Search

[wallworm]

I am always giddy when a new version of Max comes out (and a little apprehensive). Last year the initial release of Max 2012 had some major MAXScript bugs that actually made Wall Worm and Convexity not work. Luckily, they expedited a Service Pack that fixed that.

Wall Worm and Convexity seem to work right out of the box in this years release of Max 2013*. Sometime yesterday morning I think I probably compiled the first ever Source model using 3ds Max 2013. It was a teapot (I think I also have the world's greatest collection of Source teapot models...)

*One bug/problem I have uncovered is that the PhysX function I've used for making hulls is broken... so the Quick Hull and Hull Helper aren't working with PhysX--but it still works with the Convexity hull wrapper. Unfortunately for most of you... that still hasn't been released yet :( I'm looking for a workaround. (You can always help by submitting a bug report to Autodesk in Max: Help > Report a Problem ...

My first impression of Max 2013 is very good. The things that have stuck out so far is that the UI seems to be snappier (moving toolbars is smoother, etc). Also, the realtime lighting/shadows in Nitrous is AWESOME! I'm not a fan of the new Viewport Layout Tab... seems kind of useless and takes up space--but it is easily disabled.

It's too soon for a verdict but I expect this to be a great version. I'll share more thoughts as I've used it more.

[wallworm]

This week I am finally moving over to 3ds Max 2013. There are still some of my favorite plugins that aren'y yet ready for 2013... but the majority are here. Those that are still pending include:

• Glu
• PWrapper
• PFTools Box 2
• PFTools Box 3
• Greeble

In this list, all except Greeble are particle systems ... and I'm not doing any particles at the moments so can get by. I'm expecting Greeble to be out any time.

Although I've had Max 2013 for over two months now, I only started using it for more than a few minutes at a time in the last couple of weeks. But over the weekend I opened it up for a couple hours straight and decided I had to move. The most important new must-have for me is the ability to rotate view while using the Cut tool on an editable poly.

The UI had definitely been overhauled behind the scenes. There has always been a sluggishness in Max when trying to move toolbars, etc. That sluggishness is entirely gone. And while that itself is only minor in my opinion, it does point to improvements.

Unfortunately, Autodesk is soon boosting the cost of the 3ds Max subscription. Although I like the improvements, it's hard to say that the speed at which AD releases new versions, measured against the volume/quantity of improvements, merits an increase in cost. That's a publicly traded company for you though... Oh well... if business is going good next year I will be certain to keep upgrading. If not... I may have to swallow my pride and let go of always having the latest and greatest.

[wallworm]

Take Greeble off the list. Woohoo!

[wallworm]

Also, I did mean to add something else to this thread. There is a really bad bug in 3ds Max 2013 at Product Update 3 that adversely affects using the Displacement Tools. There is more in this thread.

Please take some time to read that thread and report this problem both in the Autodesk forums and in the built-in Report A Problem in the Max Help menu. A link to the appropriate Autodesk thread and the problem report page are provided in the above link.