3ds Max Maps - Arnold for 3ds Max
Below is a list of all of the available 3ds Max maps implemented natively for Arnold in MAXtoA.
These are implemented by the MAXtoA_Shaders.dll
To use any other 3ds Max Map, you can experiment with the Legacy 3ds Max Map Support feature as described below
Using legacy 3ds Max Maps in Arnold
To facilitate the rendering of old scenes, MAXtoA includes a feature to call native C++ max Maps (not Materials!) from within a special Arnold adapter shader.
This allows the use of most legacy 3ds Max Maps with MAXtoA (such as Gradient, Noise, Substance, etc.).
To do this you must enable Legacy 3ds Max Map support in the System of the Render Setup window.
Below are some of the limitations when using legacy 3ds Max Maps with MAXtoA:
- This only works when rendering inside of 3ds Max itself, since native 3ds Max code is being called.
- For this reason, Legacy 3ds Max Maps can never be exported to an Arnold Scene Source file, and can not render outside of MAXtoA. This is important if you wish to create Procedural objects, render with kick, or use services like Zync.
- You cannot connect Arnold shaders as inputs to a 3ds Max shader. Everything upstream to a 3ds Max shader must be a 3ds Max shader. For instance, a 3ds Max 'smoke' can connect to an Arnold shader's color, but an Arnold shader cannot connect to a Tile's color parameter.
- Not every Legacy 3ds Max Map is guaranteed to work.
- There can be certain stability issues in ActiveShade when editing certain parameters, because the legacy 3ds Max shader API is in some aspects not thread-safe for both rendering and editing at the same time.
Bitmap
The 3ds Max Bitmap shader is fully implemented as a special wrapper shader around the Arnold image shader. The wrapper shader takes care of all the coordinate system transforms (before using image ) as well as all the color modification features on the Output rollout (after using image ).
The Arnold implementation has the following limitations
- Filtering has no effect. Arnold will always use its internal filters.
- Only bitmap formats natively supported by Arnold will work.
- The effect of the Blur settings may appear different
Unless you need to take advantage of the Bitmap's advanced parameters, it is strongly suggested that you use the Arnold image node instead. In addition to the above limitations, the wrapper can add many auxiliary nodes to support the Bitmap parameters that do not have an equivalent in the Arnold node. This can have a severe impact on rendering time.
Info: Consult the 3ds Max manual, for details on how all of the parameters work.
Particle Age
The Particle Age shader is implemented as a native Arnold shader in MAXtoA_Shaders.dll
Info: All features are supported exactly as documented in the 3ds Max documentation.