What's New in 3ds Max 2024.1 Update

Welcome to 3ds Max 2024.1 Update! You can access the 3ds Max 2024.1 Update from your Autodesk Account.

Read on to learn about the new features and updated workflows you'll find in this release. For technical details including What's Fixed, please see the 3ds Max 2024.1 Update Release Notes.

Boolean Modifier Improvements

The release contains several Boolean modifier improvements, including a new caching method, support for normals, and various bug fixes.

Array Modifier Updates

New Array By Element methods are now included in all of the Array modifier Distribution Rollouts, giving you greater control over the arrangement of elements.

Create Custom Defaults

User-defined defaults now available through the context menus in the UI.

Animation Controller Improvements

Modelers and animators will benefit from improvements to the Copy and Paste Animation commands that previously existed in 3ds Max.

Smart Extrude Improvements

Updates related to smoothing and normals have been made to the Smart Extrude workflow.

What else is new?

This release of 3ds Max also includes the following changes and improvements.

Spline Improvements	The following updates accelerate spline modeling and let you model splines more fluidly: Connect open knots: When manipulating a spline that has more than one open element, you can now use Automatic Welding and Insert mode to quickly draw/continue from an open knot of one element to an open knot of another element. This workflow results in two elements that are correctly welded and connected together as one continuous element. Close Spline prompt: A Close Spline prompt no longer appears when using operations found in the Edit Spline modifier or Editable Spline object, or when using Automatic Weld to close an open spline element. This update lets you continue your spline creation workflow without interruption. See Editable Spline (Vertex). New vertices respect neighboring knot types: When inserting new vertices on a spline, the knot type of the new vertex is based on the knot types of its neighboring vertices: If both neighboring vertices are the same knot type, like Corner, the new vertex inherits the Corner type. If the neighboring vertices are not the same knot type, for example one is Bezier and one is Corner, the new vertex inherits the Bezier type. This update affects the Edit Spline modifier and Editable Spline's Refine, CrossInsert, and Divide operations as well as Shape Booleans, Chamfer/Fillet modifier, and the Boolean modifier. New Vertex Type parameter is now respected: When working with Editable Splines or the Edit Spline modifier, creating a new vertex in Create Line and Insert modes respects the selected New Vertex Type parameter (Geometry rollout)
VertexPaint performance	The performance of the VertexPaint Modifier is now up to 10x faster when using the brush tools to apply or modify vertex paint values.
FFD performance	The following performance improvements have been made to the FFD Modifiers: FFD 2x2x2: up to 1.13x faster FFD 3x3x3: up to 1.14x faster FFD 4x4x4: up to 1.34x faster FFD(box) 8x8x8: up to 1.91x faster FFD(box) Space Warp 8x8x8: 2.06x faster
Slate Material Editor Improvement	You can import multiple images at once into the SME. Simply select the desired images in a Windows Explorer window, then drag and drop them into the Slate Material Editor.
Physical Camera Improvement	The physical camera custom depth of field is now working in the viewport.
USD for Autodesk 3ds Max	USD for Autodesk 3ds Max version 0.4 is available from your autodesk account. To see the highlights of this version and review version-specific notes, see Release Notes for 0.4. For advanced documentation guiding python and scripting users, see the MaxScript USD Documentation.
Color Management	There are several improvements to the OCIO-based color management introduced as a technology preview in 3ds Max 2024: Sliders in the Color Selector dialog indicate values that cannot be reproduced on your display. In addition, there is a warning when the selected color is out of gamut for your display or rendering space. For UI colors and non-color data, the numeric columns in the Color Selector show the same values in float and integer format, rather than the scene and display values. When using a custom configuration, you can now select OCIO archives (.ocioz files) instead of only config files (.ocio files). Color management in the viewport is disabled when using the Nitrous Direct3D 9 (DX9) or Legacy OpenGL display drivers. However, images are still rendered correctly.
Customizable Scrollbar sizes	You can now choose from three different scrollbar sizes in the Preferences: Small, Medium, or Large. This is particularly useful when working with 4k monitors, as the default Small scrollbar size can be hard to select. To change scrollbar sizes, choose a size option from the Scrollbar Size drop-down in the Preferences Settings General tab.
ATF Importer	3ds Max's Autodesk Translation Framework (ATF) importer now supports NX 2212, SolidEdge 2023, and SolidWorks2023.
Arnold for 3ds Max 5.6.2.0	3ds Max ships with MAXtoA 5.6.2.0 for Arnold 7.2.1.1 which introduces an updated AOV manager, Automatic Cyrptomatte setup, and the ability to set Crypto Asset tags on objects. Additional fixes from MAXtoA 5.6.1.0, including a new distance shader, the ability to define the Auto-TX Path, improved translation of the Bitmap shader, and a new default for the Re-translate scene on Frame Change option are also included as part of this update. See the MAXtoA 5.6.2.0 Release Notes and MAXtoA 5.6.1.0 Release Notes for a full list of features.