MaxStation

Caddies: love them or ...

MaxStation — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:41:36 UTC

Some artist really like caddies others don't, if you're in the second group you can now disable them in the 3ds Max 2014 preferences:

Or if you really like them and they've disappeared for some reason that's where you can activate them again.

Civil View won't get installed with 3ds Max Design from the Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate 2014

MaxStation — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:11:20 UTC

The installer for the Autodesk Building Design Suite Ultimate doesn't show the Civil View option under 3ds Max Design, therefore Civil View will not get installed.

The Civil View installer file is present on the media in the x86\Components\CV\ folder, to install it all you need to do is run CivilView2014.msi

Autodesk Exchange Store Error Messages when starting 3ds Max 2014

MaxStation — Fri, 17 May 2013 14:50:01 UTC

You encounter below errors when starting 3DS Max 2014:

Autodesk Exchange Store Error Messages

3ds Max failed to find any “RuntimeRequirements” nodes under “ApplicationPackage” node in

“C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\Autodesk DrawingTabs.bundle\PackageContents.xml”.

Please check its format.

3ds Max failed to find any “RuntimeRequirements” nodes under “ApplicationPackage” node in

“C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\UDSG-LayerOrder.bundle\PackageContents.xml”.

Please check its format.

Otherwise, the software seems to function after the error message window is closed.

If you want to turn off these messages, put the following entry in 3dsmax.ini.

[ExchangeStore]

ShowExchangeStoreMessageDialog=0

Interesting post by Master Zap on the mental ray thread priority in 3ds Max 2014

MaxStation — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:05:04 UTC

In previous releases when rendering with mental ray your machine tended to get maxed out by the mental ray render threads, which meant you couldn't do much whilst rendering.

In 2014 the default priorities are set lower in order to make the system more responsive, on top of that there is a configration file which lets you tweak this: the file is called mentalray_cpu.ini and you can find it in the plugcfg_ln folder of your 3ds Max 2014 configuration. So if you preferred the old behaviour set the priorities to 0 (normal), that might make sense on a render farm to make sure no other application steals time from the render threads

For all the details please see: Get the balance right: mental ray thread on zap's mental ray tips blog.

Backburner 2014 download

MaxStation — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:52:23 UTC

During some installs the Backburner 2014 option may be missing, please use this link to download it: Backburner 2014 Windows version for 3ds Max / 3ds Max Design 2014 (build 1635).

SDK and MAXScript documentation

MaxStation — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:15:28 UTC

Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 SDK Documentation:

Online: http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-sdkdoc-2014-enu
Download HTML: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/max-2014-sdk-1-doc.zip
Download CHM: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/max-2014-sdk-doc-chm.zip

Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 MAXScript Documentation:

Online: http://www.autodesk.com/3dsmax-maxscript-2014-enu
Download HTML: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/maxscript-2014-1-help.zip
Download CHM: http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/maxscript-2014-help-chm.zip

You can find all the SDK documentation on http://www.autodesk.com/me-sdk-docs

Autodesk Exchange for Autodesk 3ds Max is now open

MaxStation — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:46:22 UTC

Autodesk Exchange for Autodesk 3ds Max

Like for the other Autodesk applications now there is an Exchange for 3ds Max, which at the moment holds a number of plugins (some are free). More plugins are in the pipeline!

Over 1.000.000 views on MaxStation!

MaxStation — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 02:41:45 UTC

Wow, thanks to everybody for reaching this milestone. 220 posts, 578 comments and 1.001.347 views since Februari 22nd 2011. On to the next million!

3ds Max 2014 is here!

MaxStation — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:05:21 UTC

Check your Subscription Center, use the 'Get your Upgrade' button.

If it doesn't show 3ds Max 2014 yet you can grab the trial version for the time being.

Slow Trackview

MaxStation — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:51:33 UTC

I've written about this topic a couple of times, but always from the point of slow loading/filebloat. But if you have a fast machine or tend to work with larger files you may not really notice this until you try and open Trackview and end up waiting minutes whilst 3ds Max is unresponsive.

One cause is excessive numbers of tracks, the most recent flavour has been retimers, before that it tended to be notetracks. The annoying thing is that these tracks are global in a scene, so when you merge in something from a scene which has lots of these tracks your current scene now also has these tracks...

So if you find that one of your scenes is slow because of lots of retimers/note tracks: check your other scenes, just cleaning the scene your working on isn't enough!

Our developers are working on this issue but we don't know what causes thousands of these to appear in scenes. We're working with some sample files which have lots of these tracks and you can cause them to appear in another scene by merging in something from one of those scenes as mentioned previously. But that doesn't explain why there are so many in the scene in the first place (i don't expect that it's a normal workflow to merge in thousands of objects into a scene one by one). If you have a workflow that causes lots of retimers to appear in a scene file which has no retimers to start with please let me know!

Links to the posts on this topic which tell you how to resolve the issue:

Product Keys for the 2014

MaxStation — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:36:29 UTC

The product keys for the 2014 release still use the same logic as previously, 2014 uses the letter F (where 2013 was E, 2012 was D etc).

The 3ds Max related product keys are:

Autodesk 3ds Max 2014	128F1
Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2014	495F1
Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2014	774F1
Autodesk 3ds Max Entertainment Creation Suite Standard 2014	661F1
Autodesk Education Master Suite 2014	651F1
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite For Education 2014	656F1
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Premium 2014 Exclusives	P02F1
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Standard 2014 Exclusives	P01F1
Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite Ultimate 2014	793F1

For the full list please see: 2014: Product keys for Autodesk products

3ds Max 2014 Online Help

MaxStation — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:28:26 UTC

You can access it here: Autodesk 3ds Max 2014 Online Help

Direct link to the new features: Whats new in Autodesk 3ds Max 2014

And to see what's changed check the 'changed feature' in the index:

[1] Browsing help topics,
[2] General Viewport Concepts,
[3] Viewport Label Menus,
[4] General Viewport Label Menus,
[5] Point-Of-View (POV) Viewport Label Menu,
[6] Pan/Truck and Walkthrough Flyout,
[7] Isolate Tool,
[8] Using Transform Gizmos,
[9] 3D Snap, 2.5D Snap, 3D Snap,
[10] Snap Options,
[11] Measuring Distances,
[12] The 3ds Max Window,
[13] Starting 3ds Max from the Command Line,
[14] InfoCenter,
[15] Menu Bar,
[16] Tools Menu (Standard),
[17] Animation menu (Standard),
[18] Object Menu (Enhanced),
[19] Edit Menu (Enhanced),
[20] Modifiers Menu (Enhanced),
[21] Animation menu (Enhanced),
[22] Rendering Menu (Enhanded),
[23] Customize Menu (Enhanced),
[24] Help Menu (Enhanced),
[25] Extras Toolbar,
[26] The Ribbon,
[27] State Set Interface,
[28] Properties Tracked by State Sets,
[29] Scene Explorer Columns,
[30] File Link Settings: Revit and FBX Files Dialog,
[31] Editable Poly Settings,
[32] Surface Select Modifier,
[33] Edit UVWs Dialog Rollouts,
[34] Unwrap Options Dialog,
[35] Position Object Operator,
[36] Shape Instance Operator,
[37] Mayerial Static Operator,
[38] Matyerial Frequency Operator,
[39] Material Dynamic Operator,
[40] Age Test,
[41] Clumping Parameters Rollout (Hair And Fur),
[42] Options for Individual Materials, Maps, and Controllers,
[43] Select Bitmap Image File Dialog,
[44] Normal Bump Map,
[45] Render Setup Dialog,
[46] Rendered Frame Window,
[47] Render Output File Dialog,
[48] View Media File,
[49] iray Renderer,
[50] iray Rollout,
[51] Advanced Parameters Rollout (iray Renderer),
[52] Displacement Parameters Rollout (iray Renderer),
[53] Sampling Quality Rollout (mental ray Renderer),
[54] Rendering Algorithms Rollout (mental ray Renderer),
[55] Camera Effects Rollout (mental ray Renderer),
[56] Render Element Output File Dialog,
[57] Diffuse Texture Element Rollout,
[58] Show UI,
[59] Mouse Panel,
[60] Menus Panel,
[61] General Preferences,
[62] Display Driver Selection Dialog,
[63] Gamma and LUT Preferences,
[64] Visual Style & Appearance Panel (Nitrous Driver),
[65] Rendering Method Panel (Legacy Drivers),
[66] Background Panel,
[67] Select Background Image Dialog,
[68] Display Performance Panel (Nitrous Driver)

What's new in 3ds Max 2014...

MaxStation — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:57:48 UTC

From http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/overview :

Autodesk® 3ds Max® software provides a comprehensive 3D modeling, animation, rendering, and compositing solution for games, film, and motion graphics artists. 3ds Max 2014 has new tools for crowd generation, particle animation, and perspective matching, as well as support for Microsoft® DirectX 11® shaders.

The new features as shown on http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/features.type-new

Vector map support - Get new support for vector maps.
Populate crowd animation -& Generate believable human motion.
Augmented particle flow system - Create better physical simulations in less time.
Improved viewport performance - Get better interactive and playback performance.
DX 11 viewport rendering - 3ds Max now supports DirectX 11 shaders.
Perspective Match - Place CG elements into photo backgrounds.
2D Pan and Zoom - 2D pan and zoom does not affect camera position.

Update: i've removed the video links as they kept breaking ... please watch them on http://www.autodesk.com/products/autodesk-3ds-max/features.type-new

All the sneak peek videos...

MaxStation — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:32:29 UTC

The sneak peeks so far, in reverse order (i'll update the post and push it to the top if required whenever there is a new one):

3. Image Based Lighting

[video]http://youtu.be/S15zfWdrwE8[/video]

2. Populate

[video]http://youtu.be/YwCrUaqax70[/video]

1. Nitrous part 1

[video]http://youtu.be/MQEvacydsVE[/video]

Geppetto and Pinocchio

MaxStation — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 12:18:46 UTC

See Frank's blog for the Project Geppetto Update

And on Autodesk Labs we have Pinocchio: create fully-rigged custom 3D characters on a web portal and export them to fbx.

[video]http://youtu.be/XK64zsSYnm0[/video]

Note this is a technology preview which will be available until September 30, 2013 after which the web portal may come down.

The first sneak peek video

MaxStation — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 08:28:19 UTC

Get a little taste of whats coming soon for Autodesk 3ds Max. Find out how to learn more here... New Year, New Tools Come See 2014 Unfold

[video]http://youtu.be/MQEvacydsVE[/video]

This video is a technology preview. Autodesk wishes to caution you that this preview reflects technology research, and that actual events or results could differ materially from the preview. Also, this preview is not intended to be a promise or guarantee of future delivery of products, services or features but merely reflects technology research, which may change. Purchasing decisions should not be made based upon reliance on this preview. Autodesk does not assume any obligation to update any statements we make to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date of this technology preview.

Come see 2014 unfold

MaxStation — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:39:28 UTC

Join us live in Montreal for the Unfold Event to see Autodesk 2014 software workflow demonstrations and a heated State of the Industry Panel
Can't attend? Join us on AREA for live streaming and great online exclusives: The Expert Challenge and Product Managers Unplugged

More info on the Area: New Year, New Tools, Come See 2014 Unfold

Happy 2nd Birthday MaxStation!

MaxStation — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:08:23 UTC

A fresh new cake (it make look like last years cake, made a bit leaner, with some of the stuff scraped off, some new stuff added...) enjoy!

We're now at almost 920.000 views and 210 posts (564.400 new views and 92 new post in the last year).

Access denied error when editing the max.rayhost from within 3ds Max

MaxStation — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:31:22 UTC

Depending on how the access rights are set up on your machine you may encounter an 'access denied' error when you try to add a machine for Distributed Bucket Rendering (DBR), under Render Setup->Processing->Disbuted Bucket Rendering. The issue is that the max.rayhosts file is in C:\\Program Files\\Autodesk\\3ds Max 2013\\NVIDIA\\, if you get the errorr it means you don't have enough rights.

There are three approaches:

Run as Administrator

Exit 3ds Max, right click on the icon and select 'Run as Administrator', that'll make sure you have sufficient rights.

Change the rights on the NVIDIA folder

Give yourself 'full control' on the folder, that'll make sure you have sufficient rights.

Place the max.rayhost file where you have sufficient rights

From the online help:

By default, max.rayhosts is located in the \NVIDIA directory in the 3ds Max folder. You can change the default location by creating an environment variable named MAX<X>_MI_ROOT, where <X> is the 3ds Max version number, and setting the variable's value to the path of the max.rayhosts file you want to use.

That last one is the preferred approach (cleanest solution from an IT perspective).

I prefer rendering a single image in strips using Backburner over DBR, at least with Backburner you'll get your complete image and there isn't a risk of black tiles like with DBR (which is meant to speed up test renders, not for network rendering). If i had a couple spare machines i'd prefer to add them to the render farm.

ADN Plugin of the Month: ExplodeGeometry for 3ds Max

MaxStation — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:26:02 UTC

This months plugin of the month is ExplodeGeometry for 3ds Max.

This plug-in can be used to choose one or more nodes in a 3ds Max scene and create "exploded" geometry. The exploded geometry is actually 3 or 4 sided faces, and the plugin provides options to add modifiers to enhance the finished geometry to meet a variety of needs.

Have fun!