Animation management enhancements, Bifrost rigid bodies, tools to improve character deformation quality, and much more.
Maya 2026.3 delivers some significant new features, including animation management tools and the debut of Bifrost rigid bodies. Except for Bifrost, these updates are available in Maya Creative 2026.3, the lighter edition of Maya designed for smaller studios.
Maya's Graph Editor now features Channel Sets, enabling the creation of custom, color-coded collections of animation channels. These help to reduce visual clutter in complex rigs while offering direct lock and mute controls, along with persistent workspace organization, for more focused character animation workflows. The Camera Sequencer now offers an expanded, more intuitive workflow for creating shots.
Dynamic Geometry Attributes give technical artists per-vertex analysis tools to improve character deformation quality, create procedural effects like animated wrinkles, and easily identify problem areas in their rigs. Currently, there are dgaTension, dgaDelta, dgaVisualizer, and dgaToArray nodes available.
Also, Bifrost 2.15 features the initial release of rigid body dynamics simulations along with fracturing and Boolean modeling operations.
Maya
LookdevX 1.10.0 for Maya brings improvements to color management and the generative textures API, along with enhanced documentation. Meanwhile, USD for Maya 0.34 introduces the Asset Resolver, streamlining asset loading and improving project portability
As for 3ds Max 2026.3, it's a minor update, introducing a new option to use distance parameters with the Conform modifier when using the Shrink Wrap projection method. Additionally, the Material Switcher now supports an animatable material index.
USD for 3ds Max 0.13 received several new features, including the Asset Resolver and enhanced prim management, allowing users to duplicate, rename, delete, and reparent prims. The USD Importer now supports importing MaterialX materials referenced in USD files, and the USD Exporter adds support for Shell materials. You can choose to export the original material, the baked material, or both.
For full details, see the release notes for Maya 2026.3 and 3ds Max 2026.3. Also, check out 80 Level's new digital art courses, subscribe to our Newsletter, and join our 80 Level Talent platform, follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, and Instagram, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.