A deep update to a versatile 3D software program.

It's always refreshing to see a software update that truly stacks up the new features. Many upgrades offer only service pack-like tweaks, fixing things that should have worked in the first place. Discreet 3ds Max 6 offers many new interface enhancements as well as powerful new tools to satiate power users thirsting for new ways to control their 3D characters and animations.

The new vertex paint option in Discreet 3ds Max 6 allows for creative painting and drawing directly onto objects. Also shown here is the new layer manager, redesigned as a modeless floating panel.

The latest update capitalizes on those hooks and sets the bar higher for other programs. The interface has been updated and streamlined, with new toolbars and floating palettes that allow you to affect the scene directly without fishing around in requestor boxes. For example, you can now cue up render presets from a dropdown menu for quick switching of modes without going into the render menu. Also, the layer manger is now a modeless button with direct access from the toolbar.

It's worth noting that the layer manager itself has been retooled. The functions are the same, but the redesign makes it compact and easier to use. The pull-down menus have been redesigned and shuffled. More utilities have been moved to the tools menu. New features such as measure distance and channel info are now included. Menus such as render are arranged more logically. 3ds Max 6 adds support for DirectX 9, which enables realtime viewport previews of DirectX shaders.

Support for Autodesk products is expanded. Tools, options, and formats available in Autodesk VIZ 4 are now available in 3ds Max 6. Importing DWG and DXF (AutoCAD) files is now silky-smooth, and rewritten code has streamlined import/export options for excellent compatibility.

You can now export the material definition of an object to an XML file and share this with other users. For example, you could visit a website with a rack of XML material descriptions and simply drag them from the browser directly into 3ds Max 6 — then slap the descriptions onto your object. Cool stuff.

The schematic view has been redesigned; it's a great way to get a bird's-eye view of your model or your entire scene. I liked the customized grid and the better labeling in this new version.

Bookmarks are another addition. Much like a history palette, these let you record a version of the layout at any time and recall it later from a dropdown menu.

3ds Max 6 now supports HDRI (High Dynamic Range Image) files. These are large bitmaps used for reflection and environment maps. Employing these images as radiance maps, you can light a scene using only the luminosity of the actual map. You can also adjust the dynamic range of the map to use only some of the luminous data via a levels histogram. This allows you to clamp down white and black points or to over/underexpose your scene.

This new version of 3ds Max outputs Shockwave 3D files with texture, lights, and animation tracks intact. A preview window shows how the animation will play out before you export to the format.

Particle Flow is a new 3ds Max system based on events. It would take several articles to fully explore all its new offerings. There's a dizzying array of new parameters based on events, speed, shape, birth rate, size, spin, wind, gravity, materials, force, speed, collision, target, spawn, split, frequency, and many, many other options. Unfortunately, all this power comes with a steep learning curve. It is fairly easy to get some particles up and zipping about (e.g. the drag-and-drop snow), but to get the full effect, some late-night experimentation and digging in the manual are in order.

3ds Max's new schematic view offers options for organizing a scene. Locate any part of a scene or object and see its relationship to other scene elements.

A skin mirror option lets a character animator mimic movement on an opposite side of a model. For example, say you created a model of a fighter and that fighter got shot in the leg and started to limp. The program is intelligent enough about character animation to allow the other leg to stiffen up and carry the weight. But say you wanted the other leg to become injured as well, causing the character eventually to stumble and fall. With the skin mirror feature you can transfer the impairments of the first leg to the other, so it's an exact duplicate. Then you might proceed to tweak it via a vertex mesh to make it slightly off, for natural variation. This could save hours because you no longer have to reanimate a similar character trait across multiple characters. Imagine a character firing two weapons with both hands. Matching up similar skin traits can halve your development time for 3D animation.

A new rag doll element lets animators easily map out characters who fall or tumble into objects. Rag doll is cool because you can create a figure and unceremoniously toss the poor guy into a pile of objects in realtime. The program smartly locks in all the keyframes for you to go back and tweak and animate. Let's make him spin twice before he falls for added drama!

Other welcome new features include a robust vector paint engine and new integrated Mental Ray 3.2 rendering options.

3ds Max is one of those programs that is so deep in features, it's almost mind-boggling. You could take one element, such as fabric animation or particles, and literally spend weeks learning all its features and options. Like the best programs, Max allows tweaking of parameters — and then tweaking a second set to alter the first setting. This encourages experimentation and also the development of looks that have not been seen before — certainly not as off-the-rack presets.

Speaking of which, it would be nice if the program offered more handholding with presets and quick-and-dirty options. However, Discreet offers a fantastic array of training materials via online tutorials (for support subscribers only) and additional manuals, as well as through training centers around the country.

What impressed me most with 3ds Max 6 — besides the sheer number of new features — are the exacting explanations of what has been added, moved, or changed. The company provides a very detailed, full-color manual just about these items. This certainly appeals to me more than a hastily constructed readme file.

The new particle systems blow me away, and I have seen many in various 3D programs. The depth here is amazing, especially in creating realistic behavior. Add this to the reactor modes, for setting the ways in which various objects react to each other, and they make for 3D bliss.

The only problem I had with 3ds Max 6 were a few lock-up crashes I experienced when saving a preview animation. These became very annoying, and they still occurred after I downloaded Discreet's latest service patch. The program does feature a dedicated crash screen, so when you go down you can report to Discreet exactly what happened via a requestor form, with an option to be contacted. Ideally, I'd like to see no crashes and no requestor forms! This is a good parachute for those times, though, and nicely executed.

3ds Max 6 is a serious tool at a serious price. If you are truly into 3D, then this is one of the shining stars. It's a bit overwhelming for a casual producer who just wants to create some 3D logos. But for the advanced production house, 3ds Max 6 will likely redefine what is possible from a desktop 3D program.