What's New in 3ds Max 2021.3 Update

Highlights

Autodesk Retopology Tools for 3ds Max®: Use advanced new tools to reconstruct problematic polygonal mesh data as clean quad-based topology with uncompromising accuracy. Reduce complex and high-resolution assets, or to enhance generative designs and traditional modeling work inside of 3ds Max. Note: Autodesk Retopology Tools for 3ds Max is a standalone component that must be downloaded and installed separately. See the Help page for details.	Viewport Bloom: Use Bloom to reproduce the illusion of a very bright light overwhelming the camera capturing the scene, creating a glow. Bloom can be applied on background or on specific objects. Settings include quality and radius, strength, tint, threshold & smoothing, and Dirt map.

Subdivide Modifier Enhancements: This update includes three new algorithms for remeshing: Delaunay, Adaptive, and Variable Curve. Use Deluanay for regularity, Adaptive for uniformity between unconstrained edges, and Variable Curve for enhanced triangulation on creases and corners. All three algorithms can preserve existing mesh data on the output result. Improvements also include the ability to re-mesh and re-triangulate your data based on edge length values.	Arnold Renderer (MAXtoA): MAXtoA 4.2.4, based on Arnold 6.1 New post-processing nodes for creating exposure, color correction, and vignetting effects and support for nested dielectrics for rendering realistic overlapping surfaces, like bubbles in a drink. Adds more speed and flexibility to GPU rendering with improvements to on-demand texture loading and support for light linking, light AOV groups, and more.

Enhancements and Changes

Path Deform modifier	The Path Deform modifier has been completely rebuilt while retaining backwards compatibility with older scenes. Improvements include enhanced performance, the new By Element deformation option, support for multiple curves in the path, and loopback. Numerous defects have also been resolved to provide improved stability and quality.

PBR Importer	Enables the quick creation of PBR or Physical Materials by loading a range of PBR texture files.

Selection improvements	Easier selection on high-definition monitors ranging from 1080p to 4k as well as improved hit detection for selections and resolved depth cycling issues.

Point cloud display enhancements	Point cloud data has been enhanced by integrating a new color/spectrum ramp and a new shader for intensity and elevation. This aligns how point clouds display in the viewports with how ReCap displays this information.

Spline Chamfer modifier improvements	Enhanced functionality controls what knots are influenced through minimum angle parameters. The calculation of knot positions after fillet/chamfer operations has also been improved to provide optimal results.

ActiveShade viewport resolution multiplier	You can now render in the ActiveShade viewport with 1/8, 1/4, 1/3 or 1/2 resolution to increase render speed, especially when working with high resolution monitors.

Viewport shader compilation feedback	The remaining number of shaders compiling now displays in the status bar.

Performance improvements	Increased default MAXScript heap size from 15Mb to 100Mb to help overall performance when multiple scripted commands are executed, such as when the Ribbon displays.

Security improvements	To enhance system security, startup scripts with hidden or system file attributes are now blocked. Scripts in a hidden or system folder (other than '%LocalAppData%' and '%ProgramData%") are also blocked. If a script is blocked for these reasons, it is logged to the system log with the script path and name, the file attricutes, and "Action: not loaded." In addition, all other scripts are logged, which can help you diagnose issues caused by scripts in general, as well as to audit potential security incidents.

3ds Max Security Tools	3ds Max Security Tools 1.3 is included in this version, which detects and removes malicious code known as "PhysxPluginMfx."

Plugin management	To make it easier to know which plugins packages are loaded into 3ds Max, the Plugin Manager now displays the author and version number for each plugin package in addition to its description and location.