Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/45523
By GEORGE MAESTRI Modeling•Animation 3ds Max 2012 A utodesk's 3ds Max has under- gone a quiet transformation. The software has been a stalwart of the effects, animation, and gaming industries for two decades. With ver- sion 2012, the software takes a step toward the next generation with an ac- celerated graphics core that makes the software a lot faster and easier to use. The first thing you'll notice when opening a scene in 3ds Max is that things look just a little bit different. The viewports now have a pull-down that sets the rendering style to "realistic," which allows you to view scenes in near- render quality. Everything from soft shadows to advanced features, such as ambient occlusion, are supported, mak- ing it much easier to tweak the look of a scene without costly test renders. The viewports can also do stylized looks, such as ink and colored pencil. This is all the result of 3ds Max's new Nitrous technology, which has completely rewritten the graphics system. Nitrous not only allows for realistic and stylized rendering effects, it also greatly increases speed. The software was noticeably faster compared to the previous version. The next big feature is a brand-new renderer, called Iray, which was developed by Mental Images (the creators of the popular Men- tal Ray renderer). While most rendering software adds features and complexity, Iray goes in the complete opposite direction by aiming for simplicity. The main rendering parameter that you can change is the amount of time needed to render a frame; more time gives you higher quality. Iray refines the image until the specified limit is reached, then moves on. That said, there are a few things you can tweak, such as how much lights will bounce, the type of anti- aliasing, and a few controls over displacement mapping. Materials in the scene also have to be pulled from the Autodesk or Architecture libraries. But that's it; there are no additional con- trols, making rendering realistic images pretty darn foolproof. 3ds Max 2012 can be pur- chased separately or in a number 3ds Max $3495 (stand-alone) Autodesk www.autodesk.com 60 October/November 2011 3ds Max's nucleus core allows for a variety of rendering styles in the viewports for better accuracy as you work. of suites. The standard suite includes both Mudbox for digital sculpting and MotionBuilder for animation. The advanced suite includes Soft- image, which gives you an additional 3D animation and rendering package, but more importantly, access to ICE, Softimage's advanced digital effects system, and Face Robot, an advanced facial animation system. These additional programs certainly extend the feature set, and this is done rather seamlessly. Autodesk has come a long way with inte- gration. Sending models to and from Mudbox, for example, was done with one click. More Features Additional features include an overhaul of the physics and dynamics en- gines. Autodesk now includes MassFX rigid-body dynamics, based on Nvidia's PhysX engine. This module leverages Nvidia's multithreading technology to speed up physics calculations, making advanced simula- tions proceed a lot more quickly. MassFX for 3ds Max currently only supports rigid-body dynamics, but Autodesk promises support for soft bodies and cloth in upcoming releases. Those who struggle with UV mapping on a daily basis will be happy