A plug-in is a file or a set of files that adds new features or capabilities to 3ds Max Interactive. You can customize the behavior of the editor and the engine by choosing which of these plug-ins you want to load into the editor at any time.

For the mechanics of selecting what plug-ins you have loaded, see Add and remove plug-ins using the Plugin Manager.

Some of the standard, built-in features of the editor are actually implemented as plug-ins under the hood, to keep the features modular and self-contained -- and to make sure we can handle the taste of our own dog food. In addition to these standard plug-ins, which you get by default when you install 3ds Max Interactive, you can easily load other plug-ins written and distributed by third parties. (But since this plug-in system is just getting started, we don't have any third-party ones to share with you -- yet.)

You can also write your own plug-ins that customize the editor for your own usage, or for distribution to other Stingray users in your organization or in the larger community. See the The Interactive Plug-in SDK for details.