Now the original encoding of files is always preserved when they are read using getINISetting. MAXX-62470
  • Fixed a bug that caused certain functions of the ATSOps MAXScript interface to only work after the ATS window had been opened. MAXX-61426
  • Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to not start when a menu item or tooltip with certain characters was added to its UI. MAXX-60901
  • Add argument count checks to the setVertSelection, setEdgeSelection and setFaceSelection MAXScript functions so that users see appropriate errors when they call those functions without the correct number of arguments. MAXX-62208
  • Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to crash when a scripted plugin declared a parameter block with the type:#class option before any other parameter blocks. MAXX-61180
  • SaveNodes now returns a boolean value as documented. MAXX-64000
  • Fixed issue in MAXScript Debugger where if a temporary hang occurred while printing out the MAXScript stack variables, a crash would occur. MAXX-63453
  • Fixed issues related to cloning of script editor tabs in MAXScript editor. MAXX-53004
  • Fix crash that occurred when a MAXScript exception was thrown while a rollout was being added to the modifier panel. MAXX-61909
  • Fixed bug that caused the vertex, edge and face selection MAXScript functions to fail when working with scripted modifiers. MAXX-62573
  • Fixed issue introduced in 3ds Max 2022 where strings used as initialization values for structures, scripted plugins and scripted rollouts were not properly handled, resulting in code that could change the content of the actual string literal. MAXX-63459
  • Fixed issue with MAXScript Debugger dialog appearing on Alt-Tab dialog on 3ds Max startup when dialog is not open. MAXX-58148
  • Fixed access violation in MAXScript WM3_SwapMorph function when not holding. MAXX-66768
  • MCG:
  • Added additional .net types to allowed list of types that can be created by embedded scripts. This included adding Autodesk.Max.MaxPlus.Box3, which is used by MCG modifiers. MAXX-66309
  • Material Editors:
  • Fixed Mxs exception when using Physical Material>Hotdog Bun Preset MAXX-64445
  • Fixed possible freeze with long shader tree can when right-clicking on the material in SME. MAXX-64606
  • Searching using partial material's names in SME views enabled. MAXX-56947
  • Fixed missing indication in the material preview when it's applied to a selected object or selection of objects. MAXX-64116
  • Create Physical Mtl when new materials are added in the Multi-Materials MAXX-49844
  • Fixed a crash in Scene Material Editor when resetting scene after exporting to Alembic. MAXX-57429
  • Improved the performance of the selection of objects in the viewport with SME opened. MAXX-51872
  • Modeling:
  • When adjusting a Vertex Color or Alpha of a geometric vertex, it was possible to have other vertices on your mesh change as well due to the way Vertex Color, Alpha, Illumination and UVWs can share common UVWs. Now when you have geometric vertices that share a UVW, 3ds Max looks for shared UVWs between selected and non-selected vertices and if it detects them, it splits them, preventing other vertices from being affected by your changes. MAXX-63723
  • Occlude Selection in 3ds Max's Editable Poly and Edit Poly modifier has been improved so that it no longer dependent upon on the pixels in the viewport to base its raycasting component selection upon. This improvement will now help ensure that the occluded component selection that is made has the same level of accuracy regardless of how close the object is from the camera/view. MAXX-66052
  • When using the attach function in Mesh or Poly (or through MaxScript) the transform offset is now properly applied to the normals of the target object as well. MAXX-65878
  • Corrected an issue with the Normalize Spline modifier where it could crash 3ds Max when adjusting the Segment Length value on Spline object with multiple sub-spline shapes and one of the sub-spline shapes is empty. MAXX-66631
  • Resolved an issue where performing a Smart Extrude action on a very thin, but also very long, face could generate an unwanted geometry result, such as a bow-tie, or the normals being flipped. MAXX-65406
  • Corrected an issues where it was possible for deforming World Space Modifiers (such as FFD and Noise) could crash 3ds Max when applied over top of modifiers that compute explicit normals (such as Edit Normals or Weighted Normals) MAXX-66064
  • Various enhancements have been made to Selection Occlude found in Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier to make the selection results that it provides more accurate and up to 4x faster, even when applied to very dense meshes of over 1 million triangles. MAXX-65988
  • Resolved an issue with the Symmetry and Slice modifiers where assigning a reference object through Maxscript could crash the application. MAXX-63976
  • Resolved an issue where some edges on primitive and extended objects, as well as splines, might not display properly in the viewport. MAXX-65661
  • Manipulate mode in 3ds Max now remains active as you navigate the object's modifier stack or select other objects in your scene. MAXX-66459
  • The XForm modifier is now versioned to enable it to provide the same level of visual consistency when loading older 3ds Max scenes. When opening older 3ds Max scenes (scenes from 3ds Max 2020 or earlier) the XForm modifier will default the "Perserve Normals" option to be OFF, enabling the scenes to be consistent with how the modifier previously operated.
  • MAXX-66060
  • When copy and pasting the Push modifier from one object in your scene to another, in some rare occurrences the pasted Push modifier could cause a distortion on the target object. This problem was caused by a caching mechanism that is now cleared when the modifier is applied to a new object in your scene. MAXX-61394
  • When using Maxscript to reverse the spline knots, a new boolean keword argument has been added to the command to specify whether to "keep first knot". Reversing the spline and making the first knot the last knot in the result and vice-versa. Omitting the argument uses the legacy behavior, which preserves compatibility of pre-existing scripts.
  • reverse <node> <spline index> [keepFirst] MAXX-64768
  • Exposed the maxscript packing command for the Unwrap UVW modifier so that Unfold3D can be called.
  • modifiers[1].pack 3 0.001 true false false MAXX-64766
  • Corrected an issue where Occlude selection mode on an Edit Poly or Editable Poly based object was not working properly on a Polygon level component. MAXX-64186
  • Improved Smart Extrude processing to cut through polys and ngons that are highly non-planar and produce the desired results that the user was seeking from the operation. MAXX-64939
  • Corrected an issue with Smart Extrude where on some models with explicit normals the stitched overlap results were not cleaned up properly. MAXX-64828
  • The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span. MAXX-65019
  • Slice Along Mirror Threshold value increases/decreases at an expected amount when using the up/down arrows associated with the spinner. MAXX-65043
  • The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span. MAXX-63019
  • Using Occlude selection on Edge and Poly component in Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier will now work properly with selection methods types such as rectangular, circle, crossing, fence, and lasso in the Perspective or Camera view. MAXX-63598
  • When performing a Smart Extrude it was possible to select apply the extrude to an entire poly Element which would cause 3ds Max to crash. Smart Extrude has been updated so that if all of the faces of the Element are Smart Extruding, the Element will only move, no Union or Subtraction will take place. MAXX-65664
  • Resolved an issue where Unfold3D Peel could crash when you were attempting to process an object that has no geometry data for which it can generate Texture Vertex information from. MAXX-65295
  • Chamfer has been updated to resolve an issue where non-uniform "spur" type distortions were being generated from non-collinear chamfered edges. The user should now see the corrected weighted output that matches their input edge alignment. MAXX-64965
  • Resolved a crash that could occur when drawing a Freehand Spline with "Enable in Viewport" viewport rendering active, while simultaneously also having the Macro Recorder active. MAXX-65398
  • When performing a Smart Extrude operation, the Smart Extrude code has been enhanced to produce more accurate results that might occur from numerical precision on overlapping faces. MAXX-63713
  • Symmetry now performs a check for non-manifold edges and vertices. It will attempt to clean incorrect mesh data when these errors are found. This will help resolve issues with vertices being accidently welded to other vertices on other elements after using Symmetry. MAXX-63386
  • Resolved an issue where users were not able to save Presets for various tools in 3ds Max (i.e. Fluids Solver, Fluids Meshing, Chamfer, TextPlus Bevel Profile/Bevel Profile modifier) that they could then later load and apply. MAXX-63717
  • Resolved a crash issue that occurs when the user is attempting to lock a modifier variable in the Curve Editor on an object that is a part of a Container. MAXX-63568
  • Resolved an issue with the Symmetry modifier where it would merge vertices there were in close proximity to one another together before stitching the mirror results together. MAXX-64434
  • Improved stability of the OpenSubDiv Modifier when it is applied to an object where no map channels are defined. MAXX-64433
  • A Helix Spline Object with a "Renderable" option will display properly once again in the Viewport when a Smooth Modifier is applied above the spline object on the Modifier Stack. MAXX-64187
  • Improved Smart Extrude stability when quickly moving the results back and forth before committing to a final position. MAXX-64121
  • The Symmetry modifier’s welding algorithms have been updated to provide even more predictable results by finding matching pair vertices on the mirrored surface. The tolerance threshold now enables welding to solve across open gaps along the symmetry line. These enhancements will make symmetry operations faster and more accurate than before, even on open surface models. MAXX-63866
  • Brush pressure from pen tablet input devices is now properly captured by 3ds Max and can be utilized once again in various tools/functions within the application that supports this functionality.
  • 3ds Max will now also support the full range of pressure sensitivity that is offered by the pen tablet device by checking with the Wintab32.dll on your local Windows system.
  • For best results, users are recommended to turn off Windows Ink when using 3ds Max. MAXX-59353
  • Improved stability when using Save to Previous to save your scene data to an older 3ds Max file format. This issue would occur when you are saving an Edit Poly Modifiers Smart Extrude actions that are not supported in that previous version of 3ds Max. MAXX-63896
  • When applying the Smooth modifier to a Mesh or Poly based object, the modifier will now clear all explicit normals and smoothing groups that are stored on the object. This will make it easier for the user to temporarily disable explicit normals (for faster animation playback of deforming objects in the viewport) or to permanently clear the explicit normals or smoothing groups so that the user can apply new information. MAXX-62431
  • Improved the speed at which the Edit Poly modifier performs the Smart Extrude cut-through treatment introduced in 3ds Max 2022.0 MAXX-62286
  • Sub-object component selections are now also passed up the modifier stack to the Vertex Paint modifier and can now be utilized to mask where you can paint. Vertices of hidden faces are no longer selectable with your mouse, restoring functionality that was once found in the Vertex Paint modifier. MAXX-59741
  • Swift Loop will now work properly with faces and edges that are created/destroyed through various poly modeling operations by properly supporting the MN_Dead function of MNMesh, enabling Swift Loops to understand the mesh geometry data in it's current state and properly apply the Swift Loop where the user clicks. MAXX-63018
  • Fixed a crash error that would occur with the Slice modifier when attempting to animate or change the topology in the Mesh class object underneath the Slice modifier MAXX-62924
  • Weighted edges that are set as 0 in Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier Chamfer by weight will now produce proper results when using Chamfer and "By Weight". Any Chamfer modifier applied within 3ds Max 2022.1 Update will now utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering.
  • Scenes created prior to 3ds Max 2022.1 Update that want to utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering will need to use this MAXScript command to promote the previously applied Chamfer to the 3ds Max 2022.1 Update version:
  • modifiers[1]).SetVersion #VerLatest MAXX-62703
  • Improved Smart Extrude stability when performing Smart Extrude actions on a polygon that contains malformed normal data. MAXX-62458
  • When using the Vertex Paint modifier you can now properly use Zoom Extents Selected and have the viewport correctly orbit your selected vertex, edge, or face. MAXX-59859
  • Resolve a crash that can occur with Weighted Normals when dealing with badly-formed, but not invalid mesh data (such as a pair of consecutive edges on a face). MAXX-62312
  • When working on a Poly object through Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier, the Target Weld and Bridge tools will now work better with Ignore Backfacing and Ignore Occluded MAXX-61653
  • When using Delta Mush or Tension Deform from the Data Channel modifier, isolated vertices (floating vertices that are not connected to a polygon) will no longer cause the operation to crash. MAXX-62236
  • The bounding box for the TextPlus object will now be properly calculated when the TextPlus object is generated from a script. MAXX-62593
  • In very rare occurrences, when the Smart Extrude operations re-stitched the mesh to make it water tight, a spur edge could occur. Smart Extrudes processing has been improved to remove the possibility for this to occur. MAXX-63435
  • The user can now utilize the Right Mouse Button to cancel mouse driven actions such as those that enable the Smart Extrude and Cloning actions on component level selections within the Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier. MAXX-61989
  • Fluid Loader now properly contains Particle ID data, making it easier for systems to identify each unique bit of particle data that is contained in the Fluid Loader object. MAXX-62000
  • Resolved an issue where the Subdivide modifier was not correctly identifying if it was applied to one of the operands in a Boolean operation, and not the base Boolean Object, which would result in calculation errors with display of the operand parts it is applied to in the final output result or even possible instability. MAXX-63042
  • When using a Section shape, Move Transforms can be entered via a transform dialog. MAXX-62209
  • Modeling Performance:
  • Resolved a threading issue where it was possible for the mesh data of object primitives to not match with what was displayed in the viewport (such as missing edge loops). MAXX-62782
  • Resolve a stability issue when attempting to copy the Edit Normals modifier MAXX-57431
  • Improved the performance of the Noise map computed by removing its ability to become thread locked when computing its cache.
  • Improved the Path Deform modifier performance to make it benefit from the enhanced threading of Explicit Normals.
  • The speed at which 3ds Max internally converts mesh data to its internal GPU mesh format for rendering has been enhanced and should result in improved performance.
  • MAXX-62586
  • Improved threading method used by several 3ds Max modifiers for improved performance (between 2 to 4x) when dealing with explicit normals from Mesh or Poly data. Modifiers that use the new map method are Bend, Affect Region, Linked Xform, Xform, Mirror, Noise, Skew, Taper, Twist, Skin, FFD (all), Melt, Skinwrap Patch, Spherify, Stretch, Surf Wrap.
  • MAXScript options to turn off this optimization for Polys is "MeshInspector.UseOldDeformerThreading = true"
  • and for Mesh is "MeshPerformance.UseOldDeformerThreading = true" MAXX-58806
  • Python:
  • importing pymxs from the standalone python interpreter now fails gracefully instead of crashing. MAXX-66770
  • PYTHONPATH support was restored (removed in 2022.2_Update, back in 2023) MAXX-66955
  • The startup of the python interpreter in 3ds Max disconnected stderr and stdout, preventing scripts (maxscript or python) to write to stderr and stdout. This problem was fixed. MAXX-65285
  • Some PySide2 (for example PySide2.QWebSocket) modules could not be imported because the underlying Qt dlls needed by these python wrappers were not provided with 3ds Max. The Qt dlls needed by thy PySide2 modules are now packaged with 3ds Max. MAXX-63710
  • The python interpreter embedded in 3dsMax no longer uses PYTHON env vars (in a manner similar to the -E switch in command line python). MAXX-62248
  • Fixed the issue of 3ds Max failing to start if Unicode characters were present in the Python home path. MAXX-63475
  • It is now possible to execute pyc files in 3ds Max. MAXX-59646
  • Prevent Python object not properly reporting on their attributes availability from being (improperly) interpreted as probable pymxs/maxscript elements. This fixed a defect preventing to retrieve the perforce client from maxscript when connecting to perforce (using p4python). MAXX-62821
  • Fix comparison method of Maxscript booleans, floats, double, integers and strings with Python ones to avoid logging exceptions. MAXX-62658
  • Fixed a problem in python import that resulted sometimes in an incorrect error message being reported when import failed. MAXX-62564
  • Fixed a bug that prevented MAXScript from writing to the listener window when called from Python. MAXX-63391
  • RealTime Workflows:
  • The Rounded Corners bake map does not use the expected sampling parameters. MAXX-63885
  • Fixed the Bake to Textures ambient occlusion map name not recognized by the PBR importer by default, removed white spaces from map names. MAXX-64546
  • The Roughness Common map in Bake to Texture now uses a more appropriate render element in Arnold, resulting in more predictable results. MAXX-62387
  • Rendering:
  • Exported classIDs of a Physical Material to FBX are now correct. MAXX-57818
  • Fixed ghosting effect when rotating a scene with Point Cloud and keyframes MAXX-57880
  • Fixed crash with Edit Poly and OpenSubdiv in GPU mode. MAXX-61371
  • Improved loading performance when loading scenes with heavy shading trees. MAXX-58971
  • Fixed Targa file format slight noise in color when rendering or baking, MAXX-24695
  • Solved issue with .psd files locked in Photoshop. MAXX-61825
  • Only 1 click necessary to work with Render Setup properties if focus is elsewhere in Max. MAXX-59336
  • PBR Importer rules can now recognize spaces in texture names. MAXX-63382
  • Fixed incorrect text in the Render Preset Toolbar dropdown menu. MAXX-64432
  • Fixed Maxscript access to the active renderer tabs. MAXX-64428
  • Fixed issue with the Stereo Camera view menu. MAXX-65216
  • Art rendering times have been greatly reduced when using the Noise filter. MAXX-65280
  • Rendering Materials:
  • Removed "3D " from OSL:AdvancedWood preset's names. MAXX-65603
  • Fixed typo in OSL Curves map name. MAXX-59470
  • OSL Color Divide map now clamps colors as expected. MAXX-64787
  • Viewport background will now correctly display background color if Env/BG switcher without having to manipulate viewport. MAXX-55609
  • When saving scene file containing OSL textures, the associated .osl file is no longer flagged as an external file asset MAXX-56703
  • HDRI Lights helper objects can now be deleted and renamed as expected. MAXX-56639
  • Scene Converter:
  • Fixed Scene Converter>Apply only Selected Rules on Scene feature. MAXX-66457
  • Secure Configuration:
  • Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden Plugin Package locations. MAXX-65352
  • Fixed bugs that caused Game Exporter exports to fail silently and prevented it from finding automatically the FBX Review application if it's installed. MAXX-65000
  • Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden 3ds Max installation folders. MAXX-65292
  • Improve handling of short file names for MAXScript script security. MAXX-64762
  • UI:
  • Fixed not having access to modal dialog subrollouts. MAXX-64280
  • Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after cloning an object. MAXX-62494
  • Fixed 3ds Max freeze caused by being able to open multiple camera warning modal dialogs and other "hotkey" functionalities of modal dialogs. MAXX-64150
  • Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after loading a scene file. MAXX-64047
  • Render Setup dialog position not preserved between session. MAXX-61395
  • Fixed crash when hovering partially offscreen Qt UI elements with tooltips. MAXX-62641
  • Fixed command panel rollouts not expanding or retracting MAXX-63409
  • Preferences saving issue with V-Ray installed MAXX-63353
  • Fixed lagging orbit viewport refreshes with high polling gamming mouse. MAXX-64056
  • UVW:
  • Manipulation of UVs in the Edit UV window has been made more performant. This will greatly assist artists that are crafting unique UV layouts. MAXX-55812
  • When using Poly Mesh data with Unfold3D it was possible in rare circumstances that the UV information was incorrectly cleaned to make the data non-manifold, resulting in UV distortions. We have improved support for how Poly Meshes UV data is cleaned up to resolve this issue. MAXX-64961
  • Viewports:
  • Resolved an issue where the bounding box for Xform was always displaying in the viewport, even when the object it was applied to was not selected and it was not the active modifier on the stack. MAXX-56425
  • Fixed a possible crash using the Viewport menus. MAXX-66808
  • Fixed the viewport turning black during the program launch, reset, and loading of a scene. MAXX-66182
  • Fixed incorrect painting for new viewport layouts. MAXX-64882
  • Fixed incorrect paint of views when opening a scene with multiple layouts. MAXX-66855
  • Instances in the viewport can now be selected and have materials dragged and dropped onto them. MAXX-66222
  • Viewport Filtering icon is visible in Safe Frame mode. MAXX-66268
  • Children objects of a viewport filtered parent are selectable in the viewport. MAXX-66239
  • Fixed missing filtering on the group head or bone-only node. MAXX-67192
  • Steering Wheel is no longer clipped, displays correctly as expected. MAXX-65913
  • Menu spacing will no longer change if ActiveShade in viewport is running and another viewport is selected. MAXX-65326
  • Custom Background will now remain when clicking Home button in viewport. MAXX-57015
  • Track View and Scene Explorer will now continue to work as expected after another viewport has been maximized then minimized. MAXX-56643
  • Fixed possible clipping when using Zoom Extents Selected on a vertex MAXX-62276
  • Fixed: Viewport hangs when attaching a multi/sub material to a cached alembic MAXX-46271
  • Animation keeps playing while the view is moving/panning/orbiting. MAXX-63031
  • Fixed Perspective Match handles behavior. MAXX-63003
  • Fixed the save of sequences from Make Preview when Multi Pass is enabled. MAXX-53168
  • Viewports Materials:
  • Fixed Shape Display Mode for Arnold Procedural/Alembic/USD MAXX-62723
  • Objects no longer display as black if material is assigned via drag and drop, or the Assign to Object button in material editor. MAXX-56040
  • Color Management:
  • Fixed crash with malformed TGA map being used in OSL. MAXX-64855

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2022.3 (Feb 18, 2022)

  • Core:
  • On scene file load / merge, clean up node layers that exist but are not in Layer Manager. If the orphaned layer has the name "0" and has no parent layer, the nodes in that layer are moved to the layer "0" held by Layer Manager. For other orphaned layers, the layer name is prepended with "Recovered " and added to Layer Manager. Additional '_' may be prepended to name to make layer name unique. MAXX-64807
  • If set node's base object via maxscript, do not reset Create panel or Modify panel unless node in that panel is the node whose base object is being changed. MAXX-64202
  • Fixed issue that when merging scene files saved prior to 3ds Max 2015, the scene node layers were not being added to Layer Manager. MAXX-64755
  • Fixed an issue that caused the log-file longevity settings to not be loaded from 3dsmax.ini when 3ds Max was launched. MAXX-63697
  • Fixed an issue that caused INI files included in the plugin.ini file to be added to the Plugin.UserSettings.ini file when 3ds Max was launched. MAXX-64644
  • File IO:
  • Improved scene load performance when a large number of animation clips are present in scene. MAXX-62499
  • MAXScript:
  • Fixed a bug where calling getMaxSaveFileName with an existing directory would cause an error. MAXX-65996
  • Fixed an issue where persistent.isPersistent would always return false when passing variable names as a string. MAXX-65995
  • The mouseTrack MAXScript function used to not detect left clicks when the construction plane and the view were orthogonal. We have changed that behavior to the following:
  • - If the "on:" keyword argument is specified, all forms of input (left clicks, right clicks, left click drags and mouse moves) are always detected, even if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal.
  • - If the "on" keyword argument isn't specified, all forms of input except right clicks are ignored if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal. Right clicks are still detected because they are commonly used to exit the mouse tracking mode.
  • We implemented the behavior described above because if a node isn't supplied to the mouseTrack MAXScript function using the "on:" keyword argument and the construction plane is orthogonal to view, it doesn't really make sense to process any mouse events because rays casted from the mouse position will never intersect the construction plane. MAXX-63450
  • The quiet parameter available in several MAXScript commands cannot overwrite the quiet mode that defines 3ds Max in non-interactive mode such as batch (3dsmaxbatch.exe) or command line rendering (3dsmaxcmd.exe). MAXX-65066
  • Corrected the Macro Recorder output associated with selecting subobject elements in an Editable Mesh. MAXX-51224
  • Material Editors
  • Searching using partial material's names in SME views enabled. MAXX-56947
  • Fixed possible freeze with long shader tree can when right-clicking on the material in SME. MAXX-64606
  • Modeling
  • Using Occlude selection on Edge and Poly component in Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier will now work properly with selection methods types such as rectangular, circle, crossing, fence, and lasso in the Perspective or Camera view. MAXX-63598
  • Resolved a crash that could occur when drawing a Freehand Spline with "Enable in Viewport" viewport rendering active, while simultaneously also having the Macro Recorder active. MAXX-65398
  • When performing a Smart Extrude it was possible to select apply the extrude to an entire poly Element which would cause 3ds Max to crash. Smart Extrude has been updated so that if all of the faces of the Element are Smart Extruding, the Element will only move, no Union or Subtraction will take place. MAXX-65664
  • Resolved an issue where Unfold3D Peel could crash when you were attempting to process an object that has no geometry data for which it can generate Texture Vertex information from. MAXX-65295
  • Exposed the maxscript packing command for the Unwrap UVW modifier so that Unfold3D can be called.
  • $.modifiers[1].pack 3 0.001 true false false MAXX-64766
  • Corrected an issue with Smart Extrude where on some models with explicit normals the stitched overlap results were not cleaned up properly. MAXX-64828
  • Corrected an issue where Occlude selection mode on an Edit Poly or Editable Poly based object was not working properly on a Polygon level component. MAXX-64186
  • Improved Smart Extrude processing to cut through polys and ngons that are highly non-planar and produce the desired results that the user was seeking from the operation. MAXX-64939
  • Chamfer has been updated to resolve an issue where non-uniform "spur" type distortions were being generated from non-collinear chamfered edges. The user should now see the corrected weighted output that matches their input edge alignment. MAXX-64965
  • The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span. MAXX-65019
  • Slice Along Mirror Threshold value increases/decreases at an expected amount when using the up/down arrows associated with the spinner. MAXX-65043
  • The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span. MAXX-63019
  • Python:
  • The startup of the python interpreter in 3ds Max disconnected stderr and stdout, preventing scripts (maxscript or python) to write to stderr and stdout. This problem was fixed. MAXX-65285
  • Rendering:
  • Fixed ghosting effect when rotating a scene with Point Cloud and keyframes MAXX-57880
  • Fixed Maxscript access to the active renderer tabs. MAXX-64428
  • Fixed incorrect text in the Render Preset Toolbar dropdown menu. MAXX-64432
  • Fixed issue with the Stereo Camera view menu. MAXX-65216
  • Art rendering times have been greatly reduced when using the Noise filter. MAXX-65280
  • Rendering Materials:
  • OSL Color Divide map now clamps colors as expected. MAXX-64787
  • Fixed typo in OSL Curves map name. MAXX-59470
  • Secure Configuration
  • Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden Plugin Package locations. MAXX-65352
  • Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden 3ds Max installation folders. MAXX-65292
  • Fixed bugs that caused Game Exporter exports to fail silently and prevented it from finding automatically the FBX Review application if it's installed. MAXX-65000
  • Improve handling of short file names for MAXScript script security. MAXX-64762
  • UI:
  • Fixed not having access to modal dialog subrollouts. MAXX-64280
  • Fixed lagging orbit viewport refreshes with high polling gamming mouse. MAXX-64056
  • UVW:
  • When using Poly Mesh data with Unfold3D it was possible in rare circumstances that the UV information was incorrectly cleaned to make the data non-manifold, resulting in UV distortions. We have improved support for how Poly Meshes UV data is cleaned up to resolve this issue. MAXX-64961
  • Viewports:
  • Menu spacing will no longer change if ActiveShade in viewport is running and another viewport is selected. MAXX-65326
  • Steering Wheel is no longer clipped, displays correctly as expected. MAXX-65913

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2022.2 (Feb 18, 2022)

  • Animation:
  • Fixed issue where user could not add Tracks to Track Sets. MAXX-60667
  • Fixed corruption of Animation Layers when an object having an animation layer is deleted from the scene. MAXX-62692
  • TCB Rotation Controller default WindUp setting now honors setting in Preferences. MAXX-55303
  • Core:
  • Fixed issue with enabling 'Pick Material from Object' in Material Editor, starting a new action such as Animation Playback, exiting Material Editor. and then exiting that new action. MAXX-42165
  • Fixed handling of parameters in ParamBlock2 that were previously flagged as containing external file assets, but now are not flagged as such. MAXX-57392
  • Fixed an issue that caused log entries to be missing from Max.log and from the session log file when more than one instance of 3ds Max was running at the same. MAXX-63493
  • When merging XRef objects in the scene, custom attributes are now properly cloned on merged objects. MAXX-59971
  • Fixed SME node parameters not being exposed in Trackview. MAXX-63076
  • MAXScript:
  • SaveNodes now returns a boolean value as documented. MAXX-64000
  • Fixed issue in MAXScript Debugger where if a temporary hang occurred while printing out the MAXScript stack variables, a crash would occur. MAXX-63453
  • Fixed issues related to cloning of script editor tabs in MAXScript editor. MAXX-53004
  • Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to not start when a menu item or tooltip with certain characters was added to its UI. MAXX-60901
  • Add argument count checks to the setVertSelection, setEdgeSelection and setFaceSelection MAXScript functions so that users see appropriate errors when they call those functions without the correct number of arguments. MAXX-62208
  • Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to crash when a scripted plugin declared a parameter block with the type:#class option before any other parameter blocks. MAXX-61180
  • Fixed a bug that caused certain functions of the ATSOps MAXScript interface to only work after the ATS window had been opened. MAXX-61426
  • Fixed an issue that caused the getINISetting MAXScript function to change the encoding of the files it read to UTF-16 LE with BOM. Now the original encoding of files is always preserved when they are read using getINISetting. MAXX-62470
  • Material Editors:
  • Fixed missing indication in the material preview when it's applied to a selected object or selection of objects. MAXX-64116
  • Create Physical Mtl when new materials are added in the Multi-Materials MAXX-49844
  • Modeling:
  • Improved Smart Extrude stability when quickly moving the results back and forth before committing to a final position. MAXX-64121
  • The Symmetry modifier’s welding algorithms have been updated to provide even more predictable results by finding matching pair vertices on the mirrored surface. The tolerance threshold now enables welding to solve across open gaps along the symmetry line. These enhancements will make symmetry operations faster and more accurate than before, even on open surface models. MAXX-63866
  • Resolved an issue with the Symmetry modifier where it would merge vertices there were in close proximity to one another together before stitching the mirror results together. MAXX-64434
  • Improved stability of the OpenSubDiv Modifier when it is applied to an object where no map channels are defined. MAXX-64433
  • Improved stability when using Save to Previous to save your scene data to an older 3ds Max file format. This issue would occur when you are saving an Edit Poly Modifiers Smart Extrude actions that are not supported in that previous version of 3ds Max. MAXX-63896
  • A Helix Spline Object with a "Renderable" option will display properly once again in the Viewport when a Smooth Modifier is applied above the spline object on the Modifier Stack. MAXX-64187
  • When performing a Smart Extrude operation, the Smart Extrude code has been enhanced to produce more accurate results that might occur from numerical precision on overlapping faces. MAXX-63713
  • Brush pressure from pen tablet input devices is now properly captured by 3ds Max and can be utilized once again in various tools/functions within the application that supports this functionality.
  • 3ds Max will now also support the full range of pressure sensitivity that is offered by the pen tablet device by checking with the Wintab32.dll on your local Windows system.
  • For best results, turn off Windows Ink when using 3ds Max. MAXX-59353
  • Resolved an issue where users were not able to save Presets for various tools in 3ds Max (i.e. Fluids Solver, Fluids Meshing, Chamfer, TextPlus Bevel Profile/Bevel Profile modifier) that they could then later load and apply. MAXX-63717
  • Symmetry now performs a check for non-manifold edges and vertices. It will attempt to clean incorrect mesh data when these errors are found. This will help resolve issues with vertices being accidently welded to other vertices on other elements after using Symmetry. MAXX-63386
  • Resolved a crash issue that occurs when the user is attempting to lock a modifier variable in the Curve Editor on an object that is a part of a Container. MAXX-63568
  • Resolve a stability issue when attempting to copy the Edit Normals modifier MAXX-57431
  • Resolved a threading issue where it was possible for the mesh data of object primitives to not match with what was displayed in the viewport (such as missing edge loops). MAXX-62782
  • UVW:
  • Manipulation of UVs in the Edit UV window has been made more performant. This will greatly assist artists that are crafting unique UV layouts. MAXX-55812
  • Python:
  • It is now possible to execute pyc files in 3ds Max. MAXX-59646
  • Some PySide2 (for example PySide2.QWebSocket) modules could not be imported because the underlying Qt dlls needed by these python wrappers were not provided with 3ds Max. The Qt dlls needed by thy PySide2 modules are now packaged with 3ds Max. MAXX-63710
  • Fixed the issue of 3ds Max failing to start if Unicode characters were present in the Python home path. MAXX-63475
  • The python interpreter embedded in 3dsMax no longer uses PYTHON env vars (in a manner similar to the -E switch in command line python). MAXX-62248
  • RealTime Workflows:
  • Fixed the Bake to Textures ambient occlusion map name not recognized by the PBR importer by default, removed white spaces from map names. MAXX-64546
  • The Rounded Corners bake map does not use the expected sampling parameters. MAXX-63885
  • Rendering:
  • Fixed crash with Edit Poly and OpenSubdiv in GPU mode. MAXX-61371
  • Improved loading performance when loading scenes with heavy shading trees. MAXX-58971
  • Fixed Targa file format slight noise in color when rendering or baking, MAXX-24695
  • Rendering Materials:
  • Viewport background will now correctly display background color if Env/BG switcher without having to manipulate viewport. MAXX-55609
  • When saving scene file containing OSL textures, the associated .osl file is no longer flagged as an external file asset MAXX-56703
  • HDRI Lights helper objects can now be deleted and renamed as expected. MAXX-56639
  • UI:
  • Fixed 3ds Max freeze caused by being able to open multiple camera warning modal dialogs and other "hotkey" functionalities of modal dialogs. MAXX-64150
  • Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after loading a scene file. MAXX-64047
  • Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after cloning an object. MAXX-62494
  • Viewports:
  • Fixed possible clipping when using Zoom Extents Selected on a vertex MAXX-62276
  • Fixed: Viewport hangs when attaching a multi/sub material to a cached alembic MAXX-46271
  • Track View and Scene Explorer will now continue to work as expected after another viewport has been maximized then minimized. MAXX-56643
  • Custom Background will now remain when clicking Home button in viewport. MAXX-57015
  • Fixed Shape Display Mode for Arnold Procedural/Alembic/USD MAXX-62723

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2022.1 (Feb 18, 2022)

  • Animation:
  • Anim Layers were not being removed when the the controlling node was deleted. Now when a node is deleted any anim layers referencing that node are also deleted. Also on file open/merge anim layers that are orphaned are deleted. MAXX-62018
  • Core:
  • Removed the "Civil View Plugins" entry from plugin.ini, since that plugin package is now a 3ds Max component. MAXX-62902
  • Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs MAXX-63337
  • Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs MAXX-58810
  • Fixed a crash related to the undo system by not allowing the undo stack to be flushed while in the middle of undo operations MAXX-63301
  • Fixed bug that caused MAXScript errors to be displayed when Pop-up Notes were read, deleted or suppressed. MAXX-60380
  • FBX:
  • FBX import support for vertex colors from some 3rd party applications is now working as expected. MAXX-50829
  • Interop:
  • Fixed a crash when importing a large JT model. MAXX-62009
  • ATF SketchUp import now correctly handles cut-out maps. MAXX-60140
  • MAXScript:
  • Fixed issue introduced in 3ds Max 2022 where strings used as initialization values for structures, scripted plugins and scripted rollouts were not properly handled, resulting in code that could change the content of the actual string literal. MAXX-63459
  • Fixed issue with MAXScript Debugger dialog appearing on Alt-Tab dialog on 3ds Max startup when dialog is not open. MAXX-58148
  • Fixed bug that caused the vertex, edge and face selection MAXScript functions to fail when working with scripted modifiers. MAXX-62573
  • Fix crash that occurred when a MAXScript exception was thrown while a rollout was being added to the modifier panel. MAXX-61909
  • Material Editors:
  • Improved the performance of the selection of objects in the viewport with SME opened. MAXX-51872
  • Fixed a crash in Scene Material Editor. MAXX-57429
  • Modeling:
  • Fixed a crash error that would occur with the Slice modifier when attempting to animate or change the topology in the Mesh class object underneath the Slice modifier MAXX-62924
  • Resolved an issue where the Subdivide modifier was not correctly identifying if it was applied to one of the operands in a Boolean operation, and not the base Boolean Object, which would result in calculation errors with display of the operand parts it is applied to in the final output result or even possible instability. MAXX-63042
  • In very rare occurrences, when the Smart Extrude operations re-stitched the mesh to make it water tight, a spur edge could occur. Smart Extrudes processing has been improved to remove the possibility for this to occur. MAXX-63435
  • The user can now utilize the Right Mouse Button to cancel mouse driven actions such as those that enable the Smart Extrude and Cloning actions on component level selections within the Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier. MAXX-61989
  • Improved Smart Extrude stability when performing Smart Extrude actions on a polygon that contains malformed normal data. MAXX-62458
  • Swift Loop will now work properly with faces and edges that are created/destroyed through various poly modeling operations by properly supporting the MN_Dead function of MNMesh, enabling Swift Loops to understand the mesh geometry data in it's current state and properly apply the Swift Loop where the user clicks. MAXX-63018
  • Fluid Loader now properly contains Particle ID data, making it easier for systems to identify each unique bit of particle data that is contained in the Fluid Loader object. MAXX-62000
  • Weighted edges that are set as 0 in Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier Chamfer by weight will now produce proper results when using Chamfer and "By Weight". Any Chamfer modifier applied within 3ds Max 2022.1 Update will now utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering.
  • Scenes created prior to 3ds Max 2022.1 Update that want to utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering will need to use this MAXScript command to promote the previously applied Chamfer to the 3ds Max 2022.1 Update version:
  • ($.modifiers[1]).SetVersion #VerLatest MAXX-62703
  • When applying the Smooth modifier to a Mesh or Poly based object, the modifier will now clear all explicit normals and smoothing groups that are stored on the object. This will make it easier for the user to temporarily disable explicit normals (for faster animation playback of deforming objects in the viewport) or to permanently clear the explicit normals or smoothing groups so that the user can apply new information. MAXX-62431
  • The bounding box for the TextPlus object will now be properly calculated when the TextPlus object is generated from a script. MAXX-62593
  • When using the Vertex Paint modifier you can now properly use Zoom Extents Selected and have the viewport correctly orbit your selected vertex, edge, or face. MAXX-59859
  • When using Delta Mush or Tension Deform from the Data Channel modifier, isolated vertices (floating vertices that are not connected to a polygon) will no longer cause the operation to crash. MAXX-62236
  • Resolve a crash that can occur with Weighted Normals when dealing with badly-formed, but not invalid mesh data (such as a pair of consecutive edges on a face). MAXX-62312
  • Improved the speed at which the Edit Poly modifier performs the Smart Extrude cut-through treatment introduced in 3ds Max 2022.0 MAXX-62286
  • When working on a Poly object through Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier, the Target Weld and Bridge tools will now work better with Ignore Backfacing and Ignore Occluded MAXX-61653
  • Sub-object component selections are now also passed up the modifier stack to the Vertex Paint modifier and can now be utilized to mask where you can paint. Vertices of hidden faces are no longer selectable with your mouse, restoring functionality that was once found in the Vertex Paint modifier. MAXX-59741
  • Improved the performance of the Noise map computed by removing its ability to become thread locked when computing its cache.
  • Improved the Path Deform modifier performance to make it benefit from the enhanced threading of Explicit Normals.
  • The speed at which 3ds Max internally converts mesh data to its internal GPU mesh format for rendering has been enhanced and should result in improved performance.
  • MAXX-62586
  • Improved threading method used by several 3ds Max modifiers for improved performance (between 2 to 4x) when dealing with explicit normals from Mesh or Poly data. Modifiers that use the new map method are Bend, Affect Region, Linked Xform, Xform, Mirror, Noise, Skew, Taper, Twist, Skin, FFD (all), Melt, Skinwrap Patch, Spherify, Stretch, Surf Wrap.
  • MAXScript options to turn off this optimization for Polys is "MeshInspector.UseOldDeformerThreading = true"
  • and for Mesh is "MeshPerformance.UseOldDeformerThreading = true" MAXX-58806
  • When using a Section shape, Move Transforms can be entered via a transform dialog. MAXX-62209
  • Python:
  • Fixed a bug that prevented maxscript from writing to the listener window when called from python. MAXX-63391
  • Prevent Python object not properly reporting on their attributes availability from being (improperly) interpreted as probable pymxs/maxscript elements. This fixed a defect preventing to retrieve the perforce client from maxscript when connecting to perforce (using p4python). MAXX-62821
  • Fix comparison method of Maxscript booleans, floats, double, integers and strings with Python ones to avoid logging exceptions. MAXX-62658
  • Fixed a problem in python import that resulted sometimes in an incorrect error message being reported when import failed. MAXX-62564
  • RealTime Workflows:
  • The Roughness Common map in Bake to Texture now uses a more appropriate render element in Arnold, resulting in more predictable results. MAXX-62387
  • Rendering
  • Only 1 click necessary to work with Render Setup properties if focus is elsewhere in Max. MAXX-59336
  • Solved issue with .psd files locked in Photoshop. MAXX-61825
  • PBR Importer rules can now recognize spaces in texture names. MAXX-63382
  • UI:
  • Fixed command panel rollouts not expanding or retracting MAXX-63409
  • Fixed crash when hovering partially offscreen Qt UI elements with tooltips. MAXX-62641
  • Render Setup dialog position not preserved between session. MAXX-61395
  • Preferences saving issue with V-Ray installed MAXX-63353
  • Viewports:
  • Resolved an issue where the bounding box for Xform was always displaying in the viewport, even when the object it was applied to was not selected and it was not the active modifier on the stack. MAXX-56425
  • Fixed Perspective Match handles behavior. MAXX-63003
  • Fixed the save of sequences from Make Preview when Multi Pass is enabled. MAXX-53168
  • Animation keeps playing while the view is moving/panning/orbiting. MAXX-63031
  • Objects no longer display as black if material is assigned via drag and drop, or the Assign to Object button in material editor. MAXX-56040

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2022.0.1 (Apr 27, 2021)

  • This release fixes an issue that caused a dialog box to pop up when launching 3ds Max in server mode. MAXX-63028

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2022 (Apr 27, 2021)

  • Highlights:
  • Smart Extrude Enhancements:
  • Smart Extrude now features two new operations when performed with a Shift+Drag extrusion on an Editable Poly or Edit Poly modifier.
  • Slice Modifier Enhancements:
  • The Slice modifier has been updated with a number of new features to aid modeling tasks.
  • Symmetry Modifier Enhancements:
  • The Symmetry modifier has been improved to make modeling faster and easier.
  • Relax Modifier Enhancement:
  • The Preserve Volume option smooths fine detail and noise on your model while retaining its shape and definition.
  • Extrude Modifier Enhancements:
  • The Extrude Modifier has been improved to achieve better results quickly and interactively.
  • Bake to Texture:
  • Bake to Texure now includes a selection of pre-configured maps to streamline frequent baking operations.
  • Viewport Improvements:
  • The viewport now features more control over ambient occlusion and floating viewport windows.
  • Arnold Renderer - MAXtoA:
  • This version of 3ds Max includes MAXtoA 4.3.0.78 based on Arnold 6.2.0.0.
  • Rendering Improvements:
  • 3ds Max 2022 includes a number of improvements to make rendering easier and faster.
  • Security Improvements:
  • 3ds Max 2022 includes a number of security improvements to protect your 3ds Max scenes and files.
  • Edit Poly Modifier Enhancement:
  • The Edit Poly modifier now includes Smart Extrude functionality, which was previously only available in the Editable Poly object class.
  • Autosmooth Function Improvement:
  • Autosmooth has been significantly improved, providing performance gains whether smoothing a thousand faces or a million.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2021 (May 22, 2020)

  • Highlights:
  • Bake to Texture:
  • Modernized tools that support new physically based rendering (PBR) workflows
  • Roughness and Metalness maps added in Arnold
  • MikkT Normal maps support (industry standard)
  • New baked element for map override allows advanced and powerful workflow with OSL and procedural maps
  • Streamlined experience
  • A more intuitive feature as all settings and functionalities are exposed in a linear way, align with the user journey.
  • Fully scriptable for customization and automation.
  • And this is just the beginning of our development efforts in this area. If you’re interested in ongoing updates, please join our Beta Community
  • Installer:
  • Faster and fewer clicks to install 3ds Max. Testing showed up to a 50% speed improvement, though results vary greatly based on machine specifications and internet bandwidth.
  • In-product messaging to prompt user to install missing or optional components.
  • Scripting with Python 3:
  • 3ds Max 2021 comes with Python 3 and an improved pymxs API that gives access to all the 3ds Max features.
  • Our integration of PySide2 allows developers and technical artists to create cross-application user interfaces that work seamlessly in 3ds Max.
  • Off-the-shelf Python 3 extension libraries are fully supported, extending the reach and power of the tools our user can create.
  • Arnold as the Default Renderer:
  • 3ds Max 2021 ships with Arnold 6.0
  • Supports new Bake to Texture workflows.
  • New Scene Converter scripts provided to efficiently convert from V-Ray and Corona materials to the Physical Material.
  • Physically Based Rendering (PBR):
  • The renderer-independent Physical Material in now the default everywhere, which facilitates modern, physically based rendering and real-time engines to take maximum advantage of it.
  • New, simplified PBR Materials specifically intended for simplifying real-time engine workflows.
  • The viewport shader for the Physical Material is improved to give a visual appearance that is much closer to the final appearance in real-time engines (game, VR, etc.)
  • Full export/import of Physical Material in FBX.
  • Improved Viewport Quality & Settings:
  • Viewport Settings can now be saved as presets
  • New Progressive refinement controls in the UI
  • Ambient Occlusion is now always visible when manipulating the viewport
  • New roughness support for the Physical Material
  • Viewport Statistics Performance improvements
  • Shadows for lights are now on by default
  • OSL Shaders:
  • The OSL shaders now support a custom UI template designed in Qt designer, as well as several new ways to drive UI from the metadata, allowing a much more visually appealing and useable UI.
  • ​(Some of the) new OSL shaders in 2021:
  • Color Correction
  • HDRI Environment
  • HDRI Lights
  • Float and Color Curves
  • Camera Projection
  • Object Projection
  • Spherical Projection
  • Uber Noise
  • File I/O:
  • This improvement also benefits Autobackup (Autosave) and Hold operations.
  • Files with more assets have greater speed improvements. In our testing, we found that a scene with roughly thousand assets could save 50%* faster.
  • Chamfer improvements :
  • Enhanced chamfer support for Edit Poly and Editable Poly operations inside of 3ds Max
  • Preserves and works with existing UV data when generating new mesh results
  • Added support for Uniform, Radial, and Patch chamfer types
  • Added support for Edge Depth, End Bias, and Radial Bias control and refinement
  • Smoothing support for the generated results so that you can blend the new geometry into existing mesh data.
  • Weighted Normals Modifier:
  • Generate new explicit normals for your mesh data faster and better than ever before possible inside of 3ds max.
  • Use Area, Angle, or Largest Face weight options to influence the direction of the computed normal results
  • Generate hard edge normals for your mesh via defined Smoothing Groups/Defined Hard Edges, UV seams, and/or Edge Angle that you have already placed on your mesh.
  • Control the smoothing/blending of the various results to increase the output
  • SketchUp Import:
  • Based on customer feedback, we have added the following options:
  • The ability to completely skip importing Hidden Elements from the SketchUp file
  • The ability to preserve Layer information from the SketchUp file and use it automatically assign imported objects to matching Max layers
  • Substance Update:
  • Updates to latest Substance engine for native SBSAR file loading. No longer need to export maps from Substance Designer.
  • Support for up to 8k textures.
  • Support for all render engines that ship with Max (Arnold, Scanline, Quicksilver, ART)
  • New, scripted tools to quickly set up Substances with a particular type of material or to bake out maps to files.
  • The Substance plugin now comes as a separate component to install; therefore, you only need to install it when you need it.
  • ProSound Improved audio support:
  • Added support for 24bit .wav files
  • Added support for 88.2kHz and 96khz sample rates.
  • Added support for unlimited number of audio clips. (Previously there was a maximum of 100 clips.)
  • Fixed sound issue causing audio to play at 50% volume after frame 100.
  • FBX Improvements:
  • The option to export animation only when exporting to FBX is now available in the UI. It was formerly available via scripting only.
  • Added support in FBX exporter for Shell material – option to export the original of the baked material.
  • Along with Physical Material support, FBX was updated to support exporting and importing OSL nodes in 3ds Max
  • Post-Sampling key reduction can be disabled by script. This may be useful when importing subtle animation data that needs preserved when resampled.
  • 3rd Party Developer Tools:
  • 3ds Max 2021 supports plugins compiled for 3ds Max 2020, giving users the freedom to migrate when they are ready, without worrying whether their preferred tools and plugins are available.
  • The Plugin Package format now supports AMG and OSL shaders, and Scene Converter extensions. This allows a wider range of plugins to use the application plugin packaging format.
  • Using the application plugin package format makes it easy to distribute the plugins on the Autodesk App Store, and simplifies development and installation of plugins for 3ds Max.
  • Fixed issues:
  • MAXX:Animation:
  • FBX: Bones with animated scale on one axis were being scaled incorrectly. MAXX-55701
  • Saving Trackbar layout no longer breaks Close button. MAXX-53564
  • Fixed a crash when selecting multiple objects with TrackView open. MAXX-53248
  • Fixed addEaseCurve MAXScript crash. MAXX-52595
  • ProSound now supports 24-bit wav files. MAXX-52580
  • Fixed key tangents not being updated on GetKey only GetValue. MAXX-52364
  • CAT rigs with references to CatParentTrans and CatClipRoot no longer prevents animation layer creation. MAXX-51757
  • Improved selection performance issue with TrackView open. MAXX-50669
  • Fixed inverted Hands Anchors icons. MAXX-50575
  • Fixed issue importing FBX without UI not correctly applying scene scaling. MAXX-50484
  • Fixed Create Preview frame overlay on first run. MAXX-50287
  • Fixed ProSound issue causing audio to play at 50% volume after frame 100. MAXX-28464
  • Removed 100 audio clip limit with ProSound. MAXX-14058
  • Removed ProSound popup dialog when changing animation range. MAXX-10976
  • MAXX:Animation, MAXX:Modeling:
  • Removed an unnecessary Spline IK error dialog with XRef'd rig. MAXX-36782
  • MAXX:Core:
  • Added ability to modify scripted attribute definitions during scene file load. MAXX-55756
  • Fixed Matrix3 AffineTranspose handling of translation row. MAXX-55527
  • Fixed a crash in the Material Browser. MAXX-55482
  • Fixed a crash when loading scenes that have missing plugins that werr defined as scripted plugins when the scene was saved, after loading a scene where the same missing plugin was defined via dll when the scene was saved. MAXX-55298
  • Scripted parameter's plugin names can now be customized by specifying the optional localizedName:string property for the parameter in question. MAXX-55280
  • Fixed a crash when opening a scene when MaxInstallRootdlcomponentsDlComponentList_x64 file is 0Kb in size. MAXX-55028
  • Fixed a crash when a MAXScript function with a string by-reference parameter with default value was being called. One example of such as function is LoadSaveAnimation.loadAnimation, where its mapFileName parameter is defined as having a default value, and it's expected to be passed by reference. MAXX-54477
  • Disabling an Xref Scene will now prompt the user to save the current scene when closing 3ds Max, reseting the current scene or loading a new one. MAXX-46845
  • MAXX:Interop:
  • Fixed an issue that occurred when using the Station Placement tool. In some cases the process would be blocked and the viewport would become unresponsive. MAXX-54758
  • Fixed a crash when importing old JT Files with dummy nodes or a mixture of mesh and body object nodes. MAXX-54515
  • Fixed an inconsistency between original JT file hierarchy and hierarchy created in Max after importing JT file. MAXX-54411
  • Fixed an issue where some parts of a SolidWorks import were not being imported when the mesh option was unchecked in the import dialog. MAXX-54261
  • Fixed a case where 3ds Max crashed upon OBJ export. MAXX-53379
  • MAXX:MAXScript:
  • Fixed a crash when iterating over nodes in MAXScript, and deleting some of those nodes. MAXX-55488
  • Fixed an issue with MAXScript where the "on resized" event was no longer working on rollouts in a rollout floater window. MAXX-55171
  • Fixed MAXScript rollout visibility issues by adding the visibility property to rollout. This is similar to rolloutFloater.visible. MAXX-55048
  • Fixed a crash when specifying 'undefined' as an argument to colorman interface methods that take a string as an argument. MAXX-54571
  • Fixed expression window in script and expression controller dialogs so that text size scales with dpi scaling. Also fixed access violation in script controller if evaluation error occurs on first evaluation of expression. MAXX-54300
  • Fixed parsing of Double literal values. MAXX-54001
  • Calling the quitMax MAXScript command will stop executing remaining scripted commands that could have unexpected side-effects. Callback scripts will continue to execute as expected. MAXX-53366
  • When executing the exportFile MAXScript command with the PhysX_and_APEX_Exporter plugin, it is now possible to suppress the prompts of said plugin using the #noprompt option. MAXX-51627
  • MAXX:MAXScript, MAXX:SDK:
  • Fixed issue with caching of MAXScript .Net values for .Net objects that point to the same underlying object but with different types. MAXX-54043
  • MAXX:MaterialEditors:
  • Material Editor preferences and Assign Renderer are correctly saved if UAC is at Windows default level. MAXX-52412
  • MAXX:Modeling:
  • The triangulation of the chamfer output has been updated to produce better non-concave results when applied to faces with concave/collinear vertices. MAXX-55418
  • If you set your own default preset and name it "Default", you could end up with two presets named "Default" that you could not remove with the Chamfer modifier. Now you can set your own new "Default" preset, which will remain in effect until you remove it (at which point the original default will be restored and used). MAXX-55191
  • Algorithm will now process corners with enhanced triangulation for faces with concave or co-linear corners, so that we do not collapse triangles when performing mesh triangulation. This will improve the quality output of the chamfer operation so that it does not display the faces incorrectly. MAXX-55186
  • When the Tension Deform UI is displayed in the DMC, the "Use Morph Target" checkbox will now properly update the pick button target for morphing to be enabled or disabled. MAXX-55164
  • When using TextPlus and the Bevel Profile modifier, the presets for "Half Circle" and "Engrave" bevel contained duplicate vertices in their curve definitions that resulted in degenerate faces. New scenes created with this option will no longer have this problem. MAXX-54992
  • In the past vertex painting could provide a result that looked like mosaic tiles, this was caused by an incorrect parallelization of the function with multi-threading. Vertex painting should now apply its results as expected when applied to your 3d model. MAXX-54986
  • "Don't Affect Children" option in the Hierarchy tab can now be toggled on/off again without needing to use the workaround of switching to another tab in the Command Panel and then back to Hierarchy. MAXX-54839
  • We have improved the distribution of Vertex Paint, improved the efficiency of the calculation, and apply blending between approaches when a brush overlaps only some of the vertices of a particular face. This should now allow vertex painting to be applied more consistently to an object. MAXX-54748
  • Resolved an issue with Swift Loop where in some cases it was possible for the tool to have improper hit detection on which edge it should function on when using a Perspective view. MAXX-54359
  • Fixed chamfer mitering types caddie not cycling when clicking. MAXX-54092
  • Added additional code to better support the chamfering of corner point position with straight through chamfers and provide expected results. MAXX-53982
  • 3ds Max should now retain crease weight values when performing a chamfer on any edge on the model. In the past there was a chance that these values would be reset to 0. MAXX-53814
  • Chamfer issue causing unwanted seams when using inset flow loops was fixed. MAXX-53357
  • Fixed snapping to open edge vertices when backface cull is enabled. MAXX-53328
  • Fixed a vertex chamfer crash with box object. MAXX-53291
  • Fixed a crash when merging across hidden edges that created more than a single bounding loop, or if a vertex appeared more than once on the polygon boundary, when you are performing a UV face map command on any mesh object or primative. MAXX-53158
  • Fixed performance issue with Snap in scenes with Body Objects. MAXX-53121
  • When using a chamfer operation in 3DS Max the existing UV data should now be better respected, utilized, and maintained when performing this action for the new mitering types that have been introduced to 3ds Max. MAXX-53066
  • Zoom Extents for UnwrapUVW respects geometry when nothing selected. MAXX-50438
  • Quadify no longer leaves invisible invalid edges. MAXX-48662
  • Fixed TextPlus performance with lots of text. MAXX-39705
  • EditablePoly and EditPoly modifier now preserves explicit normals when attaching, detaching, and cloning. MAXX-27111
  • EditPoly now preserves explicit normals. MAXX-21797
  • MAXX:Modeling, MAXX:UVW:
  • Fixed an issue with invalid UVs that were provided on the default box and pyramid shapes that we provide with 3ds Max. UVs for faces on opposite sides of these objects were joined together, which they should not be since two non-shared edges should not be glued together. All faces for these primitives now have their own texture vertices. MAXX-53204
  • MAXX:Performance:
  • Fixed performance issue when selecting Compound Object creation category. MAXX-53884
  • Improve viewport perfomance by 5% in scenes with many procedural instances. MAXX-53821
  • Multithreaded intersectray when casting on Mesh and Edit Poly. The first raycast is not accelerated, it creates an acceleration structure. In following raycasts, we measured up to a 3x performance gain. Results will vary according to your CPU thread count and the complexity of your mesh. The heavier the mesh, the greater the speedup. Also fixed long-lasting Edit Poly intersectray bug which would report false hits behind the raycast. MAXX-49617
  • MAXX:Python:
  • When executing Python code from a named (saved) file in the Script Editor, the file variable can now be used to refer to this file. MAXX-55232
  • Pressing F1 for Help in the Script Listener Window now opens the Python Help if the Listener was in Python mode. MAXX-54948
  • Fixed issues when calling functions, accessing variables and properties of Python objects imported into MAXScript through a python.import MAXScript command. This was related to the fact that MAXScript is case insensitive, while Python is case sensitive. MAXX-53376
  • MAXX:Rendering:
  • Per Pixel Camera map will now display correct aspect ratios based on custom, image ratio, or legacy. MAXX-53636
  • Paths in OSL shaders can now be edited in Asset Tracker. MAXX-53509
  • OSL vector2 types will now display in viewport as expected. MAXX-53337
  • Fixed typo for Incandescent in Exposure Settings panel. MAXX-50904
  • MAXX:RenderingMentalRay:
  • Mental Ray utility removed from utility panel. MAXX-50903
  • MAXX:SoftwareSecurity:
  • All links within 3ds Max now open their HTTPS counterparts. MAXX-54178
  • MAXX:UI:
  • Main menu bar contents no longer appear white and inconsistent with dark UI styling. MAXX-55458
  • Default keyboard shortcuts for Quad menus now work in localized versions. MAXX-55192
  • Fixed issues where SteeringWheels and ViewCube action hotkeys could conflict with Main UI ones. MAXX-51302
  • Fixed issue where opening the UV Editor would result in the Unwrap UVW modifier icon from the command panel to change position and overlap with other UI elements or icons, mostly happening at some custom monitor scaling values, such as 190%. MAXX-50877
  • A key can be used to activate a Quad and its content action by double-clicking (activating the quad hotkey first, then content action Alt Navigation key). MAXX-49305
  • MAXX:UVW:
  • Bitmap sampling for the Edit UV window has been made to run in parallel to help improve bitmap file loading times. MAXX-54954
  • Resolved an issue with LSCM UV mapping where the mapping action would not resolve and would crash 3ds max. MAXX-54386
  • MAXX:Viewports:
  • Diffuse lighting will now update in viewport when changing HDR map in an OSL Bitmap map. MAXX-54418
  • Objects in viewport are lit correctly when using a map in environment slot together with Skylight as Ambient. MAXX-54417
  • MAXX:ViewportsMaterials
  • DirectX .fx files with spinners containing an int param are using the correct range. MAXX-49906
  • Known issues and workarounds:
  • MAXX:Install:
  • Issue: License information did not propogate through install during single product deployment. Workaround: Have the administrator ensure the share drive containing the deployment image (and the MSI installer) is writable. MAXX-56110
  • Issue: Modify workflow can't find installer when launched through ARP or IPM, resulting in "Some files are missing" error message. Workaround: Navigate to the product's DLM image download location and launch setup.exe to start the modify workflow directly. MAXX-56279
  • MAXX:Interop:
  • Issue: The new ATF-based Sketchup importer doesn't always assign edge visibility correctly. This may cause conversions of imported meshes to Editable Poly to produce bad geometry if edges between non-coplanar triangles are hidden. The Revit importer also sometimes hides edges on curved surfaces, which can lead to problems when converting the meshes to Editable Polys. Workaround: Enable edge visibility for all edges of a mesh prior to converting to poly. MAXX-56132
  • MAXX:FileIO:
  • Issue: WRL and ASE exporters have improved support for changes to Windows' decimal separator symbol. MAXX-51077
  • MAXX:Interop:
  • Issue: The new ATF-based Sketchup importer doesn't always assign edge visibility correctly. This may cause conversions of imported meshes to Editable Poly to produce bad geometry if edges between non-coplanar triangles are hidden. The Revit importer also sometimes hides edges on curved surfaces, which can lead to problems when converting the meshes to Editable Polys. Workaround: Enable edge visibility for all edges of a mesh prior to converting to poly. MAXX-56132
  • MAXX:Python:
  • Issue: NumPy tests will fail when executed within the 3ds Max process, but can be run directly from 3ds Max's distribution of Python as a workaround (found at maxroot/Python37/python.exe). MAXX-53548
  • Issue: Dichotomies should be accounted for when accessing MAXScript properties that reference index values (Example: pymxs.runtime.activeMeditSlot), as Python uses a zero-based index system, whereas MAXScript uses a one-based index system. MAXX-52780
  • MAXX:RealTimeWorkflows:
  • Issue: File Merging does not include Bake to Texture maps. MAXX-56173
  • Issue: Enabling the MacroRecorder may have a significant performance impact on the Bake to Texture tool performance. MAXX-56170
  • Issue: Sub-objects are not supported in Bake to Texture Projected-From workflow. MAXX-56167
  • Issue: Output-To settings are not exposed to Maxscript. MAXX-56157
  • Issue: Multiple line editing of the Output-To column for Objects is not functional. MAXX-56156
  • Issue: Multiple line editing of the Output-To column for Maps is not functional. MAXX-56155
  • Issue: When using Map Override with Scanline, the map will not be shown in the Bake to Texture window if the scene is closed and re-opened. Workaround: Use Map Override with Arnold, or perform bake operations prior to saving and re-opening. MAXX-56118
  • Issue: When dealing with large numbers of objects with bake to texture maps, performance may be degraded. MAXX-55972
  • Issue: 3ds Max may experience stability issues when baking advanced lights. MAXX-44842
  • MAXX:Rendering:
  • Issue: FBX Material Attribute Animation is not imported into 3ds Max. Workaround: To import animated materials via FBX, open the 3dsMax.ini file in a text editor. (%LocalAppData%Autodesk3dsMax2021 - 64bitENU3dsMax.ini). Set the key "StandardMtlFBXImport" to 1. This will import your FBX file with a Legacy Standard material and ensure that your animated materials come into 3ds Max as before. MAXX-55307
  • MAXX:Viewports:
  • Issue: Animation playback performance may be reduced when MikkT normal bump mode is enabled. Workaround: Enable 3ds Max native normal bump mode. MAXX-56175

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2018 20.0.0.966 (Oct 9, 2017)

  • 3D ANIMATION AND DYNAMICS:
  • 3ds Max Fluids:
  • Create realistic liquid behaviors directly in 3ds Max.
  • Motion Paths:
  • Manipulate animations directly in the viewport and get direct feedback when making adjustments in your scene.
  • 3D RENDERING:
  • 3ds Max Interactive:
  • Access integrated tools for creating VR visualizations without leaving your 3ds Max workspace.
  • Arnold for 3ds Max:
  • The MAXtoA plug-in is integrated into 3ds Max, giving you access to Arnold’s latest features.
  • UI, WORKFLOW AND PIPELINE:
  • Customizable workspaces:
  • Match your UI to the way you think and work with a more responsive, modern, and customizable user experience.
  • MAX to LMV:
  • View MAX files using Forge Viewer in a web browser to review and share assets.
  • 3D MODELING, TEXTURING AND EFFECTS:
  • Spline workflows:
  • Create and animate geometry in several intuitive ways with new and enhanced spline tools.
  • Data Channel Modifier:
  • Extract information directly from a model, which you can use to help inform other types of modifications.
  • Blended Box Map:
  • Morph visible seams by blending as many as six materials applied to an object.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2017 19.0 (Jun 24, 2016)

  • WHAT'S NEW IN THE USER INTERFACE:
  • 3ds Max's user interface has been modernized with streamlined new icons. The icons still retain enough similarities to previous versions to be instantly recognizable to long-time users.
  • The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look.
  • Another significant improvement to the user interface is it is now HDPI aware. 3ds Max correctly applies Windows display scaling so the interface appears optimally on your high DPI monitors and laptops.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN ANIMATION:
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2017 has many new features and tools to improve your animation workflow and efficiency. Improvements and new features include:
  • Spinners can be reset to default values
  • Time Configuration: addition of a Rescale Keys to Whole Frames checkbox to force quantization
  • Custom Attributes: you can save and load presets
  • Modifier Stack: you can open the Right-Click menu even when the stack is empty.
  • Track View:
  • The Track View has an improved default layout better suited to animators. Anything you customize on the layout, such as toolbar locations, is remembered the next time you open Track View. 8 new toolbars have been created to group tools commonly used together. The new toolbars are:
  • Buffer Curves: to create and use buffer curves.
  • Key Selection Tools: to easily select keys.
  • Keys Only: tools only pertaining to key value and time.
  • New Keys: an expanded version of the existing Keys toolbar.
  • New Key Tools: a key adjustment toolkit for professional animators.
  • Spacer: inserts blank space between docked toolbars.
  • Tangent Tools: tools pertaining to key tangents.
  • Over 25 new tools have been created to help you work efficiently with your animation in the Curve Editor.
  • The new tools enable you to:
  • Edit keys more easily
  • Manipulate key values and times
  • Apply horizontal and vertical zoom extents simultaneously
  • Zoom extents for selected keys
  • Work with buffer curves to facilitate change management.
  • Additional improvements include:
  • If you want the Curve Editor to retain zoom levels you set when navigating between curves, deselect Enable Autozoom
  • Improved key reduction performance for baked animation
  • Auto-Key default frame can be any frame
  • You can select all of the keys on a curve simultaneously by double-clicking on the curve.
  • The Scale Values Origin Line now displays its value when you move it
  • Selected keys can be removed by pressing Shift and clicking Add Key.
  • Buffer curves:
  • The buffer curves tools facilitate change management by allowing you to keep your original curve position in a buffer. You can work with and make changes to the curve, while still viewing the original curve. You can revert back to the curve in the buffer even after making several changes. You can also reposition the buffer curve or swap the buffer curve with the actual curve.
  • Motion panel. Improvements and new features in the Motion panel include:
  • Tracks in List Controller can be made active by double-clicking in the controller tree-view
  • Empty tracks and assigned controllers can be reset to their default controller type
  • Controllers can be copied and pasted using the Right-Click menu in the controller tree-view.
  • Evaluate performance using Maya's Profiler tool:
  • Profiling is a process calculating how much time and resources are used to complete certain processes. You can now locate performance slow-downs by recording and graphing the amount of time consumed by each process. In 3ds Max software, you record a text file of your scene or animation's performance. You can then use Maya software to graph and view the profile information to find any animation slow-downs.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN MODELING:
  • Boolean Compound Object Creation:
  • The redesigned Boolean tool for creating compound objects is more intuitive than ever. The double precision algorithm creates reliable meshes while the new workflow makes it easy to add and remove operands when assembling your geometries. Color coded outlining makes the Boolean operations applied to specific operands visible right in the viewport. The new Boolean Explorer helps you keep track of your operands during assembly while sub-boolean nesting helps you organize the components involved in creating complex objects.
  • Local Aligned:
  • Local Aligned is a new axis alignment method that uses the coordinate system of the selected object to calculate X and Y axes in addition to Z. This can be useful when adjusting multiple sub-objects with different facings at the same time when Local causes undesirable results. You can access Local Aligned from the Reference Coordinate System drop down menu on the main toolbar.
  • Toggle between Sub-Object Levels:
  • While working with poly objects, you can now toggle between sub-object levels (vertex, edge, border, polygon, and element) using a hotkey. Using a single hotkey to move between levels allows you to spend less time searching for the appropriate key or button, and more time creating your model.
  • Working Pivot:
  • A new workflow has been implemented for Working Pivot as well as quad menu support. You can now enter Working Pivot mode by selecting it directly from the Reference Coordinate System drop down menu as well as from the Hierarchy panel as done previously. Edit Working Pivot also incorporates a new caddy allowing artists to reset, accept or cancel modifications to pivot placement directly in the viewport.
  • Pin Working Pivot is another new option that offers new flexibility. Normally, Working Pivot resets its position whenever a new selection is made. With Pin Working Pivot enabled however, the placement of the Working Pivot stays consistent even when other objects are selected.
  • Point to Point Selection:
  • You can now preview the selection of non-adjacent sub-objects to see exactly what will be selected before confirming the operation. To use point to point selection, hold down Shift and then click a vertex, edge, or polygon. Move the cursor and the selection will follow along the shortest possible path. Click again to confirm the preview. You can then continue adding and confirming more sub-objects to select, or release Shift to complete the action.
  • Bevel Profile Modifier:
  • You are now able to create bevel profiles using an improved method which gives you more creative control. The Bevel Profile Editor allows you to easily create and edit your bevel profile as well as save presets for future use.
  • Morpher Modifier
  • The Morpher modifier now supports unlimited morph targets.
  • Unwrap UVW Modifier:
  • In addition to new performance boosting code, UVW unwrapping is now easier and more powerful thanks to intuitive tools and improvements. Selecting sub-objects is faster with the addition of symmetrical selection options, point to point selection support, and other time-saving enhancements. The new Brush tool allows you to move and relax vertices directly in the editor window in order to tweak problematic areas. New bitmap UV checker options give increased control over viewport previews while the addition of a new texture checker offers better visual identification of UV and normal directions.
  • In conjunction with the new Multi Tile map in the Material editor, the UV editor now also supports Multi Tile view, which allows you to load multiple texture tiles into the UV editor. This is especially useful for opening and displaying high resolution textures produced by 3D painting applications such as Mudbox, and is an effective alternative to using multiple UV channels to texture objects.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN SKINNING:
  • Voxel skinning is a smooth skinning method allowing you to isolate specific areas of the mesh and produce quick, high-quality results. Unlike standard skinning, which has no concept of body parts, Voxel skinning uses a voxel representation of the mesh to help calculate influence weights. It computes, then applies, the resulting weights to the existing closed-form skinning method, deforming the character's geometry where you need it and can solve the skin weights even when you are out of bind pose. 3ds Max 2017 enables you to quickly switch between painting and blending weights by simply pressing Shift.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN RENDERING:
  • ART Renderer:
  • Autodesk's new Raytracer (ART) renderer is a fast, CPU-only, physically based renderer ideal for architectural, product, and industrial design renderings and animations.
  • The ART renderer provides minimal settings and intuitive settings, with a familiar workflow for users moving from Revit, Inventor, Fusion 360, and other Autodesk Applications using the Autodesk Raytracer. ART allows you to render large, complex scenes and take advantage of unlimited rendering on multiple computers via Backburner.
  • Support for IES, photometric and day lighting from Revit allows you to create highly accurate images of architectural scenes. ART's use of image-based lighting makes it easy to render highly realistic images and incorporate your design into real environments.
  • Scene Converter:
  • Use the Scene Converter to easily convert your scenes to take advantage of newer lights, materials, and render features. The Scene Converter has numerous presets for converting scenes, and you can create and save your own presets. You can customize and adjust existing conversion scripts using a simple interface to create Source to Target batch conversion rules. The Scene Converter's capabilities can be easily extended using new Autodesk scripts or ones created by the user-community to meet your individual needs.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN LIGHTING:
  • Sun Positioner and Physical Sky:
  • A streamlined alternative to the Daylight System, the new Sun Positioner and Physical Sky provides a coordinated workflow for users of modern physically-based renderers.
  • The primary advantage to the Sun Positioner and Physical Sky is the efficient and intuitive workflow compared to the legacy sunlight and daylight systems. The legacy systems consist of 5 separate plug-ins: the compass rose, the sun object, the sky object, the daylight controller, and the environment map. These are found in different locations in the interface; for example, the Daylight system is found in the Systems panel while its data location settings are found in the Motion panel.
  • This Sun Positioner and Physical Sky is found in a more intuitive location, the Lights panel. The Sun Positioner exists to position the sun in the scene. Date and location settings are found in the Sun Position rollout. Once the Sun Position object is created, the Environment map and Exposure Control plug-in are created with good default values. All parameters related to shading are only found in the Material Editor's Physical Sun & Sky rollout. This simplifies the workflow by avoiding duplication and also makes it less likely you will introduce inconsistencies.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN MATERIALS AND MAPS:
  • Physical Material:
  • The new Autodesk Physical Material is designed to take maximum advantage of physically-plausible renderers such as the Autodesk ART renderer. It is a modern layered material with controls focused on physically-based workflows. The Physical Material includes settings for Coating and Sub-surface Scattering, allowing you to create complex and interesting surfaces with a single material.
  • The Physical Material is the first Autodesk material to include interface options for Standard and Advanced settings, giving you the ability to fine-tune surfaces only when desired.
  • Color Map:
  • The Color map allows you to easily create and instance solid color swatches, helping to support consistency and accuracy of color choices. The map also allows you to use a bitmap as an input, and adjust the gain and gamma.
  • Multi Tile Map:
  • The Multi Tile map allows you to load multiple texture tiles into the UV editor accessed through the Unwrap UVW modifier. This feature supports popular tools such as Mudbox, Zbrush, and Mari.
  • WHAT'S NEW IN SCENE MANAGEMENT:
  • Scene Converter:
  • Use the Scene Converter to easily convert your scenes to take advantage of newer lights, materials, and render features. The Scene Converter has numerous presets for converting scenes, and you can create and save your own presets. You can customize and adjust existing conversion scripts using a simple interface to create Source to Target batch conversion rules. The Scene Converter's capabilities can be easily extended using new Autodesk scripts or ones created by the user-community to meet your individual needs.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2016 18.0 (Aug 27, 2015)

  • 3D animation:
  • Text tool (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Geodesic Voxel and Heatmap skinning (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Max Creation Graph animation controllers (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Camera Sequencer
  • Dual Quaternion skinning
  • 3D modeling and texturing:
  • OpenSubdiv support
  • Enhanced ShaderFX
  • 3D rendering:
  • A360 rendering support
  • Physical Camera
  • Support for new Iray and mental ray enhancements
  • UI, workflow & pipeline:
  • Game exporter (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Live link (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Better support for Stingray shaders (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Integrated Creative Market 3D content store (AVAILABLE WITH EXTENSION 1)
  • Max Creation Graph
  • XRef renovations
  • Scene Explorer and Layer Manager improvements
  • Design Workspace
  • Easier Revit and SketchUp workflows
  • Template system
  • Alembic support
  • Autodesk Translation Framework
  • Multitouch support
  • Small user-requested features (SURFs)

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2015 17.0 (Apr 15, 2014)

  • What's New in Ease of Use:
  • Undo and Redo on the Main Toolbar
  • Small Annoying Things - With the understanding that small things can make a big difference, 3ds Max 2015 addresses up to ten minor workflow obstacles identified as high priority by customers. Among these are the ability to preserve UVs for Inset Polygons; the ability to slide partials loops in Swift Loops; and adaptive viewport navigation for smarter zooming, panning, and orbiting. Customers can suggest their own workflow improvements and vote on current suggestions using the Small Annoying Things forum.
  • What's New in Scene Management:
  • Combined Scene Explorer / Layer Explorer - Dealing with complex scenes is now easier, thanks to new layer-management features within Scene Explorers that help artists and designers better organize data. In addition, a number of other enhancements have been made to the usability of Scene Explorers, contributing to an overall productivity improvement for scene management. Highlights include support for docking and Workspaces, and customizable quad menus.
  • State Sets Improvements - State Sets have been improved to accelerate performance, enhance usability; and to streamline interoperability workflows between 3ds Max and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects software.
  • What's New in Scripting:
  • The 3ds Max Python API provides a bridge between MAXScript and Python libraries and Python tools. You can execute Python scripts from MAXScript and the 3ds Max command line. The Python SDK is built on top of the 3ds Max C++ SDK, and you can access a subset of the 3ds Max API from Python scripts, including the ability to evaluate MAXScript code.
  • What's New in Data Exchange:
  • IGES Export - Export to IGES files has been upgraded to use a new exporter that converts objects to Body objects before exporting them.
  • What's New in Modeling:
  • Placement Tool - Artists and designers can now more easily position and orient content relative to other content within their scenes, with new Placement tools that feature intuitive auto-parenting and aligning behaviors. Objects can be moved along the surfaces of other meshes as though magnetically attracted and quickly rotated to the desired orientation as part of the same operation.
  • Quad Chamfer - Modelers can use the new Chamfer modifier to create quadrilateral-based chamfered or beveled edges between two surfaces. This can help eliminate pinching, and produces better results when used in conjunction with the TurboSmooth modifier. Quad-based chamfering is also newly available in the Editable Poly object.
  • Point Cloud - The Point Cloud feature lets you create precise, three-dimensional models from real-world references by importing large datasets captured from reality as point clouds. 3D modelers can view point clouds in true color in the viewports, interactively adjust the extent of the cloud displayed, and create new geometry in context by snapping to point-cloud vertices.
  • The Point Cloud toolset consists of the following components:
  • Point Cloud object
  • Autodesk Point Cloud material
  • Autodesk Point Cloud shader
  • Point Cloud vertex snapping
  • What's New in Character Animation:
  • Populate - The powerful Populate crowd animation feature set now offers increased artistic control, better realism, and improved usability. Designers and artists can give their characters more convincing walking, jogging, passing, turning, and seated behaviors; control more aspects of how their characters are generated to influence the outcome; save textures for customization, sharing, and network rendering; and bake animation for editing and export. In addition, studios can customize Populate through exposure of the functionality in an SDK (software development kit).
  • What's New in Particle Flow:
  • Particle Flow User Interface - An updated UI for the Particle Flow Graph Editor offers a closely unified experience with using the Slate Material Editor.
  • What's New in Hardware Shading:
  • ShaderFX Editor - Game artists and programmers can now easily create advanced HLSL viewport shaders with the ShaderFX real-time visual shader editor. Shader networks are created by connecting different nodes together using an intuitive click-drag workflow; artists can select from a powerful array of floating-point values, mathematical operations, texture maps, normal maps, and color nodes. The resulting materials, even those with animated values, can be visualized in real time in 3ds Max viewports. An advanced mode enables more technical artists to drill down deeper into the inner workings of each basic node. With this feature, artists and programmers can design shaders that match those of their game engine. Using your game assets and textures inside 3ds Max viewports is now made easier.
  • What's New in Cameras:
  • Stereo Camera - Artists and designers can now create more engaging entertainment content and design visualizations with the addition of a new Stereo Camera feature set. Exclusively available through the Autodesk Exchange application store (apps.exchange.autodesk.com), the Stereo Camera plug-in (available in English language only) enables artists and designers to create stereoscopic camera rigs. Multiple display modes offer left eye, right eye, center, or anaglyph views in Nitrous viewports, while in-scene 3D volumes help with the adjustment of valid stereo zones. In addition to a passive stereo viewing mode, customers with a recent AMD FirePro™ graphics card and a supported HD3D Active Stereo monitor or equivalent can take advantage of Active Stereo viewing.
  • What's New in Rendering:
  • ActiveShade Improvements - ActiveShade preview renderings now support the NVIDIA mental ray renderer, in addition to the NVIDIA iray renderer and scanline renderers previously supported. With ActiveShade, artists and designers can see the effects of changing lighting or materials interactively, helping them more easily refine their work—the ability to match the final renderer helps artists more accurately preserve creative intent. For both iray and mental ray, interactive updates are now faster, while viewport navigation and switching, adjustments to light parameters, and certain other scene changes—creating, moving, or deleting objects—are captured more frequently, offering finer grain updates.
  • The iray renderer now supports Rendering Elements Separately.
  • The String Options rollout lets you enter options as you would in a iray MI file.
  • The iray renderer now supports the Blend material, and support for map types has been improved.
  • State Sets can help manage rendering as well as interoperability between 3ds Max and Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects software. They have been improved to accelerate performance, enhance usability, and to streamline the interoperation with the Adobe applications.
  • What's New in Viewports:
  • Accelerated Viewport Performance - Working in 3ds Max viewports is faster; a number of improvements accelerate navigation, selection, and viewport texture baking, resulting in greater interactivity, especially with dense meshes and scenes with many texture maps. In addition, antialiasing can now be enabled with minimal impact on performance—so artists and designers can work in a higher fidelity environment without sacrificing speed.
  • What's New in Help:
  • Help is now published in a new format, consistent with the help for other Autodesk applications.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 16.0 (Apr 17, 2013)

  • Vector map support:
  • Get new support for vector maps
  • Populate crowd animation:
  • Generate believable human motion.
  • Augmented particle flow system:
  • Create better physical simulations in less time.
  • Improved viewport performance:
  • Get better interactive and playback performance.
  • DX 11 viewport rendering:
  • 3ds Max now supports DirectX 11 shaders.
  • Perspective Match:
  • Place CG elements into photo backgrounds.
  • 2D Pan and Zoom:
  • Pan and zoom without affecting camera position.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 15.0 (Mar 19, 2013)

  • Modeling:
  • Modeless Array Dialog
  • The Array dialog is now modeless, which means that you can navigate viewports while the dialog is open. For example, if the array exceeds the viewport boundaries, you can pan and zoom the viewport so the entire array is within view.
  • Egg Spline
  • The Egg spline lets you create splines that are shaped like a chicken egg.
  • Hair And Fur
  • In Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 Hair And Fur has been improved in a number of ways. Improvements include better viewport display, better efficiency with tile memory usage, new material options, and new Flyaway, Clumping, and Multi-Strand features.
  • Animation:
  • MassFX Enhancements
  • Artists can now enjoy a more integrated and accurate dynamics toolset, thanks to a wide range of enhancements and additions to the MassFX unified system of simulation solvers. Highlights are the new mCloth module with tearable fabric, plus support for dynamic ragdoll hierarchies. In addition, improved constraints, better handling of pivot points, and enhanced UI readability help improve overall workflow.
  • gPoly Format
  • Speed your character-animation workflow by leaps and bounds with the new gPoly geometry format. gPoly produces objects in the hardware mesh format used internally by 3ds Max, eliminating the need for conversion from editable format to the internal hardware format. The result is faster animation playback when deforming high-resolution meshes (for example, using the Skin modifier).
  • gPoly delivers accelerated playback in cases where mesh deformation does not change topology.
  • Retime Tool
  • Animators can now retime portions of animations to increase or decrease their speed. There is no requirement to have keyframes present in the portion to be retimed, and no extra keyframes are created in the resulting high-quality curve.
  • Track View Makeover
  • To make the 3ds Max Track View animation editor conform more closely to suitemates such as Autodesk Maya, the menu layout has been redesigned, producing a more-compact interface. See Track View Menu Bar.
  • Animation Store
  • Included with Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 is Animation Store, where you can preview hundreds of motion clips on your Biped or CAT characters with automatic retargeting prior to purchasing the motion data. To use Animation Store, click the Autodesk Animation Store command on the Animation menu.
  • QuickTime Support for 64bit
  • We have added support for Apple's QuickTime in the 64bit versions of 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design.
  • Skin Modifier Improvement
  • For more efficient management of bones attached to a Skin modifier, you can now sort the list of bones in ascending or descending alphanumeric order. Searching the list also saves time by showing only matching entries, rather than simply highlighting matching entries in the list. See Parameters Rollout (Skin Modifier).
  • Scene Management:
  • Workspaces
  • A single 3ds Max session can now host multiple workspaces: different user-interface arrangements. Switching between workspaces is as simple as choosing a name from a drop-down list, and creating new workspaces is just as easy.
  • State Sets
  • Thanks to the entirely new State Sets render pass system, you can now create render elements more efficiently for Autodesk Smoke 2013 software, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop software, and other image-compositing applications. The state recorder enables artists to capture, edit, and save the current state, while a visual interface shows how compositing and render elements are wired together to create the final result. Artists can more quickly set up and execute multiple render passes from a single file; individual passes can be modified without the need to re-render the whole scene, enhancing productivity.
  • Also part of State Sets is the new Media Sync functionality, which provides two-way transfer of cameras, lights, null objects, plane objects/solids, footage (including footage layering), blend modes, opacity, and effects. With it, artists can iterate more effectively and reduce rework to complete projects in less time.
  • Viewports:
  • Gradient Background
  • Viewports can now have a vertical gradient as a background. This is the default for Perspective viewports. You can set custom colors for the gradient by using the Customize User Interface Colors panel. In addition, viewport background controls have been consolidated in a new Viewport Configuration dialog Background panel, with corresponding options on the Views menu and the Shading Viewport Label menu.
  • Nitrous Viewports
  • The Nitrous accelerated graphics core has received a number of enhancements. Artists will enjoy the increased drawing performance on large scenes, together with new support for image-based lighting (see Skylight), depth of field, accelerated particle flow display, and new Facets and Clay shaders. In addition, the ability to change the bokeh shape via MAXScript, support for shadows in large scenes, and improved workflows for interior scenes extend the Nitrous functionality.
  • Slate Material Editor Improvements
  • The Slate Material Editor interface has been updated in a number of ways to improve usability. New features include enhanced right-click-menu functionality, the option to get a node view of materials applied to selected object, new material library options, and special highlighting of the node whose parameters are visible.
  • Rendering:
  • Render Setup Dialog
  • A new drop-down menu on the Render Setup dialog lets you choose among production, iterative, and ActiveShade rendering. This menu also lets you launch Network Rendering, which is now an action rather than a toggle.
  • This menu is also extensible, allowing third-party developers to add new rendering modes.
  • iray Renderer
  • The version of iray provided with Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 has been upgraded to iray v2.1.
  • You can use the iray renderer as the ActiveShade renderer. A new Hardware Resources rollout lets you manage the processor resources assigned to rendering, whether ActiveShade or Production.
  • The iray renderer now offers support for motion blur, helping artists create more realistic images of moving elements. Also, the Production iray renderer now performs Area to Render more quickly. In addition, a large number of improvements have been added: support for "no diffuse bump," the round corner effect, and more procedural maps; improved sky portals, glossy refractions, translucency, and IOR (index of refraction); faster exterior scene convergence; and the ability to handle larger output resolutions.
  • Interoperability:
  • Enhanced FBX File Link
  • The File Link Manager can now directly import Revit Architecture (RVT) files. File Link options now appear in the Application menu Import group for greater ease of access.
  • Enhanced Geometry File Support
  • New support for the Autodesk DirectConnect family of translators enables Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 users to exchange industrial design data with engineers using CAD (computer aided design) products: AutoCAD software, Autodesk Inventor software, Autodesk Alias software, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks and Catia system, PTC Pro/ENGINEER, Siemens PLM Software NX, JT, and others. A wide range of file formats is supported (see Geometry File Formats); for certain of these a license is required. The data is imported as native solids Body Objects that can be interactively retesselated as needed.
  • DirectConnect is now used for IGES import, so IGES geometry imports as Body Objects rather than as NURBS.
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 can now directly export meshes to WIRE format, as well.
  • Send To Options
  • The Send To sub-menu now provides one-click support for Autodesk Maya and Autodesk Infrastructure Modeler.
  • Sending to or from Autodesk Maya or Autodesk MotionBuilder can convert a Bipedal CAT rig into a HumanIK skeleton, or vice versa.
  • Maya Interaction Mode
  • Artists familiar with using Autodesk Maya software will appreciate the new Maya interaction mode that enables them to navigate viewports using the same mouse and key combinations in 3ds Max as they would in Maya. The ability to use a unified style when working with both packages helps save time and reduce user frustration. In addition, the interaction modes are customizable according to personal preference.
  • Discontinued Export Format
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 no longer exports JSR-184 (M3G) files.
  • Internal Improvements:
  • .NET Exposure of the 3ds Max SDK
  • The Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 SDK (software development kit) offers improved exposure to .NET, making it accessible from .NET-aware languages. Garbage collection and reflection are provided by the .NET framework and help accelerate software development. The built-in .NET libraries also help facilitate common tasks: building user interfaces; connecting to databases; parsing XML and text; numerical computation; and communicating over networks. See http://www.autodesk.com/me-sdk-docs.
  • Multi-Language Deployment
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 now uses the Unicode standard, facilitating shipment in multiple languages within a single executable. This enables facilities to offer their artists the ability to run the software in a choice of languages without the requirement to reinstall.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 14.0 (May 31, 2011)

  • Nitrous Accelerated Graphics Core:
  • A top priority of the Excalibur (XBR) initiative to revitalize 3ds Max, this release introduces a completely new viewport system engineered to provide dramatic improvements in performance and visual quality. Nitrous leverages today's accelerated GPUs and multi-core workstations to help artists iterate faster and handle larger data sets with limited impact on interactivity. With each viewport threaded separately from the UI, artists can adjust parameters on complex scenes without the need to wait for viewports to refresh, resulting in a smoother, more responsive workflow. Moreover, Nitrous provides a render-quality display environment that supports unlimited lights, soft shadows, screen-space ambient occlusion, tone-mapping, and high-quality transparency, along with progressive refinement of image quality when the artist pauses, helping artists make better creative and aesthetic decisions in the context of their final output.
  • In addition to high-quality, realistic display, Nitrous viewports can also display stylized images to create a variety of non-photorealistic effects such as pencil, acrylic, ink, colored pencil, colored ink, graphite, pastel, and technical drawing.
  • General Improvements:
  • Starting this release the 3ds Max Help is being published in HTML format to the Autodesk.com website. By default, 3ds Max calls the help from a Web location to provide you with the latest available documentation. This shift to publishing directly to the Web means we can provide regular updates and additions to content. This change also significantly reduces the footprint of locally installed data to your machine and makes the install and uninstall of 3ds Max faster.
  • Improved Startup Time and Memory Footprint:
  • 3ds Max now starts up faster and uses less memory, thanks to targeted performance improvements developed as part of the Excalibur (XBR) initiative that enable tools to be loaded intelligently, as required.
  • Ribbon Interface Enhancements:
  • The enhanced modeling ribbon correctly adjusts to dark UI color schemes, performs faster, and offers a more consistent contextual UI location and access to help.
  • Also, newly implemented in the ribbon is tooltip-based contextual help; when any ribbon tooltip is open, press F1 to open the help to the specific section that describes that tool.
  • Caddy Improvements:
  • The Caddy in-canvas controls now offer better usability, with a more predictable contextual location in the interface, additional keyboard shortcuts for quicker interaction, and default behavior that does not occlude the artist's selection.
  • Mental ray Upgrade:
  • The version of mental ray provided with 3ds Max has been upgraded to mental ray 3.9. You can access the mental ray help from the main menu Help Additional Help.
  • Updated Autodesk Materials:
  • Autodesk Materials have changed in various ways to make them easier to use. Rather than flag each section as changed, this help simply flags the main Autodesk Materials topic. New features have a "new" () icon next to them. Aside from minor updates, there are a few specific enhancements:
  • Dynamic interface:
  • Autodesk Material rollouts now update dynamically, to show only those controls you need at the time.
  • Color By Object:
  • Color controls for many Autodesk Materials now include this option, which uses the object's 3ds Max wireframe color.
  • Copy As Generic:
  • This option lets you convert any other Autodesk Material type into the Autodesk Generic type.
  • Substance Procedural Textures:
  • Achieve a vast range of look variations with a new library of 80 Substance procedural textures. These dynamic, resolution-independent textures have a tiny memory and disk space footprint, and can be exported to certain games engines via the Allegorithmic Substance Air middleware offering (available separately from Allegorithmic; integration is currently provided for the Unreal Engine 3 game engine, Emergent's Gamebryo game engine, and Unity). Alternatively, you can bake Substance textures to bitmaps for rendering using a GPU-accelerated baking process.
  • Some examples of dynamically editable and animatable parameters are: brick distribution, surface aging, and mortar thickness in a brick wall; color variation, density, and leaf type in an autumn leaves texture; and the age and number of planks in a varnished wood texture. Also, every Substance texture has a randomizing setting to lend natural variation to your scenes.
  • The Slate Material Editor interface has been updated in a number of ways to improve usability:
  • You can use the keyboard to navigate the Material/Map Browser.
  • Undo and Redo now work with Slate Material Editor operations other than navigation changes to the active View.
  • In material, map, and controller nodes, spinners and numeric fields now behave more like the way they do in other parts of the 3ds Max interface.
  • In particular, right-clicking the arrows sets the value to zero or a minimum; Ctrl+drag increases the rate of value change while Alt+drag decreases it; and Ctrl+N in a numeric field displays the Numerical Expression Evaluator. (Right-clicking the numeric field does not display a Copy/Paste menu the way it does in other parts of the interface.)
  • A variety of operations that were accessible only from the Compact Material Editor are now available in the Slate Material Editor as well, and new menu choices include better access to two material-management utilities.
  • Unwrap UVW Enhancements
  • The Unwrap UVW modifier features numerous enhancements, including:
  • A streamlined, reorganized, iconified modifier interface.
  • In the editor interface, revamped toolbars and new rollouts that provide icon-based access to many tools previously available only in menus.
  • The new Peel toolset provides an implementation of the LSCM (Least Square Conformal Maps) method of unwrapping texture coordinates for an easy and inutuitive workflow in flattening complex surfaces.
  • The editor includes useful new tools for transforming, flattening, and packing texture coordinates.
  • New grouping tools enable retaining physical relationships among related clusters.
  • Vector Displacement Map:
  • Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 can use vector displacement maps exported from Autodesk Mudbox. This type of map is a variation on regular displacement maps that allows surfaces to be displaced in any direction, not just along the surface normals.
  • Viewport Canvas:
  • With the Viewport Canvas feature for painting 3D objects in the viewport, you can now clone an image from anywhere on the screen, including other programs such as photo editors.
  • Rendering:
  • Creating realistic images has never been easier with 3ds Max, using the newly integrated iray rendering technology from mental images®. Another major milestone in the Rendering Revolution, the iray renderer enables you to set up your scene, click Render, and get predictable, photoreal results without worrying about rendering settings: just like a point-and-shoot camera. Artists can focus on their creative vision as they intuitively use real world materials, lighting, and settings to more accurately portray the physical world; iray progressively refines the image until you reach the level of detail you desire. The iray renderer works with standard multi-core CPUs; however, NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPU hardware will significantly accelerate the rendering process.
  • Quicksilver Improvements:
  • The Quicksilver hardware renderer interface has been improved. Also, you can now render stylized images to create a variety of non-photorealistic effects such as pencil, acrylic, ink, colored pencil, colored ink, graphite, pastel, and technical drawing.
  • Single-Step Suites Interoperability:
  • With the Send To feature, you can seamlessly leverage the focused toolsets in the Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suites, with new single-step interoperability between 3ds Max and Autodesk Mudbox software, Autodesk MotionBuilder software, and the Autodesk Softimage Interactive Creation Environment (ICE). Send 3ds Max scenes to Mudbox to intuitively add organic sculpted and painted details, and then update the scene in 3ds Max in one simple step. Take a 3ds Max scene to MotionBuilder to access the specialized animation tool set, without having to think about file format details. And tap into the power of the Softimage ICE particle system directly from your 3ds Max scene. With single-step interoperability, artists can enjoy easier access to the best tools for the task at hand.
  • MassFX Rigid-Body Dynamics:
  • As part of the XBR initiative, Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 introduces the MassFX unified system of simulation solvers, and delivers its first module: rigid-body dynamics. With MassFX, artists can leverage the multi-threaded NVIDIA PhysX engine to create more compelling, dynamic rigid-body simulations directly in 3ds Max viewports. MassFX supports static, dynamic, and kinematic rigid bodies plus a number of constraints: Rigid, Slide, Hinge, Twist, Universal, Ball & Socket, and Gear. Animators can more quickly create a wide range of realistic dynamic simulations, and can also use the toolset for modeling: for example, creating a randomly placed landscape of rocks. Assigning physical properties such as friction, density, and bounciness is as simple as choosing from a set of initial preset real-world materials and tweaking parameters as needed.
  • Common F-Curve Editor:
  • Animators can easily switch between multiple products in the Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite Premium thanks to a new F-Curve Editor that provides a common user interface and consistent terminology for editing animation curves. The new curve editor additionally offers better in-context curve controls, multi-point editing, and the ability to quickly toggle the Controller window.
  • The default Auto Tangent method used in creating keys has been adjusted slightly to produce smoother animation.
  • The new Region Tool lets you scale and move selected keys without switching edit modes.
  • Fewer toolbars are displayed by default, and the Filter settings are slightly different. For details, see Curve Editor Toolbars.
  • The new Tangent Actions toolbar provides functions to break and unify key tangents (handles).
  • The right-click menu in the curve-editing window differs slightly.
  • Modeling
  • Autodesk Alias Products Interoperability:
  • Work more seamlessly with Autodesk Alias Design software for industrial design, with the new ability to import WIRE files natively into 3ds Max as Body Objects, preserving object names, hierarchies, layers, and material names. Designers can now interactively adjust tessellation results inside 3ds Max to fine-tune their visualization, and add sculpted details on top of Alias Design reference data using the intuitive Graphite polygon modeling toolset in 3ds Max. Edited meshes can be exported back to Alias Design as OBJ files.
  • The latest additions to the modeling ribbon include:
  • The Conform brushes let you mold one object to another's shape by painting. For example, you can mold a road model onto the surface of a hilly terrain.
  • The Shift brush for deforming mesh geometry by painting now offers Rotate and Scale variants.
  • The new Constrain To Spline option lets you restrict any Paint Deform brush to a path defined by a spline. For example, you can use this feature to emboss a spiral or star shape on an object's surface.
  • ProOptimizer Improvements
  • Artists can now optimize models faster, more efficiently, and with better results, using the enhanced ProOptimizer feature that now also offers normal and UV interpolation, together with the ability to keep high-resolution normals on the low-resolution result. Specific advantages include:
  • Improved optimization results
  • Face flipping is now extremely rare.
  • ProOptimizer can now be used reliably for terrain optimization.
  • Polygons now have more uniform dimensions.
  • Faster optimization:
  • ProOptimizer is now about three times faster than it was in previous releases.
  • UV interpolation:
  • UVs are now interpolated. As a result, when Keep UV Boundaries is turned on, points can move to their optimal position during the optimization process. This leads to improved results when optimizing textured meshes.
  • Normal interpolation:
  • Normals are now interpolated, giving smoother results. When Keep Normals is turned on, a higher optimization ratio is now used.
  • Reduced memory requirements:
  • When no interpolation is required, the memory usage has been reduced by approximately 25 percent. Now you can optimize larger meshes.
  • Lock Vertex/Point Position option:
  • This new option lets you lock the position of vertices, which can help reduce distortion in optimized meshes.
  • Enhanced FBX File Link:
  • Work in parallel to finish faster, with an enhanced dynamic FBX File Link that now supports files from a wide range of sources, and can handle animation data. Changes made to the FBX file in applications such as MotionBuilder, Mudbox, Softimage, or Autodesk Maya software are automatically updated in 3ds Max, eliminating the need for time-consuming file merging, and helping to reduce errors.
  • Scene Explorer Improvements:
  • The Scene Explorer has been improved to run faster. It also shows custom colors like other 3ds Max dialogs. Some new columns have been added to help you view the status of objects linked by using the File Link Manager.

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 13.0 (Apr 8, 2010)

  • Slate Material Editor
  • Local Edits to Containers
  • Modeling & Texturing Enhancements
  • Viewport Display of Materials
  • Autodesk 3ds Max Composite
  • Autodesk FBX File Link with Autodesk Revit Architecture
  • In-Context Direct Manipulation UI
  • Fully Integrated Character Animation Toolkit (CAT)
  • User Interface Customization
  • Autodesk Inventor Import Improvements
  • Native Solids Import/Export
  • Google SketchUp Importer
  • Autodesk Material Library
  • Save to Previous Release
  • Updated OpenEXR Plug-in
  • Quicksilver Hardware Renderer

New in Autodesk 3ds Max 11.0 (May 14, 2008)

  • InfoCenter CapabilityIn Autodesk 3ds Max 2009, you can access help via Autodesk InfoCenter. InfoCenter lets you search for information through key words (or by entering a phrase), display the Communication Center panel for product updates and announcements, or display the Favorites panel to access saved topics. In 3ds Max, InfoCenter appears on a toolbar. See Find the Information You Need for how to use InfoCenter; see also InfoCenter Toolbar
  • ViewCube and SteeringWheels The new ViewCube makes it easy to use the mouse to orbit viewports and jump quickly to a standard view orientation such as Left or Top. And the SteeringWheels give you handy mouse-tip controls for zooming, panning, orbiting, and rewinding through a series of view changes. Both of these features will become standard across Autodesk's 3D products, providing users with a consistent navigation experience even as they move among applications.