Autodesk Launches 3ds Max 2009
polycounter lvl 17
Autodesk Launches 3ds Max 2009 Entertainment Software and Introduces 3ds Max Design 2009 for Design Professionals,
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080212/aqtu080.html?.v=40
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080212/aqtu080.html?.v=40
Replies
Improved OBJ and Autodesk FBX file formats import and export vastly enhance interoperability
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I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing about that. Taken how long to get a decent working OBJ importer/exporter?
Yes I know you can download a plugin that handles importing/exporting. That shouldn't be needed given how common and simple the obj format is.
Well, now MoP can rest easily. Only took them over 5 versions...if it works.
ACTUALLY GET WORK DONE YOU LAZY FUCKS!
Marcus Dublin
Freelance - Artist
Well, now MoP can rest easily. Only took them over 5 versions...if it works.
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Huh? I've been using the Max built-in OBJ import/export since Max 5 and I've never had any issues with it.
The GuruWare OBJ importer has a couple of extra options but mainly it just has a set of "presets" stored for bringing things in/out of standard different apps (ie. changing the up axis, how scaling is performed) etc.
But improved can only be good, considering the initial import/export thing is fine as it stands.
Improved UV tools also sounds nice.
Seems a bit rapid to be bringing out 2009 though, I thought 2008 only just came out? Why don't they just make it a patch or service pack for 2008?
Seems a bit rapid to be bringing out 2009 though, I thought 2008 only just came out? Why don't they just make it a patch or service pack for 2008?
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Service packs are free, while upgrades cost $900 or so.
edit: nevermind it will ship March 25th and subscribers get both versions
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I totally just replaced my max splash screen with that image.
Alex
I totally just replaced my max splash screen with that image.
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Actually I wrote a script at work that randomly chooses a splashscreen from a folder on our version control, so the artists can add new splashscreens to version control at will and everyone can laugh at Max together. I'll post it up today in case anyone wants to ask their tech artists to use it at their studio, when I get home.
I'd like to write a python script so we could all put images on a central server somewhere and we'd download any new ones automatically, I'll see what I can come up with though I'm a python noob.
I currently have my splashscreen set as the same image (though it says 3dsmax 8, like the original one did), and I've been thinking about a way I can get the opening-max goodness I have at work at my home.
If you can get that online that'd be tight, but I'd settle for a local-only random image solution
Cool new about max 2009 - though I'd like to see some issues fixed in Max2008. I've been using 2008 for a few weeks now and I like it, albeit a few small issues.
I want Autodesk to rebuild max from the ground up, damnit. It has been FAR too long. Strip out the shit that's not needed, and clean it out!
i HATE that.
http://www.robg3d.com/downloads/putIn_Scripts-Startup_Folder.zip
As the name says, put in 3dsmax/scripts/startup, shouldn't matter what version.
It will delete your splash.bmp, get all the bmp's in the scripts/startup/splashscreens folder, and copy a random one to 3dsmax/splash.bmp. Send me new images and I'll add them, or upload them to imageshack, etc., and I'll add them. Of course you can just put any new ones you make in your scripts/startup/splashScreens folder.
I was also thinking about buying a small prize and running a contest, maybe Polycount could make it a mini-challenge, make the best max splashscreen?
BTW most splash screens are from a CGTalk thread, there are also some I made in there.
Autodesks majority of funds do NOT come from 3D model applications they own like Max and/or Maya, they come from their industry tools like CAD. And with our industry, the videogame industry, being as small as it is and an even smaller number being artists who use Max/Maya, we have a very small voice.
Even smaller because we all bitch amongst ourselves but probably never has an effort been made to contact them and suggest change.
I'd really like to see a MASSIVE group effort to make Max 2010 or future iterations something we can all use rather than see "LOL MAX!" threads pop up every time theres a new release.
The squeaky door gets the oil...
We all bitch about Max but do you ever actually send in these requests to Autodesk? Or do we expect them to just troll forums and hope for improvement suggestions?
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Autodesk gets a huge list of bugs and wanted improvements each time they kick out a version - they let it sit out there for a bit and then say "Hey big Max using companies, what do you guys think?" Bugs tend to get fixed (Depending on their severity, or how much you nag), while wanted features don't seem to be dealt with in any particular hurry, if at all. I'm still waiting for the unwrap modifiers to let me edit multiple selected objects at once, the way you can with Edit Poly, but for UV's, and I think we requested that 4 or 5 versions ago. Maybe that's what "improved UV tools" means? I hope so...
Anyway, to answer your question more directly, no they're not expected to troll forums, and yes we send our bitching to them quite regularly. For all that they do seem to listen more than Adobe (mostly), but Photoshop has the advantage of having mostly rock solid stability, which Max does not - that begs forgiveness for a lot
I'm still waiting for the unwrap modifiers to let me edit multiple selected objects at once, the way you can with Edit Poly, but for UV's, and I think we requested that 4 or 5 versions ago.
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Harl, do you guys have Max 2008? You can unwrap multiple objects in 2008.
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We all bitch about Max but do you ever actually send in these requests to Autodesk? Or do we expect them to just troll forums and hope for improvement suggestions?
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Autodesk gets a huge list of bugs and wanted improvements each time they kick out a version - they let it sit out there for a bit and then say "Hey big Max using companies, what do you guys think?" Bugs tend to get fixed (Depending on their severity, or how much you nag), while wanted features don't seem to be dealt with in any particular hurry, if at all. I'm still waiting for the unwrap modifiers to let me edit multiple selected objects at once, the way you can with Edit Poly, but for UV's, and I think we requested that 4 or 5 versions ago. Maybe that's what "improved UV tools" means? I hope so...
Anyway, to answer your question more directly, no they're not expected to troll forums, and yes we send our bitching to them quite regularly. For all that they do seem to listen more than Adobe (mostly), but Photoshop has the advantage of having mostly rock solid stability, which Max does not - that begs forgiveness for a lot
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Alias probably did it the same way, just asking the huge ass studios what they might want to have, or they just put things in that are incredibly situational - like that one Version of Maya where one of the main Additions was a fancy Ocean Shader. Hmkay.
haha those splash screens are great. Gonna add these to my box at work too ;D Now I need to make a couple of my own...is it contest time?
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I'm down if anyone wants to go halves on a prize, like Polyboost or $150 range item.
It's like the last 3 versions of photoshop/illustrator. Nothing substantial added, all the same bugs present, bad compatibility between the programs.
I've left max for dead but still find it easy to use.
Huhuh right.. I wish we could pay that much for Max in Europe..
Autodesk is starting to look a lot like our favorite OS supplier....
Autodesk is starting to look a lot like our favorite OS supplier....
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I wish. We'd get a new, rebuilt version every 4 or 5 years rather than a patch every year that does nothing.
every program has bugs and anyway max 2008 seems a lot better It has a nicer splash screen for one thing and if it crashes it crashes more stylishly:)
does it have a "makebetterart" button?
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duh, turbosmooth
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Mop: 9 has been just fine for me so far. 2008 had some good minor features but nothing to justify an entirely new release. Same goes for 2009 i feel.
..haha just kidding.. Autodesk bought Mudbox.. why the hell
would they lost money and add a 3d sculpting tool in max..
damn it..
Modo seems really interesting.
Alex
Autodesk is becoming an evil genie.. you wish for something and you might get it.. but then something you need is taken away.
oh and btw... right in the middle of posting this, fking max locked up on me. autodesk knows when we complain....
updates fortunately.. I would be pissed to make my boss
upgrade for 2008 with 2009 coming out now.
What will be the "super extra new features" justifying all
those bucks we are going to give Autodesk. Looking at other
3d softwares with half the price of what Max costs, I'm
tempting to migrate to something else.
And why Adobe and Autodesk products are twice the price in
Europe? I was searching for an answer somewhere..
and couldn't find why other softwares keep the same price.
Does someone knows?
Sage...I think you made a major typo. Or, if you're right, I'd like to see a test on viewport performance between max and xsi. I was under the assumption many max users used a third party app to reduce the geometry of exported sculpts, and break them down into segments, so Max could handle them.
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there are comparisons and in those i read, max2k8 actually "won" against xsi, performancewise. but then it so varies on a case by case basis. i just welcome it as a general speedup, making it possible to adjust something complex like a 3D scan inside max without having to get a cup of tea after every single mouseclick, which was the case with 8 and older releases.
much faster now and fewer memoryleaks/crashes when using fx-shaders here.
Sage/ElysiumGX, the only reason to run stuff through polycruncher is to get an optimal performance - why would you bother importing a 5 million triangle model when you can crunch it down to under 1 million and lose no vital surface information? That way you can have 5 of those objects for the same expense as one, un-optimised version.
Mop there are a few times you need to edit a model with millions of poly without reducing it but the not really game related. Also there is a huge difference in viewport performance between Max 9 and any earlier version of Max. I think that feature should of been added via a service pack though.
Alex