(Updated) Videos showing Composite’s capabilites can be found at Ken LaRue’s blog at the Area. Ken has been working as an application engineer for the past 7 years for Autodesk.
(Updated) All information has been confirmed by Autodesk. Videos showing the new features are available at Autodesk’s Area, detailed information with screenshots has been posted at Ken Pimentel’s blog, and more information about the Slate node-based material editor with videos can be found at Shane Griffith’s blog. Other Max 2011 new features videos can also be found on You Tube (link leads to Object Paint video – find more on the list to the right). Max 2011 will include Mental Ray 2011, which offers “enhanced performance and stability”. According to Softimage 2011 information, Mental Ray 2011 offers faster renders due to enhanced performance in BSP2, up to 100 new shaders to simulate a wide range of materials and helps save time rendering multiple cameras for each pass (not all these features may be available in the Max implementation). Ken Pimentel mentioned that Slate is based on Thinking Apes’ Node Joe but has lots of integration work done, new material browsing and integrated MetaSL workflows. More information on Max 2011 will be released around March 25th. According to Autodesk’s press release Max 2011 will be available in April 2010, and 3DS Max Design 2011 will be announced in late March. Max 2011 will also be available as part of the Entertainment Creation Suite 2011 (which includes Max, Mudbox and MotionBuilder 2011) at more than 35 percent savings.
This is not official information, but rumors seem plausible, especially considering some of the features have been hinted at before by Autodesk, such as the hardware renderer and the ability to save to previous versions. Here are the highlights: Slate node-based material editor, Quicksilver Hardware Renderer that uses both the CPU and the GPU to help produce higher-quality images faster, Viewport Display of Max texture maps and materials, Composite – a full-featured node-based HDR-capable compositor based on technology from Autodesk Toxik (includes keying, color correction, tracking, camera mapping, raster and vector paint, spline-based warping, motion blur, depth of field, and tools to support stereoscopic productions), and UI customization to maximize the usable workspace and focus on the features that matter most for specialized workflows. Check out the partial list of features, a more complete PDF, some Max 2011 screen snapshots, and a bonus Craft Animations pack related to Max 2011 at a Norwegian reseller site. An impressive list, really. Please keep in mind this is not official information, but if these are indeed the real features for Max 2011, we are in for another great release.
I wonder how the incorporation of Composite will affect the sales of other compositing software…
I’d guess it would only make a difference for new users.
I switched to AE since autodesk gave up on combustion, and I had some AE compatible plugins.
I would imagine most existing users would already have a pipeline in place…
I guess it also depends how much of a connection to Max there is.
Maybe someone know release date?
I think more so the inclusion of a compositor makes Max/Maya more attractive for new customers from a bang for the buck perspective and at the same time gives Autodesk an easy in for their higher end composting systems for shops with a Smoke/Flint/Flame/Inferno. It also could be a hook for some spicy new things…aka replacing the VPost system in Max since data could potentially be shot a round never really “leaving” an active state. As much as I love my compositor, X Combustion guy as well back to AE here as well, I wouldn’t mind never having to write a image file until really had to. Jumping in and out, and in and out of programs to make a finished piece does not add to anything save lost time and mistakes.
I think it would be better to optimize and extend Max’s core capabilities instead of adding composing features. Better a good specialist than a average “Jack of all trades”.
You can find the videos on the Area (http://area.autodesk.com/3dsmax2011) so I would say that this information can be confirmed.
Looks like they already took it down. No big secrets here but nice to see.
@ Arne
– I’d rather be an employed Jack of all trades then an unemployed specialist!
,,, I am not saying there isn’t any truth to your comment, but we can’t all be sitting at ILM only doing character eyelid animation, if you know what I mean?
This is why Max with all its build in cababilities, current and comming is such a strong platform to us “Jacks” : )
The Toxik addition is surely nice, but much cooler it would be to comp not only pictures but the renderings directly. So you wouldn’t render hundreds of GBs in HD resolution layers but make a comp and do a rendering with all fix-ups done…
I think they are listening to that idea as well, check out the XBR videos and you will see that they are thinking that way as well. Better late than never. ANd Max will always be jack of all trades software, that’s how they developed such a large user base and that’s why they have taken so long to get some of these new features in. Check out the topic on the Max Area blogs and you can see what I mean. Houdini is a great specialist software and it’s seat sales reflect that…………
http://www.cgchannel.com/2010/03/autodesk-announces-new-features-for-max-and-maya-2011/
Looks like it is going to be available for download at March 25.
WOW
very nice to see : “Slate” and “3D texture painting” (the most i loved)
can’t believe they finally manage to do it.
node joe was such a perfect candidate for integration. I’m glad they chose it.
But Toxik (composite) is far superior than After Effects.
I think is april 4 2010
And as http://maxplugins.de confirmed 2010 plugins run in 2011! That’s really great, since some of them may never get recompiled…