USD for 3ds Max 0.9 Release Notes
Release Highlights
Edit prim properties.
The Modify panel now displays prim properties, letting you inspect USD prims, view their data, and make edits as needed.
Import USD Curves.
We have added a new import feature that lets you import USD Curves as 3ds Max Shapes.
Create draw mode for Point Instances.
For USD Point Instances, you can now choose to create one of three draw modes: default, card (box) and card (cross).
Snap to prim vertices, faces and edges.
We have added a USD option to the Snap settings, which lets you snap to the faces, vertices, and edges of USD mesh prims.
What's Fixed
|
| Fixed unnecessary memory usage from textures being loaded for deactivated prims in a USD Stage. EMSUSD-1621 |
| Fixed an issue where an invalid blendShape crashed when importing the stage. EMSUSD-1531 |
| Fixed an issue in the "import_morpher_test.ms" suite that caused excessive assert messages across multiple 3ds Max versions. EMSUSD-1471 |
| Fixed an issue where deleting and adding a new skin modifier to a mesh logged a multiple bind pose error. EMSUSD-1399 |
| Fixed an issue where the "export_all_geometric_types_test" failed in automation when MAXtoA was installed. EMSUSD-1281 |
| Fixed text and selection readability issues in the USD Explorer's ame-light theme. EMSUSD-568 |
Known Limitations
| USD Multi-selection |
| Circular, fence and lasso selection modes do not support multi-selection. |
| USD Exporter and USD Importer |
| Texture graphs are not supported, only direct bitmap inputs are supported in the USD Exporter. |
| Motion Blur data is unsupported. |
| When skins are exported, modifiers that modify the topoly are unsupported. |
| Normals may not match the source normals when re-importing USD Skel animations. |
When importing a USD file containing Normal Map data into 3ds Max 2024, the object's surface may look facetted/ the UV seams become apparent.
Workaround: Ensure that gamma correction is enabled. Open the bitmaptexture node in slate, click the file browse button and explicitly set the gamma to 1.0. |
| USD Blend Shapes |
Morph targets exported without Skin may not display properly in the USDView or USD Stage when using 3ds Max 2023 or below. This happens because currently USD requires bones to support blendShapes.
Workaround: Set the Windows Environment variable to: USDSKELIMAGING_FORCE_CPU_COMPUTE=1, or run this command in the interpreter: UsdSkel.BakeSkinning(usdviewApi.stage.Traverse()), or use USDView 2024 or above. |
| USD cannot resolve the modifier stack when modifiers that change mesh topology are applied. Any modifier like morpher or turbo smooth is expected to be below the Skin modifier when they both are present in a 3ds Max node. A warning presents when this hierarchy is incorrect. |
| USD Stage Object |
| Most modifiers will have no effect on a USD Stage Object. |
| Rendering support for the stage is dependent on each renderer. See the rendering section for more information. |
| Display of baked bitmaps can cause blurriness of scenes even in high quality mode in the Viewport. Baked bitmaps (ie. with Uberbitmap) are unsupported even in high quality mode in the viewport. |
| A 2024 OpenGL Import error is reported relating to the Numpy module. This warning is expected but won't affect the usage of USDView with 3ds Max 2024. |
| USD Skel does not support faceVarying Normals. This extends to Morpher, as well. This is a USD limitation, and not specific to USD for 3ds Max tools. |
| MaterialX |
| 3ds Max 2022: MaterialX materials on a USD Stage reference cannot be displayed in Nitrous (Viewport) nor using Arnold as a renderer. |
| For USDView bundled with 3ds Max 2022 and 2023: when exporting or viewing an existing .usd file with MaterialX data present, the viewport in USDView will be black and unusable. |
| Loss of parameters when exporting MaterialX material. In maps, for example: subsurface_scale value is lost. |
| USDZ format cannot export MaterialX data as part of the USDZ framework. See USDZ specifications. |
| Lighting |
| Some Lighting property values in 3ds Max, primarily drop-down menus and on/off toggles, are not retained when Exported to USD. |
| Camera |
| Some camera property values in 3ds Max, primarily drop-down menus and on/off toggles, are not retained when exported to USD. |
| USD Instancing |
| Editing descendants of an instance is not supported in USD. |
