3dsmax 7 30 day trial

Community Forums/Developer Stations/3dsmax 7 30 day trial

AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#1]
Been away for a coul eof weeks with some crisis or other and Max 7 comes out lol. ANyway its valiable at the discreet web site, full functioning for 30 days.

http://www.discreet.com

downloading now :)


Gabriel(Posted 2004) [#2]
Mmmm.. been looking forward to this one. I skipped 6 because it had nothing I really wanted, but full support for normal maps and Character Studio bundled with it is good enough alone.


GameCoder(Posted 2004) [#3]
Can those using an ebay 3.0 version upgrade to 7. The price seems good for the upgrade.


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#4]
um, probably not Amon, unless you managed to register that used Max 3 with discreet. If its registered in your name you should be able to upgrade though. Upgrades get pretty expensive the further back you go, from 6 its not too bad. Atleast they update it every 18 - 24 months rather than 8 or so months.

Still downloading, think DSL is a bit slower since I moved :(


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#5]
Looks like the max 6 B3D Pipeline plugins work, havent tested it with skin yet though, and I understand this has changed a fair bit over the old skin, might not effect export though.

I guess Max 7 is compatible with Max 6 plugins, allthough I don't use plugins anyway outside of export. Will have to try the unwrap ones sometime.


GfK(Posted 2004) [#6]
Christ all mighty they're churning out new versions like there's no tomorrow. v6 hasn't been out that long, has it?


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#7]
um, v6 has been out for almost 2 years lol


maximo(Posted 2004) [#8]
GfK there is no tomorrow, it's all happening today man! :)


simonh(Posted 2004) [#9]
I installed it and it gave me a load of nonsense about not having permission to run it, so I promptly uninstalled it. Is it me, or are high-end 3D packages always a pain in the arse to get up and running?


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#10]
No, it's not you.It's generally so, specially with Max. Nothing compared to install a Wings, though. No maybe the c-dilla thing is causing problems or you have an xp with certain policies, I don't know.

I hope the guy at habware adds support like he allways did for OBJ, is my life saver to connect Wings with Max if ever I get into a 3d job again...(argh, again, there to convince every buddy in a company I can model without Max...I hope I wont need that job again)

hmm...surely , as obj is just a list of vertices, faces and uvs...it may not need update, and version 6 is ok : http://www.habware.at/duck6.htm

Is also a good way to import files from MS3d.Ms3d has also good import export of obj. (and ms3d has even smooth groups support)

the bundling of mental ray and cs 4.x looks definitely good.
pitty I'm not rich ;)


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#11]
found now an interesting script at scriptspot (went there out of curiosity to see no many max7 scripts...only one for now) dunno if it is well done but sounds good, for all you max users :

" FigStatus 1.0 3ds max 6, 5 9/11/2004 Downloads: 19
FigStatus is a plugin for 3DS max that will constantly show various properties of an object in the viewport, similar to the hotkey polygon counter in max.
# Available Properties: Object Name
# Triangle Count (Sum of all selected objects)
# Polygon Count (Sum of all selected objects)
# Meshsmooth Level
# Parent
# Child
# Material
# Axis

Screenshot
Written by Ed Britton. Click for homepage."
http://www.flyingworm.com/Scripts/


tehehe...and another good recent one, Simi, select similar vertices, edges or faces, is since eons ago in Wings...seen too many times modelling features present in Wings/mirai added as scripts (eventually later on included into max native, like relax uvs, mirror vertex skin weights, or many modelling features) , which imho , is a really clever move in discreet.


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#12]
heh

is WAY much more than I had expected. Haven't yet tried that M7 trial (anyway, gotta keep an eye on these trials as is what they aske me in jobs) but from this page of videos, looks like it REALLy is a huge improve in weights skinning, one of my main worries in animation...u can do perectly with what's available (heck , u can even do with CFX) but imho in both rigging, animation and uv mapping, the key is how fast.

Well, the amount of control given by these new features...heck , I din't read em from the features list...In organic modelling, it does not impress me so much.

But this Max7 seems way a lot more that "just" a cs4 and mental ray 3.3 bundled, as I had thought....

Woah.Gonna see those videos and download perhaps the trial..u kno, one has to keep up to date (though also gotta see my purchased XSI videos...no time...ugh...)

http://www4.discreet.com/3dsmax/3dsmax.php?id=870


Gord(Posted 2004) [#13]
I heard of a guy who bought a version of 3ds Max at an auction. He was not allowed to register it because it was registered in the name of the original owner. So beware.


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#14]
of course...buying Max at an auction, ebay , etc...is, in the better case...kind of...*cough* .... "risky"... XD

I suppose the price continues being 3500$


Gabriel(Posted 2004) [#15]
I've got to admit, Bob, the new version is mighty impressive. Getting CS4 "for free" is a pretty good reason to buy in the first place, but the improvements to animation and the normal mapping as well as the improvements to poly modelling and the long-awaited EPoly modifier make this a very desirable update. Plus I never upgraded to 6, so I don't yet have the UV mapping improvements that happened in V6.

Question though. Has anyone bought this yet? And more importantly, has anyone tested it with Pipeline yet? I'm almost sure I'm going to buy this, but I've got very fond of pipeline just lately, and I'd hate to find that Max 7 didn't like it.


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#16]
yeah it runs fine with pipeline, and I'm having fewer crashes in max when vertex lighting is at the top of the stack and I midify something further down. Seems to be more stable too, and quite a bit faster.

Looks like they did quite a few performance optimizations which are noticeable on my system, being a somewhat outdated 3 year old athlon 1200. you can use mental ray for lightmaps too and thats a lot easier to use now than it used to be.


Gabriel(Posted 2004) [#17]
Excellent, thanks for that. Mmmm.. Mental Ray lightmaps on top of everything else.. very tempting indeed.


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#18]
Sybixius, yep, it's a *huge* update. My jaws broke the table when so those new features...not cs4 bundled and new mental ray stuff...but...those tuts...woah. Normal mapping finally made easy and not getting out a package...skinwrap, skinmorph, the othe ranimation stuff...not so impressed in mdoelling one.Funnily, yet they have not added all the easiness of Wings/Mirai, and several features are since eons in those, but happily, they're quite clever, and are adding all the aproachs needed. I noticed this flowing direction since 5. Several new comands, the stuff of getting all into a floating menu...etc...I use to set my shotcuts hot leys in every package, but a floating right click menu is just so handy (ie, turn edge mode with an edit mesh object, cut in edit poly, etc...) Yup, adding an edit poly modifier is so useful . Gotta download that trial. Anyway, I hope the enxt company to work for will have Max 7 purchased.

"Plus I never upgraded to 6"

There's a particulary pair of interesting features in everyday work in relation to 5: relax uv, but specially, mirror weights in skin modifier, at vertex level.I think it already had enevelopes mirroring, but don't quote me on that as I am not sure if that was only on Physique. Anyway, for some reason I keep prefering Skin. Mirroring weights in max 6 is a real good thing. Weighting work to 50%.

BTW, IMHO from 5 to 6 there was no way as much difference than from 6 to 7. i see this 7 very revolutionary.
And of course, from 5 to 7, u'll notice lots of improves more.

Keeps being to expensive for me..I'll keep downloading that 7 trial, and will cry a bit...

Sorry if I don't answer, I'm not checking forums much lately...


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#19]
one thing I don't like is that axis constraints work differently and snap to everythign when you hav snaps on rather than using teh constraints gizmo. Its ok so long as you use the S key a lot but I prefer the old way of doing things better in 5/6


Gabriel(Posted 2004) [#20]
I've just tried the demo, and I have three words : "Oh My God". There are a million tiny tweaks, and all the ones I've found so far are lovely. The interface is better, the renderer is much faster, all the new stuff is integrated and easy to find. I haven't had time to really give the big new features a proper roadtest, but I've already decided to buy. Not sure how much it'll cost to upgrade from 5, but I'd actually pay full retail all over again for this if I had to. I was really happy with 5, but this is just so much better.


Tangent(Posted 2004) [#21]
Ordering my upgrade... never did upgrade to 6, which means I have an xtra 500 bucks tagged onto my 7 upgrade.
6 had some bug fixes, but nothing too serious, so I stuck with 5. thank god I never upgraded my character studio license.
All in all, its a major imrpovement.


Bob3d(Posted 2004) [#22]
"I'd actually pay full retail all over again"

Man, I don't have that money... ;)

But yep, is simply great.... any of the 3 versions ;)

" for this if I had to. I was really happy with 5, but this is just so much better. "

performance, better workarounds, ui improved, many more functionality...that in 6 trial to 5...In 7, well, only for what I have heard the difference is much better.

Well, anyone being an animator would have really loved the 6 over 5 version for the mirror weight at vertex level at skin modifier. Already there were for five several scripts, but u know...nothing like to have it included internally...

Geez...how much do I envy ppl able to buy 7... ;)

Enjoy it , gab! :)

Well, I'll deal stuff with my reduced xsi ... ;)


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2004) [#23]
I can't get B3D pipeline working in v7...

I get error code 127: Procedure could not be found...


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#24]
hmm don't know. To install pipeline properly you have to download and manually install the Max 5 version first. Then copy the Max 6 patch over the max 5 files.

Max 6 plugins work in max 7, and pipeline works for me without any obvious problems thus far.


AntonyWells(Posted 2004) [#25]
How, err...big is it? (The download size..)


AdrianT(Posted 2004) [#26]
its in 4 parts

Max itself is 87mb
Reference/help etc 127mb
Architecture materials 134mb
generic material maps 66mb

and a bunch of tutorials etc can be loaded seperately, they are seperated into subjects.

I think the SDK comes with the reference help files.


TartanTangerine (was Indiepath)(Posted 2004) [#27]
Ah, the patch... Duh Silly me.