What's New in 3ds Max 2020.3 Update

As you proceed through the documentation, keep an eye out for the icon, indicating a new feature, and the icon, indicating a change to an existing feature. You can also search for information about new or changed features. For topics that describe new program features, search for "new feature". For changes in existing features, search for "changed feature".

Highlights
MAXtoA improvements:
  • Update to Arnold 5.4.0.1.
  • Arnold lights are now supported in the viewport.
  • Arnold procedural and alembic objects now have a viewport representation.
  • Exposed the clip_geo shader.
  • You can now opt to have no background.
  • Arnold alembic object now supports layer information.
  • You can now change render settings while in ActiveShade.
  • All of a scene's shaders can be overridden simultaneously using the shader_override node.
  • Baking normal and height maps is now supported.
Over 55 user-reported defects fixed, including:
  • A user on the public forums identified issues with how SketchUp files were being imported when using 3ds Max 2020.2 Update. Issues were found with edge visibility and welding imported geometry.
  • A manufacturing customer reported that JT files were being misrepresented in the Scene Explorer compared with industry standards. After thorough consultation, this has been fixed in a manner consistent with how other formats are imported.
  • Over a dozen defects were fixed for Chamfer that caused unexpected results, and that improve the overall stability.
  • The Transform Toolbox has been fixed so it now uses world units.
  • Several issues related to Unwrap UVW have been fixed, including:
    • Texture selection fixed when changing Material ID
    • Texture drop-down no longer loses all textures when reset
    • Select All and Inverse no longer selects hidden or frozen uvs
    • Zoom Extents Selected now zooms to the selected geometry as expected.
  • An incompatibility between MAXScript and Python due to case sensitivity, which caused some members of Python modules imported into MAXScript to be inaccessible, has been fixed.
  • PySide2 was updated 5.12.4 to match the version of Qt used by 3ds Max. This fix will resolve instability issues.
  • Physical cameras can no longer get into a state where they become unusable, making it impossible to see anything in the viewport.
  • Bitmap files used in an OSL map can now be edited outside of 3ds Max, as the file no longer locks.

Enhancements and Changes

File support The following file types can now be imported and are supported:
  • JT 10.5
  • CATIA V4 files created from CATIA V5-6R2019.
Data channel modifier Vertex weight channel has been added.
EditablePoly Radial and patch mitering types were added for Chamfer.