Autodesk® 3ds Max®
Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design software provide powerful, integrated 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and compositing that enable artists and designers to more quickly ramp up for production. The two versions share core technology and features, but offer differentiated experiences and specialized toolsets for game developers, visual effects artists, and graphic designers on the one hand, and architects, designers, engineers, and visualization specialists on the other.
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Features
Slate Material-Explorer
Easily visualize and edit material component relationships with Slate, a new node-based material editor in Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 that helps significantly improve workflow and productivity for artists and designers creating and editing complex material networks. The intuitive schematic framework is engineered to handle the vast numbers of materials required by today’s demanding entertainment productions and design visualizations.
View Autodesk 3ds Max Slate material editor demo.
View Autodesk 3ds Max Design Slate material editor demo.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
The new Slate node-based material editor helps you easily create and edit complex material networks.
Local Edits to Containers
Collaborate more efficiently with significantly enhanced workflows for Containers that enable artists and designers to layer local edits nondestructively on top of referenced content. Better meet tight deadlines by working in parallel: while one user iteratively edits unlocked aspects of the container, another can continue to refine the underlying data. Multiple users can contribute changes to different elements of the same container at once, while simultaneous edits to the same component are prevented.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Collaborate more efficiently with the new ability to layer local edits nondestructively on top of referenced content.
Modeling & Texturing Enhancements
New tools in Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and 3ds Max Design 2011 extend the Graphite modeling and Viewport Canvas toolsets to enable you to accelerate 3D modeling and texturing tasks:
- Expanded toolset for 3D painting and editing textures within the viewport
- Paint with object brushes to create geometry within a scene
- A new brush interface for editing UVW coordinates
- An interactive tool for extending edge loops
View demo of free-form object painting commands in Autodesk 3ds Max.
View demo of modeling and texturing enhancements in Autodesk 3ds Max Design.
View demo of the viewport canvas in Autodesk 3ds Max.
View demo of the viewport canvas in Autodesk 3ds Max Design.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Get creative with interactive viewport feedback on material choices prior to rendering.
Viewport Display of Materials
Develop and refine scenes in a high-fidelity interactive display environment—without the constant need to re-render—with the new ability to view most 3ds Max or 3ds Max Design texture maps and materials in the viewport. Artists and designers can make interactive decisions in a context that more closely matches the final output, helping reduce errors and enhance the creative storytelling process.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
Autodesk 3ds Max Composite
Enhance rendered passes and incorporate them into live action footage with 3ds Max® Composite, a fully featured, high-performance, high dynamic range (HDR)-capable compositor, based on technology from Autodesk® Toxik® compositing software. The 3ds Max Composite toolset incorporates keying, color correction, tracking, camera mapping, raster and vector paint, spline-based warping, motion blur, depth of field, and tools to support stereoscopic productions.
View demo of compositing in Autodesk 3ds Max.
View demo of compositing in Autodesk 3ds Max Design.
Autodesk FBX File Link with Autodesk Revit Architecture
Receive and manage upstream design changes from Autodesk® Revit® Architecture building design software with a new Autodesk® FBX® File Link. This intelligent handling of data helps reduce rework of design visualizations when original designs are revised and refined, supporting nonlinear decision-making processes and facilitating collaborative, iterative workflows. Designers can also take advantage of new import options to group incoming materials, helping to optimize and simplify management of complex data sets.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
In-Context Direct Manipulation UI
Save time when modeling and maintain focus on the creative task at hand with a new in-context user interface (UI) for polygon modeling tools that helps eliminate unnecessary mouse movement away from the model. Modelers can interactively manipulate properties, enter values directly at the point of interest in the viewport, and preview results prior to committing changes.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Focus on the creative task at hand with a new in-context user interface for polygon modeling tools.
Fully Integrated Character Animation Toolkit (CAT)
More easily create and manage characters, and layer, load, save, remap, and mirror animations with the Character Animation Toolkit (CAT). Now fully integrated into Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011, CAT provides an out-of-the-box advanced rigging and animation system. With its approachable, flexible toolset, animators can use default settings in CAT to help achieve high-quality results in less time—or completely customize rigs to include arbitrary morphology, embedded custom behaviors, and procedural controllers for more demanding character setups.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
User Interface Customization
Maximize the usable workspace and focus on the features that matter most for specialized workflows with customizable user interface layouts. Create and store personalized UI configurations that include frequently used action items and macro scripts, and toggle the display of these configurations with the touch of a hotkey or button.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Customizable user interface layouts help maximize the usable workspace and enable you to focus on the features that matter most for specialized workflows.
Autodesk Inventor Import Improvements
Take advantage of new Smart Data workflows for your digital prototyping process when using Autodesk® Inventor® 3D CAD software. Significant enhancements have been made for importing Inventor data into Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design:
- Inventor no longer needs to be installed on the same machine.
- Solids objects can now be imported as “bodies.”
- Support for materials, surfaces, and composites has been improved.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
Native Solids Import/Export
Nondestructively import and export surfaces and solids between Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design and certain other applications supporting SAT files, including Autodesk® Revit® Architecture building design software, Rhino, SolidWorks®, and form•Z® software. Imported trimmed surfaces, solids models, and assemblies are represented as 3ds Max Design “bodies,” retaining the native mathematical description of the surface. This enables cutaways and reveals to be represented without artifacts, and for different tessellation parameters to be used for interactive display and rendering. Bodies can even be manipulated with deformers before export back to the original application.
Google SketchUp Importer
Import Google® SketchUp™ sketching software (SKP) version 6 and 7 files into Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design more efficiently. The enhanced SketchUp Importer supports SketchUp entities: layers, groups, components, materials, cameras, and the daylight system, and enables users to directly import SketchUp files from the Google 3D Warehouse.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
Autodesk Material Library
Seamlessly exchange material data between Autodesk applications with the new Autodesk Material Library. Materials can be exchanged with certain other supporting Autodesk applications (AutoCAD®, Autodesk® Inventor®, and Autodesk® Revit® Architecture, Autodesk® Revit® MEP, and Autodesk® Revit® Structure software) in a true one-to-one mapping—helping create a consistent definition and rendered look and eliminating the need to rework materials after data import. Users will benefit from a familiar workflow between products and enjoy access to up to 1,200 material templates that help simplify complex scene setup.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Access up to 1,200 material templates and seamlessly exchange material data between supporting Autodesk applications with the new Autodesk Material Library.
Save to Previous Release
Manage the transition to the Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 releases with the option to save scene files in a format compatible with the previous 2010 versions. This enables you to take advantage of the new features in the 2011 releases before your entire studio, pipeline, or client base is ready to upgrade.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
Updated OpenEXR Plug-in
An updated OpenEXR image import/export plug-in supports unlimited layers in one EXR file and automatically stores Render Elements and G-Buffer channels as EXR layers. This improves interoperability with 3ds Max Composite and certain other compositing systems.
Autodesk 3ds Max und 3ds Max Design
Quicksilver Hardware Renderer
Create high-fidelity pre-visualizations, animatics, design dailies, and marketing materials in less time with Quicksilver, an innovative, new hardware renderer that can help produce high-quality images at very fast speeds. This new multithreaded rendering engine in Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 uses both the computer processing unit (CPU) and the graphics processing unit (GPU), and supports alpha and z-buffer render elements; depth of field; motion blur; dynamic reflections; area, photometric, ambient occlusion, and indirect lighting effects along with precision-adaptive shadow maps; and the ability to render at larger-than-screen resolutions.
Autodesk 3ds Max
Autodesk 3ds Max Design
The new Quicksilver hardware renderer can help produce high-quality images at accelerated speeds.
