3ds Max 2023.2 released with new procedural array modifier

From the Facebook 3ds Max Stack page — power user and VFX artist Changsoo Eun has posted multiple videos showing off the new 3ds Max 2023.2 features, and a comprehensive list of improvements/fixes: https://www.facebook.com/100004674575283/videos/1191883464691389/

3ds Max 2023.2 Improvements

Array modifier

• A brand new feature-packed Array Modifier. As a modifier, it provides a fully procedural non-destructive modeling and animation experience.
• Based on the brand new geometry processing engine, MNMesh2(MNMesh means Poly), which is built for performance, stability, flexibility, and scalability. It is the foundation for the future of 3dsMax, and Array is the first practical implementation using this technology.
• Supports Mesh, Poly, and Spline
• 4 Distribution Methods
• Grid – create clones using 1D/2D/3D cartesian coordinates.
• 3 modes to distribute, Total Dimension, Relative Offset, Fill
• Packing for Fill mode
• Radial – create clones using full 3D cylindrical coordinates(Rows and Rings).
• Equidistant packing
• Stagger option for offsetting each successive ring
• Spline – creates clones along a spline.
• 5 modes to distribute, Count, Relative Offset, Fill, Knots, Segments
• 4 modes for out-of-spline clones, Continue, End, Loop, Remove
• Surface projection
• Surface – creates clones on a surface
• 3 modes to distribute, Vertex, Face Center, Edge Center
• Array by Element – allows each element as an array source
• Transform – allow to control Position, Local/World Rotation, Scale per clone
• Extensive options such as Incremental, Alternating, By Axis, Incremental By Axis and provide very flexible control.
• Randomization
• Apply To option for partial randomization
• Clone ID UV data
• Allow store each clone’s ID or position data in uv channel. Combined with OSL, it provides great procedural control.
• Supports normalized value and additive to the existing data
• Remove – allow to remove clones by % or object volume
• Create Instances – bake to instanced individual objects

Animation

• TrackView
• Auto-Zoom, Interactive Update, and Sync Cursor Time states now persist between sessions
• The state of various Curve Editor menu item icons now clearly indicates if the option is active
• The Filter option buttons at the bottom of the Curve Editor now always respond to mouse clicks
• The Mini Curve Editor now frames the timeline correctly when opened
• “Filter Only For Animated Tracks” active by default.
• “Enable Auto Zoom” functionality active by default.
• “Interactive Updates” on by default.
• This user requested change enables the track view to frame the active range of keys in the timeline when changing a track or channel in the Track View
• Fixed an issue with the Dope Sheet when attempting to select Scale keys in conjunction with other keys using the Time Selection tool meant that the Scale keys would not be selected.
• CAT
• Resolved a crash issue that can occur when Cloning a CAT Object
• Fixed a crash that could occur when renaming CAT bones during their creation.
• Resolved a crash that could occur when adjusting a spinner value in the CAT parameters while the user is in the process of creating the CAT rig.
• CAT > Apply Max IK throws an exception when applying to CAT rig fingers
• Resolved a Maxscript exception that is thrown when the user attempts to apply an 3ds Max IK system to the fingers of a CAT rig.
• Other
• Resolved an issue where creating Bones from the command panel with a History Dependent IK Solver resulted in the first bone not being properly applied to the IK solution.
• Resolved a crash that can occur when copy and pasting the Skin modifier to other objects in your 3ds Max scene.
• Skin
• Fixed an issue with the Skin modifier where the bone influence heat map of Edit Envelope was overwriting the vertex color data for the object that it was applied to.
• DeltaMush
• “The Delta Mush operator found in the Data Channel Modifier has been updated to use an improved algorithm that will provide an enhanced symmetrical result across the mesh.
• A “Use Legacy Compute” checkbox is now found on the Delta Mush UI. When loading older scene files, this checkbox will be active. When creating scenes from scratch in 2023.2 (or adding the Delta Mush operator for the first time to a new Data Channel modifier), this box will be unchecked.
• When switching the “Use Legacy Compute” checkbox, the user should do this at the “neutral” or “rest” pose time, because capturing the rest pose stores information critical to the Delta Mush functionality

Performance

• Poly to Mesh conversion
• Improved threading for 3ds Max’s polygon mesh to triangle mesh conversion. With this update, users should see roughly about a 40% improvement to modifier performance on some modifiers, roughly 35% faster speed with the viewport, and roughly 10% faster speed with rendering.
• MeshSmooth
• Various operations within Poly have been updated to provide improved performance when checking for and processing data without bad mesh data (which can be cleaned with the Mesh Cleaner modifier). It will improve NURMS performance in Mesh Smooth, Edit and Editable Mesh, and Edit and Editable Poly
• Skipped material’s evaluation under Display Color>Shaded: Object Color mode
• Removed the baking of textures/procedurals when Viewport Configuration>Display Performance>Textures is unchecked, to greatly improve the loading time of scenes with this setting turned off.

glTF

• Physical Material to glTF conversion
• The Scene Converter contains a new preset called “PhysicalToGLTF” that allows you to easily convert all physical materials in a scene to glTF materials.

Bake to Texture

• Two new callbacks are added to BakeToTexture.
• mapBakedCallback
• queueBakedCallback

Modeling

• The new triangulation algorithm which was introduced in 2023.1 has been implemented in Editable Poly.
• Chamfer
• Limit Effect output has been improved to prevent self intersections in chamfered surfaces.
• now generates improved surface normals when working with non-explicit normals. It prevents the hard edges can appear on chamfer segments and cannot be corrected with the Smoothing parameter in the Chamfer modifier.
• Resolved an issue that can occur with the Symmetry modifier where in some very extreme cases no weld threshold is found along the symmetry plane to weld to.
• Corrected an issue where the VertexPaint modifier was incorrectly removing explicit normals from Mesh type objects, such as Editable Mesh, when it was applied.
• Improved selection hit test code to provide enhanced accuracy when attempting to select and edge or face component and an obtuse or near obtuse angle

Core

• Environment variable ADSK_3DSMAX_BUFFEREDFILE_BUFFERSIZE and 3dsmax.ini setting Performance / BufferedFileBufferSize for a file buffer size to use when loading or saving most types of bitmap files. If neither are specified, a buffer size of 256KB is used.
• In Parameter Wiring dialog, added testing to ensure selected parameters use same controller type. If not, the direction buttons are disabled and their tooltip says the parameter controllers are incompatible. If attempting to wire via maxscript, the wiring will fail.
• in some cases of scene file corruption, attempting to merge nodes from the scene would fail when the first instance of corrupted data was found. Now when the scene contains the corrupted data “Select Nodes With Corrupted Data” button will appear at the bottom right corner. User can check the problematic node with this and revert the selection to avoid merging if the objects.

Rendering

• Removed the limit of 499 characters in Render Setup>Common>Common Parameters>Frames
• Render Setup UI remembers the last used tab for the Max session.
• Fixed incorrect rendering of backfacing surfaces when using OSL and Scanline.
• Rendering in EXR format can be saved in folders with non-Latin characters.
• Added support to custom hotkey(s) to toggle Active Shade in the Viewport. The action name is “Active Shade Fragment Toggle”
• Material Editor UI will remember the state Open/Close of the rollups

Arnold

• MaxtoA 5.4.0.37 based on Arnold 7.1.3.0
• Improved V-Ray scene converter – The V-Ray scene converter now has been improved and supports many new features.
• Dual-lobe phase function for standard_volume = A new phase function model has been implemented for the standard_volume shader. This provides a more realistic approximation to the physical phase function of scattering media such as clouds.
• Physically correct volume emission scaling – The standard_volume shader has been improved to support scaling of volumetric emission in a more physically correct manner (via the emission_scaling option).
• Pinned curves – A new wrap_mode parameter on curves can enable curve pinning.
• Nested instancers – Nested instancers (instancer that contains instances of instancers) now properly perform instancing
• Cameras in ASS procedurals – Cameras stored in .ass file procedurals can now be used for rendering.
• Cryptomatte 1.2.0
• Upgrade OpenImageIO 2.4.1
• Reduced missing texture overhead – The time spent handling missing textures has been reduced.
• Light profile blocks – The AiLightsPrepare() profile result has been elaborated on, with LightSampling, light_filters, and LightInitSampler profile blocks being added. This can help point out where render time is going during lighting.
• Python binding error message – When Arnold cannot be loaded by the python bindings, we now output the original exception error message instead of just the cryptic “Could not find libai”.
• USD Enhancements
• Support dataWindowNDC – when the render settings primitive defines the attribute dataWindowNDC, it now renders accordingly in both Hydra and the USD reader.
• Cryptomatte in Hydra – When rendering final frames with Hydra, the cryptomatte metadatas are set in the output image
• Render products with no productName – When AOVs are defined through a render product prim that doesn’t have any product name, they now render to the same filename as the beauty image.
• Instances optimizations in the procedural – When using instances, the usd procedural now relies on a usdStageCache to represent the instance prototypes, instead of re-loading the usd files on disk for each prototype.
• Pinned curves – Curves pinning is now supported in hydra and in the procedural

Finally! Always wondered why no one came up with this sooner. There’s always been a bunch of tools that handle a specific type of cloning method, but having everything as one modifier like this makes so much sense.