Mixed in with all the other Siggraph announcements was the release of a new FBX plugin for 3ds Max. If you missed it I have copied below some of the important changes and links to find out more....

What’s New
Autodesk® FBX® universal 3D asset exchange technology offers a comprehensive, platform-independent 3D data interchange solution. FBX 2010.2 is a powerful release focused on extensibility, performance, and stability.

Autodesk Mudbox Support for FBX
Autodesk® Mudbox™ 2010 software is the first Mudbox release to support FBX, which streamlines common workflows between Mudbox, Autodesk® Maya®, and Autodesk® 3ds Max® software. This provides the ability to:

• Import and export FBX meshes
• Import cameras and image planes from Maya
• Transfer bump maps between Maya, 3ds Max, and Mudbox
• Layered textures are supported between Maya, 3ds Max, and Mudbox

Improved Software Development Kit (SDK) Documentation
An extensive overhaul to the SDK documentation provides developers with a better understanding of the concepts of the FBX SDK and offers clear explanations of classes and their interactions, methods, and behaviors.

Plug-Ins of Plug-Ins
Add your own abstraction layer to the import/export mechanics of the FBX Software Developer Kit (SDK) and current plug-ins to more easily wrap custom data inside the FBX file format for transport to other applications. So you can focus on implementing your custom code, rather than on managing interoperability issues between applications. The FBX Extensions SDK has examples for Autodesk® Maya® and Autodesk® 3ds Max® software. It also includes instructions for modifying the FBX plug-ins for 3ds Max and Maya to add custom data.

Support for Subdivision Surfaces
FBX now supports base mesh, subdivision level for Maya smooth mesh preview, enabling them to be transferred to Microsoft® XNA® and Direct3D® technology. Game developers can use this feature to generate high-resolution assets from lower resolution base meshes within the games engine, achieving significantly higher levels of detail and quality, while maintaining interactivity and game play.

Autodesk 3ds Max FBX 2010.2 Interoperability Chart
This FBX compatibility chart explains what's supported and at what level, when exporting from Autodesk 3ds Max and importing into Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder, or Autodesk Mudbox.

It has the following workflows:

• 3ds Max (FBX exporter) to FBX file format
• 3ds Max (FBX exporter) to Maya (FBX importer)
• 3ds Max (FBX exporter) to MotionBuilder (native FBX plug-in import option)
• 3ds Max (FBX exporter) to Mudbox (FBX importer)

FBX QuickTime Viewer

The FBX plug-in for QuickTime is a component plug-in for Apple® QuickTime® that lets you play back and interact with 3D files from any major 3D application inside QuickTime.

Windows
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for QuickTime (exe - 3491Kb)

FBX Converter

Transfer project data from one application to another quickly and easily with the FBX Converter. This utility lets you convert OBJ, DXF™, and 3DS files to and from the FBX format.

Windows

FBX 2010.2 Converter for Windows (exe - 5666Kb)

3ds Max Plugin Links

FBX 2010.2 Autodesk 3ds Max Help
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2010 (exe - 18662Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2010 64-bit (exe - 19787Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2009 (exe - 18658Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2009 64-bit (exe - 19783Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2008 (exe - 18636Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max 2008 64-bit (exe - 19753Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max Design 2010 (exe - 18662Kb)
FBX 2010.2 Plug-in for 3ds Max Design 2010 64-bit (exe - 19787Kb)

All of the above info can be found on the FBX product center page.

www.autodesk.com/fbx