
Non-destructive stack workflows
ENHANCEDExperience the power of 3ds Max’s Modifier Stack, a non-destructive workflow that lets you build, refine, and iterate freely.
Comprehensive modifiers toolset
ENHANCEDShape, transform, and refine your models with 3ds Max’s extensive suite of modifiers. This robust toolset gives you the control and flexibility to explore limitless creative and technical possibilities.
Interactive polygon modeling
Bring complex characters and hard-surface designs to life with advanced polygon modeling tools. Work interactively to craft detailed, production-ready assets with precision and creative freedom.
Retopology Tools
Create and modify intricate curves and shapes with powerful spline tools. Enjoy precision, flexibility, and control for everything from design visualization to complex modeling tasks.
Spline workflows
Create and modify intricate curves and shapes with powerful spline tools. Enjoy precision, flexibility, and control for everything from design visualization to complex modeling tasks.
UV workflows
Achieve clean, accurate textures with UVW tools. Unwrap, edit, and map your models efficiently to deliver flawless texture alignment and high-quality visual results.
Character Animation Toolkit
ENHANCEDCreate procedural character animations and rigs with Character Animation Toolkit (CAT).
Animation controllers
Handle all your animation tasks with easy-to-use, robust animation controllers.
Fluids
Animate realistic behaviors and replicate gravity and collision effects for liquids like water, oil, and lava.
Particle flow effects
Produce sophisticated particle effects such as water, fire, spray, and snow.
OpenPBR
NEWNow the default material in 3ds Max, OpenPBR ensures consistent representation of materials across different 3D software.
Material system
Create realistic materials using a powerful, node-based editor fully compliant with OpenPBR.
Material switcher
Access a simple control method to manage the display of multiple material variants.
OSL support
Generate high-quality textures that display accurately in the viewport with Open Shading Language (OSL) maps with any supported renderer.
Bake to texture
Experience streamlined, intuitive, and fully scriptable texture baking with support for PBR (physically based rendering) materials, overrides, and OSL workflows.
Lighting
Illuminate and enhance your scenes using photometric lights and standard lights.
Integrated Arnold renderer
ENHANCEDUse the Arnold GPU renderer to view scene changes in real time, including lighting, materials, and camera.
Color Management
Ensure the accurate reproduction of colors across different devices, brightnesses, and viewing conditions with Color Management and OCIO support.
Interactive viewports
Reduce design iteration with render-quality viewport previews, displaying PBR materials and camera effects directly.
Physical camera
Simulate real-life camera settings such as shutter speed, aperture, depth of field, and exposure.
Scene converter
Easily change materials, lights, cameras, and renderers from one to another.
Ligtning speed
Load and edit massive data sets in a matter of seconds using OpenUSD in 3ds Max.
Seamless import and export
Import OpenUSD data as native 3ds Max data and export native 3ds Max data as OpenUSD data.
Lightweight previews
See quick previews of OpenUSD scene structure using the Hierarchy View window.
Native OpenUSD support
Work with OpenUSD data directly in common Maya editors, such as the Outliner, Attribute Editor, and Channel Box.
Open source and fully customizable
The 3ds Max OpenUSD plugin is available as an open-source project for studios to customize as needed.
Modern UI and workspaces
Create your own custom workspaces with a modern, responsive, high-DPI-ready user interface.
Software security
Use Safe Scene Script Execution to protect your work from malicious scripts hidden in scene files. Malware Removal detects and removes known threats from both scene files and start-up scripts.
Extensive plug-in library
Extend 3ds Max easily with third-party tools like tyFlow, thinkingParticles, or ForestPack.
glTF support
Publish assets from your 3ds Max scene to glTF for use in web applications, online stores, browser games, and other online outlets.
VFX Reference Platform alignment
Maximize compatibility with other software with VFX Reference Platform compliance.
System requirements for Autodesk 3ds Max 2026
Ready to get started?
Autodesk 3ds Max 2026 software is supported on the following 64-bit operating systems and at a minimum, requires a system with the following 64-bit hardware:
Software
Operating System | Microsoft® Windows® 10, version 1809 or higher. |
Browser | Autodesk recommends the latest version of the following web browsers for access to online supplemental content: • Microsoft® Edge • Google Chrome™ • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® • Mozilla® Firefox® |
Hardware
CPU | 64-bit Intel® or AMD® multi-core processor with SSE4.2 instruction set |
Graphics Hardware | Refer to 3ds Max Certified Hardware for a detailed list of recommended systems and graphics cards |
RAM | 4 GB of RAM minimum (8 GB or more recommended) |
Disk Space | 9 GB of free disk space for install |
Pointing Device | Three-button mouse |
Autodesk is not responsible for errors or failures of Autodesk software arising from the installation of updates, extensions or new releases issued by third party hardware or software vendors for the certified software or hardware identified in this article (or for any other third party software or hardware that you may use in connection with Autodesk products).