One of my favorite parts of being a PM is First Article day. It’s like Christmas in spring when I get shipped to me one of the first boxes off the production line (these days two boxes). A lot of hard work goes into making the release date each year and this year was by no means an exception. It’s amazing to see so many passionate and dedicated people cranking away day in and day out on our beloved 3ds Max. It’s almost a sign of relief when we get to First Article day as that’s one of the final milestones our development team has to deliver on, but it’s only a short gasp of air as we quickly move on to launch mode and making sure you have the best possible experience with our little baby called 3ds Max 2010.

FA has now been officially approved, those in manufacturing are now the ones burning the midnight oil getting ready for First Customer Ship. No sorry, we are not shipping just yet but it should begin soon. I know many of you are as excited as me to get your hands on the box but please be patient, it takes a few weeks to be shipped and delivered to your door. As many of you noticed with the subs download not even electronic delivery is instantaneous these days. It just goes to show how many of you are using 3ds Max out there :)

At this point I’ve gathered quite the collection FA boxes in my journey as 3ds Max PM. I’ve had the pleasure of being involved in the approving and launching 3ds Max 2008, 3ds Max 2009, 3ds Max Design 2009, and today we begin 3ds Max 2010! With the addition of 5 localized versions and the various Educational offerings I’m now starting to run out of shelf space :)

Anyhow, I want to thank all of you out there for continuing to support this great product and I look forward to reading your comments about the 2010 release.