3DS Max 2019.2 released
Autodesk has released a new point update to 3DS Max that improves fluids with a new Loader that can import caches, apply transformations, assign materials, offset the playback and of course, render the simulation.
Other improvement to Fluid’s include the ability to render data channels such as Vorticity, Density and Age; the ability to adjust meshing parameters and render settings for liquid and foam of a loader and reuse simulation and control playback independently. For complex sims it is also possible to enable and disable emitters, colliders and motion fields.
Alembic support has also seen some improvements with support for version 1.75, better performance, UV export that’s compatible with Maya, and all important support for instances .
Arnold is updated to 5.2 with support for texture baking, several shader enhancements including a new Cell Noise shader and new Sheen function in the Standard Surface shader for cloth-like microfiber materials or peach fuzz. RGB clamping in the clamp shader can now be configured to either a scalar or colour mode and the Toon shader can now be controlled using the STRING type user data, toon_id.
General stability and usability improvements to Arnold’s Noice denoiser are also include, and GPU memory use of the NVIDIA OptiX has been reduced.
In addition to the Max update, Autodesk has announced its cloud storage system AutoDesk drive included as a rental feature that allows the user to store, preview and share over 60 types of Autodesk and 3rd party file format.
You can read the full details of this release on Autodesk’s 3DS Max blog and see a preview video on Youtube.
Arnold support for RTT is a big one, and yet I cannot help but dislike this type of incremental updating. We have better things to do than constantly updating the software…
BTW, there is also an improvement regarding decimal numbers for those using non-US keyboard layouts
MAXX-43481 in https://up.autodesk.com/2019/3DSMAX/3dsMax2019.2_ReleaseNotes.htm
I have no problem with updates if they contain bug fixes. Except, can’t Autodesk figure out how to have updates installed that don’t take nearly an hour to do? Maybe it’s our particular setup, but installing this .2 update took forever on every workstation and render node. It just sits at 75% complete, with little disk usage.
You can always choose to update at anytime you want.
If you don’t like incremental updating, just wait an year and update at once.
This isn’t a recent problem and has been happening since approximately forever. You could run the updates from a bat file with the quiet switch and they would take 5 minutes instead of 45.
Do you have a link on how to do that? Or is it in the documentation somewhere?
Look here : https://area.autodesk.com/blogs/max-station/n238-speeding-up-service-pack-installation/
Although please note I have NOT tested this myself and the link is about 2ds max 2015 so I don’t know if it is still relevant.
Problem is, with the new installer exe’s, you can’t extract the msp file easily any longer. I wrote a batch script that does this per drag and drop. If there’s enough interest i could pack it up and release it… Maybe even let it launch the update install process transparently too
@spacefrog That would be great. Many Thanks.
Autodesk has not managed to remove this bug for years. Or is that intentional?
So the old way from:
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/search-result/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2015/ENU/Autodesk-NetworkAdmin/files/GUID-71929253-E183-444E-9A98-B079B9AA34B4-htm.html
won’t dump the msp and msi files so they can be run from a command window with the q switch?
It does seem to work.
Thanks for another great update! I’ve used to be Maya user a long time ago, but after joining Blur Studio and switching to Max and seeing all the benefits of it compared to Maya I never looked back. It’s already one of the best tools for 3D generalist workflow and all these new updates are a great additions.
Well, some people think Autodesk doesn’t care about it, not good enough update, not enough because it doesn’t have all the stuff Maya does today, some even complain about why fluids was a priority over other stuff even if it was the #1 feature request.
Even if I have to use Maya for now, I still think 3dsmax is amazing, the way it does things it is just better, like compare Bifrost maya to this implementation in Max and you will get faster and easier results in max. But some people won’t see it like that subce it is pretty obvious they just complain about it because of Autodesk, and they might not even use 3dsmax professionally or at all, but want to complain about it.
It is nice to know that someone from a known studio thinks like you, even if I don’t really like the studio itself because I can’t really like or support when companies support BS, like when Blur supported “women’s march” that was just a political “agendative” excuse, that had nothing to do with womens and didn’t bring anything positive at all but misinformation.
But Blur Studio has done great work over the years, and all those “But 3dsmax needs plugins for X and Y, so it sucks, and Autodesk doesn’t care about it. it doesn’t even have Linux for veefxz” are just dumb excuses because 3dsmax workflow is just better than Maya. And 3dsmax is catching up it seems, I dont know if that’s the plan though, there could be internal walls and boundaries and Autodesk doesn’t want two softwares doing exactly the same, but it’s getting updated, and getting nice new features and can’t wait to see what’s next now you see more work being done compared to few years ago.
Nice Update, thanks! Dont’t stop with it 🙂
Fluid loader is a very welcome addition. Maya guys are still waiting for it. Alembic effort is keep going strong. Now you can export/import per node properties. Keep up the good work!
Nope We are not waiting anything good from autodesk just houdini 17 release
Then why are you here? seems like you got the money to switch softwares left and right everyday.
Use Houdini and be happy then, if you think it is the best even if for animation and animation is not relevant at all which I think are far more important features than fluids (like if plugins didn’t exist for 3dsmax and maya to do these things)
Apparently people do more explosions and water simulations than modeling or animations, apparently EVERYONE praising Houdini and talking crap about Autodesk are on VFX industry and somehow they are surviving the fact that Houdini is only good for simulations, for anything else is slow and tedious and irrelevant. and most of the movies and tv shows and videogames don’t need water or fire simulations, but somehow everyone is happy about Houdini because they are only good for that!
Well then you can use Houdini 17 and stop watching what Autodesk does and doesn’t do.
Then why are you here? seems like you got the money to switch softwares left and right everyday.
Use Houdini and be happy then, if you think it is the best even if for animation and animation is not relevant at all which I think are far more important features than fluids (like if plugins didn’t exist for 3dsmax and maya to do these things)
Apparently people do more explosions and water simulations than modeling or animations, apparently EVERYONE praising Houdini and talking crap about Autodesk are on VFX industry and somehow they are surviving the fact that Houdini is only good for simulations, for anything else is slow and tedious and irrelevant. and most of the movies and tv shows and videogames don’t need water or fire simulations, but somehow everyone is happy about Houdini because they are only good for that!
Well then you can use Houdini 17 and stop watching what Autodesk does and doesn’t do.
But maybe you should actually learn a software and stop thinking that new releases with X amount of features is all that matters when you don’t even know the current features and you aren’t learning anything. There is people who still use really old maya versions and are doing amazing things that you probably aren’t because you are making excuses and blaming Autodesk, instead of just working and studying and using the software like if SideFX people were paying you to use their software.
Well … have a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIcUW9QFMLE
I would say that this is one hell of an impressive update, even if you think Autodesk is doing everything by the book.
That’s mighty impressive, but as always, there’s not one thing that would convince me to switch for the simple fact, I don’t do VFX. Even for something like cloth sim which I do often, Houdini seems like overkill.
I believe that’s one of the things @Perkins is alluding to. Anyone doing VFX should have made the switch LONG ago cos nothing(I mean all DCC apps) compares to Houdini in that department.There’s no sign Autodesk, or really any other company, is even trying to compete in that space.
Having said that the diligence with which SideFx upgrade Houdini is something Autodesk and other companies should emulate. Max and Maya can’t compare with Houdini in VFX, but they don’t offer complete solutions in their field of specialization either.
At least you know you won’t need plugins for VFX works in houdini. With other DCC apps you’ll always need a plugin to get the best out of every single aspect of 3d production.
@perkins …for an expensive piece of software like 3dsmax, i think users are well inclined to demand state of the arts improvements or atleast a match up with critically demanded tools/features that are relevant in the industry today. the backbone of any product is its usability and its consumers in futherance.i think its a bad sign that every too often an update is released, users groan and complain.i cant imagine if 3ds max gets features like houdini does or even blender, we would complain.
Tts only a matter of time before more people complain less or not at all and move to other prospecting softwares. That would definitely cause Autodesk to suffer.
feedback is a good thing, however brutal.
Hope they had improved their uv workflow overall. Something like unfold 3D integration a la maya and it would be perfect. Not expecting some basic sculpting tools anytime soon thou.
to be a fan of one tool is one thing to make another tool down another. the dcc market is small there are not many developers and most dcc tools have found there market. the CG market is small and we should be fair to each other!
the main target is to finish the job with the tools you like.
In my opinion, if one person spends the whole time of one year programming, we should also see more new capabilities in max
Autodesk just ruined loveley app 3ds max.
See the new featurese in houdini 17
While updates are welcome, I do understand some of the complaints here, Autodesk has, yet again, the priorities all wrong:
1 – Fluid was in Top 5 out there for years, up until PhoenixFD came along and everyone switched to that plugin to solve all their needs, PhoenixFD’s development is so ahead of Autodesk’s that at this stage its just a catch up game if ever anything from Autodesk.
2 – Animation and rigging improvements were also in top 5, except very little if any proper plugins are available to fill these gaps.
Autodesk’s choice? Choose Fluids knowing full well that there are at least 2 super solid affordable plugins available out there which is in the possession of most Max users serious in VFX completely, yet neglect entirely, and I mean entirely the animation and character improvements.
All this for a very expensive software it is inexcusable. Houdini and Blender are two good examples of software being updated in a few months with more features that Autodesk puts out in years if ever with fraction of the fraction of Autodesk’s budget capital!
If this doesn’t piss off users I do’t know what would.
Fluids where asked for EVEN when there was already PhoenixFD available.People wanted native Fluids inside 3dsmax, period:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-ideas/fluids-in-max/idi-p/6789663
So far the Top5 are:
1) Viewport tear off
2) Multithreading of core modifiers (which basically means better performance)
3) Ability to escape any process or command.
4) Better diplay of procedural maps in the viewport.
5) Nvidia Flex (for whatever reason).
Oh, and this is interesting, got a lot of votes too:
Consistent tools, workflow and experience
So with the exception of Nvidia FLEX(this one get me really puzzled) people seems to rather want bread-and-butter stuff?
Around 3dsMax 2014, many “core modifiers” like Skin and SkinWrap are already multi-threaded. But, there are still other challenges which make 3dsMax slow. 3dsmax 2017 introduced Transform Cache to speed up controller evaluation. NOw you can also use alembic performence mode for any objects. I know there are still a lot more room to improve. But, 3dsMax is working on performance continuously.
With 3dsMax 2019.2. You can display almost all shipping OSL shaders exactly same as a render in viewport including 3D procedurals. SO, there is 4)
My point is any person who is seriously working in FX within max will never rely on what max has to offer out of the box to date, when it comes to VFX from water sims to explosions they will invest in perpetual one time licenses of either Fume or Phoenix or both.
Whether this was number one demand or not, there is something called common sense, when the solutions are immediately available you put your investment in the areas that are not. And if we lived in a perfect world reduce the software price to not upset customers knowing they would be investing in third parties to make up for the shortcomings.
I’m not upset that max now has some sort of fluid and is being updated, but how long does it need to truly become a competitor? another 5 years? by that time we will have Phoenix FD version 7! It’s like a dog chasing its tail.
One dev alone is now revamping the entire Particle flow toolset and the demos are looking great! That’s only one dev! Imagine what a department of similarly talented people should be bale to do if it was working as intended.
Meanwhile Animation tools are lagging behind since 1999, and even modeling tools compared to what Houdini had to show recently.
I mean we can’t even re-topo properly in Max without going through a lot of pain. Simple things like welding vertices and bridging gaps properly if they are polys at certain numbers or angles, or adding loops. You have to quit the current tool open different tool boxes to do these simple tasks and for some of these you can’t even have shortcuts for!
I still welcome updates and think the team/product manager that is in charge during the past 1-3 years is probably the best team/manager Max had in the past 15-20 years.
But on the other hand, I don’t know what kind of huge team and investment (from Autodesk) it would need to handle Max properly – updating existing features AND adding new ones.
Their strategy of the past 1-2 decades is now backfiring. Autodesk prefered to buy-in technology for Max, instead developing own solutions. They hired and fired coders – and all without a ‘spirit’ or a clear vision for Max (besides earning money with it).
And today Max is really lagging behind in many aspects. There are essential features that Autodesk still uses as ‘selling argument’, but these features are simply not state of the art anymore, just outdated and barely useful in production, at todays standards.
Max has still it’s strengths, but also still a long way to go to fix what Autodesk let rot.
– vieport canvas: bad viewport display, no edge padding, no blur across UV-borders
– Hair & Fur: 10 years old and outdated, especially hair dynamics are ways behind
– Particles/Flow: also on the best way to be outdated soon
– Cloth: cumbersome workflow, slow…and also 10 years old
– video-post ? crowd-simulation ? image-tracking ? even older than 10 years
Personally and when facing the price increase to 1200 € for 1 year maintenance, I really think about transistioning to Houdini Indi or/and Blender.
I’m simply not willing to wait and wait (and pay) year after year, hoping that I get the value (new features and real maintenance of existing ones) – the value that I get in other packages for far less/free.
But I would not go in anger, I had good times with Max, still have, and likely will work with it for some time. But I want tools, technology and features on my desk, that Max simply doesn’t offer at the moment, and probably won’t in the near future.
(And finally again: no offense to the developers/product manager – I see the root problem in the lack of investment/funding.)
My problem with 3dsmax Updates is not the number of new features. The new features often do not feel like a core feature of the manufacturer, more like a third-party plugin. They lead you more and more into a dead end.
Yes, the new features meet user requests, but they do not pay enough attention to procedural workflows and are often too specialized. And many real user needs, are not the requested hyped fluid simulation stuff from beginners.
For example, why are MCG tools stored in the system space? And blow up the UI, loading time and complexity? Why isn´t the tool stored in my individual scene, with simpler sharing and rendering?
As a generalist, I would like an update of the existing core features. Strengthen procedural, flexible and scalable workflows.
P.s. The missing Arnold render licenses are a further strong nuisance.
Max is a bit like a giant snowball. Sometimes it gets stuck in a ditch, they give it a little push, it rolls over a few things and they stick new stuff on the outside. It just keeps getting bigger. For sure they should focus on deeper structural improvements but I suspect that’s just too expensive for Autodesk, and maybe they see a risk of instability and things falling apart. I wonder if there will come a point in the next decade or so when they have no choice but overhaul the core in a major way.. (or blow the whole thing up xsi style).
Any one come across this? Sounds serious
https://area.autodesk.com/blogs/the-3ds-max-blog/3ds-max-security-tools/
Pieforme, this is simply a standalone version of tools (for earlier versions of 3ds Max) to protect against those annoying ALC/CRP MAXScripts that can impact your scene files or copies of 3ds Max. Update 2 for Max 2019 already incorporated these.
Hi , it would be good to know what these scripts are. And I can only find the tool for max 2019. Does this pontentially mean we could get malicious scripts in the future or was this just an accident.
As I understand it, there is some really poorly written script copy protection code at the root of the problem. Who knows where the source was. Corrupted files seem to have been spread through free model sites. Assuming you avoid free model sites I guess its always possible (but unlikely) to come across the issue if you work with other people’s Max files. TBH kudos is due to AD for being proactive with the issue.
Guys, it’s a good update. Finaly AD doing something with Max.