Likelihood to Recommend I've used many 3d programs I've not found any more capable or well suited for about anything you throw at it. I've had scenes with over 20million polys that I can work in just fine. It's well suited to produce absolute photorealistic renders especially when you pair it with plugins like V-Ray Render. One area where is may not be as suitable is if you have to model something in a coordinate space that is a long way from 0,0,0. Max is not double precision, so when a model is very tiny or very large or a long way from the origin, odd things occur. But, this is easily mitigated by modeling near the origin or reducing or enlarging the scene by some factor to make it not too small or too large. Then, after you are finished, you can scale it up or down by that factor again and export a perfectly scaled model for use in some other program
Read full review I think the complexity and cost of the program make it particularly useful, in situations where: the project is relatively large, with a wide variety of specialties that interact and depend on one another, and with specialists who are not physically together and whose communication and understanding is vital for the proper development of the project. If the project does not meet these characteristics, it is preferable to use less complex tools, cheaper, and that require less effort training the staff to use the software in question.
Read full review Pros 3ds Max includes some of the inbuild modifiers which can be very good in the case of beginners. 3rd party Rendering support makes 3ds Max a powerful software for rendering out realistic images. Autodesk 3ds max in comparison to its rivals is lightweight and fast, also the animation case also. Read full review It allows the different specialists or users, to make virtual and quick analyzes that have been translated into the rapid resolution of problems. Bentley Navigator allowed me to incorporate and manage important amounts of information that were key in the design phase, and that being inputs for different areas could be a source of conflict. The conflicts that have been generated are much smaller than those seen in similar projects previously carried out without the help of this tool. Allowing the visualization of the information in 3D models, added to its capacity to export 3D models as PD files, has allowed to increase the fluidity and communication of information with the client, which has translated into a reduction of the hours invested by the technical manager in that activity. Read full review Cons working in 2d is very frustrating and unreliable. It just lacks the precision How scaling affects units (or doesn't) There needs to be a way for modifiers to address a change of scale in the object. Booleans are not intuitive. Especially for architecture, creating an opening and putting a door or a window is an incredibly cumbersome process. Read full review It could give alert messages warning that the information that is of shared use, has the latest version, with all the updated modifications. The information contained in the visual reports currently generated by the software could be expanded. Read full review Likelihood to Renew It satisfies 95% of my 3d visualization need. The left over 5% is handled by a few other programs. If Max just can't perform a specific task I can do that elsewhere and then bring it back to Max to finish up. But, it's rare that this occurs in my work
Read full review Usability This is not a 3ds Max fault, it's like any powerful software, "you have to spend time to learn it." It, like most all others as powerful, have a "learning curve" that can be steep depending on your knowledgebase. I'm glad it's not "so simple a caveman can use it" or I'd be out of business. Everyone in the world would have it and my skills would not be needed. Having said that, it's as intuitive and any other software. If you understand 3d principles, 3ds Max will not be difficult to wrap your head around. It uses normal and expected conventions
Read full review Support Rating I have contacted support many times and have had a good experience. They have always been helpful
Read full review Alternatives Considered In Autodesk 3ds Max you can do camera animation with ease, its complex in
Cinema 4D . Even I think same with light setup. Setting up light is quite easy in Autodesk 3ds Max as compare to
Cinema 4D . Overall Autodesk 3ds Max is less complex in compare to other 3D softwares.
Read full review The tools and functionalities that have been used previously, are not commercial software, they have been software developed internally, of course much simpler and less functional than commercial software such as Bentley and its competition. This fact clearly obeyed a guideline of the organization that aimed to minimize the costs associated with the acquisition of software such as the Bentley.
As you learn from the experience and mistakes, once you lost a lot of time and money because you did not have the necessary tools to guarantee the timely flow of information, between personnel who were physically distant from each other but who needed of a very high technical interaction. As a result of this fact, the use of tools such as this was proposed as a test, in order to evaluate its real usefulness over time.
Read full review Return on Investment Allows us to meet deadlines quickly - render times are minutes, not days. Digs into profits due to licensing fees - just a single seat can set us back thousands. Read full review The frequency and quality of information flow between field and office staff has improved. The costs for cellular use concepts associated with the sharing of information associated with the projects where the software has been used have been reduced compared to projects where more traditional control tools have been used. Read full review ScreenShots