OK I just have to rant one more time about the autosave being so stupidly designed.  I saved my file 21 minutes ago and left to do some other tasks.  I returned to my desk at about the 19 minute mark, sat down, moved the mouse and....autosave!!!

Who is the dummy who designed this feature?????

--3ds Max Design 2009 64bit, Direct3D 9, Win Vista Premium 64, 3ghz quadcore Xeon, Quadro FX1700--

Under the files on the customize->preferences pulldown you can change the way autosaves behaves or disable it. I don’t use it becasue I remember to save before doing any of those tricky operations and have made a living in CAD for 15 years and “save often” has always been a montra.

Greecee Berger
Max 2011, 32 bit

Curse it now, but what would have happened if you came back in 15 minutes and the power was shut off and the last time you saved was 2 hours ago. Or you just got a spike and then the BSOD.

I have mine set to 15 files every 15 minutes. If the scene is large, I’ll increase the time increment. But I NEVER turn it off.

Tim Wilbers [FA]

College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Visual Arts
University of Dayton
http://www.udayton.edu/
3ds Max: 7.5, 8, 9, 2008, 2009, 2010

I would agree that is the case for almost everyone, but my left hand is trained to hit save everytime I look away from the screen, answer the phone, switch drawings, check email, reload a file etc. In autocad saving is fast but I am aware of what I have done and the importance of the save so I do it. In Max, the saves can be longer, but if you know what commands create problems then again you learn to hit ctrl-s often. In CAD, I save probably ever 4-5 minutes or when I know I should, in Max proabably every 10 minutes when it makes sense becasue I am used to not relying on autosaves and I don’t like when they save when I am doing work. I get interrupted often enough to save often.

Greecee Berger
Max 2011, 32 bit

I think using autosave highlights bad work habits, and it;’s verboten at work. Reason 1: If you open a file with the intention of using it for something else and renaming it, you can inadverdently overwrite the original. 2) It always kicks in at the wrong time, interupting your flow. We use iterative save, no autosave, and ctrl-s whenever we feel it’s time, maybe every 5-15 min.  Workflow is smooth, and if a file gets corrupted, you can always open the previous iteration, costing maybe 5-15min to get back to where you were. In the ~6yrs we’ve been working this way, we’ve never lost a file, nor much time, so I’m a very convinced that this is a better way to go.

save always ... always safe.

trust me autosave needs to be there ... you will learn to love it when you off it.

Studio Max 2009 x64
X5000 Chipset | Dual Core Intel 5140 | 4G RAM | Nvidia FX3450 | WindowsXP 64

I think you are all missing the point.
If I save the file and do not touch the computer for 19 minutes but then move the mouse a tad just before the 20 minute mark, it autosaves.  This is stupid.  The timer should start the instant I do any action that marks the scene as “changed”.  The way it seems to work now, is the timer starts from the instant of my last save, and when it reaches the 20 minute (or whatever) mark, it checks to see if anything has changed and if so it performs an autosave.  This is just bad logic.

People always argue this is a trivial point...but it is driving me crazy.  My phone rings, I hit the Save+ key, and talk for 19 minutes, then grab the mouse and the autosave kicks in… I have to just sit there and stew for anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute.  It doesn’t have to work like that and it shouldn’t.

--3ds Max Design 2009 64bit, Direct3D 9, Win Vista Premium 64, 3ghz quadcore Xeon, Quadro FX1700--

I think it’s just easier for it to use an absolute time (ie. every 20 minutes) rather than monitoring your work and basing it’s time off your workflow.  I think if you left your computer sit for 60 minutes, you’d have three autobak files that are identical.  It’s more complex an operation for it to look and see if there have been changes since the last autosave, or god forbid was there a “significant” enough change, to warrant a new save.

When I start to get annoyed with autosave, I just turn it off.  Like many others, I save early, save often, and save incrementally.

Gary, just be happy it’s one of those rare things in Max that WORKS!  :)

3DS Max Design 2011 64-bit - Advantage Pack
Dell Precision T5500, Dual Six Core Xeon X5650 @ 2.67GHz, nVidia Quadro 5000, 24 GB RAM, Win 7 Enterprise 64-bit
Minneapolis, MN, USA

Chris, sorry I don’t buy that.  I have used many programs where the autosave worked more logically.  I believe that Max has a “dirty bit” which signifies when there have been changes that warrant a save (ie not including viewport pans etc) and makes Max offer to save the file when you try to exit or reset.  The autosave timer just should simply be started whenever that bit is set.  In fact I am fairly certain it used to work properly way back (5+ years ago?) and then inexplicably changed one version.

I have experimented with turning autosave off, but have always had occasion to regret it sooner or later (human nature).  I just think the most important determinant of how features are programmed--especially for expensive professional software!!-- should be whatever works best for the user rather than whatever is easiest for the programmer (ouch!! sorry don’t mean to sound snippy...).

In fact to go one better, the very first drafting program I ever used (Powerdraw for Macintosh circa 1989) did it just right: after X minutes without saving, a dialog would pop up saying “You have not saved for X minutes.  Save now?  Yes / No”.  Perfect!!

--3ds Max Design 2009 64bit, Direct3D 9, Win Vista Premium 64, 3ghz quadcore Xeon, Quadro FX1700--

[quote author=”
In fact to go one better, the very first drafting program I ever used (Powerdraw for Macintosh circa 1989) did it just right: after X minutes without saving, a dialog would pop up saying “You have not saved for X minutes.  Save now?  Yes / No”.  Perfect!!

My god, that would drive me insane.

drees 13 November 2008 11:16 PM

My god, that would drive me insane.

But it is a HECK of a lot friendlier than forcing me to sit there for a whole minute while in the middle of, say, carefully selecting faces.  It gives me the option of clicking “No” and carrying on immediately, which autosave does not offer.  And remember, ideally I should not be working for that long without saving...unless of course it is something I don’t intend to save...in which case, again, I can just click No.

--3ds Max Design 2009 64bit, Direct3D 9, Win Vista Premium 64, 3ghz quadcore Xeon, Quadro FX1700--