Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2011 software offers compelling new techniques for bringing designs to life by aggregating data, iterating ideas, and presenting the results. Streamlined, intelligent data-exchange workflows and innovative new rendering features help designers collaborate in creating stunning, photo-realistic visualizations to optimally showcase design data from Autodesk Revit Architecture, Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Rhino, SolidWorks, FormZ, and Google Sketchup. Significant enhancements to the 3ds Max Design modeling and texturing toolset, accessed through a new in-context user interface, help accelerate everyday workflows, enabling designers to better explore, validate, and communicate the stories behind their designs.

Higher-Quality Presentations in Less Time
Throughout the design process, you need to present your evolving design to internal and external stakeholders—and the way you do that can make the diference between winning business and walking away empty handed. 3ds Max Design 2011 brings new tools that enable you to create compelling presentations even when time is at a premium. An intuitive new node-based material editor, Slate, helps make it easier and faster to create and edit complex material networks, while the innovative Quicksilver hardware renderer supports advanced lighting efects, and can render at incredible speeds, even at larger-than-screen resolutions. And, with the addition of Save to Previous Release, you can save scene fles in a format compatible with the previous 2010 version. This enables you to take advantage of the new features in 2011 before your entire studio, pipeline, or client base is ready to upgrade. Plus 3ds Max Design 2011 ofers plug-in compatibility with the previous version.

Quicksilver Hardware Renderer
Create higher-fdelity preview animations and design dailies in less time with Quicksilver, an innovative new hardware renderer that uses both the CPU and the GPU to help produce higher-quality images at incredible speeds.

FBX File Link with Autodesk Revit Architecture
Receive and manage upstream design changes from Autodesk Revit Architecture software with the new FBX File Link. This intelligent handling of data helps reduce rework of visualizations in 3ds Max Design 2011 when original designs are revised and refned.

Autodesk Inventor Import Improvements
Take advantage of new Smart Data workfows when importing data from Inventor software into 3ds Max Design 2011. Inventor is no longer required to be installed on the same machine, while support is improved for solid objects, materials, surfaces, and composites.

Viewport Display of Autodesk 3ds Max Materials
Develop and refine scenes in a higher-fidelity interactive display environment that enables you to help make better decisions in context with the enhanced ability to view most 3ds Max texture maps and materials in the viewport.

Modeling and Texturing Enhancements
Accelerate modeling and texturing tasks with new tools that extend the Graphite and Viewport Canvas toolsets to provide intuitive brush-based interfaces for assisting with 2D/3D painting and editing textures, creating geometry within a scene, and editing UVW coordinates.

Native Solids Import/Export
Nondestructively import and export surfaces and solids between 3ds Max Design and certain other applications supporting SAT fles: Inventor, Revit Architecture, Rhino, SolidWorks, and form•Z software.

Google SketchUp Importer
Import Google SketchUp sketching software (SKP) version 6 and 7 fles into 3ds Max Design 2011 more efciently. The enhanced SketchUp Importer supports SketchUp entities: layers, groups, components, materials, cameras, and the daylight system.

Autodesk Material Library
Exchange material data between 3ds Max Design 2011 and certain supporting Autodesk applications (AutoCAD, Inventor, Revit Architecture, Autodesk Revit MEP, and Autodesk Revit Structure) with the new Autodesk Material Library.

Local Edits to Containers
Collaborate more efficiently with significantly enhanced workflows for Containers that enable you to meet tight deadlines by working in parallel: multiple users can layer local edits nondestructively on top of referenced content, working simultaneously on diferent aspects of the same container.

Slate Material Editor
More easily visualize and edit material component relationships with Slate, a new node-based editor that helps signifcantly improve workfow and productivity for creating and editing complex material networks.