Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010

Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design software enables architects, designers, engineers, and visualisation specialists to explore, validate, and communicate their creative ideas—from initial concept models to final, cinema-quality presentations. 3ds Max Design offers these professionals digital continuity with the AutoCAD®, Revit®, and Autodesk® Inventor® software families of products. 

NEW Features in Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010

Explore unique designs with expanded modeling, texturing, and iterative workflows

• The new Graphite modeling tools represent a modern approach to 3D modeling— at least 100 tools for freeform sculpting, texture painting, and advanced polygonal modeling, unified in an accessible user interface.
• Create powerful referencing workflows to organize complex scenes easily by treating multiple objects and scenes as a single Container object.
• Enhanced Review technology helps take the guesswork out of final renders, offering a render-like viewport display with soft shadows, HDRI and ambient-occlusion effects.
• The new Material Explorer revolutionizes the way artists and designers interact with objects and materials – greatly simplifying complex setups.

Validate designs throughout the design process

• Create more sustainable designs with the Exposure™ technology by analyzing how sun, sky and artificial lighting interact with the design. New real-time lighting analysis
  helps users explore direct lighting effects right in the viewport, allowing them to interactively measure lighting intensities as they explore different configurations.
• Generate broader, more detailed contextual studies for designs. Revit® Architecture software building information models (BIM) can be more quickly and accurately
  imported into 3ds Max Design and then rapidly manipulated in the viewport. View design with the level of detail needed to help make crucial design decisions.
• Validate 3D models before exporting or rendering. Providing an interactive view of where problems may lie, the new xView mesh analyzer technology helps users catch
  issues earlier in the design process and avoid costly mistakes later.

Communicate design intent with impact using advanced visualization

• Quickly aggregate scene elements with extensive support for 2D and 3D file formats.
• Use advanced entertainment technology to create cinema-quality presentations with narrative context that expresses design intent.
• Bring designs to life with realistic water, fire, smoke, and other particle effects with PFlowAdvanced, a comprehensive particle design system. PFlowAdvanced also
  includes the new PFlowElements library with at least 100 samples created by an industry-leading effects artist.
• Put the final touch on the presentation in 3ds Max Design by adding musical scores, ambient sound and narration, with the new ProSound multi-track audio system.

• Product Brochure
  Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 Product Brochure.
  

Can You Spot the Difference?

This final image shows what can be done beyond the rendering in Revit. 3ds Max can manage more geometry so more detailed furniture and assets can be added. The lighting effects are also more advanced and show sunlight. From this image the light levels on surfaces can also be measured.