OOoOOo... I get ya now. Yea there are a few shaders that render height maps. Mental Ray has one http://www.kxcad.net/autodesk/3ds_max/Autodesk_3ds_Max_9_Reference/height_displacement_shader_mental_ray.html ShaderFX runs in the viewport and has relief mapping. http://www.lumonix.net/Media/ShaderFX_ReliefMappingDemo.html
I think it might be different for older versions of max, but for max 2012 you can edit this file "C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2012 - 64bit\enu\plugcfg\unwrapuvw.ini" set RelaxType=0 for relax by face angles.
If you head to Autodesk's Area, they have a bunch of tutorials for Softimage. You can find a bunch at http://www.i3dtutorials.com/view/Tutorials too. As for reference models, you should be able to use a mdl decompiler to get the smd, which you can then import.
That hydrant looks exactly like the one created in Ben Tate's tutorial herehttp://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/model-a-detailed-high-poly-fire-hydrant-in-3ds-max/ Is that the case? If so you might want to consider removing it.
Only problem with the vray demo is the watermark. You can photoshop it out with a bit of effort in which case this becomes very useful http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/create-a-photorealistic-car-render-using-3ds-max-and-vray/
Nope. But you can select backfacing UVs, select overlapping UVs, show edge distortion, etc. http://docs.autodesk.com/3DSMAX/13/ENU/Autodesk%203ds%20Max%202011%20Help/index.html?url=./files/WSf742dab04106313366400bf6112a1cea097-7eb9.htm,topicNumber=d0e90729
Was a good event, feels like its shrinking though. Not seeing Autodesk or Pixologic demoing at their own booth felt very strange. Speaking of the Order 1886... there was a bit of love over at the Foundry booth. [ame] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGrrQbcV3l0[/ame]
The licensing is written to unpartioned parts of the hard deive. There's no way to remove that without formatting. Other than that you can use the Autodesk Uninstall tool to get everything off you system. It's what we use in the beta program to clear our versions.
autodesk's modeling with math video had something that should werka similar script would do what u want. ( get the edge's face wing angles dependent on nomals towards or away ) sorry don't have the time to write or test as much
Softimage (XSI) have best modeling tools ever! It so easy to do complex subdiv hipoly modeling, and editing geometry topology! All over 3d modeling soft is braindamage after XSI! Autodesk must BURN in hell for killing Softimage!