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 analyzing 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 rendering control 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.

Recognize
With 3ds Max Design, Autodesk unveils Recognize, a powerful new technology that delivers new levels of 3ds Max Design and Revit interoperability. The FBX-based Recognize 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.

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. 

ProMaterials
A new library of easy-to-use, physically-based materials for mental ray® has been added to 3ds Max Design. These enable you to quickly create commonly used building and design surfaces, such 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. 

Photometric Lighting Enhancements
Autodesk 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 improved near-field photometry quality and spot distribution. Plus, distribution types can now support any emitting shape and you can have your light shapes appear as objects in the rendered image.  

Subscription
Protect your software investment with Autodesk Subscription: the easiest way to keep your animation tools up-to-date.

Product Brochure
Download 3ds Max Design 2009 product brochure.