I’m moving to Max from Softimage and I’m a little confused as to which version of Max is best for me and thought I’d ask those who know.

I need to be able to do ArchViz AND Film and Animation. I dont really need the SDK.

If I go to the Design version will I have any limitiations that will stop me doing animation and film?

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3DS Max Entertainment Creation Suite Subscription, BonesPro, FumeFX, Flatiron, Unity3d Pro
Windows 7 x64, 16GB, Quadro FX3800
Windows 7 x64, 12GB, GeForce GTX580

There are only 2 real differences between the 2.

Design has the Lighting Analysis, but no SDK, standard is the exact opposite. Apart from that the software itself is pretty much identical.

There are a lot of differences in the default configuration of the 2, but it is easy to turn Design into Standard and vice-versa.

Either version will do what you want, the real choice is whether you need the Lighting Analysis or not, and if you don’t need the SDK then Design may be the better choice.

The problem is that nobody knows what changes will be introduced in future versions - they may well begin to drift apart in terms of features, but everyone is in the same boat there until more information comes out.

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

Keep in mind the tutorials are very different for Design 2010, and 2010.
But you can download both sets from Autodesk:

2010:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/ser...d=12754609&linkID=9241175
Design 2010:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/ser...=12754785&linkID=10381717

The Help files are nearly identical with the major exception being Design 2010 has the Lighting Analysis.

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