3ds Max 2009 or 3ds Max Design 2009?

The key difference between 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design is that each product is tailored specifically for customers in different industries. 3ds Max Design is ideal for architects, designers and visualization specialists, while 3ds Max is a tool of choice for professionals in the games, film, and television industries. While these sibling applications are nearly identical technologically, they differ in the following ways:

• User interface and application defaults are optimized for either visualization or entertainment workflows/pipelines in order to maximize productivity.
  
• 3ds Max Design features new Exposure technology for simulating and analyzing sun, sky, and artificial lighting. 3ds Max does not contain this technology.
  
• 3ds Max includes a powerful SDK for developers. 3ds Max Design does not contain this SDK.
  
• Tutorials and samples files will be customized to optimize the learning experiences of each customer group for each product.
  
• Documentation also contains custom content for each product.
  
• Icons and packaging for 3ds Max Design will be more closely aligned with Autodesk AEC solutions for quick visual recognition. 3ds Max 2009 icons will remain similar to 3ds Max 2008 icons.
  
• Online user experience for 3ds Max customers will be greatly improved through content tailored for visualization or entertainment customers.

Features highlights:

Autodesk 3ds Max Design software introduces powerful lighting simulation and analysis technology, rendering capabilities, high levels of interoperability with Revit software, and more. Key technologies include Exposure, a toolset for simulating and analyzing sun, sky, and artificial lighting; Recognize, scene loading technology that significantly improves 3ds Max Design and Revit workflows; Reveal, iterative rendering technology for fast feedback and finished renderings; and ProMaterials technology, a library of accurate manufacturer-related materials.

• Exposure
  Exposure is a key technology, exclusive to 3ds Max Design, for simulating and analysing sun, sky and artificial lighting in a 3D scene. Ideal for sustainable architecture projects, this powerful feature set has been designed to assist architects in evaluating light intensity in their designs. This can facilitate the evaluation of indoor environmental quality – required, for example, for LEED 8.1 certification. In addition to light metering functionality with graphical output, Exposure also features the popular Autodesk® 3ds Max software sun and sky models, a quick-settings dashboard interface and an intelligent user interface for accessing the various aspects of the software used in a light simulation, such as render settings, light settings and material settings.
  
• Reveal Rendering
  The Reveal rendering system, gives you the precise control over your renders you need to quickly refine your work. Choose to render your entire scene minus a specific object or render one object only or a specific region of the Framebuffer. The rendered image Framebuffer contains a simplified set of tools to quickly validate changes in a render by optionally filtering out objects, regions or processes in order to balance quality, speed and completeness.
  
• Recognise
  With 3ds Max Design, Autodesk unveils Recognise, a powerful new technology that delivers new levels of 3ds Max Design and Revit interoperability. The FBX-based Recognise scene loading toolset lets you quickly–and very accurately–import geometry, lights, materials and cameras from your Revit scenes into 3ds Max Design, making it easier than ever to enhance your visual building information modelling (BIM) data.
  
• ProMaterials
  A new library of easy-to-use, physically-based materials for mental ray® software, based on manufacturing-related data and professional images, has been added to 3ds Max Design. These give you fast access to such commonly used building and design materials as professional wall paint–with glossy or matte finishes–solid glass and concrete.
  
• Review Enhancements
  Use Review to display multiple maps simultaneously in the Viewport, for more accurate previewing. Review now also offers full photometric light support (including IES files) for instant feedback on how real luminaries will affect the environment. Plus support is provided for real-time shadowing of objects that use architecture and design materials.
• ViewCube and SteeringWheels
  The ViewCube™ and SteeringWheels™ technology are on-screen, interactive UI features that give you a fast and intuitive means of navigating 3D scenes. Both tools are available in several Autodesk 3D products–ensuring a consistent navigation experience between software packages.
• Streamlined UV Texture Editing
  3ds Max and 3ds Max Design provide intelligent, easy-to-use mapping tools. Spline mapping features can be used to map tubular and spline-like objects. Additionally, Relax and Pelt workflows streamline UVW unwrapping, enabling you to achieve your desired results in fewer steps.
• Photometric Lighting Enhancements
  3ds Max Design delivers support for new types of area lights (circular, cylindrical), photometric web previews in the Browse dialog and Light user interface and near-field photometry quality and spot distribution. Plus, distribution types support any emitting shape and light shapes can be made to appear as objects in the rendered image.

System Requirements:

• Microsoft® Windows Vista®
  
• Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher) (32-bit version)
  
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 (64-bit version)
  
• Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6 or higher
  
• DirectX® 9.0c* (required)
  
• OpenGL® (optional)
  
• Intel® Pentium® IV or AMD Athlon® XP or higher processor (32-bit version)
  
• Intel EM64T, AMD Athlon 64 or higher, AMD Opteron® processor (64-bit version)
  
• 512 MB RAM; 1 GB recommended (32-bit version)
  
• 1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended) (64-bit version)
  
• 500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
  
• Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
  
• Microsoft Windows–compliant pointing device (optimized for Microsoft® IntelliMouse®)
  
• DVD-ROM drive
  

* Some features of 3ds Max Design 2009 are only enabled when used with graphics hardware that supports Shader Model 3.0 (Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 3.0). Check with your manufacturer to determine if your hardware supports Shader Model 3.0.

Note: Apple® computers based on Intel processors and running Microsoft operating systems are not currently supported.

Educational Pricing:

The Subscription Program is a software maintenance and support offering that ensures you stay up-to-date with the latest version of your licensed software. For an annual fee you can have access to newly released upgrades and software extensions, consistently benefit from the most advanced design technology and can extend your product capability with helpful program information, training, and support.

Discreet Campus Agreement

Get 3ds Max at a significantly reduced price by signing the Campus Agreement. This offer is only available when you have purchased the Autodesk Campus Agreement.

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