A new color scheme implemented at Autodesk support forums, purportedly attributed to Discreet's "re-branding", has provoked lots of registered Max users to protest due to the heavy strain and adverse effects they say it causes on the eyes. The comments range from "hideous" to "horrible", to "where do I send the eye doctor's bill?". Check out the new color scheme at Autodesk Media and Entertainment support forums.

CGUnderground interviews Ian Davis, CEO of Mad Doc Software, on the development of the video game Empire Earth II.

MaxScript expert Swami Lama will be teaching a weekend course in Orlando, Florida on June 4th-5th, 2005. For details, course description, and to register, contact the Planet Digital Training Center and ask for Jan at 407-896-7326 or email jan@planetdigital.com. Seating is limited, and registration is on a first come, first served basis.   [ more... ]

Carl-Mikael Lagnecrantz has updated his set of advanced tools for polygon modeling in Max with many new features. Visit PolyBoost.com for more.

Check out some impressive images and an animation showing off the quality of Brazil v2's render-time displacements.

(Updated May 26, 2005) For those who are interested in the film, we're posting some more information kindly sent to us by the author. Click on more if you'd like to read on.
Take a look at this beautiful short film by Yannick Puig, created with Max and Flash. It's a pleasure to see animated films exploring more basic and essential aspects of life. Definitely worth checking out, both his film as well as his personal website.   [ more... ]

Check out this modeling reel created by two students from China. Visit ThunderStudio.org for more. (Note: the studio's homepage is still under construction)

Artists from Blur Studio are answering questions and critiquing work at CGTalk.

Neil Blevins has added 2 new scripts (attachSelectedObjects, findByActiveMaterial) and fixed bugs/added features in 3 others (findInstances, makeObjectsUnique, sLib), all available from Neilblevins.com. He's also started up a mailing list you can subscribe to from the page to get updates when he puts more scripts on his site.

The fine folks from 3D y Animación have posted the results of their "Robots" contest. Take a look at the winning entries. (Spanish)

A great short film by Georgios Cherouvim, with a critical view of humanity treated with an abstract aesthetic. Not created with Max, but definitely worth a look.

Evermotion have a tutorial up on using Glu3D with a regular particle system (PFlow) to create nice liquid meshing.

The Düsseldorf-based animation studio Ground Studios have posted a reel showcasing their in-game work for Söldner - Secret Wars, featuring some great models and nice camera work.

Italian artist Augusto Lombardi, TD and lead animator at Direct2Brain studios has posted some impressive images and animations online. Check 'em out!

Ex REM-Infográfica Luis Gómez-Guzmán has posted a trailer of his short film "Garto", created with Max, CAT and VRay. Check it out!

Oniria Pictures ("Tristan and Iseult") have adapted a medieval French fable and brought it to the silver screen using Max. Find out more about "Renart the Fox" at OniriaPictures.com, 3DVF and AnimWatch.

CGNetworks is offering online short courses designed by renowned artists such as Philip Straub and Steven Stahlberg. They are now looking for new instructors so accomplished artists interested in a teaching experience may want to contact them.

Autodesk has posted some interesting articles on the use of Max in the creation of Blur Studio's animated short Gopher Broke, and in videogames such as Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and BioWare's Jade Empire. (Note: hype abounds)

Neil Blevins has released a collection of Maxscripts for Max r7, various utilities that he's needed for his recent personal work. Pick 'em up at NeilBlevins.com.

CAT 1.4 offers new MoCap data import features, including the ability to load Character Studio .bip files onto CATRigs. Visit CAToolkit.com for more.

The latest version of Nevercenter's subdivision surface modeler features selection highlighting, new snapping tools, and further speed and workflow advancements. Read the whole PR and check out some demo videos at Nevercenter.com.

This "bug in 3ds max 7.5"  has been adressed by upgrading to a newer cebas.dlu.  Beau at Turbosquid has announced the release of an update patch so that those running into the issue can upgrade easily.

A new company specializing in high end medical and scientific 3D animation and illustration hits the streets: Check out the teaser trailer created using 3ds max, Brazil r/s and combustion.

New version provides speed enhancements for Afterburn's Explode Daemon calculations and better integration with ThinkingParticles and FinalRender Stage-1.

As reported a some time ago, Matt Fairclough is working on a new version of Terragen, the 3D landscape rendering program. New great images have been posted by Olivier Cousinou, Luc Bianco, Markus Gann and Karsten Keppel. Check 'em out!

Version 2.5 fixes a number of bugs, adds more DCP interoperability with FinalRender Stage-1 and contains new tutorials and revised training videos. The update is available to registered users from Turbo Squid.

Turbo Squid announced the release of Flight Studio 1.5, from Bluerock Technologies. Flight Studio is a suite of tools for importing, editing and exporting OpenFlight scene graphs and databases from within Max 7, while retaining scene graph structure and attributes. Flight Studio 1.5 has a suggested retail price of $1495, a trial version is available for download. Existing users of Flight Studio will be upgraded to 1.5 at no cost.

(Updated May 3, 2005) Some problems with Max have been reported by users who have installed 7.5. For those who have not installed it yet, it may be wise to wait until Autodesk posts a patch.
Yes, the latest Max extension is finally available! Max 7.5 includes Hair and Fur, Mental Ray 3.4 and satellites, and VIZ 2006 functionality.

Depth of Field Generator PRO by Richard Rosenman and Martin Vicanek is a Photoshop-compatible plugin capable of delivering high quality Depth of Field and Bokeh effects. An interesting feature of DOF PRO is its ability to deal with anti-aliased z-depth images. Find out more at RichardRosenman.com.