Ephere’s Ragnar is an AI copilot for 3ds Max
Ornatrix developer Ephere has released Ragnar, an interesting new 3ds Max plugin that enables users to control the software by typing in plain text commands.
The tool uses OpenAI’s GPT AI model to turn text prompts into MAXScript, making it possible to manipulate a scene by typing in what you want to create.
(Full disclosure: the plugin was released last month, but we only spotted it when CGPress posted a story this week.)
Create and edit scenes by typing in text descriptions of what you want 3ds Max to do
Ragnar lets users control 3ds Max by typing in plain-text descriptions of what they want the software to do into the plugin’s Commands field.
The plugin then generates MAXSCript based on the text prompt, and executes the script to modify the scene.
The output can be further refined by entering a new text prompt.
The process is context-sensitive, so the scripts generated by subsequent prompts take previous prompts into account.
Chains of commands are grouped into broader ‘strategies’, which are linked to the user’s ID key for Ephere’s server, so they can be retrieved in later sessions, or on other computers.
Trained on a 3ds Max knowledge base and guideable by ‘liking’ successful prompts
We’ve covered add-ons that integrate ChatGPT into DCC applications on CG Channel before, and the quality of the output has been variable.
The use case shown in the demo video above – creating and randomizing a grid of boxes – is a simple one, so we aren’t sure how Ragnar performs with more complex tasks.
However, it has been specifically trained on a “3ds Max knowledge base”, and you can help to train the AI yourself by liking prompts that generate accurate results.
Price and system requirements
Ragnar is compatible with 3ds Max 2018+ running on Windows 10+.
The plugin is a free download. To activate it, you then need to request a license key from Ephere’s Discord server.
According to the product webpage, usage is priced on a pay-per-prompt basis, but there’s no more information than that. We’ll update if we get more details.
Download Ragnar from Ephere’s website
Request a user key for Ragnar in Ephere’s Discord server
Read the online documentation for Ragnar
(Currently very minimal)
Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.