Autodesk 3ds Max

What's new in this version:

Autodesk 3ds Max 2025
- Change log not available for this version


Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.2.1
- This release provides an additional fix to 3ds Max 2024.2, resolving a Color Management issue where RGB color swatches in various tools lost precision/values for dark colors


Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.2
Fixed:
ATF:
- The importing speed on some SketchUp models has been significantly improved. A new import option, Image Quality, is introduced in SketchUp import. When checked, distorted texture maps are redrawn; when disabled, better speed is achieved with possible distortion

Alembic:
- Fixed an issue when exporting Alembic files to directories that contain non-English characters that could 3ds Max to crash. This problem was caused by an inability from Windows to handle utf-8 filenames with non-English characters
- Resolved an issue when exporting Alembic data where specified ranges of animation data sometimes didn't export out correct
- Resolved an issue that was introduced in 3ds Max 2024 that could cause some Alembic data to take longer to export than it did previously

Animation:
- Improved playback performance with the Skin Modifier, notably when there are two or more Skin Modifiers with different numbers of bones present in them
- Improved stability in the Skin Modifier when using the Heatmap weight solver
- Improving the reliability of Undo/Redo when rescaling units in Biped and selecting, scaling or adding keys in Biped Workbench
- Users should no longer experience the Curve Editor window auto-resizing smaller upon closing and re-opening using the toolbar button. The Dope Sheet, Particle View and Workbench windows have also been verified to not have any resizing issues
- A proper undo restore has been added to the Biped when using Time Configuration > Re-Scale Time. Enabling the Bipeds keys to return to their previous position if the animator was to undo the Re-Scale Time action
- Resolved an issue where the key range on the time slider was missing when the time slider is set to float and the mini curve editor was open in 3ds Max
- Resolved an issue where the Assign Controller Treeview in Motion Command Panel wasn't displaying controllers properly when the Biped was in Mixer Mode
- Resolved an issue when using Time Configuration > Re-Scale Time with a Biped, where the Biped keyframes were not snapping to whole frames even if the option was enabled. We have update Biped so that the biped body controller performs the remapping (BipBodyControl::MapKeys) instead of the Biped foot step controller
- Fixed issued with the Biped copy/paste function where the copied collection posture or pose was not correctly mirroring data from a multi-bone neck when the data was pasted. Now when pasting Biped neck data found in a collection with the mirror or mirror in place tool, the animator will now get the expected results
- Splines with animated vertices will now properly notify 3ds Max that they have changed, this change will help to improve viewport performance when these types of objects are in the animators scene
- We have corrected a significant issue that existed in the CAT Capture Animation UI that prevented this retargeting functionality that is a part of CAT from working as expected as it once did prior to 3ds Max 2016. This fix corrects issues with Auto Map, along with save and load mapping that prevented this functionality from operating as expected
- Resolved an issue when importing a FBX file where if the Motion Command Panel was open while this import action was taking place, the Motion Command Panel could become stuck in a blank state until 3ds Max was restarted due to an error with how the FBX import process was attempting to control the Command Panel UI
- Fixed a bug with List Controllers when using the Delete or Cut actions where the weight value of the remaining controllers did not update correctly to reflect their actual values
- Rollouts in the command panels should now better remember the last state they were in, even between Max sessions MAXX-73909
- Fixed a bug where the Biped Motion mixer was slightly slowing down viewport performance in 3ds Max, even when a Biped was not used in the scene
- Resolved an issue where the Motion Command Panel UI could redrawn blank (empty) if it was the active Command Panel that was in use when importing a FBX. This issue was caused by a problem with the Status Bar UI not properly unlocking the UI after the import process was completed
- When loading a CAT Rig with the Open Preset Rig button in the Command Panel, the rig data that you are attempting to apply will be correctly loaded at the location of the currently selected CAT Parent instead of the location where the Preset Rig was saved
- When loading Clips onto a CAT rig, if the user attempted to load animation data where a LookAt constraint was attached to one of the CAT bones, it could cause 3ds Max to crash. To resolve this we improved the LookAt constraint code to better handle working with CAT bone Clip data
- Resolved a crash that could occur when saving a CAT Clip when there is no animation data in the CAT layer (or any of the CAT layers)
- When the user detaches a CAT Tail bone (or series of CAT tail bones) from the main rig it is generated with, it can break a dependency within the CAT rig and can cause 3ds Max to crash when the animator attempts to manipulate or interact with the now detached CAT Tail. To resolve this crash 3ds Max now handles this broken dependency to enable the animator to continue to work with the CAT Tail objects that they have purposely detached and broken away from their CAT rig and related controllers associated with the rig
- Resolved a pair of crashes that would occur when playing back animation data, or moving the time slider to a range of bad data, on a CAT rig where 3ds Max encounters a problem with CATMotion Layer due to destructive changes that the user has made to the layer's controllers or limb references. When this problem is encountered 3ds Max will no longer crash, but any corrupt animation data that exists during this frame range where the corruption is detected will not play
- Fixed an issue where the Paste Controller as Instanced failed with a parameter block entry that already had a controller MAXX-73503
- Resolved an issue with the Copy / Paste functionality found in Biped when pasting data between Xtra bones where the "Paste" and "Paste Opposite" data was not properly interpolated against the existing keys, causing a "spike" or "noise" in the animation curve. This problem would persist until the scene was reloaded, impacting workflow and productivity. Now when Pasting a Pose to Xtra Bones the animation data interpolation is properly updated, and these distortions to the animation curve between existing keyframes and the newly pasted keyframe no longer occurs
- Resolved an issue where the Mini Curve Editor can grow slightly taller each time it is opened and closed in the 3ds Max session
- Resolved an issue where information contained in the CAT Layer Manager list view UI would appear squished together making the information difficult to read when viewed on screen resolutions higher than 1080HD (and especially difficult to read on a 4k monitor). This UI fix should also resolve other similar listview UI rollout squished display information found in older components of 3ds Max
- We have reduce scene file size bloat that some customers were encountering. With 3ds Max 2024.2 we have added code to:
- Remove duplicate note track keys in a note track when loading and saving.
- Remove note tracks that contain no, or only garbage, note track keys when loading.
- Ensure all note tracks are removed from the scene when doing a file reset, file load, file new.

MAXX-73151:
- On scene file open/merge, Anim Layers that contain no layer controllers are now deleted. This will eliminate the possibility of a large number of Anim Layers accumulating in Track View under the Anim Layer Control Manager track, and as such will also help to further reduce unnecessary file bloat that some customers were experiencing

CivilView:
- CivilView Signs are now created with correct size MAXX-70083
- CivilView - Fix .NET runtime exception when importing traffic simulation .FZP file
- CivilView traffic simulation (FZP) can now import PTV Vissim V11 files
- ColorManagement:
- Predefined palette colors are considered as sRGB. Under OCIO mode, colors should not show the warning when opened in the Color Picker
- When changing Color Management modes, rules are applied automatically to existing bitmaps in SME
- Fixed a crash that would happen when closing an open Bitmap View after changing color management modes and after reloading scene file
- Most of the legacy components that drove color swatches and color pickers through 8-bit functions are updated to use floating point functions so that color fidelity is preserved during the roundtrip and thus color picker erratic behaviors are eliminated
- Some legacy components were driving the color swatches and color pickers through legacy 8-bit functions and this was causing color degradation and picker stability issues. Now colors retain their fidelity between the components and the the color picker.
- Color picker HSV sliders are now more stable during transient ambiguous colors (such as hue collapse when color is set to black)
- Fixed an issue with Color Picker sliders jumping around when using Legacy maps
- Bitmaps saved with PNG extension accept Gamma Override values between 0.2 and 5.0
- Bitmaps in Unmanaged mode now show as "Color Mgmt: OFF" MAXX-73226
- OCIO Custom File>Lock status is kept after Re-Initialized. It can be changed only through Maxscript
- Fixed minor issues with the mouse cursor appearance in Preferences>Color Management UI
- The Display and View Transform settings applied by the user in the Color Management OCIO modes are now saved with the scene file and do not reset to the default "Automatic" setting when the scene is reloaded

Core:
- Added code to detect when a too long filename (>= 260 characters) is specified in file open/save dialogs, and display a warning dialog
- Fixed Undo Stack text for Recursively Opening Group MAXX-74606
- Added core exported methods: EnableDisableRefMsgsOverride(), DisableDisableRefMsgsOverride(), IsForceDisableAllMsgsOverriden(). This allows override of DisableRefMsgs().
- MAXX-74591
- Fixed crash when Detaching group nodes when list of nodes to detach include all the nodes in a group plus their group head
- Fixed issues with Shift+Move cloning of nodes when selected nodes had unselected targets, and more than one copy was being made
- Fix crash when opening/saving file in folder with long name (260+ characters)
- Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would become semi-transparent when moved around.
- MAXX-71341
- Fix Viewport statistics in edge case when have spline with no vertices
- Added menu item Options / Check Network Paths to Asset Tracking dialog. By default, existence test of assets on networks paths is not tested. Turning this option one causes them to be tested
- Resolved situations where a docked SME would grab focus of the Alt key from the main UI preventing many common keyboard shortcuts from being available. Note that pressing the Alt key will no longer allow the user to access the SME menus when it is in a docked state
- The filePostMerge3 file merge notification callback now returns the correct array of information instead of undefined
- General performance improvement - A timer used to update the status of Container objects now performs any action only if Container objects exist
- Improved performance of MassFX post-load callback scripts to be significantly faster when loading scene with lots of nodes and modifiers
- Multi-resolution icons are now loaded from app plugin folders via packageContents.xml

FBX:
- Improved FBX import performance during envelopes import stage
- Fixed a crash when undo after an FBX import
- Fixed a crash in FBX import due to outdated reference

FileIO:
- Fixed issue where textures are lost while exporting obj file if the assigned physical material is nested in Multi/Sub Object material

MAXScript:
- Unrecognized keyword parameters in rcmenu, mouse tool, macroScript, scripted plugin, and scripted custom attribute definitions now output a '-- Compile Warning:' message to listener rather than throw a compile error exception
- Exposed maxops.GlobalScaleTime function to scale time in the same manner as is done via 'Re-scale Time' in Time Configuration dialog.
- Added == and != support for MAXScript Interval values
- MAXScript methods resetMaxFile, importFile and exportFile now accept, in addition to existing #noprompt argument, keyword argument quiet: MAXX-74651
- MAXScript .mse can be deleted while it is open

MaterialEditors:
- Fixed DEL key behavior when SME is open
- Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would not update if a reference message is sent in a preRenderEval callback during rendering
- SME: Pick from Object tool is not active if selected and SME is then closed
- Nodes in SME with a single input handle will not show a second handle when trying to connect a wire in a collapsed state
- When a node is selected in the Preview list and is deleted, the Preview list will now update to another node and show it in the Preview as expected. When the Preview is set to Follow Current Selection, when the node is deleted, nothing is displayed in the Preview as there is no current selection anymore
- Added support to drag & drop a Compound node into a Material Library
- Restored the tooltips on buttons in SME when the focus is on the material editor window
- Fixed orphan connections in SME when Hide Child Tree is used on a node that has a connected node shared with another one
- Follow Current Selection option in material Preview Window is now more robust and is sticky when switching View tabs or working with nodes in SME
- In SME fixed Material Preview>Follow Current Selection behavior: the preview shows the currently selected material
- Fixed an issue where Maxscript could not get material from selected when SME is open
- Fixed an issue where the Slate Material Editor would not open with the correct View tab displayed after scene load
- Fixed the SME>Show Shaded/Realistic Material in Viewport button functionality.
- New nodes should respect the hide-unused preference that can be toggled by the toolbar button with no node selected
- When the Thumbnail cache is deleted, there will not be any cache stored left and consumed by Compound nodes

Modeling:
- Resolved an issue where the soft-selection of an Edit Spline was not always properly passed up the modifier stack
- Fixed an edge case issue with memory access when using the Boolean Modifier that could result in 3ds Max crashing to desktop but not generating a CER
- Resolve a crash that could occur with the Boolean Modifier when attempting to use the Mirror tool on the Boolean modified object
- When cloning an object using Edit > Clone (CTRL+V) 3ds Max will now properly preserve the state of the "Display as Box" object attribute that the user had set on their source object, to the newly cloned result
- We have resolved an issue where Fluid Simulations that are driven by an animated mesh were not properly storing the Motion Fields in the output Fluid simulation mesh data. This fix resolves an issue that was introduced in 3ds Max 2024.0
- Resolved a crash that could occur when moving a modifier that exists below the Boolean modifier on an operand so that it is now above the Boolean modifier by creating an invalid history. When this occurs the modifier that has been moved will become invalid and not apply because it holds invalid data
- Fixed an issue with the Push modifier where it was not updating the state of the polygonal normals after the modifier was first applied, resulting in an output that could be visually wrong or incorrect
- Resolved an issue where the Poly Select modifier was enabling the edge selection that it contained to be passed into the Boolean Modifier (which selects edges based on the intersecting edges of the boolean operation results), resulting in an incorrect edge selection result
- Resolved an issue where UV data on some operands could become reset or altered after cloning the Boolean Modified object
- The artist will now get the result that they expect when using the "Cut" and "Paste" or "Paste to new Boolean Modifier" functionality found in the Boolean Modifier when working with operands in the Operation List
- Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where some types of degenerate geometry were not being fully caught and repaired and as a result could cause a crash of 3ds Max
- Improved the results that the Boolean Modifier's Subtraction operation can give when attempting to cut a very thin strip of geometry away from an object that doesn't have enough support geometry
- Resolved an issue with the Array Modifier where changes to the location of the Pivot Point were not being reflected until the scene was reloaded. The Array Modifier will now properly update to reflect changes to the location of the Pivot Point when the changes are made
- Operands that are brought into the Boolean Modifier will now have their pivot data properly maintained. Now when the artist selects the operand in the Boolean Modifier's Operands List, they can manipulate the operand object with the pivot located at the same location that it was on the object before it was added to the Boolean modifier. This will greatly help improve manipulation of operands
- Fixed a crash that could occur when using the Intersect operation of a Shape Boolean compound object where the operand spline shape contains a spline element with no knots. When a spline shape or element with no knots is now encountered with the Shape Boolean compound object, these spline shapes will now be excluded from the boolean actions
- Resolved an issue with the Data Channel modifiers Smooth operator that could cause a crash
- Resolved a crash that could occur when using the Boolean Modifiers subtract operation utilizing multiple operands and the faces of these operands are perfectly coplanar to one another
- Resolved an issue where entering into a Sub Object component level of one of the Boolean Modifier operands and using Show End Result could generate "Non Watertight Geometry" errors with the Boolean Modifier which would affect the boolean output in an unintended way
- Resolved an issue with the Array Modifiers "First Middle Last" type where it required a minimum of 4 elements to operate. This has since been resolved so that it requires a minimum of 3 elements to operate (a first, a middle, and a last)
- Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where the objects Material IDs would be shifted to ID 1 if the object had no material assigned to it
- Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where undoing all of its actions, removing operands, and restoring the modifier back to its initial state before anything was added didn't result in the mesh visually representing the data that was passed up the stack to the modifier
- Fixed an issue where the MaterialIDs on the Boolean Modifier output would change when the artist had "Use Material" disabled MAXX-73719
- Fixed a crash that could occur with the Collapse Utility MAXX-73939
- Fixed a crash that might occur with the Boolean Modifier when using a folder with multiple operands, and the operation type of the folder is set to Split
- Hollow shapes produced by a modifier such as Shell, will remain hollow when remeshed through the Boolean Modifiers OpenVDB method. Enabling the expected results from OpenVDB based Union, Subtraction, or Intersection operations
- Resolved an issue with the Boolean Modifier where when using OpenVDB as the boolean meshing option, the animated parameters contained on an Operand were not being properly used to drive the boolean results as frames change. Now when using OpenVDB with the Boolean modifier, animated parameters affect the result as expected
- Resolved an issue where shading artifacts could occur when performing a non-uniform scale with Smart Extrude on an Editable Poly object
- Resolved a crash that could occur with the Optimize Modifier when it attempts to perform its operations to horribly malformed mesh data. When this error is encountered Optimize will now fail to process
- Fixed a problem with the Symmetry modifier when working with data from older 3ds Max scenes (2021 or earlier) where the Modifier was not correctly utilizing the same specific version of the Symmetry code when the object was cloned in a newer copy of 3ds max. This would result in the vertex IDs of the cloned object changing and affecting Modifiers high in the stack (i.e. Edit Poly), making the cloned results look distorted
- Resolved an issue with the Physical Camera where it was not updating the validity properly when only the Zoom is animated and Specify FOV is unchecked
- Fixed an issue where you could not search the modifier list if you were using a Line base object

Python:
- Fixed an infinite loop in pymxs
- The state of the "Set Key" button (grey/red) reacts to changes of key mode triggered by pymxs script

Rendering:
- Fixed the crash produced when loading a Render Preset with empty Layers
- Right-click on the FOV icon opens the Active Viewport Preferences tab, where the Perspective Field of View setting is exposed
- Fixed a crash that could have occurred while loading custom OSL files
- Fixed Color Picker lag that could occur when the OCIO config file has a large LUT for the default display/view transform
- Scanline>Raytrace Message checkbox remains OFF when importing objects from scenes having this checkbox ON
- Fixed a random crash produced when using OSL maps

SDK:
- acap.lib is now distributed as part of maxsdk

UVW:
- Corrected an issue where UVs generated with an Unfold3D Peel or Reset Peel could appear distorted in the Edit UV window and were unable to be further modified/edited, but the UVs were actually correct on the geometry and display properly in the viewport. This Edit UV display issue was specifically caused by how selection data was passed up the stack to the Unwrap UVW modifier, through Unfold3D Peel or Pack, and then back to the Edit UV window; and would resolve itself when the user either reloaded the scene or applied a new Unwrap UVW modifier
- Resolved an issue where in rare circumstances, UV data from older 3ds Max scenes would no longer match the data that exists in the Unwrap UVW modifier, which could cause a crash when attempting to perform various actions within the Edit UV window
- Resolved an issue with malformed UV data that could cause Unwrap UVW modifier to crash 3ds Max when using the Unfold3d methods for Peel, Pack, or Relax
- Fixed a crash that can occur with the LSCM version of Quick Peel due to a mismatch of the data found in the geometry and in UV data MAXX-74104
- Fixed an issue where Unwrap UVW was crashing on File > Reset when the scene contains mesh geometry with some malformed data

ViewportTransfer:
- Fixed issue where Quicksilver would render images without lighting and shadows


Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.1
- Updates to the Boolean Modifier
- Assign Defaults
- Enhancements to the Copy and Paste Animation Data Commands
- Array Modifier Improvements
- Spline Improvements
- VertexPaint Enhancements
- FFD Performance Improvements
- Color Management Updates
- USD (Public Beta) Enhancements
- MaxtoA 5.6.2.0


Autodesk 3ds Max 2024
- Boolean Modifier
- Array Modifier
- Robust Modeling Tools
- Color Management
- Material Switcher
- Interactive Rendering Tools
- USD in 3ds Max (Public Beta)
- Enhanced Animation Capabilities
- Artist-friendly Updates


Autodesk 3ds Max 2023
Retopology Pre-processing:
- Handle larger amounts of data with less setup and preparation by enabling the Remesh option as a pre-processing step

Retopology Data Propagation:
- Use the display mode pull-down menu to view the input and output mesh results of the retopology action

Snap Working Pivot:
- Introducing a new way to modify your Working Pivot

Autobackup Toolbar:
- A new Autobackup toolbar has been added to the default user interface in 3ds Max

glTF Material & Exporter:
- Use glTF materials and export your 3ds Max files as compact .gltf or .glb files

Physical Material Aligned with Autodesk Standard Surface:
- A new mode has been introduced to the Physical Material called Autodesk Standard Surface Compliant

Arnold Renderer - MAXtoA:
- 3ds Max 2023 includes MAXtoA 5.1.0 which introduces new features, bug fixes, performance optimizations, and production improvements

Smart Extrude:
- Smart Extrude allows for a partial cut-through on an Editable Poly object
- What else is new?
- Occlude Selection Improvements: Occlude Selection is now three times faster than before. In addition, its accuracy is also greatly improved, especially when using various marquee-style selections, such as rectangle, circle, and freeform.
- Unwrap UVW Keyboard Shortcuts: New user-requested keyboard shortcuts for the Unwrap UVW modifier were added to 3ds Max for 2023. They include shortcuts for Stitch, Pack, Grow, Shrink, and much more. Please see the Keyboard Shortcut Table for a full list of the new Unwrap UVW keyboard shortcuts.
- Compressed Scene File Save Performance: For many releases, 3ds Max's ability to compress scene files while saving has been freeing up storage space for our users. In 3ds Max 2023, compress scene file on save has been optimized to be almost two-times faster than before thanks to a new archiving library, multithreading, and other optimizations.
- Active Manipulator: Users can now only display the manipulators for the active level of the modifier stack that the user is on (instead of displaying all possible manipulators). Please see the Gizmos Preferences for more details.
- Per-Viewport Filtering - Multi-Select: Users can now work with the same style of multi-select options they use in 3ds Max to interact with the Per-Viewport Filtering dialog. This includes using Shift to multi-select in a sequence, and Ctrl to multi-select one-by-one.
- Safe Scene Script Execution (SSSE) for Scene Script Assets: 3ds Max's SSSE feature has been extended to ensure that execution of unsafe scripted commands found in Script File Assets, such as pre and post render scripts, is blocked by default.
- On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports: 3ds Max now includes a new On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports, letting you install the Revit Interoperability and Inventor Interoperability components only when you need them, instead of during product installation. For more information, see On-Demand Installer for Revit and Inventor imports.
- Python 3.9.7 Update: 3ds Max ships with the visual effects platform-recommended Python 3.9.7. Python 3.9.7 boasts performance improvements, new string functions, and improved quality that will aid Technical Directors and pipeline integration.
- Support for Visual Studio 2019: 3ds Max 2023 supports Visual Studio 2019, enabling the software and all third-party plug-in developers to benefit from compiler optimizations and run-time improvements.

What's Fixed in 3ds Max 2023:
Animation:
- TCB Rotation Controller default WindUp setting now honors setting in Preferences
- Fixed corruption of Animation Layers when an object having an animation layer is deleted from the scene
- Fixed issue where user could not add Tracks to Track Sets
- Fixed crash that could occur when loading CAT objects and object xrefs, saving scene, and then loading the scene
- Resolved an issue where a scene could have a bone that influences the same vertex more than once, this could have a negative affect on performance. When this issue is encountered in 3ds Max, the influences for duplicates bones on a single vertex are combined into one single entry for that bone
- Anim Layers were not being removed when the the controlling node was deleted. Now when a node is deleted any anim layers referencing that node are also deleted. Also on file open/merge anim layers that are orphaned are deleted

Core:
- Fix for MAXScript garbage collection sometimes setting Scene Save Required flag
- The following operations now flag a scene as dirty:
- Enabling a modifier.
- Disabling a modifier.
- Disabling a modifier in the viewport.
- Disabling a modifier in renders
- Fixed issues with export dialog toggling scene dirty state in Autobackup toolbar
- Fixed situations where 3ds Max signaled that the scene has been changed and so Autobackup was required. Now this happens less frequently
- Fixed issue with temporary .sv$ file not being deleted if cancel out of an Autobackup save
- The pluginManager.pluginDllDirectory MAXScript function has been fixed to return only the directory of the specified plugin, instead of the full path (directory and filename)
- Opening the Render To Texture dialog no longer flags the scene as dirty
- The Welcome Screen can now be dismissed the very first time it opens on 3ds Max launch
- Fixed crash when rescaling the EggShape object
- Fixed issue with xref objects where plugin for xref'ed object is missing, and object version is different in master and xref'ed file
- Fixed issue that when merging scene files saved prior to 3ds Max 2015, the scene node layers were not being added to Layer Manager
- If set node's base object via maxscript, do not reset Create panel or Modify panel unless node in that panel is the node whose base object is being changed
- On scene file load / merge, clean up node layers that exist but are not in Layer Manager. If the orphaned layer has the name "0" and has no parent layer, the nodes in that layer are moved to the layer "0" held by Layer Manager. For other orphaned layers, the layer name is prepended with "Recovered " and added to Layer Manager. Additional '_' may be prepended to name to make layer name unique
- Fixed an issue that caused the log-file longevity settings to not be loaded from 3dsmax.ini when 3ds Max was launched
- When merging XRef objects in the scene, custom attributes are now properly cloned on merged objects
- Fixed an issue that caused log entries to be missing from Max.log and from the session log file when more than one instance of 3ds Max was running at the same
- Fixed handling of parameters in ParamBlock2 that were previously flagged as containing external file assets, but now are not flagged as such
- Fixed issue with enabling 'Pick Material from Object' in Material Editor, starting a new action such as Animation Playback, exiting Material Editor. and then exiting that new action
- Removed the "Civil View Plugins" entry from plugin.ini, since that plugin package is now a 3ds Max component
- Fixed a crash related to the undo system by not allowing the undo stack to be flushed while in the middle of undo operations
- Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs
- Fixed crashes in file merge and light exclude dialogs
- Fixed bug that caused MAXScript errors to be displayed when Pop-up Notes were read, deleted or suppressed
- Fixed SME node parameters not being exposed in Trackview
- Used float version of functions to remove warning messages indicating the possible loss of data due to a conversion from double to float when compiling the headers. Updated the relative path of includes of certain files to remove errors
- Fixed a problem where Interface8::RevealInExplorer() called with a path to a folder would open Windows Explorer in the parent folder instead of the folder itself
- Fixed an issue that caused INI files included in the plugin.ini file to be added to the Plugin.UserSettings.ini file when 3ds Max was launched

FBX:
- FBX import support for vertex colors from some 3rd party applications is now working as expected

File IO:
- Removed the "Save to Previous" setting in Containers Preferences settings because it was related to versions of 3ds Max that are outside of our supported releases
- Fixed 3ds Max crash while performing XRef Object update when only reference to the XRef Material is SME
- Removed the "Save to Previous" setting in Containers Preferences settings because it was related to versions of 3ds Max that are outside of our supported releases
- Fixed not being able to do Drag and Drop of scene file onto 3ds Max if scene file size was greater than 2 GB
- Add protection against attempting to save scene file while already saving scene file
- Improved scene file load performance of Scene Converter when file contains large number of missing plugin instances
- When in non-interactive mode (3dsmaxbatch.exe or 3dsmaxcmd.exe), the quiet mode cannot be overwritten through the quite parameter for some Maxscript commands such as loadMaxFile
- Improved scene load performance when a large number of animation clips are present in scene

Interop:
- ATF SketchUp import now correctly handles cut-out maps
- Fixed a crash when importing a large JT model

MAXScript:
- Fixed issue accessing xref scene in #sceneXrefPreMerge callback gives access violation.
- Fixed issue where could not specify subAnim keyword argument for type paramBlock2 parameters in scripted plugins
- Scripted plugins now forward any REFMSG_CHANGE notification as REFMSG_CHANGE / PART_ALL. This fixes issues such as in some cases not invalidating the instance if the instance holds a NoteTransformMonitor in a parameter and the monitored node is moved
- Fixed argument count checks for MAXScript functions getSubTexmapSlotName, getSubMtlSlotName, getClassName, and getObjectName to allow localizedName: keyword argument to be specified
- Removed obsolete rc2mxs.ms example script file
- Fixed capture of scripted custom attribute definitions when the definition contained a resource id (RESID) whose value consisted of multiple tokens, such as a point3 literal ([1,2,3])
- Fixed validation of Function Publishing System parameter values for TYPE_ANGLE and TYPE_WORLD, TYPE_PCNT_FRAC, TYPE_WORLD, and TYPE_COLOR_CHANNEL parameters
- Fixed an issue where persistent.isPersistent would always return false when passing variable names as a string
- Fixed a bug where calling getMaxSaveFileName with an existing directory would cause an error
- Corrected the Macro Recorder output associated with selecting subobject elements in an Editable Mesh
- The quiet parameter available in several MAXScript commands cannot overwrite the quiet mode that defines 3ds Max in non-interactive mode such as batch (3dsmaxbatch.exe) or command line rendering (3dsmaxcmd.exe)
- The mouseTrack MAXScript function used to not detect left clicks when the construction plane and the view were orthogonal. We have changed that behavior to the following:
- If the "on:" keyword argument is specified, all forms of input (left clicks, right clicks, left click drags and mouse moves) are always detected, even if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal.
- If the "on" keyword argument isn't specified, all forms of input except right clicks are ignored if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal. Right clicks are still detected because they are commonly used to exit the mouse tracking mode.
- We implemented the behavior described above because if a node isn't supplied to the mouseTrack MAXScript function using the "on:" keyword argument and the construction plane is orthogonal to view, it doesn't really make sense to process any mouse events because rays casted from the mouse position will never intersect the construction plane
- Fixed an issue that caused the getINISetting MAXScript function to change the encoding of the files it read to UTF-16 LE with BOM. Now the original encoding of files is always preserved when they are read using getINISetting
- Fixed a bug that caused certain functions of the ATSOps MAXScript interface to only work after the ATS window had been opened
- Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to not start when a menu item or tooltip with certain characters was added to its UI
- Add argument count checks to the setVertSelection, setEdgeSelection and setFaceSelection MAXScript functions so that users see appropriate errors when they call those functions without the correct number of arguments
- Fixed a bug that caused 3ds Max to crash when a scripted plugin declared a parameter block with the type:#class option before any other parameter blocks
- SaveNodes now returns a boolean value as documented
- Fixed issue in MAXScript Debugger where if a temporary hang occurred while printing out the MAXScript stack variables, a crash would occur
- Fixed issues related to cloning of script editor tabs in MAXScript editor
- Fix crash that occurred when a MAXScript exception was thrown while a rollout was being added to the modifier panel
- Fixed bug that caused the vertex, edge and face selection MAXScript functions to fail when working with scripted modifiers
- Fixed issue introduced in 3ds Max 2022 where strings used as initialization values for structures, scripted plugins and scripted rollouts were not properly handled, resulting in code that could change the content of the actual string literal
- Fixed issue with MAXScript Debugger dialog appearing on Alt-Tab dialog on 3ds Max startup when dialog is not open
- Fixed access violation in MAXScript WM3_SwapMorph function when not holding

MCG:
- Added additional .net types to allowed list of types that can be created by embedded scripts. This included adding Autodesk.Max.MaxPlus.Box3, which is used by MCG modifiers

Material Editors:
- Fixed Mxs exception when using Physical Material>Hotdog Bun Preset
- Fixed possible freeze with long shader tree can when right-clicking on the material in SME
- Searching using partial material's names in SME views enabled
- Fixed missing indication in the material preview when it's applied to a selected object or selection of objects
- Create Physical Mtl when new materials are added in the Multi-Materials
- Fixed a crash in Scene Material Editor when resetting scene after exporting to Alembic
- Improved the performance of the selection of objects in the viewport with SME opened

Modeling:
- When adjusting a Vertex Color or Alpha of a geometric vertex, it was possible to have other vertices on your mesh change as well due to the way Vertex Color, Alpha, Illumination and UVWs can share common UVWs. Now when you have geometric vertices that share a UVW, 3ds Max looks for shared UVWs between selected and non-selected vertices and if it detects them, it splits them, preventing other vertices from being affected by your changes
- Occlude Selection in 3ds Max's Editable Poly and Edit Poly modifier has been improved so that it no longer dependent upon on the pixels in the viewport to base its raycasting component selection upon. This improvement will now help ensure that the occluded component selection that is made has the same level of accuracy regardless of how close the object is from the camera/view
- When using the attach function in Mesh or Poly (or through MaxScript) the transform offset is now properly applied to the normals of the target object as well
- Corrected an issue with the Normalize Spline modifier where it could crash 3ds Max when adjusting the Segment Length value on Spline object with multiple sub-spline shapes and one of the sub-spline shapes is empty
- Resolved an issue where performing a Smart Extrude action on a very thin, but also very long, face could generate an unwanted geometry result, such as a bow-tie, or the normals being flipped
- Corrected an issues where it was possible for deforming World Space Modifiers (such as FFD and Noise) could crash 3ds Max when applied over top of modifiers that compute explicit normals (such as Edit Normals or Weighted Normals)
- Various enhancements have been made to Selection Occlude found in Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier to make the selection results that it provides more accurate and up to 4x faster, even when applied to very dense meshes of over 1 million triangles
- Resolved an issue with the Symmetry and Slice modifiers where assigning a reference object through Maxscript could crash the application
- Resolved an issue where some edges on primitive and extended objects, as well as splines, might not display properly in the viewport
- Manipulate mode in 3ds Max now remains active as you navigate the object's modifier stack or select other objects in your scene
- The XForm modifier is now versioned to enable it to provide the same level of visual consistency when loading older 3ds Max scenes. When opening older 3ds Max scenes (scenes from 3ds Max 2020 or earlier) the XForm modifier will default the "Perserve Normals" option to be OFF, enabling the scenes to be consistent with how the modifier previously operated.
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- When copy and pasting the Push modifier from one object in your scene to another, in some rare occurrences the pasted Push modifier could cause a distortion on the target object. This problem was caused by a caching mechanism that is now cleared when the modifier is applied to a new object in your scene
- When using Maxscript to reverse the spline knots, a new boolean keword argument has been added to the command to specify whether to "keep first knot". Reversing the spline and making the first knot the last knot in the result and vice-versa. Omitting the argument uses the legacy behavior, which preserves compatibility of pre-existing scripts.
- reverse [keepFirst]
- Exposed the maxscript packing command for the Unwrap UVW modifier so that Unfold3D can be called.
- modifiers[1].pack 3 0.001 true false false
- Corrected an issue where Occlude selection mode on an Edit Poly or Editable Poly based object was not working properly on a Polygon level component
- Improved Smart Extrude processing to cut through polys and ngons that are highly non-planar and produce the desired results that the user was seeking from the operation
- Corrected an issue with Smart Extrude where on some models with explicit normals the stitched overlap results were not cleaned up properly
- The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span
- Slice Along Mirror Threshold value increases/decreases at an expected amount when using the up/down arrows associated with the spinner
- The Limit Effect option in the Chamfer modifier has been improved to produce better and more expected results when operating on a non-planar chamfer span
- Using Occlude selection on Edge and Poly component in Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier will now work properly with selection methods types such as rectangular, circle, crossing, fence, and lasso in the Perspective or Camera view
- When performing a Smart Extrude it was possible to select apply the extrude to an entire poly Element which would cause 3ds Max to crash. Smart Extrude has been updated so that if all of the faces of the Element are Smart Extruding, the Element will only move, no Union or Subtraction will take place
- Resolved an issue where Unfold3D Peel could crash when you were attempting to process an object that has no geometry data for which it can generate Texture Vertex information from
- Chamfer has been updated to resolve an issue where non-uniform "spur" type distortions were being generated from non-collinear chamfered edges. The user should now see the corrected weighted output that matches their input edge alignment
- Resolved a crash that could occur when drawing a Freehand Spline with "Enable in Viewport" viewport rendering active, while simultaneously also having the Macro Recorder active
- When performing a Smart Extrude operation, the Smart Extrude code has been enhanced to produce more accurate results that might occur from numerical precision on overlapping faces
- Symmetry now performs a check for non-manifold edges and vertices. It will attempt to clean incorrect mesh data when these errors are found. This will help resolve issues with vertices being accidently welded to other vertices on other elements after using Symmetry
- Resolved an issue where users were not able to save Presets for various tools in 3ds Max (i.e. Fluids Solver, Fluids Meshing, Chamfer, TextPlus Bevel Profile/Bevel Profile modifier) that they could then later load and apply
- Resolved a crash issue that occurs when the user is attempting to lock a modifier variable in the Curve Editor on an object that is a part of a Container
- Resolved an issue with the Symmetry modifier where it would merge vertices there were in close proximity to one another together before stitching the mirror results together
- Improved stability of the OpenSubDiv Modifier when it is applied to an object where no map channels are defined
- A Helix Spline Object with a "Renderable" option will display properly once again in the Viewport when a Smooth Modifier is applied above the spline object on the Modifier Stack
- Improved Smart Extrude stability when quickly moving the results back and forth before committing to a final position
- The Symmetry modifier’s welding algorithms have been updated to provide even more predictable results by finding matching pair vertices on the mirrored surface. The tolerance threshold now enables welding to solve across open gaps along the symmetry line. These enhancements will make symmetry operations faster and more accurate than before, even on open surface models
- Brush pressure from pen tablet input devices is now properly captured by 3ds Max and can be utilized once again in various tools/functions within the application that supports this functionality.
- 3ds Max will now also support the full range of pressure sensitivity that is offered by the pen tablet device by checking with the Wintab32.dll on your local Windows system.
- For best results, users are recommended to turn off Windows Ink when using 3ds Max
- Improved stability when using Save to Previous to save your scene data to an older 3ds Max file format. This issue would occur when you are saving an Edit Poly Modifiers Smart Extrude actions that are not supported in that previous version of 3ds Max
- When applying the Smooth modifier to a Mesh or Poly based object, the modifier will now clear all explicit normals and smoothing groups that are stored on the object. This will make it easier for the user to temporarily disable explicit normals (for faster animation playback of deforming objects in the viewport) or to permanently clear the explicit normals or smoothing groups so that the user can apply new information
- Improved the speed at which the Edit Poly modifier performs the Smart Extrude cut-through treatment introduced in 3ds Max 2022.0
- Sub-object component selections are now also passed up the modifier stack to the Vertex Paint modifier and can now be utilized to mask where you can paint. Vertices of hidden faces are no longer selectable with your mouse, restoring functionality that was once found in the Vertex Paint modifier
- Swift Loop will now work properly with faces and edges that are created/destroyed through various poly modeling operations by properly supporting the MN_Dead function of MNMesh, enabling Swift Loops to understand the mesh geometry data in it's current state and properly apply the Swift Loop where the user clicks
- Fixed a crash error that would occur with the Slice modifier when attempting to animate or change the topology in the Mesh class object underneath the Slice modifier
- Weighted edges that are set as 0 in Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier Chamfer by weight will now produce proper results when using Chamfer and "By Weight". Any Chamfer modifier applied within 3ds Max 2022.1 Update will now utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering.
- Scenes created prior to 3ds Max 2022.1 Update that want to utilize this new code to handle edge weights when chamfering will need to use this MAXScript command to promote the previously applied Chamfer to the 3ds Max 2022.1 Update version:
- modifiers[1]).SetVersion #VerLatest
- Improved Smart Extrude stability when performing Smart Extrude actions on a polygon that contains malformed normal data
- When using the Vertex Paint modifier you can now properly use Zoom Extents Selected and have the viewport correctly orbit your selected vertex, edge, or face
- Resolve a crash that can occur with Weighted Normals when dealing with badly-formed, but not invalid mesh data (such as a pair of consecutive edges on a face)
- When working on a Poly object through Editable Poly or the Edit Poly modifier, the Target Weld and Bridge tools will now work better with Ignore Backfacing and Ignore Occluded
- When using Delta Mush or Tension Deform from the Data Channel modifier, isolated vertices (floating vertices that are not connected to a polygon) will no longer cause the operation to crash
- The bounding box for the TextPlus object will now be properly calculated when the TextPlus object is generated from a script
- In very rare occurrences, when the Smart Extrude operations re-stitched the mesh to make it water tight, a spur edge could occur. Smart Extrudes processing has been improved to remove the possibility for this to occur
- The user can now utilize the Right Mouse Button to cancel mouse driven actions such as those that enable the Smart Extrude and Cloning actions on component level selections within the Editable Poly and the Edit Poly modifier
- Fluid Loader now properly contains Particle ID data, making it easier for systems to identify each unique bit of particle data that is contained in the Fluid Loader object
- Resolved an issue where the Subdivide modifier was not correctly identifying if it was applied to one of the operands in a Boolean operation, and not the base Boolean Object, which would result in calculation errors with display of the operand parts it is applied to in the final output result or even possible instability
- When using a Section shape, Move Transforms can be entered via a transform dialog

Modeling Performance:
- Resolved a threading issue where it was possible for the mesh data of object primitives to not match with what was displayed in the viewport (such as missing edge loops)
- Resolve a stability issue when attempting to copy the Edit Normals modifier
- Improved the performance of the Noise map computed by removing its ability to become thread locked when computing its cache.
- Improved the Path Deform modifier performance to make it benefit from the enhanced threading of Explicit Normals.
- The speed at which 3ds Max internally converts mesh data to its internal GPU mesh format for rendering has been enhanced and should result in improved performance.
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- Improved threading method used by several 3ds Max modifiers for improved performance (between 2 to 4x) when dealing with explicit normals from Mesh or Poly data. Modifiers that use the new map method are Bend, Affect Region, Linked Xform, Xform, Mirror, Noise, Skew, Taper, Twist, Skin, FFD (all), Melt, Skinwrap Patch, Spherify, Stretch, Surf Wrap.
- MAXScript options to turn off this optimization for Polys is "MeshInspector.UseOldDeformerThreading = true"
- and for Mesh is "MeshPerformance.UseOldDeformerThreading = true"

Python:
- importing pymxs from the standalone python interpreter now fails gracefully instead of crashing
- PYTHONPATH support was restored (removed in 2022.2_Update, back in 2023)
- The startup of the python interpreter in 3ds Max disconnected stderr and stdout, preventing scripts (maxscript or python) to write to stderr and stdout. This problem was fixed
- Some PySide2 (for example PySide2.QWebSocket) modules could not be imported because the underlying Qt dlls needed by these python wrappers were not provided with 3ds Max. The Qt dlls needed by thy PySide2 modules are now packaged with 3ds Max
- The python interpreter embedded in 3dsMax no longer uses PYTHON env vars (in a manner similar to the -E switch in command line python)
- Fixed the issue of 3ds Max failing to start if Unicode characters were present in the Python home path
- It is now possible to execute pyc files in 3ds Max
- Prevent Python object not properly reporting on their attributes availability from being (improperly) interpreted as probable pymxs/maxscript elements. This fixed a defect preventing to retrieve the perforce client from maxscript when connecting to perforce (using p4python)
- Fix comparison method of Maxscript booleans, floats, double, integers and strings with Python ones to avoid logging exceptions
- Fixed a problem in python import that resulted sometimes in an incorrect error message being reported when import failed
- Fixed a bug that prevented MAXScript from writing to the listener window when called from Python

RealTime Workflows:
- The Rounded Corners bake map does not use the expected sampling parameters
- Fixed the Bake to Textures ambient occlusion map name not recognized by the PBR importer by default, removed white spaces from map names
- The Roughness Common map in Bake to Texture now uses a more appropriate render element in Arnold, resulting in more predictable results

Rendering:
- Exported classIDs of a Physical Material to FBX are now correct
- Fixed ghosting effect when rotating a scene with Point Cloud and keyframes
- Fixed crash with Edit Poly and OpenSubdiv in GPU mode
- Improved loading performance when loading scenes with heavy shading trees
- Fixed Targa file format slight noise in color when rendering or baking,
- Solved issue with .psd files locked in Photoshop
- Only 1 click necessary to work with Render Setup properties if focus is elsewhere in Max
- PBR Importer rules can now recognize spaces in texture names
- Fixed incorrect text in the Render Preset Toolbar dropdown menu
- Fixed Maxscript access to the active renderer tabs
- Fixed issue with the Stereo Camera view menu
- Art rendering times have been greatly reduced when using the Noise filter

Rendering Materials:
- Removed "3D " from OSL:AdvancedWood preset's names
- Fixed typo in OSL Curves map name
- OSL Color Divide map now clamps colors as expected
- Viewport background will now correctly display background color if Env/BG switcher without having to manipulate viewport
- When saving scene file containing OSL textures, the associated .osl file is no longer flagged as an external file asset
- HDRI Lights helper objects can now be deleted and renamed as expected

Scene Converter:
- Fixed Scene Converter>Apply only Selected Rules on Scene feature

Secure Configuration:
- Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden Plugin Package locations
- Fixed bugs that caused Game Exporter exports to fail silently and prevented it from finding automatically the FBX Review application if it's installed
- Fixed issues with loading scripts from hidden 3ds Max installation folders
- Improve handling of short file names for MAXScript script security

UI:
- Fixed not having access to modal dialog subrollouts
- Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after cloning an object
- Fixed 3ds Max freeze caused by being able to open multiple camera warning modal dialogs and other "hotkey" functionalities of modal dialogs
- Some text fields and UI elements cannot be typed into after loading a scene file
- Render Setup dialog position not preserved between session
- Fixed crash when hovering partially offscreen Qt UI elements with tooltips
- Fixed command panel rollouts not expanding or retracting
- Preferences saving issue with V-Ray installed
- Fixed lagging orbit viewport refreshes with high polling gamming mouse

UVW:
- Manipulation of UVs in the Edit UV window has been made more performant. This will greatly assist artists that are crafting unique UV layouts
- When using Poly Mesh data with Unfold3D it was possible in rare circumstances that the UV information was incorrectly cleaned to make the data non-manifold, resulting in UV distortions. We have improved support for how Poly Meshes UV data is cleaned up to resolve this issue

Viewports:
- Resolved an issue where the bounding box for Xform was always displaying in the viewport, even when the object it was applied to was not selected and it was not the active modifier on the stack
- Fixed a possible crash using the Viewport menus
- Fixed the viewport turning black during the program launch, reset, and loading of a scene
- Fixed incorrect painting for new viewport layouts
- Fixed incorrect paint of views when opening a scene with multiple layouts
- Instances in the viewport can now be selected and have materials dragged and dropped onto them
- Viewport Filtering icon is visible in Safe Frame mode
- Children objects of a viewport filtered parent are selectable in the viewport
- Fixed missing filtering on the group head or bone-only node
- Steering Wheel is no longer clipped, displays correctly as expected
- Menu spacing will no longer change if ActiveShade in viewport is running and another viewport is selected
- Custom Background will now remain when clicking Home button in viewport
- Track View and Scene Explorer will now continue to work as expected after another viewport has been maximized then minimized
- Fixed possible clipping when using Zoom Extents Selected on a vertex
- Fixed: Viewport hangs when attaching a multi/sub material to a cached alembic
- Animation keeps playing while the view is moving/panning/orbiting
- Fixed Perspective Match handles behavior
- Fixed the save of sequences from Make Preview when Multi Pass is enabled

Viewports Materials:
- Fixed Shape Display Mode for Arnold Procedural/Alembic/USD
- Objects no longer display as black if material is assigned via drag and drop, or the Assign to Object button in material editor

Color Management:
- Fixed crash with malformed TGA map being used in OSL


Autodesk 3ds Max 2022.3
Core:
- On scene file load / merge, clean up node layers that exist but are not in Layer Manager. If the orphaned layer has the name "0" and has no parent layer, the nodes in that layer are moved to the layer "0" held by Layer Manager. For other orphaned layers, the layer name is prepended with "Recovered " and added to Layer Manager. Additional '_' may be prepended to name to make layer name unique
- If set node's base object via maxscript, do not reset Create panel or Modify panel unless node in that panel is the node whose base object is being changed
- Fixed issue that when merging scene files saved prior to 3ds Max 2015, the scene node layers were not being added to Layer Manager
- Fixed an issue that caused the log-file longevity settings to not be loaded from 3dsmax.ini when 3ds Max was launched
- Fixed an issue that caused INI files included in the plugin.ini file to be added to the Plugin.UserSettings.ini file when 3ds Max was launched

File IO:
- Improved scene load performance when a large number of animation clips are present in scene

MAXScript:
- Fixed a bug where calling getMaxSaveFileName with an existing directory would cause an error
- Fixed an issue where persistent.isPersistent would always return false when passing variable names as a string
- The mouseTrack MAXScript function used to not detect left clicks when the construction plane and the view were orthogonal. We have changed that behavior to the following:
- - If the "on:" keyword argument is specified, all forms of input (left clicks, right clicks, left click drags and mouse moves) are always detected, even if the construction plane and the view are orthogonal.
- - If the "o