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Appendix A: What’s New with 3ds Max 2011

Autodesk Material Library
Within the Material/Map Browser is a huge library of categorized preset materials from the Autodesk
Material Library. These materials provide a good first choice for applying materials, and each material can
be customized as needed by adjusting parameters. Although not presented entirely, you can learn about
accessing this set of materials in Chapter 16, “Creating and Applying Standard Materials.”

Character Animation Toolset (CAT)
The Character Animation Toolset (CAT) has been around as a plug-in for some time now, but the tool has
been integrated into 3ds Max 2011. This toolset includes several preset rigs and lets you easily and quickly
create rigs for biped and multileg characters. CAT is covered in Chapter 39, “Animating with CAT and
Creating Crowds.”

Parameter caddies
Editable Poly parameters that open a dialog box now appear as an interface element called a Caddy. Caddies
appear directly over the area that you are working on, making it easy to change a parameter without having to
move to a static dialog box. Caddies are showcased in Chapter 13, “Modeling with Polygons and Patches.”
Ribbon customization

The Ribbon interface can be customized, allowing you to create your own panels of tools. You also can edit
and change the look of the existing panels. Buttons can be made dynamic so they appear only under certain
conditions. Customizing the Ribbon is covered in Chapter 4, “Customizing the Max Interface and Setting
Preferences.”

Minor Improvements

In addition to the major improvements, many minor improvements make working with objects, materials,
and other facets of Max easier. Minor improvements found in version 2011 include the following:
l MetaSL Shaders in Viewport: Using the Map to Material Conversion node, you can view MetaSL
shaders in the viewport.
l Body Objects: Solid models can be imported into Max as new Body objects. Body objects can be
combined using Boolean operations.
l SketchUp Import: Files from Google SketchUp (SKP) can now be imported into Max.
l Save As Previous: The Save As dialog box includes a new option to save the current file to the
Max 2010 format.
l Visual Snapping: When snapping is enabled, a visual marker is displayed showing exact snap-
ping positions. You also can select a specific object point to snap to.
l Preview Animations: The command for creating, viewing, and renaming previews has been
moved to the Tools ➪ Grab Viewport menu.
l mental ray 2011: The latest version of mental ray is included in Max 2011.
l Windows 7 support: 3ds Max 2011 works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.

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