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[wallworm]

So 3ds Max 2019 has been out for a several weeks. As is customary for me, I'd like to share a few thoughts on the new release.

The most important new feature in 2019 is, in my opinion, support for OSL (Open Shader Language). It opens up the material editor in a whole new way. It adds a whole new dimension to creating shaders similar to Substance Designer. Not only does it add an entire array of new basic texture nodes, it adds the ability to create (programmatically) new shaders in a way never before possible in Max. Before OSL, new texture nodes required creating new texture classes in C++. While I've now gained more experience building Max plugins in C++... I can say with authority that it's not always easy and is certainly time consuming. With OSL, the process is quick. In fact, in the last week while doing OSL R&D I've already written three OSL shaders to mimmick some Source shaders that I'll be adding to WW in the near future.

OSL kicks ass!

And, of course, there were many great additions in the 2018.1-2018.4 updates that were all early exposures to 2019 features. Those include Fluids, MaxBatch, Boolean updates, New Spline Tools and several MAXScript enhancements (that improved Max in general and Wall Worm specifically).

2019 is certainly worth your time. This year is the first year (to my knowledge) where almost all mainstream plugins have been recompiled for an SDK-breaking release within the first couple of weeks. Wall Worm is among the list of 3rd Party developers that have already supported 2019..

I look forward to moving some projects to 2019 ASAP.

[Joris Ceoen]

When NVIDIA releases the next generation of cards (hopefully around July), I'm going to download 3DS Max 2019 (if it's already avaible for student) so I can dabble around with some of the newest features!

[wallworm]

What card do you have now? If I remember correctly you are using ATI?

You could always give it a spin now and see if it will work with your card. It's really disappointing that you weren't able to stay on maintenance when you bought 2017... as 2018+ have been so awesome. The devs have really been doing some impressive work and shown some great dedication as of late. Maybe you can get lucky and they'll reverse their no-upgrade policy...

[Joris Ceoen]

What card do you have now? If I remember correctly you are using ATI?

You could always give it a spin now and see if it will work with your card. It's really disappointing that you weren't able to stay on maintenance when you bought 2017... as 2018+ have been so awesome. The devs have really been doing some impressive work and shown some great dedication as of late. Maybe you can get lucky and they'll reverse their no-upgrade policy...

I'm still using the AMD HD5870, it's going to near it's 10th year soon enough :) that is too long for any card to handle, but what I got out of it is beyond what I could ever imagine. It is the best GPU I have ever seen.

But yes, I'm in dire need for a new one at this point, and I will indeed be going for NVIDIA for the specific purpose of using 3DS Max with it. If one day they reverse their policy I would gladly get back on the maintance model they had going on, but ultimately that's up to them to decide. If they aren't making a considerable increase in profits after the generation change where people forgot how 3DS Max was bought in the first place... then it's adios. It would be sad to have a perpetual license and on top of that buy for a subscription as well. It still boggles my mind.

[wallworm]

I'm still using the AMD HD5870, it's going to near it's 10th year soon enough :) that is too long for any card to handle, but what I got out of it is beyond what I could ever imagine. It is the best GPU I have ever seen.

Oh wow! Normally I advocate respect for our senior citizens... but in this case it's time to send that old card to the next world! :)

In the last 10 years I went from 8800 in SLI to 480 in SLI to 980 single to 1080 Ti. I remember how much I loved the 8800s. But I'd given them to a friend a while back and we tried to test BF4 on them and it just wasn't going to happen.

So far the 1080 Ti works awesome with Max.

[Joris Ceoen]

I'm still using the AMD HD5870, it's going to near it's 10th year soon enough :) that is too long for any card to handle, but what I got out of it is beyond what I could ever imagine. It is the best GPU I have ever seen.

1080 Ti

Unfortunatly, the current GPU price inflation is beyond acceptable, otherwise I would have long had that one :( That's why I'm waiting for the next GPU's so that NVIDIA hopefully releases the Mining-Only cards at the same time. If it is going to decrease prices, idk, but perhaps I get a shot at a launch price that at least isn't €1200+, and if it was then at least it's for a brand new card and not one that's already one years old.

[KendrickB]

I'm still using ExpressVPN the AMD HD5870, it's going to near it's 10th year soon enough :) that is too long for any card to handle, but what I got out of it is beyond what I could ever imagine. It is the best GPU I have ever seen.

1080 Ti

Unfortunatly, the current GPU price inflation is beyond acceptable, otherwise I would have long had that one :( That's why I'm waiting for the next GPU's so that NVIDIA hopefully releases the Mining-Only cards at the same time. If it is going to decrease prices, idk, but perhaps I get a shot at a launch price that at least isn't €1200+, and if it was then at least it's for a brand new card and not one that's already one years old.

So true, Joris. The prices are insane at the moment. What's worse, the prices will probably remain the same for the foreseeable future.

[Joris Ceoen]

So true, Joris. The prices are insane at the moment. What's worse, the prices will probably remain the same for the foreseeable future.

Yea, it's ridicilous. I suggest you watch this video, it's pretty interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeCPvQcKr5Q