What's New in Autodesk 3ds Max 2008
Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 software dramatically improves artist productivity by streamlining the process of working with complex scenes. This is achieved through performance improvements areas such as viewport interaction, interactive transformation, and material assignment, as well as through the addition of new, artist-friendly UI and scene-management features.
This release also marks the launch of new tools that deliver interactive previewing of shadows, the 3ds Max sun/sky environment, and Arch & Design material settings. In addition, Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 delivers enhanced support for complex pipelines and workflows: The new, integrated ProEditor makes it easier to use MAXScript to extend and customize the software, and enhanced DWG file-linking and data support strengthen interoperability with applications such as AutoCAD® 2008 and Revit® 2008 software products. Finally, character animation is enhanced by numerous Biped improvements, including new ways of layering character motion and exporting it to game engines, as well as tools that give animators new levels of flexibility with regard to their Biped rigs.
General Improvements
Enhanced Point Cache SupportImproved file I/O capabilities let you move Point Cache files seamlessly between 3ds Max and Autodesk Maya software.
Enhanced FBX SupportThe integrated FBX translator now includes improved support for animation, mesh, material and lighting data.
Enhanced Selection Performance Optimizations and new viewport technology make the selecting of hundreds and thousands of objects more than 10 times faster, boosting user productivity, particularly for those working with large data sets.
Improved Transform PerformanceTransforming 5,000 or more objects in Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 is up to 60 times faster, thanks to optimizations and new viewport technology.
General Performance ImprovementsOptimizations and new viewport technology make grouping and cloning operations, as well as array functions, perform significantly faster.
Windows Vista SupportAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 now supports the latest Microsoft operating system release, giving you more OS options.
DirectX 10 SupportA new integrated DirectX 10 driver lets game developers view shaders that access the Microsoft latest DirectX library. Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 is the only 3D animation package that ships with an integrated DirectX 10 driver, along with a driver for DirectX 9.
Customer Involvement ProgramThis new, optional Autodesk program enables you to help shape the future development of the product. This feature lets you automatically provide valuable information to Autodesk regarding frequently used workflows. It does not, however, extract sensitive information from your files.
Materials and Mapping
Improved Material Assignment Material assignment in Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 is now up to 10 times faster for scenes with 10,000 nodes, or more, significantly improving the productivity of those working with large, object-intensive scenes.
Multiple UVW Unwrap Users can now perform an Unwrap operation on the texture coordinates of multiple objects simultaneously. This makes it significantly easier to organize the mapping of multiple objects with one texture. For example, in the case of a car model comprising various parts, all the parts can be quickly be mapped with the same texture, with suitable UVW mapping for each part.
Auto-reset for Projection Modifier The Projection modifier now performs an auto-reset of the cage, preventing shrink-wrap behavior that can lead to inaccurate results.
Viewport Rendering
Adaptive DegradationThe integration of new technology into the software's adaptive degradation system improves interactive performance by automatically simplifying scene display to meet a user-defined target frame rate. You specify how the software adjusts the scene display, including whether small objects are hidden, distant objects have less detail, etc., and 3ds Max calculates how best to achieve it. When combined with the new Direct3D mesh caching that groups objects by materials, the result is that a scene containing tens of thousands of objects can be just as interactive as one with 10 objects.
NoteThis functionality supplants the legacy Object Display Culling command and utility, which have therefore been removed from the program.
Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)-based shadow supportThe viewports now support real-time shadows , including self-shadowing and up to 64 lights simultaneously. All standard lights are supported along with a simple UI to choose which lights are on. Users can choose between high-quality per-pixel shadowing and fast shadowing (i.e., good and best modes).
Sun/Sky Viewport PreviewThe mental ray Sun & Sky system lets you create an accurate depiction of the sun and the sky at a specific time and location. With this release, architectural and design visualization professionals working with the Sun & Sky system can now interactively preview their settings in the viewports prior to rendering. Reflections are derived from the Sun & Sky system and automatically mapped onto the surface of shiny objects. For a detailed procedure, see this procedure .
Hardware-based Material Rendering in ViewportsArchitectural and design visualization professionals can now get immediate feedback on common mental ray Arch &Design and Standard materials settings, allowing them to achieve their desired look by way of a fast, efficient, iterative process. For details, see Show Standard/Hardware Map in Viewport .
Rendering
Ambient Occlusion Enhancements (Architectural & Design Material) The Arch & Design material for mental ray now delivers greater physical accuracy in the light-occluded areas near objects so that the coloring of nearby objects can affect the occlusion, resulting in more accurate, true-to-life rendered images. See Use Color From Other Materials .
Self-Illumination (Architectural & Design Material)Also new for the Arch & Design material is the ability to produce a realistic self-illumination effect, with the added option of acting as a light source when using Final Gather. See Self Illumination (Glow) rollout .
Sky PortalFor mental ray users, the new mr Sky Portal area light simplifies the process of illuminating indoor scenes with outdoor lighting. You can now create an object that defines precisely where external light enters the indoor scene, via skylights, windows, open doors, etc. Using this technique dramatically reduces render times and improves image quality for these lighting situations. HDRI-based lighting effects are also supported.
Photographic Exposure UIThe new mr Photographic Exposure Control with its camera-based interface for managing exposure settings (tone mapping) greatly simplifies the process of achieving a photographic rendering effect with physically accurate lighting. You can define the film speed, shutter speed, etc., as with a real camera.
Glare Shader The new mental ray Glare shader creates a realistic halo around very bright areas in the rendered image.
Support for DDS Floating-Point FormatsWhen rendering to DirectDraw Surface (DDS) format , you can now choose for the 64-bit and 128-bit floating-point options.
Output Path Dialog Box ImprovementsAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 streamlines the render output workflow. The Setup button on the Render Output File dialog is now enabled as soon as you enter a file name and type, so changing settings for the file format no longer requires closing the dialog box, reopening it and changing the file type.
Presets for RTTAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 now lets game artists define presets to use with Render to Texture, making this popular mapping workflow feature even more flexible than in previous versions.
Scene and Project Management
Scene ExplorerAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 delivers Scene Explorer , a powerful tool that provides a hierarchical view of scene data and fast scene analysis and editing tools that facilitate working with even the most complex, object-heavy scenes. Scene Explorer, which takes the form of a modeless dialog, gives artists the ability to sort, filter, and search a scene by any object type or property (including metadata), with stackable filtering, sorting, and searching criteria.
You can save and store multiple explorer instances and link, unlink, rename, hide, freeze, and delete objects, regardless of what objects are currently selected in the scene. Users can also configure columns to display and edit any object property, and because this feature is scriptable and SDK extendable, callbacks can be used to add custom column definitions.
The legacy Select Objects dialog has been replaced by Select From Scene , a modal, read-only version of Scene Explorer.
Memory Management OptimizationSignificantly improved memory management enables the import of large and complex scenes with multiple objects, in significantly less time.
Normals ManagementDWG scenes imported from Revit 2008 products now maintain their original normal positioning: greater data fidelity equaling improved user-productivity.
Material Assignment and NamingDWG scenes imported from Revit 2008 now maintain the correct material assignment. Materials also maintain their original names.
Sun/Sky ImportGeographic location (including time of day and time zone) as well as sun and sky parameters are now imported along with DWG files. This streamlines workflows in which this data plays a role.
UV Coordinate EnhancementsDWG UV import is now more complete thanks to added support for Box, spherical and cylindrical mapping as well as support for mirror texture tiling.
General Animation Improvements
Improved Skin Load Weights DialogThe Skin Load Weights dialog box is now resizable.
New Default for Bones/IK GoalsBones and IK goals now default to a size of two inches. The size of subsequent objects defaults to the last value set by the user - saving set up time.
Improved Controller AssignmentThe Controllers menu now allows users to assign controllers to multiple selected objects simultaneously.
Edit Trajectories CUI ItemA new custom UI shortcut for edit trajectories streamlines workflows for those using a custom UI.
Character Animation Improvements
Layers as AssetsAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 now enables Biped users to save and load Biped layers as BIP files , so you can isolate character motion and save each layer as its own asset for export into a game. You can use MAXScript to customize Biped layer export.
XtrasYou can now extend biped characters with the new Xtras feature . This tool, an FK chain attachable anywhere and parentable to any Biped object, lets animators create and animate extraneous Biped features such as wings, or additional facial bones, and save these as BIP files. Like other BIP files, Xtras animation is supported in Mixer and Motion Flow as well as Copy, Paste, and Layers.
Head RelocationBiped users can now move a character's head away from its neck , which helps in fitting the biped to its character mesh.
Modeling Improvements
Hotkeys as Temporary Overrides Existing modeling hotkeys can now be made to act as temporary overrides, called press/release keyboard shortcuts, enabling modelers to quickly move back and forth between modes using hotkeys.
Working PivotYou can now override an object’s own pivot with a global, “working” pivot in order to simplify the rotating of objects without affecting the original pivot. This helps modelers quickly pick arbitrary points around which to rotate.
Sub-object Previewing The ability to preview sub-objects streamlines the modeling workflow: Not only does it enable you to preview and select sub-objects in one fluid motion, but it also gives you an intuitive, natural way to switch among sub-object levels in the viewport.
Constrain to Normal This new operation lets you transform sub-object geometry along the normals of selections: the result is a localized geometry push-and-pull operation.
Scripting Improvements
MAXScript ProEditorAutodesk 3ds Max 2008 marks the debut of the new MAXScript ProEditor. This new, intelligent interface for working with MAXScript includes multilevel undo functionality; fast, high-quality code colorization; rapid opening of large documents; line-number display; regular expressions in search/replace; folding of sections of the script; support for user-customization, and many other features.
AVG_DLXThe integration of the publicly available avg_dlx MAXScript extension into 3ds Max reduces dependency on third-party tools while exposing more than 100 new methods, properties, and classes to 3ds Max. These include methods for accessing registry, the clipboard, and IK properties on transform controllers, as well as for combining bitmaps, and more.
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