Autodesk enhances 3DS Max Design software

An Autodesk product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Aug 6, 2009

At Siggraph 2009, Autodesk has announced the Connection Extension for Autodesk 3DS Max Design 2010 modelling, animation and rendering software.

It is claimed that the release will make it easier and more cost-effective to turn design data into accurate, realistic visualisations.

New levels of interoperability - based on intelligent data workflows - between 3DS Max Design and CAD software allows architects, designers and visualisation specialists to minimise rework through existing design data.

The Connection Extension for 3DS Max Design 2010 helps improve interoperability with several products commonly used by architecture, engineering, construction and manufacturing design professionals.

The addition of high-fidelity CAD data translators for SAT and SKP file formats, along with a rewritten OpenEXR translator; delivers a number of benefits such as the importing and exporting of SAT files for moving solids-based design data between 3DS Max Design and Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodeskinventor Professional, the Alias range of products and third-party CAD products Solidworks, Rhino and FormZ.

It also allows more efficient, accurate importing of files from Google Sketchup sketching software and support for reading the thousands of 3D objects in Google's 3D Warehouse.

Importing and exporting of multi-layer OpenEXR files with advanced options for transferring extra elements to support workflows with compositing applications helps to reduce the number of iterations required to achieve the final result.

The Connection Extension for 3DS Max Design 2010 also provides smarter, more effective workflows that help users to deal with complex scenes through: more optimal display and rendering of imported solid and Nurbs-based bodies; procedural and resolution-independent workflows enabled by the 'body' entity for artifact-free cutaways and reveals; along with finer control over rendering performance versus quality.

An improved materials workflow allows individual layers from an OpenEXR file to be used in a material.

Layers, groups, components, materials, cameras and even the daylight system can be extracted from a Sketchup file and efficiently mapped to the corresponding 3DS Max Design system.

The Connection Extensions for Autodesk 3DS Max Design 2010 and Autodesk 3DS Max 2010 are expected to be available for download to Autodesk subscription customers in August 2009.

The Connection Extension is not sold separately.

Find out more about this article. Request a brochure, download technical specifications and request samples here.

Not what you're looking for? Search the site.

Back to top Back to top

Contact Autodesk

Tel +44 1252 456789

Other Autodesk stories

Newsletter sign up

Request your free weekly copy of the Engineeringtalk email newsletter ...

Browse by category

All suppliers A - Z

A Pro-talk Publication

A Pro-talk publication