Autodesk ships 3ds Max 2020.1
3ds Max 2020.1 introduces further updates to the 3D animation software’s Chamfer modifier, including the option to use Weight channel data from a mesh to control the chamfering of edges and mitered corners.
Autodesk has unveiled 3ds Max 2020.1, the next update to its 3D modelling and animation software, adding a new Hotkey editor, support for three floating viewports, and further updating the Chamfer modifer.
At the time of posting, the online documentation for the update has been released, although Autodesk hasn’t announced in its official community forum that it has actually been released.
Updated: Autodesk has announced that the release is shipping.
New Hotkey editor improves options for filtering key assigments
The update ticks off some of the smaller features from Autodesk’s new public 3ds Max roadmap, adding a new Hotkey Editor.
Like the Keyboard Panel it replaces, the editor enables users to view existing keyboard shortcuts, reassign them, and save or load custom hotkey sets.
Users can search via keywords or current hotkey assignments, and can filter results by component groups.
More updates to the Chamfer modifier
The Chamfer modifier, previously updated in 3ds Max 2020, also gets a few more new features, including the option to use a mesh’s Weight channel data to drive the chamfer of an edge or mitered corner.
When using Weight data it is also possible to scale all chamfer values uniformly across a mesh.
Other changes include a new Radius Bias option to control the radius of rounded corners, creating a more spherical form as the angle of a corner becomes more obtuse, as shown above.
There are also new options for insetting edges around chamfers, and Edge Weight and Edge Depth values are now available as inputs and outputs in the Data Channel modifier.
Support for three floating viewports and smaller workflow improvements
Workflow improvements include the option to create up to three floating viewports when working with multi-monitor set-ups.
Users can now double-click to select contiguous vertices, edge segments or faces when working with Editable Poly, Editable Spline, EditSpline and EditPoly modifiers or Unwrap UVW.
Autocomplete is now enabled by default in the MAXScript editor, and file extensions have been standardised as lower-case when exporting. You can find a full list of changes via the link below.
Pricing and availability
3ds Max 2020.1 is available for Windows 7+. The software is available on a rental-only basis, with subscriptions costing $195/month or $1,545/year.
Read a full list of new features in 3ds Max 2020.1 in Autodesk’s online documentation