Highlights of 3ds Max 2008

Improved viewing and handling of large complex scenes:

• New viewport technology and optimizations provide improved performance with large and complex scenes consisting of tens of thousands of objects. Artists can select thousands of objects and perform material assignments up to 10 times faster. They can also transform objects up to 60 times faster.
• 3ds Max 2008 offers a new Scene Explorer, which provides artists with a hierarchical view of scene data, as well as fast scene analysis and editing tools. This facilitates working with complex, object-heavy scenes. It also includes a new Adaptive Degradation System, which improves the software’s interactivity by automatically simplifying the scene display to meet a user-defined target frame rate.

New options for fast, artist-friendly modeling:

• New modeling user interface options give artists a less menu-dependent modeling experience.
• 3ds Max 2008 offers conceptual design artists and modelers a more streamlined modeling workflow, which enables them to focus more on the creative process.

New Review toolset and mental ray workflow improvements:

• The new Review toolset provides iterative rendering workflows with interactive previewing of shadows, the 3ds Max sun/sky environment, and Architectural and Design material settings.
• 3ds Max 2008 also provides several mental ray workflow improvements, including a new mental ray Sky Portal, which simplifies lighting indoor scenes using outdoor lighting and supports HDRI-based lighting effect.

New tools and enhancements for complex workflows and pipelines:

• The new integrated MAXScript ProEditor makes it easier to author scripts that automate and customize 3ds Max.
• Major improvements in file-linking and interoperability with other Autodesk design solutions provide faster, more accurate importing of data into 3ds Max. Furthermore, new features, such as Select Similar, facilitate work with imported data inside of 3ds Max.

Pricing and Availability