Is it really necessary?
I think fixing the bugs are more important ... view cube creating new bugs?

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

the view cube and steering wheel were the first 2 things i disabled, and yes they definitely caused some bugs

SP1 addressed a number of issues with the Viewcube / SteeringWheel. If you don’t want them at all, close Max, navigate (with windows explorer) to <installdir>\stdplugs, locate AutoCamMax.gup and rename it.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Or right click on a viewport label and deselect to show the two,
in the configuration settings.

Max 2012
Windows 7 64 SP1

If you simply want to hide them, yes - but they are still being loaded and (possibly) slowing the system down. Renaming the .gup prevents them being loaded at all - less code, lower memory usage etc etc. I renamed mine because at present I have no use for either, if I need them I can always reinstate the correct filename (which I did when I applied SP1 - just to be safe). It’s up to victor.nsy which way of removing them he prefers.

Max 4.2 through 2013.
XP-64 (SP2)
NVidia 9800GTX-512 (Driver 266.58).
Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz, 8Gb Ram, DX9.0c.

Dudes thanks for your replys ... I have infact done the renaming once I got 3Dsmax 2009. My purpose
of this post is meant to sound out one of the “improvement” which cost developement time and money
.... but it’s not cool and produces bugs ... why bother in the first place.

To think of it infact it doesn’t really help anyone learn 3dsmax. It’s a slower way to work. So ... please
spend more time fixing BUGS then producing function that doesn’t help the users. I am sure the
guys who write this viewport thingy isn’t a USER… hence the “improvement”. Please listen more and
work less dearest Autodesk.

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

this viewcube nonsense seems to be some corporatewide decision affecting all products ( Maya, Autocad etc.)
It is really a sign of the time and downturn of ADESK, showing that real innovation is NOT part of their business tactics.
I would say, their understanding of business is:

* keep innovation and the expense for it at lowest possible level
* rearrange some menues, bring in some silly, shallow “ “features” nobody ever requested, wanted and uses,
like this Viewcube, so that it looks at least like they did something
* buy in some external plugins, let all innovation happen due to external effort ( Mental Ray) and sell this as ADESK’s innovation
* only care of finding new marketsegements, don’t care for the established ones - new, less advanced userbase means less profound critics on product’s progress and bugs…
* dont fix bugs, at least not if only requested by a user/company with under hundreds of max-seats. Tell the more and more upset userbase that they have to report bugs into a database. Truth is, that this Database pushes bugs to the Devs by random , or only the top 1% reported - again by numbers reportet not by the seriousness of the bug.
this list could continue.....

end of my today’s ADESK rant ;-)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Tools (Scriptspot):
PowerPreview:  Quality Previews from Nitrous Viewports - Download
DarkScintilla:  dark Color Scheme for the Maxscript Editor - Download
PowerSwitcher: Enhanced Viewport Switching in 3ds Max - Download
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Home of The Frogs | Online Portfolio

Josef, just be grateful you don’t have to put up with using AutoCAD too (well, I’m assuming you don’t). In the latest version it’s just undergone the most pointless, irrelevant and completely disastrous redesign in it’s history. I work at an architectural visualisation company, and as well as having a number of Max licenses, we also have an AutoCAD license for converting files from architects into usable information. With version 2009 of AutoCAD, Autodesk have applied the new ‘Microsoft Office’ ribbon-style interface to it, which has rendered the program almost unusable. If ever there was a program that was less suited to a moron-level interface framework that Microsoft came up with for Office, it’s AutoCAD. Fortunately after much hunting around and RTFMing we managed to work out how to revert it to the ‘classic’ menus, thank god. How anyone could have thought it would be a good idea to put a playskool interface on a program as complex and deep as AutoCAD is beyond me.

What Autodesk have done to AutoCAD is symptomatic of the direction they seem to be going in; chuck in a fancy interface redesign, make a lot of noise about it and hope the customers will be happy. Well I’m not. What they should be spending their time on is of course meaningful and useful new features, along with much-needed bug fixes. I swear if they ever dare redesign Max with the ‘ribbon’ interface we will dump it immediately

glad i don’t have to touch Autocad, but i have read about this restructered interface in the new release. What Autocad is today is exactly what i fear for Max too..... Let a once great product die a slow death with now more usefull updates, and at the same time prolong this agony by this money-ripping mentality ADESK shows. Of course therefore they have to revamp some UI things, to make new customers without indepth knowledge believe it’s still good and up-to-date, just because this was true in days long gone....
I love Max - and therefore i don’t want it to go the same way !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Free Tools (Scriptspot):
PowerPreview:  Quality Previews from Nitrous Viewports - Download
DarkScintilla:  dark Color Scheme for the Maxscript Editor - Download
PowerSwitcher: Enhanced Viewport Switching in 3ds Max - Download
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Home of The Frogs | Online Portfolio

Yeah the view cube and steering device are completely useless.

Stability says it all.

2009 is still way ahead of 2008 for stability so AD has done a good job improving it.

David

Want to change the current Max release schedule? Write/Email/Call your reseller

listen to the users ADESK… like adobe they make sure that every release gives real workflow improvement.
Max 6 to Max 8 seem to do that quite ok ( there was critical bug I remember about backburner , took abit too
long to fix ).

Photoshop CS2 to Photoshop CS3 is phenomenon we grab a copy immediately ( no subscription stuff)
after reviewing what it has to offer! 3DSMAX 8.0 to 3DSMAX 2009 man ... and wondering why we are still on
subscription. There must be adequate reason to pay for something ... the subscription in relation to the
service seems unreasonable, we didn’t pay to hunt bugs, you are the guy we paid to do it.

Like any game developer you will need a bunch of guys who test software sufficiently before releasing them?
To have a user suggesting that is embarassing? Testing also include matching your technology with current
supporting equipment and hardware?

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