Autodesk's 3D Studio Max 2008

3D Studio Max 2008

This page will give you an idea of the key features of 3D Studio Max 2008 and the system requirements of 3D Studio Max 2008.

Take a look around.

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New Features and Enhancements

Accelerated Performance

The integration of new technology into the software's Adaptive Degradation System improves interactive performance by automatically simplifying scene display to meet a user-defined target frame rate. You control how 3ds Max adjusts scene display-whether the smallest objects are hidden, or distant objects have less detail, etc.-and 3ds Max calculates how best to achieve it. When combined with the new Direct3D^® mesh caching that groups objects by materials, the result is that tens of thousands of objects can be just as interactive as ten objects. In addition, loading, arrays, Autodesk^® FBX^® and OBJ export, and other areas of the software perform significantly faster.

Scene Explorer Scene Management

3ds Max^® 2008 delivers Scene Explorer, a robust new tool that provides you with a hierarchical view of scene data and fast scene analysis, along with editing tools that facilitate working with even the most complex, object-heavy scenes. Scene Explorer gives you the ability to sort, filter, and search a scene by any object type or property (including metadata), with stackable filtering, sorting, and searching criteria.
This new tool also enables you to save and store multiple Explorer instances and to link, unlink, rename, hide, freeze, and delete objects, regardless of what objects are currently selected in the scene. You can also configure columns to display and edit any object property, and because this feature is scriptable and SDK extendable, you can use callbacks to add custom column definitions.

Review

This powerful new toolset gives you immediate feedback on various render settings, enabling you to iterate rapidly. This means you can now quickly hone in on your desired look without waiting for a software render-perfect for over-the-shoulder client/boss feedback sessions and other iterative workflows. Based on the latest game engine technology, Review delivers interactive viewport previews of shadows (including self-shadowing and up to 64 lights simultaneously), the 3ds Max sun/sky system, and mental ray^® Architectural and Design material settings.

MAXScript ProEditor

3ds Max^® 2008 marks the debut of the new MAXScript ProEditor. This intuitive new interface for working with MAXScript includes multilevel undo functionality; fast, high-quality code colorization; rapid opening of large documents; line number display; regular expressions in search/replace; folding of sections of the script; support for user customization; and many other features.

Enhanced DWG Import

3ds Max^® 2008 delivers faster, more accurate importing of DWG^TM files. Significantly improved memory management enables you to import large, complex scenes with multiple objects in considerably less time. Improved support for material assignment and naming, solid object import, and normals management facilitate working with software products such as Revit Architecture 2008. Plus, a new Select Similar feature identifies all objects in an imported DWG scene that contain characteristics similar to those of a selected object. This capability lets you select and edit multiple imported objects simultaneously-dramatically streamlining DWG-based workflows.

Artist-Friendly Modeling Options

3ds Max^® 2008 gives you a more streamlined, artist-friendly modeling workflow through a collection of hands-on modeling options that let you focus more on the creative process. These options include selection previewing and the ability to have existing modeling hotkeys and pivots become temporary overrides.

Biped Enhancements

This latest release provides you with new levels of flexibility with regard to your Biped rigs. A new Xtras tool lets you create and animate extraneous Biped features anywhere on your rig (for example, wings or additional facial bones) and save them as BIP files. These files are supported in Mixer and Motion Flow, as well as in Layers, where new layering functionality enables BIP files to be saved as offsets from each layer to isolate character motion. As a result, each layer can be saved as its own asset for export into a game.

Expanded Platform Support

3ds Max^® 2008 is the first full release of the software officially compatible with Microsoft^® Windows Vista^TM 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and the Microsoft DirectX^® 10 platform.

Detailed Features

3ds Max User Interface

• Artists gain unmatched productivity through a combination of performance and workflow features, including a fast, efficient, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) viewport environment, schematic view, multiple coordinate systems, interactive axis constraints, customizable menus and buttons, viewport grips/manipulators, and modeless keyboard entry. Streamline workflows through the creation of hotkeys.
• The unique modifier stack gives artists the option of using a powerful, visual, parametric workflow: changes made anywhere in the modifier stack, no matter how significant, are automatically propagated to the end result. This feature enables artists to work in a nonlinear fashion-for example, on a completed high-resolution character model, revert to the original low-resolution geometry at the bottom of the stack, and add details, such as buttons on a shirt or tweaks to the nose. Those changes pass up through all the finishing modifiers (such as smoothing, mapping, and skinning) to appear in the completed character.
• Mouse or tablet-based paintbrush interface for object selection and deformation, vertex color, and radiosity touchup.

Data and Scene Management Tools

• File management utilities-such as project folders, relative paths, repathing tools, asset tracking, increment on save, auto-backup, resource collector, dynamic texture reloading, and log files-manage daily use and transfer of 3ds Max data between file iterations, users, and locations.
• Scene Management-the Scene Explorer Panel enables users to sort, filter, and search a scene by any object type or property (including metadata) with stackable filtering, sorting, and searching criteria. Users can save and store multiple explorer instances and link, unlink, rename, hide, freeze, and delete objects regardless of what objects are currently selected in the scene. Users can also configure columns to display and edit any object property-a feature that can be extended using MAXScript.
• An intelligent, external file referencing feature (for scenes, objects, or materials) enables efficient team management of complex scenes and animations.
• The Layer Manager enables artists to quickly isolate related scene elements by working in layers via the Layer Manager.
• Asset Tracker provides source control management for in-use assets. This feature is tightly integrated with Autodesk^® Vault asset management software and compatible with most third-party asset management solutions.

Modeling

• The vast selection of ready-to-use geometry includes standard primitives, extended primitives, 2D shapes, and architectural elements, such as doors, windows, and stairs.
• Compound objects can be created using any of the following operations: Scatter, Connect, Booleans, ShapeMerge, Morph, BlobMesh, Terrain, and Loft.
• Parametric and compound objects can be converted to any of the following base geometric types for more detailed editing: editable mesh, editable poly, editable patch, or Non-Uniform Rational B Spline (NURBS) objects.
• 2D shapes can be used as a starting point for creating editable splines and spline cages to convert to any of the 3D geometry types.

Polygon Modeling and Texturing

Polygon Modeling Tools

• A complete set of creation and editing tools includes create, collapse, attach, bridge, flip, hinge from edge, turn, cut, split, slice, quick slice, wedge, bevel, extrude, chamfer vertex, extrude along a curve, mirror, edge loop, and edge ring tools.
• ProBooleans can be used to re-evaluate and optimize the topology of meshes, and more. The ProCutter tool lets artists quickly fracture geometry into smaller, individual chunks.
• Workflow features include Preserve UVs, which separates texture coordinates from the polygon vertices to edit the mesh without destroying UV data; sub-object (for example, vertices, edges, faces) selection sets, which intelligently convert between different types of selections (for example, edges to vertices); interactive previewing of edits and animated edits; and the ability to make modeling hotkeys and pivots become temporary overrides.
• A large range of modeling modifiers is available for working with geometry and sub-object geometry in the modifier stack, including Projection, Edit Normals, Vertex Paint, and those that let you bend, bevel, cap holes, cross section, displace, extrude, and subdivide polygons.

Subdivision Surfaces and Polygon Smoothing

• Subdivision methods include NURMS Subdivision, which produces an object similar to a NURBS object; classic, which like MeshSmooth produces three- and four-sided facets; and quad output, which produces only four-sided facets.
• Mesh smoothing of polygon objects provides control over the polygon count of the final mesh for render optimization or level of detail.
• Subdivision surface and polygon smoothing tools available to those modeling with the modifier stack include a hierarchical subdivisions surface modifier, MeshSmooth, and TurboSmooth.

Optimization Tools

• Geometry cleanup and level-of-detail tools enable scene optimization for interactive display.

Texture Assignment/Editing

• 3ds Max offers a wide range of operations for creative texture and planar mapping, including tiling, mirroring, decals, angle, rotate, blur, UV stretching, and relaxation; Remove Distortion; Preserve UV; and UV template image export.
• The streamlined texture workflow includes the ability to combine an unlimited number of textures, a material/map browser with support for drag-and-drop assignment, and hierarchies with thumbnails.
• UV workflow features include Pelt mapping, which defines custom seams and enables users to unfold UVs according to those seams; copy/paste materials, maps and colors; and access to quick mapping types (box, cylindrical, spherical).
• Artists can use up to 99 UV sets for texture layering.
• Extensive UVW mapping tools include direct manipulation of texture mapping coordinates.
• Texture modifiers for working in the modifier stack include Camera Map, Material Modifier, UVW mapping modifiers, UV Xform, Map Scaler, and Surface Mapper.

Spline/Extended Spline and NURBS Modeling

• Precise spline-based curve and surface construction tools include loft, one- and two-rail sweep, beveling, extrude, filet, cap, offset, lathe, ruled, mirror, multisided blend, and other tools.
• Surfaces can be attached, detached, aligned, stitched together, extended, filleted, or rebuilt, with a high degree of control over parameterization and continuity.
• Multiple NURBS patches can be merged into a single polygon mesh.
• Spline modifiers-for those modeling with the modifier stack-let the user deform, lathe, normalize spline, set spline render properties, sweep, and trim/extend. A range of modifiers is provided for direct manipulation of subobject geometry (for example, Curve CV, Surface CV, surface).

General Animation

General Keyframing

• Two keying modes-set key and auto key-offer support for different keyframing workflows.
• Fast and intuitive controls for keyframing-including cut, copy, and paste-let the user create animations with ease.
• Animation trajectories may be viewed and edited directly in the viewport.

Animation Controllers

• A wide range of controllers, both key based and parametric, may be used to animate the full transform or the position, rotation, or scale of objects.
• Key-based controllers, such as Bézier and TCB, store values and interpolation methods in each key, which can be edited with those controls.

Constrained Animation

• Objects can be animated along curves with controls for alignment, banking, velocity, smoothness, and looping, and along surfaces with controls for alignment. Weight path-controlled animation between multiple curves, and animate the weight.
• Objects can be constrained to animate with other objects in many ways-including look at, orientation in different coordinate spaces, and linking at different points in time. These constraints also support animated weighting between more than one target.
• All resulting constrained animation can be collapsed into standard keyframes for further editing.

Procedural Animation

• Parametric controllers store values that affect the animation throughout: controls are unique to each controller type.
• Users can create procedural animation based on numerous built-in controllers include noise, expressions, waveform, spring, and audio.
• All resulting procedural animation can be collapsed into standard keyframes for further editing.

Script and Expression Controllers

• Custom controllers can be used as scripts and expressions.
• Expressions allow the animation to be controlled by any math function as well as by any MAXScript.
• Scripted controllers allow the animation to be controlled by any relationship describable using MAXScripts.
• All resulting script or expression-based animation can be collapsed into standard keyframes for further editing.

List Controllers

• Multiple animation tracks can be blended into a single result using a hierarchy of controllers in a list.
• List controllers can be used to store different poses and versions of animation on the same object or objects.
• The influence of each controller in the list can be weighted and animated over time.

Reaction Controllers

• Reactions can be set up to make objects respond to the animation of other objects.
• States for reactions can be set up and triggered with desired values, so the reacting object will be controlled without having to be keyed by hand.

Parameter Wiring

• One- and two-way relationships between controllers may be wired together to offer a more custom method of keying animation.
• Custom animation controls can be implemented by wiring UI elements such as sliders and spinners to objects' animatable tracks.
• Multiple attributes can be controlled with a single slider.

Track View: Curve Editor and Dope Sheet

• Keyframe animation can be edited track by track using curves along the timeline, so the animator can more easily visualize the components of the interpolation.
• Tools for editing curves include limiting, curve drawing, and curve modifiers.
• Keys can be edited individually or in groups and ranges using the Dope Sheet.
• Keys or sets of keys can be slid, moved, and scaled in both time and value.
• Animation may be edited track by track by copying, pasting, and instancing controllers.
• Track Sets can be used to organize complex animation into discrete entities for easier editing.
• Dense animation can be precisely controlled using soft selection falloff and key-reduced into sparse keys that maintain the integrity of the original animation.
• Sound tracks can be loaded into a Track View for easy syncing with the target animation.

Ghosting

• Animation can be viewed before and after the current frame, for evaluation of object motion.

Modifier Animation

• The modifier stack offers animators another procedural approach to animation as all modifier parameters can be keyed.
• The Point Cache modifier can be used to save and load surface deformations for easy swapping and fast playback.
• The Morpher modifier is an interface for organizing and animating morphing targets and includes support for progressive morphing.

Skinning

• Either the Skin or Physique modifier may be used to achieve precise control of skeletal deformation, so the character deforms smoothly as joints are moved, even in the most challenging areas, such as shoulders.
• Skin deformation can be controlled using direct vertex weights, volumes of vertices defined by envelopes, or both.
• Capabilities such as weight tables, paintable weights, and saving and loading of weights offer easy editing and proximity-based transfer between models, providing the accuracy and flexibility needed for complicated characters.
• The rigid bind skinning option is useful for animating low-polygon models or as a diagnostic tool for regular skeleton animation.
• Additional modifiers, such as Skin Wrap and Skin Morph, can be used to drive meshes with other meshes and make targeted weighting adjustments in tricky areas.

Character Animation

Biped Overview

• Integrated Biped toolset provides fast, intelligent biped, physique, and crowd animation functionality.
• Biped automates the creation of bipedal character skeletons, enabling the user to animate before the biped skeleton structure has been determined and retarget onto bipeds of differing structures.
• Biped delivers state-of-the-art, intuitive FK/IK blending as well as a powerful IK pivot animating system that lets hands and feet roll and rotate around points other than their base pivots.
• Biped Xtras let the user create and animate extraneous Biped features anywhere on the rig via FK chains that can be attached anywhere and which are parentable to any Biped object (and are animatable in rotation and position). Xtras can be saved as .bip files.
• Biped provides high-level tools for asset sharing, animation layering, and nonlinear editing.
• Unique Biped and spline dynamics tools enable animators to precisely control the physical forces acting on a character, and can be used to calculate biped airborne trajectory, knee bend on landing, and overall balance.
• Physique can be used to attach skin geometry automatically to a biped or bones hierarchy.
• Integrated crowd system lets users control biped characters or any 3ds Max object using intelligent behavioral interactions, like goal seeking and avoidance.
• Behaviors can be scripted or written as C++ plug-ins and users can move between them based on any scriptable or programmable criteria using cognitive controllers.

Skeletons and Inverse Kinematics (IK)

• Characters can be rigged with custom skeletons using 3ds Max bones, IK solvers, and rigging tools.
• All animation tools-including expressions, scripts, list controllers, and wiring-can be used along with a set of utilities specific to bones to build rigs of any structure and with custom controls, so animators see only the UI necessary to get their characters animated.
• Four plug-in IK solvers ship with 3ds Max: history-independent solver, history-dependent solver, limb solver, and spline IK solver. These powerful solvers reduce the time it takes to create high-quality character animation.
• The history-independent solver delivers smooth blending between IK and FK animation and uses preferred angles to give animators more control over the positioning of affected bones.
• The history-dependent solver can solve within joint limits and is used for machine-like animation.
• IK limb is a lightweight two-bone solver, optimized for real-time interactivity, ideal for working with a character arm or leg.
• Spline IK solver provides a flexible animation system with nodes that can be moved anywhere in 3D space. It allows for efficient animation of skeletal chains, such as a character's spine or tail, and includes easy-to-use twist and roll controls.

High-Level Animation Tools Animation Assets

• Both Biped and 3ds Max objects have systems for storing, loading, and retargeting animation assets, enabling artists to reuse their content and greatly expanding the usefulness of each clip.
• Though the Biped file format is specific to itself-thereby offering unparalleled power and ease of restructuring and retargeting-it can also contain 3ds Max animation that a biped may depend on.
• Animation data can be exported from any object or character to an XML file and then re-imported with track-to-track mapping, or in the case of a character, object-by-object control for retargeting onto characters whose proportions differ from the original.

Motion Mixer

• Both Biped and 3ds Max objects are supported by the nonlinear animation mixer. Libraries of motions can be stored for use with the mixer, and motions applied and retargeted to single objects, entire characters, or specific sets of objects and tracks within characters.
• Motion Mixer lets users intelligently move between motion clips, based on the patterns of the clips themselves, for ultimate smoothness.
• Muting and soloing capabilities provide control over each animation sequence in isolation or in the context of other animations.

Animation Layers

• Both Biped and 3ds Max objects can be animated in layers, allowing for targeted tweaks on even the densest of animation data without compromising the underlying keyframes.

Parameter Collector

• An intuitive interface for collecting, managing, and sharing specific sets of animation controls.

Biped Motion Flow

• The Biped clip network interface can be used for setting up transitions between motions and defining a sequence of movements.
• Motion Flow can be used with the crowd system to determine the animation behaviors that the crowd-driven biped has to choose from.

Biped Copy/Paste

• A powerful copy and paste system for storing, sharing, and retrieving poses, postures, and tracks on whole bipeds or sets of objects therein, thereby facilitating animation blocking and hand posing.

Biped Workbench

• A specialized version of the track view is available for editing, analyzing, and modifying biped animation based on high-level criteria such as acceleration, spikes, and noise.

Biped Footsteps

• Bipedal characters can be animated with footstep gizmos that represent and control the placement of IK constraints for locomotion.

Motion Capture

• Motion capture data -both hierarchical and marker-can be easily imported and retargeted onto both bipeds and 3ds Max objects.
• 3ds Max objects are supported using the HTR and TRC import formats, which can be converted into XML or biped formats for reuse and retargeting on any character.
• Biped supports BVH and CSM data and has tools for extracting IK constraints, reducing keys on any body part within set tolerances, and defining offsets within the character figure.

Modifiers

Selection

• Subobject selections can be moved up the stack to other modifiers using Mesh Select, Poly Select, Patch Select, and Volume Select.

Animated Deformations

• Animated deformers add life to creatures, simulate fluidic effects, and more. Deformers work on all geometry types, including particles.
• Modifiers for creating animated deformations include free form, ripple, wave, squeeze, twist, bend, stretch, spherify, noise, displace, skew, and relax.
• World Space modifiers operate at the top of the modifier stack and bind objects to animated world conditions, such as surfaces, forces, fields, and deflections.

Modeling and Mapping

• Edit mesh, poly, patch, and spline modifiers let the artist use base-level geometry editing tools on parametric objects.
• Meshsmooth, Turbosmooth, Subdivide, Tessellate, and HSDS modifiers increase the resolution of objects or subobjects and offer controls specific to each technology.
• Optimize and Multi-Res reduce the resolution of objects while maintaining important characteristics.
• UV Map and UV Unwrap add texture coordinate manipulation tools into the stack of any object.
• Other parametric processes-such as adding custom attributes, capping holes in geometry, painting vertex colors, overriding material IDs, and adjusting surface normals-benefit from the modifier stack's flexibility.

Space Warps

• Space Warps-objects that can be bound to geometry and particles-introduce world space animation effects.
• Force-based Space Warps, such as wind and gravity, add natural behavior to selections of objects.
• Deflectors contain the animation of objects and particles to enable parametric bouncing and friction.
• Modifier-based Space Warps can be used to deform many objects in relation to each other.
• Space Warps can be included in dynamics simulations to enhance physical realism.

Dynamics

• The integrated reactor plug-in, based on the Havok 3.2 solver, lets users create a full range of rigid and soft-body dynamics simulations, and is compatible with the 3ds Max Space Warp modifiers.
• Multiple constraints can be used to create intricate and accurate physical relationships between objects.
• Simple constraints, such as springs and dashpots, require little computation and create realistic dynamic connections between two objects.
• Cooperative constraints, such as hinge, car wheel, point-to-point, and rag-doll, although more computationally intensive, enable the user to generate more complex and accurate multi-object simulations.
• A real-time simulation window facilitates trial-and-error iteration.
• Simulation results are written into 3ds Max PRS keys and can be optionally added to list controllers or Biped layers so as to not overwrite existing animation.

Rigid-Body Dynamics (reactor)

• Realistic, high-speed simulations of multiple rigid objects are easy to set up and iterate upon using reactor object collections.
• Detailed control over mass, friction, and elasticity lets the user determine each object's physical characteristics.

Soft-Body Dynamics (reactor)

• Deformable objects and surfaces can interact with rigid bodies and add secondary motion effects, such as clothing, jiggling fat, and floppy ears.

Cloth

Integrated Cloth Solver

• In addition to reactor's cloth modifier, 3ds Max software has an integrated cloth-simulation engine that enables the user to turn almost any 3D object into clothing, or build garments from scratch.
• Collision solving is fast and accurate even in complex simulations.
• Local simulation lets artists drape cloth in real time to set up an initial clothing state before setting animation keys.
• Cloth simulations can be used in conjunction with other 3ds Max dynamic forces, such as Space Warps.
• Multiple independent cloth systems can be animated with their own objects and forces.
• Cloth deformation data can be cached to the hard drive to allow for nondestructive iterations and to improve playback performance.

Fashion Design

• There are several preset cloth types to choose from-and fabric types and weights can be mixed on one garment.
• Intuitive stitching of flat clothing patterns, similar to traditional garment assembly methods is supported.
• Real-world patterns can be used as the basis for clothing-including jackets with collars, vents and lapels, and pants with cuffs and pockets, as well as loose or tight-fitting clothing styles. Seams can be quickly defined and stitched to construct garments on characters.
• Clothing can be tailored in the stack-hems shortened, darts pinched, sleeves tightened, and more-using standard modeling techniques to quickly customize the fit.
• Cloth pinching solution addresses the problem of cloth pinched between two objects such as under the arm.

Animation

• Any cloth object can be animated to achieve the effect of sails, skins, tents, drapery, bedding, and so forth.
• Clothing moves, folds, and gathers whenever characters move.
• Texture maps can be used to create wrinkles, deforming the cloth.
• A variety of animatable cloth constraints allow for greater control of realistic clothing behavior. These constraints can be used to create effects such as wet (clingy) or slippery cloth.

View, Edit, and Blend Between Caches

• Artists can use multiple cloth caches and blend and interpolate between them.

Particles

Extensible Integrated Particle System

• Seven different particle emitters give artists a wide range of event-driven and non-event-driven particle behaviors, including spray, snow, blizzard, and super spray.
• Particle Flow provides a sophisticated event-driven particle toolset that lets the user design the behavior of a particle based on a series of defined events.
• Workflow features include script and expression-based control over particle attributes, motion, and dynamics; direct manipulators for interactive control of particles, fields, and emitters; and the ability to have particles controlled by texture values.
• Artists can use geometry instancing to place individual objects, or a sequence of objects, onto any particle.
• Intuitive control of particles via geometric shapes makes it easier to place particles where and when the user wants them.
• Standard 3ds Max deformer modifiers-such as bend, twist, and taper-can be applied and layered for non-physically based particle effects.
• Collision events can trigger multiple procedural animation effects.

Operators and Tests

• Particle systems can be built using operators that control particle characteristics, such as emission, speed, geometry, and materials.
• Artists can build particle event systems using tests-which trigger changes in behavior-and spawning based on characteristics such as age, speed, and collision.
• Operators and tests can be customized using scripts or the particle flow API (application programming interface).

Forces

• Users can bind Space Warps-such as wind, gravity, and vortex-to particle systems and operators to generate world space conditions.
• Custom forces may be added via the extensive dynamics API.

Multiple Rendering Options

3ds Max Production Renderer

• Fast scanline renderering for efficient, production-quality software renders.
• Raytrace materials and maps provide realistic reflections and refractions.
• A full range of effects include depth of field, motion blur, film grain, hair, fur, and lens-based effects.
• Photometric lighting support allows for the use of real-world lighting profiles.
• Artists can create atmospheric effects using plug-ins available for volumetric light and fog, as well as for fire.
• Advanced software shader types include anisotropic, metal, and ink 'n paint (for cartoon looks).
• High-quality software particle rendering provides fine control over the assignment of materials to particles.
• mental ray^® shading is available for use with conventional 3ds Max materials.

Integrated mental ray Renderer

• High level of integration with the mental ray renderer results in significantly shorter render setup times and improved overall usability.
• 3ds Max physical sun and sky workflow are available via mental ray.
• Included advanced photorealistic lighting features, such as Global Illumination, caustics, blurry reflections and refractions, ambient occlusion, and motion blurred particles and contours shading.
• Artists and programmers can create custom mental ray shaders.
• Users can convert light baking of shadows and lights, including Global Illumination and Final Gather, to file textures or to color-per-vertex data.
• Photometric lighting support allows for the use of real-world lighting profiles for rendering or lighting analysis.
• Supports direct rendering of fur and hair.
• Architectural and car paint shaders provide rich, easy-to-use rendering capabilities.
• New Sky Portal simplifies the process of lighting indoor scenes with outdoor lighting, recreating the lighting of windows, sky lights, open doors and more.

Mental ray Satellite

• Contains the same functionality as the integrated mental ray renderer.
• Assists in distributing render jobs over processors located across a network.
• Eight licenses with each 3ds Max license, at no additional charge.

VUE File Renderer

• VUE files can be created in an editable ASCII format.

Rendering Controls and Effects

Viewport Renderer

• The multithreaded viewport maximizes productivity and creativity; adaptive degradation technology automatically simplifies the scene display to meet user-defined target frame rates.
• DirectX^® viewport shading displays materials as they would appear in other real-time applications.
• Support for all shader types is available via MAXScript-including HLSL and Cg shaders-along with shader performance enhancements. Work with CgFX files alongside .fx files in the viewport.
• Review: users get immediate feedback on various render settings, including:
• GPU-based, real-time shadow support, including support for self-shadowing and up to 64 lights simultaneously
• Sun/Sky Workflow support: interactive previewing of objects/scenes using the 3ds Max Sun/Sky system
• Support for mental ray Architectural and Design material settings

ActiveShade

• Preview window lets the user evaluate lighting and material changes to a scene.

Render Elements

• Users can output multiple components from any software renderer simultaneously for reassembly in a compositor.
• Output elements include diffuse color, lighting, alpha, reflection, refraction, and shadow.
• Z-depth and motion vector data can be stored separately for use in post processes.

Render to Texture

• Each object's material and lighting can be baked into new texture maps.
• Supports output per element to allow for easy generation of specific characteristics, such as diffuse color, height, normal, lighting, and mental ray ambient occlusion.

Material Design Workflow

• Artists can use the Material Editor to design and edit simple to complex shading hierarchies.
• Material/Map Navigator displays libraries of textures and images or image swatches for easy management and selection.
• An extensive library of 3D procedural maps includes cellular, dent, falloff, marble, noise, particle age, particle motion blur, planet, smoke, stucco, wood, waves, and more.

Render Management

• Autodesk^® Backburner^TM render management software gives you the ability to render on an unlimited number of networked machines running the same operating system (mental ray excepted).
• Load and Save Render Presets contain settings for active renderers, lighting schemes, and overall render quality and enable studios to share render settings between artists, reducing scene setup times and helping maintain consistency across the entire production for most rendering parameters.

Hair and Fur System

Creation Tools

• Hair is integrated into the 3ds Max interface, enabling artists to create and manipulate hair directly in the viewports using Hair's selection and styling tools.
• Hair can be copied and pasted from one object to another.
• Artists can derive hair from splines and convert it to splines or meshes.
• Any source object may be instanced as hair strands.

Styling

• Delivers a brush-based interface for the creation of hair and fur styles: control hairs can be directly manipulated along the contours of an object-individually, in groups, or globally-into any number of styles using traditional transformations (move, rotate, and scale) as well as tools for cutting, brushing, clumping, and more.
• Artists can save and load preset styles. More than 10 samples ship with the product.
• Kinkiness and frizziness can be added and frequency and speed animated.

Rendering

• Artists can choose to render hair directly in the 3ds Max scanline renderer or mental ray.

Dynamics and Collisions

• Hair can collide with polygons or implicit spheres.
• Hair can respond to the dynamic parameters of gravity, stiffness, root holding, and dampening.
• Hair and fur systems can be connected to existing dynamic forces such as Space Warps.

MAXScript

• Most features in 3ds Max are accessible through scripting.
• Artists and developers can easily extend the user interface and automate operations to perform batch processing.
• Users can establish live interfaces to external systems through OLE Automation.
• MAXScript ProEditor provides users with an intelligent interface for working with MAXScript that streamlines the scripting workflow.

3ds Max API/SDK

Direct Access to 3ds Max Software Functionality

• Developers can extend 3ds Max functionality in almost any way.
• Any type of geometry can be created, including triangle-based meshes, splines, NURBS, and other geometric forms. Users can create procedural geometry and parameter controls in the command panel.
• New object modifiers that alter entire objects, or aspects of objects, such as texture coordinates and material assignments, can be developed. Edit Modifiers can be implemented to enable editing of specific object types.
• New Space Warps-object modifiers that affect objects in world space-can be implemented.
• Controllers that control animation data of various types can be created.
• Users can create new systems that bring together combinations of items such as procedural objects, controllers, modifiers, and Space Warps.
• New materials, shaders, and textures can be developed.
• Image-processing plug-ins that implement different types of filters can be written.
• Developers can increase the software's file-type support with file import/export plug-ins and image loading/saving plug-ins. o Plug-in renderers, antialiasing filters, and rendering effects plug-ins can also be developed.
• Modal utilities (for example, 3D paint) can be implemented.
• mental ray data is accessible via the mental ray for 3ds Max SDK.
• Biped and Particle Flow can be accessed through separate interfaces.
• 3ds Max Data Exchange Interface (3DXI)-a streamlined interface fine-tuned for game developers-can be used to create a method of efficiently transferring 3ds Max data into a game engine.

Development Resources

• 3ds Max SDK Help, available with Visual Studio integration, includes the following:
• 3ds Max Programmer's Guide and SDK Reference o 3DXI Programming Guide
• Particle Flow Reference
• mental ray Programmer's Guide
• Biped Programmer's Guide and Reference
• MAXScript Programmer's Guide
• Sample source code with project files and a Visual Studio wizard for generating plug-in projects from templates.

Connectivity and Integration

• Xref-an intelligent, external file-referencing feature for scenes, objects, or materials-enables efficient team management of complex scenes and animations.
• Users can manage absolute and relative file paths (for all asset types, including xrefs), or assign new paths, to keep external references intact when artists share files.
• Source control management can be utilized for in-use assets through Asset Tracker, a feature closely integrated with Autodesk Vault.

FBX Plug-in

• The Autodesk^® FBX^® platform-independent 3D authoring and interchange format provides access to 3D content from most 3D vendors and platforms. The FBX file format supports all major 3D data elements, as well as 2D, audio, and video media elements.
• The free, downloadable FBX plug-in can be used to integrate 3ds Max into any production pipeline-with data integrity safeguarded.
• Ongoing plug-in updates make it easier than ever to transfer files between 3ds Max and applications such as Autodesk^® Maya^® and Autodesk^® MotionBuilder^TM software.

Integration with Autodesk Vault

• Autodesk Vault plug-in, which ships with 3ds Max, consolidates users' 3ds Max assets in a single location, enabling them to automatically track files and manage work in progress.
• Users can easily and safely share, find, and reuse 3ds Max (and design) assets in a large-scale production or visualization environment.

AutoCAD Integration

• Data from AutoCAD^® applications can be quickly imported into 3ds Max via the DWG^TM file format. 3ds Max scene files can be exported to AutoCAD-though some data types (animation, layering, and so forth) are not supported.
• 3ds Max can maintain a live data link to AutoCAD via the File Link Manager. Layers are supported.
• Users can enhance design and visualization projects in 3ds Max-new data does not compromise underlying AutoCAD design.
• Select Similar operation identifies all objects in an imported scene that contain characteristics similar to those of a selected object, dramatically accelerating the process of making changes to multiple objects simultaneously

Integration with Other Design and Visualization Applications

• Data from AutoCAD^® Architecture, Revit Architecture, Autodesk^® Inventor^TM, Autodesk^® VIZ, and other popular visualization software products can be imported or linked into 3ds Max via native or DWG file format.
• Autodesk VIZ, which derives much of its feature set from 3ds Max, is directly compatible. Data related to certain functionality (for example, particles, physics, sub-object, and character animation) is not supported, but 3ds Max files containing these types of data can be opened in VIZ (and vice versa) with no data loss.

Autodesk Combustion Integration

• Live integration with Autodesk^® Combustion^® compositing software via the Material Editor lets artists and visualization professionals use in-progress composites as texture maps.
• The RPF bitmap format contains channels for 3D data-such as Z-depth, material IDs, UV coordinates, and velocity-that Combustion can use to better delineate data for compositing.

Autodesk Toxik Integration

• Integration with the Autodesk^® Toxik^TM compositing software lets artists quickly composite their scene elements, including HDR-rendered elements, in a collaborative setting.
• Supports a streamlined content creation/compositing workflow in which there is no need to re-render scenes if lighting intensity is incorrect or a layer needs a perspective change.

Adobe Photoshop Integration

• Adobe^® Photoshop^® PSD files may be imported as texture maps using the entire composited image or individual layers.

Adobe Illustrator Object Nodes

• Adobe^® Illustrator^® vector elements can be imported as either curves or groups.

Web Integration

• The embedded web browser, Asset Browser, lets the user view web pages and quickly drag supported geometry and bitmap texture files into a scene.

Supported Scene Import Formats

• 3DS, AI, DDF, DEM, DWG, DXF^TM, HTR, IAM, IGES, IPT, LP, LS, MTL, OBJ, PRJ, SHP, STL, TRC, VW, WRL, WRZ

Supported Scene Export Formats

• 3DS, AI, ASE, ATR, BLK, DF, DWF^TM, DWG, DXF, HTR, IGES, LAY, LP, M3G, MTL, OBJ, STL, VW, WRL

Supported Texture Import Formats

• AVI, BMP, CIN, CWS, DDS, EXR, GIF, HDR, ICB, IFL, JPEG, MPEG, MOV, PIC, PNG, PSD, RGB, RLA, RPF, SGI, TGA, TIF, VDA, VST, YUV

Supported Bitmap Output Formats

• AVI, BMP, CIN, DDS, EPS, EXR, HDR, ICB, JPEG, MOV, PIC, PNG, PS, RGB, RLA, RPF, SGI, TGS, TIF, VDA, VST, VUE Some formats applicable to certain renderers only.

3DS Max 2008 System Requirements (Software)

• Microsoft^® Windows Vista^TM
• Microsoft^® Windows^® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)

• Microsoft Windows Vista
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64

• Microsoft^® Internet Explorer^® 6 or higher

• DirectX^® 9.0c* (required)
• OpenGL^® (optional)

3DS Max 2008 System Requirements (Hardware)

At a minimum, 3ds Max^® 2008 32-bit software requires a system with:

• Intel^® Pentium^® IV or AMD Athlon^® XP or higher processor
• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
• 500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
• Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
• Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized for Microsoft IntelliMouse^®)
• DVD-ROM drive

• Intel EM64T, AMD Athlon 64 or higher, AMD Opteron^® processor
• 1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
• 500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
• Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
• Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized IntelliMouse)
• DVD-ROM drive