3DS Max 2019 Announced

Autodesk has officially revealed 3DS Max 2019 which should be available on 22 March 2018. The new version introduces features like OSL integration, a new procedural wood material, and spline booleans. What is more, for the first time, the team teamed up with 3rd party developers to make several popular plugins compatible with the toolkit. You can see the full list of compatible plugins ready for Max 2019 on Autodesk Area.

New in 3ds Max 2019: Faster content creation and editing

3ds Max now supports Open Shading Language (OSL) maps, with over 100 included shaders, from simple math nodes all the way to full procedurally created textures. You can edit the OSL shader text directly in the material editor, and get live updates in the viewport and ActiveShade. Shaders can be embedded into a scene or referenced externally.

Here are some other details on new features from Autodesk:

Advanced Wood Map:

• Advanced Wood is a new procedural map.
• Highly customizable way to generate wood textures.
• Includes presets for maple, cherry, and oak.
• Designed to work closely with the Physical Material, with outputs that can be used directly in the material such as Roughness and Bump.
• Available for Arnold and Scanline renderers.

OSL Map and Open Shading Language:

• You can now take advantage of Open Shading Language in 3ds Max by using the new category of OSL maps that contains a variety of preset maps, the OSL map, or developing your own OSL map.
• Allows you to write your own shaders.
• Lets you download and use existing OSL shaders.
• You can see dynamic updates to both the UI and resulting map in ActiveShade.

Shape Booleans:

• Shape Booleans let you combine splines into new shapes using Boolean operations.
• Similar UI to 3D Booleans.
• Dynamic chamfer/fillets for created vertices.
• Works on closed and open shapes.
• Useful for creating floor plans, motions graphics, and any objects/workflows that use splines as a starting primitive.

Shared Views:

• Shared Views lets you share your models, anyone, online, and receive their feedback.
• Publish an entire model or a selection directly from 3ds Max.
• Easily view and share designs in your browser.
• Collaborators use a URL, they don’t need to install software.
• Print out views that are important to you.
• Capture screenshots to use in emails and presentations.
• Access collaboration feedback directly in 3ds Max or through your web browser.

3ds Max Interactive:

• VR editing is now possible with the new Level Viewport VR, letting you use your VR headset to enter and edit your level in virtual reality.
• Smart Placement tool provides you with a new and intuitive way to place objects precisely when working in the Level Viewport or editing your scene in VR.
• Live Transform Tracking mode syncs transform controls between 3ds Max and 3ds Max Interactive.
• Photometric lights from 3ds Max are now imported as Physical Lights in 3ds Max Interactive. Any associated IES files are also imported.
• The new and flexible VR Desktop template can be used with either Oculus or HTC Vive systems.

You can find more details on the new version in a post on Autodesk’s area