Software Review: 3DS Max 2008

3ds Max also returns with its render plug-in set fully intact offering you the choice of using v-ray, mental ray, native 3ds and a special selection of architectural and design materials. This powerhouse has become a powerful and fast wellspring of the digital design world. 2008 is such a fantastic and forward move into the new year.

For your interest, here is a brief list of productions that this robust program has helped to create: The big, bad Max of Cad is back. 2008 heralds a whole new 3d modelling experience. 3ds Max being probably the top of the 3d design food chain both in price point (worth what you pay), bonus materials, functionality, and just sheer design power has reared its well rendered head in a very attentive and accomodating light.

The folks over at Autodesk seem to pay special attention to what their end-users ask for and give it back to them with this newest version of a cornerstone software Topping this list of amendments would be the live viewport. The perspective port on the GUI of 3ds being the most altered and reffered to port of any set up has undergone an upgrade in that no matter what didplay mode you have switched on, be it wireframe, shaded, bounding box etc. the picture does not degrade upon movement of object or camera. It remains constant which is very useful when showing a client or director a manual walk thru or angle of a piece or set.

Another great and time saving addition is known as “Review Rendering”. This allows the user to spend more time work -ing on the project and less on waiting for the job to finish rendering before deciding whether the look is right or not. It allows you the freedom to have a production designer, director or producer just appear out of nowhere and inquire as to what the product will look like if this light is switched to ambient occlusion or to a light blue and the surface is polished from a muted bronze to a reflective, bulletproof glass etc. In a matter of seconds.

You can choose specific zones to target and render almost immediately for approval. 3dsMax is not a candy-ass software for penny merchants and non-believers. You need to feel validated in purchasing anything beyond your daily coffee price tag, especially these days. 3ds Max is a great program but is that all that I get for the amount? The answer would be no. If you are at all familiar with rendering and the time it can take render a truly beautiful scene, you will appreciate this. : Max ships with a number of nodes. Perhaps Max should get some pennicillin for those, one might suggest; however a node, in this context is like an angel. It is like having an extra computer at your side to help render those large scenes without having to buy multiple copies of 3dsMax.

You can install an individual node on seperate computers and thru the dark art of black magic/networking; have those computers act as workhorses. They div -ide up the job and work on different parts in unison creating what is known as a render farm. Just so you know, an average, small scale render farm will run you about $1500 to $3000 for a single blade of 4 processors. So paying the same for 3dsMax AND getting extra nodes (depending on which you used to have purchased) . Now it is all the more exciting as it comes with unlimited Windows rendering nodes.