Update: Autodesk 3ds Max & Maya v2024.1 – Improvements and Enhancements

Autodesk has updated 3ds Max and Maya to version 2024.1, adding a few new improvements and enhancements to each.

What’s new in 3ds Max 2024.1?

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.

What’s new in Maya 2024.1?

Time Slider Enhancements

Two new improvements continue the redesign of the Time Slider in Maya 2024.

Skin Cluster Improvements

Several enhancements build on the multiple Skin Cluster support in Maya 2024.

Delete Multiple Display Layers

A useful new behaviour for working in the Display Layer Editor.

LookdevX Enhancements

In this release, LookdevX has received some notable updates to organize complex node graphs and improve workflows.

What else is new?

This release of Maya also includes the following changes and improvements.

• New Proximity Wrap deformer attribute – A new Proximity Wrap deformer attribute, Scale Compensation, has been added to the Proximity Wrap Attribute Editor settings to be a simple float value that contains the scale compensation, instead of using a matrix to specify the scale. You can use this in combination with or as a replacement for hooking up a matrix to driverClusterMatrix.
• New Lattice deformer option – A new Minimum Size option has been added to the Lattice options to address problems that occur when Lattice deformer Y-scale values were set to 0.0. The Minimum Size option is only on when the Centre Around Selection attribute is active, letting you specify a minimum size for the lattice to avoid the creation of lattices where one or more sides length is 0.0.
  An additional option has also been added to the lattice command -mns -minimumSize Float, which can only be used in conjunction with the objectCentered flag
• Bifrost 2.7.0.1 –  Maya includes Bifrost for Maya 2.7.0.1. See the Bifrost release notes for more details.
• Hydra for Maya (Technology Preview) – Hydra for Maya is available since the release of USD for Maya v0.23 and is intended for use as a render delegate in the Viewport. See load and manage plug-ins for more information and visit the official Autodesk MayaUSD GitHub repository to learn more about Hydra. Note: Hydra for Maya is not supported on MacOS.