Once you've downloaded and installed 3ds Max Interactive, you can select Autodesk > 3ds Max Interactive from the Windows Start menu to launch.

What's next? Well, you can browse more topics in this Getting started section like the Interface overview, watch some video tutorials, or jump right in.

You'll start up in the 3ds Max Interactive editor. This is the main tool that you'll be using to build your content. The editor helps you do things like:

• bring in 3D content like models, animations and textures from other applications like Maya or 3ds Max,
• lay out your content in scenes, which we call levels,
• set up the way end-users will interact with your scenes and content,
• create other kinds of content specific to 3ds Max Interactive, like particle effects,
• and deploy your content in a standalone package or app for one or more target platforms like Windows, iOS, or Android.

Tip: Check out the Interface Overview for a quick intro to the main parts of the editor!

But the first thing you'll need to do is create and open a project. The project contains all the different kinds of files and assets that you'll use to create your interactive app -- 3D models, materials and textures, levels, Lua files, and more. 3ds Max Interactive comes with some standard template projects you can use as a starting point, or you can download a sample project from the Online Examples tab of the Project Manager.

See the pages under Set up a project for more on what projects are and how to work with them.

Your project will open up in the interactive editor, but that's not the way people will ultimately experience your project when you distribute it. So, one of the first things you'll want to do with your new project is test it out to see how it behaves in the runtime interactive engine. Don't miss Test and build a project for an introduction to running your content.