Future of 3ds Max, please vote!

[dsp_418]

After MU historic post, here's an exciting idea by Tom Hudson:

http://alturl.com/vda9x

 

Dunno if this could never happen, but it's so exciting!

 

p.s. if you haven't read that post, I highly recommend to read it, it's very interesting:

http://www.maxunderground.com/archives/19385_autodesk_siggraph_event_news___including_future_of_naiad.html

Edited July 31, 2013 by dsp_418

[Francisco Penaloza]

I think the only solution is within the people it self, we all complain about Autodesk management of 3DMax for a while, well the simple solution is move on to other software and you'll see how fast Autodesk will try to become competitive again. That's why they bough, Softimage and Maya, they didn't want to compete, if they see a big jump on MODO, Lightwave or such for sure they will try to buy it too.

[Tommy L]

I think the only solution is within the people it self, we all complain about Autodesk management of 3DMax for a while, well the simple solution is move on to other software and you'll see how fast Autodesk will try to become competitive again. That's why they bough, Softimage and Maya, they didn't want to compete, if they see a big jump on MODO, Lightwave or such for sure they will try to buy it too.

 

Nuke and Modo combining should be a shot in the arm.

[John Dollus]

My biggest fear is that they will purchase Nuke. After they killed off Lightscape and bought Maya, I came real close to just going out and digging ditches for a living. By the time Softimage was purchased, it became a drinking game. If they purchase Nuke, I'm resigned to getting a sailboat and heading to the South Pacific to trade hats woven from my own hair. I need a crew though. Who is with me?

[Devin Johnston]

the simple solution is move on to other software and you'll see how fast Autodesk will try to become competitive again.

That's a nice sentiment but it's unrealistic for most companies, if you've used Max for any length of time in a professional environment you've got a lot invested beyond just the time it's taken you to learn the software. We've got thousands of models and textures we've created over the years that would all have to be recreated and remapped if we switched to something else. That's a massive project that will take years to implement not to mention that you'd have to be trained in the new app and you won't be at 100% for quite some time. The problems Autodesk has with Max is they've pushed most of the development off to 3rd party venders and are really only interested in making minor changes, fixing bugs or adding in some applications from acquired companies that they think will be neat. The most glaring example I can show is what they've done with backburner, they've already said there will be no further development for it. We're talking about a critical part of Max that hasn't changed in at least 12 years and instead of updating it they are just going to let it die a slow death. Autodesk did the same thing with Lightscape, they took what was the best radiosity engine of the time and let it die because they didn't want to support it. My feeling is they are doing this on purpose to eventually force users to move to something like Maya at which point they can just kill Max like they did with 3d Studio Viz. In either case it's not about what's best for their customers, it all comes down to their bottom line and how they can best maximize profits.

[Francisco Penaloza]

That's a nice sentiment but it's unrealistic for most companies,...

 

Well yes I do agree with you, plus for companies like the one I work, everything is done in AutoCAD or REVIT and try to export any REVIT model to anything besides Max, it is a real pain, even to Maya also how Autodesk do not share their codes to any other developer while you can export as FBX you loose all material descriptions and lights and more so yes it is not a simple switch, but in the other hand if there is more demand from other software, the files will become more compatible so it is again the Chicken or the Egg dilemma.

Autodesk know this we are all tied to their software, that why we as customers should make our voices finally heard so they can start to be serious about 3DsMax development once again.

 

As a personal note I always believe that the artist is beyond the tools, at Home for my freelance work I use Modo and I am learning Cinema 4D and Blender, I got tired of wait for a better Max release.

[jlns]

Even Blender is starting to look attractive compared to Max

[Justin Hunt]

My biggest fear is that they will purchase Nuke. After they killed off Lightscape and bought Maya, I came real close to just going out and digging ditches for a living. By the time Softimage was purchased, it became a drinking game. If they purchase Nuke, I'm resigned to getting a sailboat and heading to the South Pacific to trade hats woven from my own hair. I need a crew though. Who is with me?

 

I wouldn't worry about that, the foundry will hang onto Nuke with tooth and nail. Its one of their most successful packages. Once they get the Modo render engine fully ported to Nuke it will be even stronger. Nuke has already had a huge impact on Autodesk's compositing market share.

 

With moma, you can use the modo renderer in Maya and mari, even though its still in alpha, it looks promising http://forums.luxology.com/topic.aspx?f=4&t=78974

 

jhv