These features are very gr8, but the most i am waiting 2 find out is, if iray part of 3ds max 2011or it will be left for 2012 ….

Interesting… but
Modifiers or node based? And Dynamics? what is the future? 3ds Max 2012, 2013 or 2014?
Well, Maya at this moment is the best choice.

Seems like Autodesk is finally catching-up to Maya and Lightwave. I swear it’s a wonder 3ds max is the most widely used 3d app. When so many offer much better tool sets.

OMG I’m so sick of the maya vs. max whining. I advise everyone to learn all 3 apps from autodesk & STFU! I think clinging to one package limits you as an artist and flaunting one over the other only points out how limited you are as an artist. Learn as much as you can about the industry you are in if you want to be a success. And if you can’t learn another package or are unwilling you should hang your head and KNOW that someday you will be obsolete.
I love max I use it almost every day and yes I can say the same for the other apps too. I agree with the render time improvements comment.

hate said “3dmax seems had gave up architect people from max 6 or 7.”

I disagree with that………. the new object paint can be used to paint trees, flowers, bushes etc….
It can also be used to make fences on terrain.

being Arch viz guy myself, i really like this object paint tools. i am sure i will be using this in my Arch viz work. This is AWESOME stuff !!!

It seems like most with criticisms of one package over another often don’t know how to use any specific package very well themselves. I don’t really agree someone should go out and attempt to learn all three major apps. Choose one maybe, then add a detailing tool like ZBrush, then add Photoshop, mix in a compositor (depending on what you do for a living). You could spend a whole career learning any one of the major 3D apps well enough to be useful in an actual studio, so choose carefully! Ironically I do have a Lightwave beef for any LW developers out there. Firstly, why did it take so long to decide your archaic software needed an overhaul (CORE)?Lightwave has been a decade behind the pack. Newtek has sat on it’s laurels pondering how wonderful they are every time they’ve won an Emmy. Lucky for you Newtek, those Emmy’s were won by insanely patient people. Their patients won those Emmy’s, because if you don’t have any you’ll never learn all the whacky ass work-arounds required with Lightwave to make it sing. I sat down with some of your Hollywood LW luminaries (I will not name names), who took me through the hoops they jump through in production every day. The experience gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling (knowing I now work with something else). I hope CORE finally rewards the patients of those loyal LW die-hards with everything the rest of us have come to take for granted in other packages all these years.

I hate to sound like a fanboy here and might even sound harsh and cocky but you have to speak like a fanboy to address a fanboy! One thing is for sure; max is used all over the world and is number one choice 3D tool whether you like it or not for a reason. This doesn’t mean that the other tools are bad or worse. Those studios who wanted to change, already did so. The rest (the majority) are still using it. All these features were going around max for quite a while same as so many that maya has taken.Only XSI can claim originality for their tools. As for lightwave… don’t get me started… It is sad to hear someone saying that the new object paint lools are like maya’s. simply because they are not. in fact they are much different. Object painting was there for many many years in max as a script. Only now it became standardized and extended. Especially since maya owes so much to 3dsmax for all the polygon tools (tools that make a difference) that it has. The ribbon interface and the interactivity you will get with XBR is obviously parallel to none! Of course all tools take great ideas from one another… just don’t get me started with a list of features one has taken from the other… some will become seriously embarassed.

The rest serious artists will keep using their favorite tools and won’t give a fk about which tool is “the best” everyone choses their own best.

3dsmax was, is and will be as XBR clearly indicates the 3d application of choice for so many great artists all over the world for quite a few more years. the rest 30% of the market can sit on their Oscars and emmys and daydream. It is not a coincidence that autodesk, managed to buy them all and the only way to survive for these tools was under autodesk’s hood.

Some guys up there have said it right. most of the people that whine and bitter, are people who are not fully aware of what the tools can do. The same attitude and pointless “war” now is among zbrush and mudbox. just give it some time… mudbox is a horse i put my bets on I’ve been around sinc ethe days of dos, i’ve heard resellers threatening me that if i stick around with max i will soon become obsolete and stay out of business. guess who’s crying now

Whoever thinks that any other tool (other than perhaps XSI) offers a better toolset, well… you simply do not know what you are talking about.

And having that said, i would like to remind to some people, that it is not the tools that make an artist. I can give you the exact same brush Delacroix, Rembrandt or Gaugin used to paint with. You will NEVER paint like them. Perhaps later you might even blame it on the brush, or the colour mix that wasn’t good or the canvas that wasn’t stretched properly. Some even blame it on the mouse of even the keyboard. It’s ok. Even the greatest artists blamed their bad mood, and lack of inspiration to the paint and the brush. Truth is, they would still paint the same no matter what!

Why has nothing been added to animation yet again? I’m sure the last couple of updates have just left animation alone. There’s still loads wrong with Biped. I wonder if they’ve had their fill of Biped now? CAT is okay, but with almost no information on it, you have to learn it blind and I think they just picked it up, to get it out of the way, anyway! [rolls eyes]

Autodesk’s new features on there apps are great, but lets clear the air here. 1) You cannot compare d apps unless they are in the same price range. In other words the original setup back in 1999 was Maya 7k, Sofimage 7k, Max 3.3k, Lightwave 1.8k., different prices, different level of performance expectations. 2) Autodesk’s largest selling products are the Autocad and engineering tools NOT 3ds Max. 3) Max is widely used because students usually learn it at colleges or universities, which have a license with Autodesk primarily for Autocad software for there engineering and Architectural departments. Lightwave is the only 3d software in the four that actually is re-writing it’s core code. 4) Alias and Avid sales dropped rapidly once the game industry went into full swing, since we don’t usually buy 7k apps. Thus you had the “foundation” and whatever diluted versions come out. 5) Autodesk bought XSi and Maya because they were up for sale, it was not a takeover. 6) Do not confuse popularity with quality, just because most schools have deals with Autodesk for larger reasons than art does not make it the best tool for artist. Just something to think about.