User Interface Updates

There have been many changes to the 3ds Max user interface. We advise inspecting all user interface elements (e.g. dialogs, buttons, icons, etc.) and making necessary changes. The following is a list of updates to the user interface.

Windows themes support - 3ds Max now uses the default windows look and feel managed by the user's current theme. This can impact sizing and color of UI controls. For more information see the Windows Themes Support topic.
Default font changes - The new default font in 3ds Max is Tahoma. We advise using Interface::GetAppHFont() to get the appropriate default font settings. This change can cause text clipping and other artifacts in user interface elements.
Default color changes - The default color for 3ds Max has been changed. This can impact, among other things, readability.
Common Controls upgrade to Version 6 - 3ds Max is using common controls version 6 (ComCtl32.dll version 6). Some assumptions about UI elements no longer hold. See the topic Handling WM_NOTIFY Messages for more information.
Icons - The appearance of the majority of the icons in 3ds Max have been updated. If your plug-in uses any icons you may need to update the screen-shots in your plug-in's documentation.
- Both 16x16 and 16x15 sized icons are supported for small sized icons.
- ARGB bitmap format: there is no longer a need to created separate image (filenames ending with "_i") and alpha (filenames ending with "_a") image-list files, although they are still supported. If your plug-in uses a single ARGB bitmap, it should end with "_i".
Both 16x16 and 16x15 sized icons are supported for small sized icons.
ARGB bitmap format: there is no longer a need to created separate image (filenames ending with "_i") and alpha (filenames ending with "_a") image-list files, although they are still supported. If your plug-in uses a single ARGB bitmap, it should end with "_i".