3Ds Max History1988After their success on the Atari, The Yost Group forms and begins a publishing relationship with Autodesk. The team begins a new project, THUD, a modeling and rendering application named for Tom Hudson, the one and only programmer working on the project. The application started out in four modules (Shaper, Lofter, Editor and Material Editor) due to the 640k memory limit on DOS.After joining with Dan Silva, keyframing was introduced which added the fifth and final module, 3D Studio. THUD had turned into a 3D animation program. Autodesk agrees to publish 3D Studio with the new Yost group and removes the 640k memory limit, allowing all 5 modules to work together. 1990On Halloween, Autodesk releases 3D Studio, the first affordable (and integrated) 3D modeling, rendering and animation system for the PC. The product is released at the unprecedented price of $3495 USD and has not gone up since.3D Studio was released with an amazing amount of functionality, the ability to draw spline shapes, lofted surfaces, geometric primitives, and basic mesh editing was combined with object level keyframing were all revolutionary.
A 3D Studio support forum (the origins of “the
Area”) is started on CompuServe, and eventually becomes one of the most
heavily used forums on the service. Gary Yost and Jack Powell from the
Yost Group become the primary “support” for 3D Studio and start building
the 3D Studio user community.
1992Autodesk releases 3D Studio R2
The Yost Group produces several suites of
plug-ins that are sold after market to enhance 3D Studio, providing
everything from particle systems to lens flares.
Planning begins on a new, object-oriented product
(code name Jaguar, what would become 3D Studio MAX) that will take full
advantage of Microsoft’s upcoming 32-bit OS and object oriented
programming methods.
1993Autodesk releases 3D Studio R3. With only Dan Silva and Tom Hudson working as developers, Dan gives the Material Editor and Renderer a major overhaul. Two new extension types are added for bitmap processing and keyframing, and the IPAS term is retired and the term Plug-In is used from then on.Planning on Jaguar begins in earnest, with Don Brittain joining the team from Wavefront to design its Windows framework. 1994Autodesk releases 3D Studio R4, this “plug-in release” adds all its new functionality including Inverse Kinematics, Fast (Shaded) Preview, and Keyscript (Keyframer scripting language)This is the first release where Autodesk provides development assistance other than install or the initial DXF support. Johnny Mnemonic and The Craft are made using this release.
After producing the impressive IK module for R4,
its author Rolf Berteig is brought onto the Yost Group for Jaguar. The
full-time Jaguar development team is now up to four.
A new publishing agreement is made with Unreal Pictures to
produce a character animation add-on product for Jaguar. Code named
“Cheetah”, it was the most complex plug-in concept anyone had yet come
up with, and pushed the architectural needs of Jaguar very early in its
design.1995Autodesk announces 3D Studio MAX for the Windows NT platform at the LA SIGGRAPH. Crowds were blown away to see interactive shaded, textured objects, animating in real time to music in the viewport for the first time.
Blizzard Entertainment’s Warcraft game is released and features film-quality cinematics created in 3D Studio.
After SIGGRAPH, 3D Studio MAX is shown at
Autodesk Cad Camp, where the rest of Autodesk learns about MAX for the
first time. The 3D Studio MAX beta program begins, and a loyal group of
3D Studio veterans help fine tune MAX’s features for usability in
production.
1996Autodesk renames its Multimedia Division to Kinetix (a division of Autodesk); with 3D Studio MAX as is flagship product.
Kinetix ships 3D Studio MAX for Windows NT, and shows the shipping product at NAB.
A free “Combustion” plug-in is posted by the Yost Group at release as the first plug-in add-in for 3D Studio MAX. This is later folded into R1.1.
Johnny Mnemonic, one of the first films using 3D Studio DOS 4 for visual effects, is released.
With the tagline, “It's Carrie meets Clueless”, The Craft, a movie about a group of teenage witches, is released. 3D Studio DOS 4 is used for the movie’s visual effects.
The ‘Dancing Baby’ animation craze hits.
Shipped as a .max scene example on the product CD, a slightly
modified version is rendered to an AVI by a user, sent to a
receptionist, and then went viral.
The first Tomb Raider action-adventure
game is created using 3D Studio. This title is followed by 5 additional
games, comic books, novels, theme park rides and movies, centering on
the game’s heroine, Lara Croft. Croft is later inducted into the
Guinness Book of World records “most successful human videogame
heroine.”
3D Studio MAX R1.1 ships
Character Studio ships, bringing character animation to 3D Studio MAX
3D Studio MAX R1.2 ships, adding support for Windows 95.
1997The Designer Utility Pack (DUP) is produced.
Autodesk announces 3D Studio MAX R2
1998Autodesk ships 3D Studio MAX 2.5
The Dancing Baby hits primetime, landing a guest spot on Ally McBeal.
The first major movie to use the new 3D Studio MAX R2 Beta for visual effects, Lost In Space, is released.
1999Autodesk acquires Discreet Logic, Inc. Discreet Logic and Kinetix becomes the division known as Discreet.
Autodesk ships 3D Studio Max R3.
Digital Dimension creates a one-minute opening sequence using 3D Studio MAX for the Super Bowl,
the nation’s highest rated TV program. The opening sequence is so
successful, it wins the studio an Emmy, and so does the opener they
create with 3ds max in 2002.
2000Autodesk ships 3ds max R4, originally code named “Magma”. 3D Studio MAX was renamed 3ds max (all lower case) to align with the lower case naming conventions of Discreet products.New features included a new IK system; QuadMenus context menus ; ActiveShade render preview mode; a redesigned Modifier Stack (Stack View) with support for Drag and Drop; new Editable Poly modeling toolset; DirectX Shader support in viewports; and MultiRes mesh optimization.
Electronic Arts’ The Sims, created using 3ds Max and Maya becomes the best-selling PC game of all time.
2001Created with 3ds max, Fifty Percent Gray is nominated in the Best Animated Short Film category at this year’s Academy Award® ceremonies.
Halo 1 is released, breaking sales
records. By 2002, this video game, created in part with 3ds max, will
have sold over one million units.
Frantic Films uses 3ds max on Swordfish.
2002Discreet releases 3ds max 5, which is the first release entirely done by Autodesk.The biggest addition was the Advanced Lighting sub-system of the Scanline Renderer, including a Global Illumination module called Light Tracer, a Radiosity module and Photometric and Day lights support.
3ds max wins an Editor’s Choice Award, with a 98% rating, from NextGenElectronics.com
The same year 3ds max also wins an Atomic Hot Award from
Atomic Maximum Power Computing Magazine, as well as the Seal of
Excellence Award from Animation Magazine.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is released. 3ds max is used and receives critical acclaim for both lighting and the high quality of animation.
2003Kaena: The Prophecy uses 3ds max, right out of the box, to create beautiful 3D scenery and characters.
Discreet released 3ds max 6.
The main new features were mental ray renderer incorporated
into the base package; Particle Flow; a refactored Schematic View, Shell
modifier; new Vertex Paint; Reactor 2 dynamics; and network support for
Render To Texture.
Les Triplettes de Belleville, made entirely with 3ds Max is nominated for two Oscars®
In Final Destination 2, 3ds max is used
in creating the terrifying scene where timber logs fly off the back of a
flatbed, causing one of the largest and most frightening automobile
crashes in motion picture history.
2004World of Warcraft, what would become the Guinness Book of World Records title holder for most popular MMORPG of all time, is released. Blizzard, the game’s creator, uses 3ds max to achieve high quality detailed art.
Discreet released 3ds max 7. It included new
Editable Poly tools; new Edit Poly modifier; support for Normal mapping
generation and rendering; mental ray (version 3.3) is now included in
core, sporting sub-surface scattering and ambient occlusion shaders and
render-to-texture support; per-pixel camera mapping; flat shaded view;
Character Studio 4.3 included in the base package; SkinMorph and
SkinWrap modifiers; TurboSmooth modifier; Parameter Collector;
Refactored Reaction controller; and walk-thru mode for first-person
navigation in the viewports.
The Las Vegas Sands Macau opens its doors. This
Casino and Hotel boast over one million square feet and is the most
financially successful building in the world. It only took the
building’s designer, Steelman Partners, five days to create a completely
animated visualization of what the completed Casino/Hotel would look
like. Two minutes into the presentation they had landed the project, due
to the stunning visualizations created on 3ds max.
With the help of 3ds max, Oceanic flight 815
crashes onto ‘The Island’, changing the lives of “Lost” characters Jack,
Sun, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley forever, and wins an Emmy for best special
effects on the way down.
2005Discreet released 3ds max 8. Main new features were asset tracking with support for 3rd party solutions and Autodesk Vault shipping with the package; MAXScript Debugger; Hair and Fur; Cloth; major improvements to Polygon modeling, Skinning and UVW unwrapping, including a pelt mapping system; Motion Mixer support for non-biped objects.
Microsoft’s Halo 2, created using 3ds Max and Maya marks the biggest game debut of all time.
3ds max is inducted into the Front Line Awards Hall of Fame by Game Developers Magazine
Autodesk renames Discreet “Autodesk Media & Entertainment.”
Harmonix creates Guitar Hero, and people all over the world are now able to live out their rock star fantasies, even if it is just in their own basements.
Gopher Broke created entirely in 3ds Max is nominated for Best Animated Short at this year’s Oscars®.
2006The concrete for the new One World Trade Center is poured. Using 3ds max for design visualization alongside AutoCAD and Revit, this new building will be the tallest building in the United States and will stand proudly next to the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.
Autodesk re-names the software “Autodesk 3ds
Max.” and releases Autodesk 3ds Max 9. This is the first release to
include both 32- and 64-bit builds of the software. Major new features
include Proxy Textures Manager; .NET support in MAXScript; ProBoolean
and ProCutter; better mental ray 3.5 integration, with support for
physical sky and sun and Arch&Design shaders; faster screen redraws
in Direct3D mode; Animation Layers; interactive Hair styling in the
viewport; and better interoperability via the FBX data-interchange
format (resulting from Autodesk’s acquisition of Alias earlier in the
year).
3ds Max wins the Editor’s Pick Award from Soft32.com
Heartwood Studios uses 3ds Max to visualize the
world’s largest domed structure, the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium in
Arlington Texas. The visualization is so perfectly done that the
official plans for the stadium are altered to include an exact replica
of a suite that Heartwood designed for the digital model.
Gears of War is Gamespot’s Readers
Choice winner for 2006, a game created using 3ds Max. They say,
“Shockingly good visuals make Gears of War grab you right from the
start”.
2007Autodesk releases Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 – the first release to adopt an annual naming convention rather than a version number. Major new features include core performance optimizations with large number of objects; new Adaptive Degradation system with view-dependent per-object culling; Scene Explorer; Selection Preview in EPoly mode; Review; Sky Portals and Photographic Exposure Control; and MAXScript ProEditor.
Harmonix, creators of Guitar Hero, release Rock Band, using 3ds Max. There was something for everyone with guitar, bass, drums and microphone options!
20083ds Max wins The Technology and Engineering Awards in the Gaming Category of “Visual Digital Content Creation Tools” and Their Impact from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Autodesk releases Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 software
and debuts 3ds Max Design 2009 software — a tailored 3D application for
architects, designers and visualization specialists. 3ds Max Design 2009
includes all features offered in 3ds Max 2009, with the exception of
the software development toolkit (SDK). Both versions of the software
offer a new Reveal rendering toolset; a ProMaterials material library;
numerous biped enhancements and new UV editing tools; and improved
interoperability with Mudbox, Maya and MotionBuilder software. 3ds Max
Design 2009 further provides lighting simulation and analysis
technology.
Using 3ds Max for modeling and animation in the film W,
Frantic Films turns Josh Brolin into George W. Bush in a biopic of the
then-current-President’s life. This feat includes using pasting
techniques to get Josh Brolin’s face into the iconic “Mission
Accomplished” banner footage.
3ds Max is used on the first feature-length 3D movie shot with the Cameron-Pace camera also used on Avatar - Journey To The Center Of The Earth 3D
Autodesk technology helps game developers execute
their creative vision from start to finish. This season, 3ds Max has
been used by numerous developers to create games that offer believable
characters, wondrous environments and enthralling game play, such as:
Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Rock Band 2,
Wheelman™, TNA iMPACT!, Blitz, Prince of Persia and Shaun White
Snowboarding.
2009With Autodesk solutions present in all the films nominated in Best Visual Effects category, The Curious case of Benjamin Button, takes home the Oscar®, and Matte World Digital, tasked with re-creating the early 20th century through Hurricane Katrina, uses 3ds Max as its primary software. Other films using 3ds Max nominated that year include Iron Man and short animated feature This Way Up.
2012 is released, and is one of the
highest grossing films of the year. Uncharted Territory, the lead visual
effects (VFX) house and co-producers of 2012, created over 400
shots using mainly Autodesk 3ds Max software for modeling, UV mapping,
rigging, effects and animation. Scanline VFX, also created over 100
complex water shots for 2012, and over 95% of the shots were fully CG and created with 3ds Max, most of them, right out of the box.
In February, the lighting simulation and analysis
technology in 3ds Max Design was validated in a collaborative effort
between the National Research Council Canada (NRC), Harvard University
and Autodesk.
Autodesk releases Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 and Autodesk 3ds Max
Design 2010, offering more than 350 new features. In addition to being
the first animation package to integrate mental images’ mental mill
technology, the 2010 release includes render-like effects in the
viewport display, such as soft shadowing, exposure control and ambient
occlusion; over 100 new Graphite modeling tools; Containers; a new
Material Explorer; xView mesh analyzer technology; and enhanced support
for software interoperability and pipeline integration.
It is announced that construction will start on
Parsons Brinkerhoff’s design for the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle.
This project will cost $4.25 billion, and will improve safety concerns
with the current road. PB uses 3ds Max not only as a visualization tool,
but to pull together different design elements and to find potential
problems with the design in order to save time and money once the
project launched.
3ds Max wins Front Line Award for Best Art Tool from Game Developers Magazine.
3ds Max is used in the creation of the Watchmen, a story about a group of superheroes who are watching over humanity in 1985 during the Cold War.
In Planet 51 an astronaut discovers a
new planet, only to find out that he’s not the only one there. Using 3ds
Max, animators create a whole new world for him to discover, one with
people very similar to his own, only smaller and greener.
2010Autodesk products are front and center at this year’s Oscars®, with over 11 nominated films employing Autodesk solutions. On Avatar, the highest grossing movie of all time and winner of the Visual Effects Oscar, 3ds Max is used both by Industrial Light, Magic's Matte Department and Prime Focus VFX. Animated films The Secret of Kells and Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty both used 3ds Max as their tool of choice, and so did Best Picture Winner, The Hurt Locker.3ds Max, Mudbox and MotionBuilder are used to create Alan Wake, a psychological action thriller game. Gamers rely on the power of light to navigate the game’s eerie dynamic forests and defeat “the Taken”.
3ds Max wins Game Developer Magazine’s Front Line Award for “Best Art Tool”
Autodesk releases 3ds Max 2011. The first release to fully support the Windows 7 operating system.
A new node-based material editor, innovative hardware
renderer and full-featured compositor are new features offered in the
2011 release to help accelerate the creation of compelling imagery and
entertainment content. With this new release, Autodesk looks to the
future and releases Project Excalibur. Check out the AREA for details. |
3DS Max
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