A new caching method has been added to the Boolean modifier. Boolean results are now saved with the scene file, which makes subsequent loading of Boolean scenes significantly faster. 

 

The Boolean modifier now fully supports Smoothing Groups, Specified, and Explicit Normals operations.

There is now additional functionality to the 3ds Max UI to directly support access to set User Defined Defaults. 

 

When you click on a supported parameter found in the 3ds Max UI, you will see a new set of options in the Context Menu for the parameter: Set as New Default and Restore to Factory Default.

Animation and modeling have been made easier with enhancements to the Copy and Paste Animation Commands. 

 

Animation no longer requires matching controllers to be accessible through the right-click Context Menu and has been unified with the Copy and Paste (Controller) commands found in Track view to create a new unified system. 

 

You can now Copy and then Paste directly from an object or modifier parameter, or Controllers found in the Track View without needing to first prepare the data.

Create amazing results with updates to the Array modifier. All Array distrubution types now feature two new options for how to arrange elements in the mesh data, an option for First, Middle, Last and an option for Ordered. 

This update introduces fixes to the Auto-Weld & Insert function, the removal of the Close Spline prompt window, enhancements to Insert Vertex & Knot Type, and Insert Vertex Segment type. 

The VertexPaint modifier has been updated to provide an improvement in performance, making it more responsive and easier to paint on the high amount of triangles of data. 

Performance improvements have been made to the FFD modifiers in 3ds Max.

 

• FFD 2x2x2: up to 1.13x faster
• FFD 3x3x3: up to 1.14x faster
• FFD 4x4x4: up to 1.34x faster
• FFDBox 8x8x8 up to 1.91x faster
• Space Warps FFD 8x8x8: 2.06x faster

Have greater control over the colors in your work with updates to ColorPicker, an added CovertColor function, and Bitmaps through Drag&Drop. 

This release introduces improvements and updates to USD for 3ds Max.

Morpher to Blend Shape
Export morpher modifiers to blend shapes in USD.

Animation Import
Import animated USD scenes into 3ds Max, allowing for better round-tripping of data.

USD Importer SDK
Enhance the control of import data to the same level as the exporter with PrimReader, ShaderReader, and Import Chasers in the importer.

Material Variants
Export assets with a material variant set when using the new Material Switcher - making it easy to create assets that have multiple material representations in USD.

MaterialX Import/Export
Import MaterialX into 3ds Max to use on models. USD Exporter supports the materials and will export the assets with a reference to the source MaterialX files.

This update introduces MaxtoA 5.6.2.0 with improvements to the AOV Wizard, the ability to set Crypto Asset tags, a new Distance Shader and more.

AOV Wizard
The updated AOV manager consolidates the two existing Wizard functionalities into a single streamlined AOV Wizard experience. You can now set up the most useful set of AOVs with a few clicks.

Automatic Cryptomatte setup
The required Cryptomatte AOV shader is now automatically added when you create any Cryptomatte AOV and launch a render.

Ability to set Crypto Asset tags on objects
The Arnold Properties modifier can now set the Crypto Asset tag on one or many objects, unleashing the full benefits of the crypto_asset AOV.

Distance shader
A new distance shader uses the distance to the nearest surface to interpolate between near and far color values.

Ability to define Auto-TX Path
You can now set the path for the automatically generated TX files.

Improved translation of Bitmap shader
Translation of the 3ds Max Bitmap has now been optimized to use the new transformation matrix in the Arnold UV Transform shader. Not only does this vastly simplify the shade tree, but also allows much more accurate texture filtering and can improve both quality and performance.

Changed default of 'Re-translate scene on Frame Change' to On
The option Re-translate scene on Frame Change has changed default to be on, which guarantees that during production rendering, the Arnold scene is translated consistently every frame.