Anibyte has posted a couple of new animations up in their gallery2:  Two bits with a teddy bear - arm and eye. Copyright GT Eurocom

Go visit the BlurScripts page, and download BSPack_004, which includes a possible fix for the crash problems that some of you have experienced with previous BSPacks. The bug is in the way maxscript deals with global functions when a macroscript is run through a button in a toolbar (which is why I never found it before, I run all my scripts through the QuadMenu). continued... (more...)

The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) has added 3DS Max R3 to it's list of benchmarks.  SPECapc's  (SPEC application performance characterization) details of the test can be found on their max page along with the results thus far.  SPECapc's press release.

A couple of great new animations posted at Anibyte's website.

Discreet's recent release of 3ds max 4 lets Xbox developers integrate state-of-the-art vertex and pixel shaders directly into the 3ds max viewport. Such integrated shaders provide WYSIWYG functionality and could represent time savings of up to 40%, depending on the application. With redundant steps eliminated from a game's construction, the 3ds max 4 viewport lets developers see hardware-rendered, textured models animating in real time, as they would appear in a finished Xbox game.
Read the complete article.

A new interface and the end of the DOS legacy.
With Windows XP, for "experience", Microsoft is *finally* retiring DOS and unifying its operating systems under the NT. Until now consumer and business Windows versions had been based on different programming technologies, with Windows 95, 98 and Me running on the older DOS code base and Windows NT/2000 runnning on NT.
Windows XP features a "dramatically different new look and aims to extend the personal computing experience by uniting PCs, devices and services". XP is scheduled to be generally available in the second half of 2001.

Sony says it will introduce networkable video decks at this year's NAB convention. The company says it will also show off IP-based applications and systems, including servers, data systems, cameras, switchers, monitors, newsroom systems and asset management systems.

Max 4 reviewed at Computer Creative. Warning: this review is not in-depth and centers mostly on the use of Max for web modeling (?!). "These tools... should be more than sufficient for low-poly Web work."