Autodesk has unveiled the new 3ds Max 2022. This release brings a host of upgrades, including revamped Slice, Symmetry, and Relax modifiers, along with significant enhancements to the Smart Extrude tools.
The Smart Extrude tool now boasts two new functionalities. When extruding inwards, you can now cut through, delete, and stitch the opposite faces to create a hole, similar to a boolean subtraction. When extruding outwards, if the extrusion completely penetrates another part of the mesh, it forms a bridge, much like a boolean union.
The Slice modifier has been updated with a new Radial Slice option. For planar slicing, you can now slice on the X, Y, and Z axes within a single modifier. Previously, you’d need to stack three separate modifiers for a similar effect. Additionally, there’s a new feature that allows automatic capping of sliced faces. The Symmetry modifier also gets similar features, enabling the use of multiple symmetry planes in a single modifier. Both modifiers can align their gizmo to faces or be influenced by the transforms of another object in the scene.
The Relax modifier has been completely reworked with a new Preserve Volume option, allowing for noise reduction in models without affecting larger details. According to Autodesk, it’s particularly effective with scan data and can improve the processing time of the recently introduced Retopology Tools.
The performance of these modifiers has also been improved, as has the revamped Extrude modifier, which now offers performance gains of up to 100 times, along with an improved capping algorithm.
Security has been enhanced with improvements to protection against malicious scripts, including Malware Removal, which automatically detects and eliminates malicious scripts from scene files and startup scripts. Scene Script Execution provides further protection against scripts embedded in 3ds Max scene files.
Arnold has received an update with a new render configuration window featuring a faster QT-based UI, quicker and more responsive QT-based Quicksilver render settings, and synchronization of Viewport bloom settings to Quicksilver settings. The Arnold RenderView now allows for relighting images using light mixing, denoising images, and adding bloom effects.
Other features in this release include pre-configured maps for the bake to texture tool, improvements to viewport AO, and floating windows that can now be viewed full screen without a border using a hotkey.
For a comprehensive list of what’s new in each release, see the 3ds Max blog.
See Also:
- Nuke 13 Released
- Modo 15 Released