Autodesk 3ds Max 2012
Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2012 3D animation software delivers inspiring new creative toolsets, enhanced iterative workflows, and an accelerated graphics core that together help significantly increase overall productivity.
System Requirements
To run software at an optimal level, your computer hardware configuration will have to meet the minimal list of requirements. See this list of qualified hardware and systems requirements that are necessary to run your software application.
Software
The 32-bit version of Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2011 software is supported by any of the operating systems: 1
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system
Microsoft® Windows® Vista Business (SP2 or higher)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 internet browser or higher
Mozilla® Firefox® 2.0 web browser or higher
The 64-bit version of 3ds Max 2011 software is supported by any of the operating systems: 1
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 operating system (SP2 or higher)
Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business x64 operating system (SP2 or higher)
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional x64 operating system
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 7.0 internet browser or higher
Mozilla® Firefox® 2.0 web browser or higher
Hardware
General animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):
At a minimum, the 32-bit version of 3ds Max 2011 software requires a system with the following hardware:
- Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology 2
- 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
- 2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended) 3
- Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card 4
- 256 MB or higher video card memory
- 1 GB or higher recommended
- Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
- 3 GB free hard drive space
- DVD-ROM drive 5
- Internet connection for web downloads and Subscription-aware access
- 3ds Max Composite media cache hard drive requirements:
- 10 GB minimum, 200 GB recommended
- HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI
At a minimum, the 64-bit version of 3ds Max 2011 software requires a system with the following hardware:
- Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology 2
- 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
- 4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended) 3
- Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card 4
- 256 MB or higher video card memory
- 1 GB or higher recommended
- Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
- 3 GB free hard drive space
- DVD-ROM drive 5
- Internet connection for web downloads and Subscription-aware access
- 3ds Max Composite media cache hard drive requirements:
- 10 GB minimum, 200 GB recommended
- HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI
Large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):
Recommended, the 64-bit version of 3ds Max 2011 software requires a system with the following hardware:
- Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology 2
- 8 GB RAM
- 8 GB swap space 2
- Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card 4
- 1 GB or higher video card memory
- Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
- 3 GB free hard drive space
- DVD-ROM drive 5
- Internet connection for web downloads and Subscription-aware access
- 3ds Max Composite media cache hard drive requirements:
- 10 GB minimum, 200 GB recommended
- HDD: IDE, SATA, SATA 2, SAS, SCSI
Explanations for software and hardware:
1
The 3ds Max Composite feature requires one of the following 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems:
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 (SP2 or higher)
- Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional x64
2
Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 has been optimized to take advantage of the SSE2 extended instruction sets supported on Intel® Pentium® 4 or higher, AMD Athlon™ 64, AMD Opteron™, AMD Phenom™ processors. 3ds Max 2011 will not operate on computers that do not support SSE2. Several utilities are available on the Internet that report CPUID, including supported instructions sets.
3
Autodesk recommends settings that allow Microsoft Windows to manage virtual memory, as needed. There should always be at least twice as much free hard disk space as system memory (RAM).
4
Some features of 3ds Max 2011 are only enabled when used with graphics hardware that supports Shader Model 3.0 (Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 3.0). In addition, Quicksilver hardware rendering requires additional GPU resources to work effectively. A minimum of 512 MB of graphics memory should be used. A minimum of 1 GB is recommend for the most complex scenes, shaders and lighting modes. Check with your manufacturer to determine if your hardware supports these requirements.
Learn more about graphics hardware compatibility.
5
Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2011 is available only on dual layer DVD media (or electronic download where available). CD media is no longer available. DVD-ROM drive is not required if installing using electronic download. However to accommodate the installation files, you will need 9 GB of hard disk space and an additional 16 GB of space for temporary files created during the installation.
For Macintosh® Computer Users
Boot Camp
You can install Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 software on a Mac® computer on a Windows® partition. The system must use Boot Camp® application program to help manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.
- Intel®-based Mac Pro or MacBook® Pro computer 1
- Mac® OS X 10.5.x operating system or higher
- Boot Camp V 2.0 or higher
- Minimum 2 GB RAM (Recommend 4 GB for 32-bit Windows OS, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows OS)
- Minimum 20 GB disk space for Apple OS partition, minimum 20 GB for Windows OS partition
Mac Virtualization on Parallels Desktop
Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 can be used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop® for Mac software without having to boot directly into the Windows OS so it is easy to switch between platforms. The system must meet the following requirements:
- Intel-based Mac Pro or MacBook Pro 1
- Mac OS X 10.5.x or higher
- Parallels Desktop 4.0 (4.0.3844 or higher) 2
- Minimum 4 GB RAM (6 GB system memory for 32-bit Windows OS, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows OS recommended)
- Minimum 40 GB available disk space (100 GB recommended)
For more details, please read the 3ds Max for Mac FAQ.
Explanations for Macintosh® Computer Users:
1
64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core® 2 Duo or Intel® Xeon® processor
2
Parallels Desktop is the only supported virtual machine software at this time
