3ds Max Design and 3ds Max 2009 Announced!

[NMILIOTI]

Read more following the link.

http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/blogs_ken/blog_detail/3ds_max_design_and_3ds_max_2009_announced/P0/

At this time, we are not releasing all the information about the two new flavors, but that will come as we officially launch the products later this quarter (March 25th). So, I don't actually want to duplicate all that information here, just deal with the major points:

1. 3ds Max Design 2009 includes 100% of the features in 3ds Max 2009 - except for the SDK
2. 3ds Max Design has the new Exposure lighting analysis feature, 3ds Max 2009 does not



Remember, this is an INCOMPLETE list, about 30% of the features are not listed here. Some important features will be revealed at launch.

Biped:
• Hands Like Feet Option
• Working Pivot Rotation
• Mirror Animation Options
• Triangle Neck

Modeling and Mapping
• UV Spline Mapping
• UVW Unwrap Improvements

Rendering
Reveal Workflow
• With 3ds Max 2009, Autodesk introduces Reveal rendering, a system that gives users very precise control over their renders, which in turn streamlines iterative workflows and enables artist to render final imagery faster. This key new feature gives artists the ability to visualize and manipulate a given region in both the Viewport and the Framebuffer. The rendered image Framebuffer now contains a simplified set of tools to quickly validate changes in a render, by optionally filtering out objects, regions and/or processes to temporarily balance quality vs. speed vs. completeness. For instance, render speed can be modulated by toggling geometry translation, lighting calculation and image-quality settings, based on what the artist desires to update. Using Reveal, artists can now also auto-generate regions around selections and reuse temporary Final Gather maps at any time.

Photometric Lighting Enhancements
• 3ds Max 2009 delivers a number of photometric lighting enhancements. The software now gives artists support for new types of area lights (circular, cylindrical), photometric web previews in the Browse dialog and Light UI, as well as improved near-field photometry quality and spot distribution. Plus, distribution types can now support any emitting shape and artists can have their light shapes appear in their rendered image.


mental ray
• ProMaterials
• New mental ray Proxy Objects
• Enhanced Accessibility of Production Shaders
• Enhanced Per-object Render Settings
• Improved Render Final Gather and Global Illumination
• New mental ray Render Elements

Read the following pdf files for a more detail tour:

http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/pimentelk/080213_0626/3ds_Max_2009_3ds_Max_Design_2009_FAQ1.pdf
http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/pimentelk/080213_0626/3ds_Max_2009_Features%20_Benefits2.pdf
http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/pimentelk/080213_0626/3ds_Max_Design_2009_Features_Benefits1.pdf

[Elix]

No word on just what Autodesk is doing with Mudbox, eh? I figured they'd try to integrate it into Max in some way.

[DrNoXx]

LOL - they should make the UI userfriendly before starting adding more and more... it's hard to find a way thorugh all this jungle and it was a great advantage in 2008 versions that the select window could be resized for instance... stuff like that is much more important than immplementing more stuff in a huge dimensioned jungle of a userinterface, that really would need some cleaning and bettter accessabiity for important things in life...

[hiroguchi_saitou]

This is just stupid and totally-totally stupid, why they split 3dsmax like that, just in favor of some enhancment in mental ray? HELL, they`ve got revit, viz, anything they could get from archviz, why they bother 3dsmax user by split it like that? If they`re so desperate, why don`t they incorporate the feature to revit and promote it intensively?

Yes, 3dsmax user are varied, ranged from purely animator, product designer, 3d artist, archviz artist, etc, but splitting like this isn`t a good sign for 3dsmax. If this is continued maybe in near future, we will see things like 3dsmax for animator, 3dsmax for game developer, 3dsmax for product viz, etcetc. WTF??

I`m working on an ad agency, so we sometimes create commercial (3d animation), sometimes a booth/stage design (archviz), sometimes just etc 3d design for supporting another dept. here. The point is i used 3dsmax for variety of task, but if they split 3dsmax like that, they expect their customer to buy every appropriate soft that previously on 1 pacakge? NO WAY!! my registered copy of max2008 hadnt yet arrive, and this spring they announce 2 NEW version of 3dsmax?
This is stupid. Look at Maya and XSI, they split their package by reducing content according to the customer affordable price, that`s right, advanced customer need more advanced tools, hence more expensive soft. But look at max, they split it by JUST 1 OH-THAT`S-NOT-SO-SIGNIFICANTLY-IMPORTANT-TOOLS called exposure lighting facilities, why they just don`t sell that tool separately, and leave max alone?

I`m a max user and max lover, despite every weaknesses it had, but this time autodesk really enraged me, 3dsmax isn`t cheap software, 2008 isn`t a good business year (predictably), and on top of that stupid autodesk launching 2 version of 3dsmax, this year really is interesting year, LONG LIVE GFXWORLD AND GFXELITE!! yeah :)