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Autodesk Announces 3ds Max 2008 at SIGGRAPH 2007 |
Autodesk Inc. announces 3ds Max 2008, the latest version of its out-of-the-box solution for 3D modeling, animation and rendering. 3ds Max 2008 enables artists and designers to overcome challenges associated with large and complex 3D datasets. 3ds Max 2008 will be showcased at the Autodesk booth (#703) during SIGGRAPH 2007, being held at the San Diego Convention Center Aug. 7-9.
"Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 provides an ideal environment for creating the complex 3D content demanded by today's game, design visualization, film, and television industries," said Marc Petit, Autodesk Media & Ent. svp. "3ds Max 2008 dramatically improves artists' productivity, enabling them to quickly achieve higher levels of visual sophistication through innovative modeling and interactive rendering capabilities."
Robert Stava, creative director at 3D Media Group and 3ds Max 2008 beta tester said, "Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 quickly became a standard part of our production pipeline. With many of our architectural design projects tipping the scales at millions of polygons, 3ds Max 2008 software's improved handling of complex data is a very welcome addition." 3D Media Group recently used 3ds Max to create visualizations for the Fulton Street Transit Center in New York City, the Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and the New Songdo City in Korea.
Highlights of 3ds Max 2008 include:
* Improved viewing and handling of large complex scenes:
-- New viewport technology and optimizations provide improved performance with large and complex scenes consisting of tens of thousands of objects. Artists can select thousands of objects and perform material assignments up to 10 times faster. They can also transform objects up to 60 times faster.
-- 3ds Max 2008 offers a new Scene Explorer, which provides artists with a hierarchical view of scene data, as well as fast scene analysis and editing tools. This facilitates working with complex, object-heavy scenes. It also includes a new Adaptive Degradation System, which improves the software's interactivity by automatically simplifying the scene display to meet a user-defined target frame rate.
* New options for fast, artist-friendly modeling:
-- New modeling user interface options give artists a less menu-dependent modeling experience.
-- 3ds Max 2008 offers conceptual design artists and modelers a more streamlined modeling workflow, which enables them to focus more on the creative process.
* New Review toolset and mental ray workflow improvements:
-- The new Review toolset provides iterative rendering workflows with interactive previewing of shadows, the 3ds Max sun/sky environment and architectural and design material settings.
-- 3ds Max 2008 also provides several mental ray workflow improvements, including a new mental ray Sky Portal, which simplifies lighting indoor scenes using outdoor lighting and supports HDRI-based lighting effects.
* New tools and enhancements for complex workflows and pipelines:
-- The new integrated MAXScript ProEditor makes it easier to author scripts that automate and customize 3ds Max.
-- Major improvements in file-linking and interoperability with other Autodesk design solutions provide faster, more accurate importing of data into 3ds Max. Furthermore, new features, such as Select Similar, facilitate work with imported data inside of 3ds Max.
Autodesk anticipates that 3ds Max 2008 will be available in English in October. The Autodesk suggested retail price for 3ds Max 2008 software is $3,495. The Autodesk suggested retail price to upgrade from 3ds Max 9 to 3ds Max 2008 is $795.
Subscription is available for purchase simultaneously with the product purchase or upgrade. The Autodesk suggested retail price for 3ds Max Subscription is US $495 per year. Subscription customers qualify for access to the latest software updates, valuable product extensions and e-learning materials.
Autodesk Inc.(www.autodesk.com) is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets.
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