3ds Max 2013 review anybody ?

[RyderSK]

Anyone care to share input out of those who use it already ?

[Justin Hunt]

Just starting to test it now, The Revit import is nice although falls over on complex models. One small thing so far in previous releases you had the option to set zooming to center around the mouse point, I cant find that setting anymore, so now it zooms on screen center.

 

The issue with the mrexposure control giving a green cast to renders has been fixed.

 

More testing and waiting for a few plugins to be released before we roll it out

 

jhv

[VD_EuroImmoStar]

it's more stable, and the speed has improved. Yet, Nitrous is still overstated as the new way of viewport usage, it's junk for heavy scenes. It can't put xref's in box mode nor can it display proxies in box mode which is vital for mr_proxies in heavy scenes...

 

But the overal feeling is (+) for 2013 vs 2012. Yet it's still not

 

You even have a facebook-button now in the toolbars if you like. -.- priorities right...

 

Anyway, lots of discussions going on about 2013 at the area, mroe negative then positive, but that won't really change soon.. to many releases that sucked and decreased the quality of the package, so they have alot to make up for, but 2013 is a clear start for improvement and bug fixing in my pov. (architecture & urban visualisation)

 

A scene from 2012 that was almost impossible to adjust at the end because of the slow buildup in complexity; had a much better performance in 2013. The viewport has a better manual control (3D version, not nitrous) where you wanna pump the fps.

 

Yet, be careful: some things haven't improved: cad-drawings imported and converted to splines are slow as hell (really, they ****ing suck). Adjusting the workflow to image planes with drawings on it is almost the only way atm in 2013. I'm sure other things to discover soon.. lol.

 

grts

[Ricardo Eloy]

For me, the most important things are the SAT (Small Annoying Things). Some of them have bugged me for over a decade and I sure as hell don't miss them.

[bev.lynn]

Justin,

The the zoom about mouse center has been moved to CUI->mouse tab.

[Justin Hunt]

Thanks Beverly

[postite]

1 or 2 things I like:

 

• The line tool is finally better, like the CLine script: you can move during drawing
  
• Spherical environment displayed as viewport background (great for IBL)
  
• Realtime Depth of Fiels in viewport (gadget ?)
  
• You can setup your array and move in your scene to see the result (finally ... )
  
• Exit Isolation Mode as a little static button
  
• New "type" of mesh "Convert to Deformable gPoly", but need more tests
  

[abuddin]

Installed 2013 in a corei5 4GB Ram HP Laptop. When trying to link Revit File... Im getting this awkward error msg "3D Studio Max to Revit interoperability is not installed in your system"

 

Can anyone give any clue pls??! I am feeling sorta stupid here!

[John Dollus]

If you go to the menus along the top and select Help->About, what does it say in the Release section?

[abuddin]

If you go to the menus along the top and select Help->About, what does it say in the Release section?

 

The 'About' contents starts with this... and then goes on pretty long:

 

Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2013

 

© 2012 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

All use of this Software is subject to the terms and conditions of the Autodesk

license agreement accepted upon installation of this Software and/or packaged

with the Software.

 

Couldnt really figure out what you mean by 'release section' though. Really dumb folded..

 

I had been using 3ds MAX for years to produce exterior and interior renderings. Then I switched to Revit and kept doing exterior renderings with it for the last 3 years or so. Now I'm trying to get the rendering part done by 3ds MAX... and wanted to use the 2013 version interoperability option. Having a very hard time with it so far. Can anyone help pls?

 

Here is a sample rendering I did previously with Revit:

 

[thomashickey]

Our school has 2013 on every lab computer, and it's quite glitchy. Constantly having to switch views from top --> ortho and back to be able to see lines. HOWEVER, this is the first version of 3ds max I've ever used, so it could be a bug across all versions.

[amer abidi]

crap so far.. in terms of viewport workability and render speed...

and what's all that about not being able to view XREFs in Box mode!!? The reason why i have them XREF'd is because they are viewport heavy! Total Crap from AutoDesk.

 

Yup, staying on Max 2009.

[Josef Wienerroither]

The xref box mode error is a nitrous thing, so you could switch to D3D viewport mode and it will work as expected

[Scott Schroeder]

The Revit Interoperability is actually quite decent. I threw almost a 1 gig Revit file at it with over 8,000 pieces and had zero slow down what so ever. You just have to make sure you are importing things right. I also like how it is not a live link to the Revit file, you can choose when or if you updated. This whole process slows down if you import the Revt lights and just crap Autodesk Pro materials. Those things alone will slow down your viewport if you are using Vray. The best way is to immediate blow away any and all imported materials. Which brings us to the biggest downside, which is Revit not adopting Arch and Design materials. Even for us Vray users, Vray can at least use arch and design materials in a somewhat decent fashion. Though, still no substitute for good old fashioned Vray materials.

 

On update, it keeps mapping coordinates (UVW Modifiers) and your custom Vray materials, again, as long as you have the right settings. It even keeps an edit mesh/poly modifier and the material ID's you assigned, given that the geometry doesn't change. Geometry changes are another issue, but one you can work around.

 

Is it the best way? I don't know. The jury is still out, but just doing some prelim testing has show fairly positive results. You really need to customize your import settings though. If you use the stock ones, it will seem like a poor process.

 

Other than that, I think 2013 is a so-so release. Make sure you have a lot of time to set it up as many 2012 functions won't import. There is a work around for getting your keyboard shortcuts in, since Max 2013 uses .kbdx files instead of .kbd files.

Edited September 4, 2012 by VelvetElvis

[dande]

I tried it on a project had to go back to 2012. It wouldn't write my mental ray FG maps just gave me errors.

A waste of subscription money