(Updated) Autodesk has confirmed that Max 2012 will be released in early April.
Autodesk has officially announced the latest version of 3DS Max, with a new accelerated graphics core, Mrigids for dynamic rigid body simulations in the viewport, UVW Unwrapping enhancements, new sculpting and painting features, etc. Read on for more.
New features in Max 2012:
– Nitrous viewports with great improvements in performance and visual quality
– Substance procedural textures
– Mrigids rigid body dynamics – use the PhysX engine to create dynamic rigid body simulations directly in the viewport.
– Iray renderer
– Single-step suites interoperability – single-step interoperability between Autodesk 3D software.
– Enhanced UVW Unwrapping – brings Least Squares Conformal Mapping method, enhancements to existing tools and more streamlined workflows.
– Sculpting and Painting Enhancements – new Conform, Transform, and Constrain-to-Spline brushes.
– Vector displacement map support (using Mental Ray or Iray)
– Enhanced F-Curve editor
– Stylistic rendering – create a variety of non-photorealistic effects with the new ability to render
stylized images in the viewport and with the Quicksilver renderer.
– ProOptimizer enhancements – offers normal and UV interpolation, together with the ability to keep high-resolution normals on the low-resolution result.
– Improved start-up time and memory footprint – tools are more intelligently loaded as required.
– UI enhancements – adjusts to dark UI color schemes, performs faster, and offers a more consistent contextual UI location and access to help.
– Caddy improvements – the Caddy in-canvas UI offers better usability, with a more predictable contextual UI location, quicker interaction, and default behavior which does not occlude the artist’s selection.
More information and new features videos at Autodesk.
very sad 🙁
I do like some of the new features. But where is Composite 2012?
amazing? not really. Very disapointing. the unwrapper need you open the documentation every time you need uv works…Few new functiunatilties here. Iray and physx (renamed MassFx ??!!) already exist in the previous upgrade. Nitrous look nice, only if we can create our own cellshading settings. How can they speak about Sculpting in max? performances are so bad when scuplting with graphit!
This few news will not turn me back to Max… Soooo sad
Some nice stuff, but not a single word about Composite 2012 ??? What about all bugs, fixed ? New features ? psd file, red giant particular developement, better max/composite workflow, and so much ?!?
Check here for the list :
https://autodesk.uservoice.com/forums/80695-publicgeneralfeaturerequests/category/10613-3ds-max-composite
Shame 🙁
Composite is under the umbrella of a different dev-team (Maya) AFAIK
So all love for it should come from them 😉
Would be nice to know if Nitrous viewports are caching animations or at least better interact with PointCache… otherwise it’s just more beautiful stuttering… Overall nothing really exiting 🙁
i could only second that. very sad, very. i using max for about 12 years now but now i really have to think about. asdk wake up! this is a sp not a point realese. the most thing are still there and all are wainting for better tools etc. look at the news for maya and mudbox 2012!!! have nice interfaces and features!!! why not max? the maya viewport is so much better! thats for good previews not the toon shit…sorry for that but please start hearning of the people here!
Actually – the viewport features and quality are quiet nice – that NPR thingy is just a toy on top – simply don’t use it if you don’t need them
Don’t know exactly know how far the new Maya VP goes quality wise, but Nitrous is able to produce some really impressive realtime renderings – even on my rusty olt 9800GTX
Guys, u wake up…
First of all, as u may not have noticed n the video:
http://area.autodesk.com/gdc2011/nitrousmax?KeepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=520&width=840
that it has over 5 million polygons with a bunch of realtime shadows n stuff n rotation n paning don’t lag for a second…
Second, as Ken Pimentel said about the fancy cartoons:
“If you want to do more with this feature, make sure you check out the MAXscript example from Bobo that completely controls this feature.”
Third “it’s not a point release but an update”… Well…
More than half of the work happens in the viewports, n now they say, they r faster, multitreaded, etc… This means that working with every tool will be faster. Editing dense meshes, arangeing big scenes, brushing hair – u name it…
Simulations r multitreaded as well…
One of the weakest sides of 3ds max has always been UV unwrapping – well, u got some pretty descent new tools… if u want a mode-less UV window – use Maya… coz some appreciate it just the way it is…
Composite was just an outdated fill for the DVD n i will be more than glad if they don’t even include it any more, and i am not here to tease u or anything… Just sharing alternative viewpoint, n such, believe me, there r hundreds out there…
It’s a feature presentation, not a fixed bugs list, though i am quite sure, that they have fixed a lot of things in the meantime, as well…
I don’t like the ribbon as well, but if we want a new interface it has to start from somewhere – step by step. Will it be better for u if the next version of max comes with completely different interface for ultimate “consistency”? Then u’ll be crying “i can’t find my modifiers; where did they put the graph editor; what am i supposed to do with all this fancy nodes” etc…
wait, try n if u don’t like it… don’t use it…
max 2013 = free switch to other autodesk app. I’m sooo #!+&…..
@Compidon: thx for the Composite wishlist link.
@Spacefrog: yes, Composite is being developed by another team, but it was announced last time together with the Max release.
Sounds like a good update. I never bothered to upgrade to 2011, and don’t see anything here worth upgrading from 2010 but doesn’t mean I won’t upgrade just so I don’t fall to far behind. What I don’t understand, is that most of their new features can be found in other cheap 3D applications. While PhysX is a great add-on it’s just another example of how long it takes Autodesk to put in features people have been screaming for. Autodesk is full of red tape, managers and meetings. It’s time for 3ds and Maya to get their buts kicked by some new small 3D company. That’s where I’d rather put my money 😉
I’m looking forward to this release, they’ve done a great job as always, improved tons of stuff.
I do not understand those of you complaining,
if it’s so bad, then go use something else.
I’ve been using it since release 3, and I work with it every single day at work and home.
Does not seem like you have a clue as to how advanced it is to make such an application.
And this time they’ve rewritten the core! That’s not a easy task.
If you’ve been reading for a while, then you should know their “excalibur” project, which is to change 3dsmax in 3 phases,
it’s a long term thing, this release is the start of this.
Peter_B : Keep posting, I like your post, thanks!
@Peter_B: I’m not talking about millions of Polygons but vertex-based animated polygons! This is a huge difference since this is essential to complex fx or character animations, are not just camera movement…
btw. with the introduction of PhysX i wonder about the future of reactor.
Will it be replaced in the long term ?
I kinda see why people are not happy with upcoming release. There are not as much changes to sell it as new version of product. It could be free patch for subscribers. Also, this “we rewrote core completely” thing isn’t new, I’ve heard it 1-2 times before, and what is really interesting, how come that some glitches are still there from first versions of max, and was never fixed with this “new” core. I think Autodesk is great at marketing, and some of people are happy to pay for nothing, other people are left with no choice, and forced to pay for nothing. So, psychologically speaking, it is easier (and overall better) to be happy and positive about new release, because there is nothing you can do, you will buy new version of max sooner or later, and complaining is useless here.
@Vladimir Tomin : they never say core is COMPLETELY re-written in this version. it is just the begging of the xbr development. i don’t understand what you people are hoping from max team. we asked them for viewport boost and they developed. and i can see every other request is concerned. i agree that toon option is junk. there are great plug-ins like illustrate that can do the same lot better. except of the kiddish features like this, max is still number 1
Yeah!!! Rewritted New Core once again!! If I can believe Autodesk, they rewrite 3ds max core from scracth every 6 month. Awsome!
you are so true Vladimir
When XBR was announced it was clearly said, the core rewrite will be
an ongoing process for probabely the next years. Autodesk never said
in the last or in this version there would be a completly new core, never !
There are for sure a lot of things to complain about and I´m usually
the first person to emorage 🙂 But this is just nonsense.
By the way, the new viewport is pretty good and for my part I´d rather
pay my subscription for such improvements than useless fancy features.
cheers
I see that Autodesk facing the same fate as Microsoft. Its all about Autodesk being the “GIANT” in entertainment related software industry. for a strange reason; It is like we Complain and Complain Microsoft about Windows Os, while we use it all the time. If some one don’t believe autodesk, they can use any other 3d software like blender that have a really good community face (everyone loves it! its free).
I’m not happy, really, Autodesk is now just the provider of bad software that only replies to marketting values.
There’s no good things in theses kind of “New Version”.
The real good things could be that they just ONLY ONE TIME do their job with respect of the user :
First : just repair old bugs here since 3dsMax 1.0.
Second : don’t try to add new features until the first bugs arent fixed. Cause adding new features ADD new bugs that will never fixed if some new features will be added again and again for marketting reasons.
Third : do real test of your softwares, not tested by dev team, but by REAL USERS that are objectively out of your dev process !
Fourth : don’t sell softwares with bugs.
… and, I dont cry like a baby, the company I work for buy expensive bugged softs and I must use it, I don’t want but I MUST cause they buy it, and create content with these bugged software is hard for my nerves !
The core was not rewritten. That’s another project that is still in Development. Not even to Beta yet.
I remain cautious about this upgrade, as the release cycle has sped up enough to be expensive and hard to handle with clients. A new version every year hurts the pocketbook and the compatibility with clients.
about the bugs.. i think it is really silly to say max must be bug less.. otherwise.. its useless. Please name me a single software (expensive or not expensive) that have no bugs.
I guess at the momment it makes a real difference what u are doning whith max. In my line of work it works fine. What dosen’t work fine is multiscater which makes every max 2011 scene terribly unstable. I have to say this ervery time because I wished I hadnt spend money on that one. But I heard fome some collegues that that there are some isuses with CAT, which btw is a new feature so i guess its allowed to have some bugs. If a software company is focusing all its resources on fixxing bugs the product will outdate very fast. I watched the demos from gdc i guess we will see if the new view ports are worth the money and no i dont want sketch look ether but you never now when you need it.
@Joachim Perschbacher
rightly said. i also think that toon thing is not “necessary” right now. but im sure it is there to show how flexible the viewport is now. they are releasing a bug fix for CAT issues. so cheers.