MAX 2016 SP1 is live.

[alexyork]

I've also noticed that the realtime DOF preview in the viewport doesn't work if you use shift/tilt. It will revert to the default non-shifted state when you enable it. Hope they can address that soon.

The new Layer Explorer is a complete clusterf**k. Just awful. I really can't understand how that abomination passed QC. It's so counter-intuitive. It's like all the speed and functionality from the original has been stripped out and replaced with either nothing or something that appears to actively slow you down.

I've found also that the "live scene manager" or whatever it's called is extremely buggy and often results in .NET crashes that render it useless, so I've had to disable that completely. I've also reverted to the old Scene Explorer and the old Material Selection window. Far superior and quicker to use.

It's also an embarassment that after all these many, many years max still ships with no viewport autosnap adjustment. The plugin is totally indispensable, I can't actually imagine using max without it.

Overall though I have to say that after reverting half the UI back to the good old ways 2016 is a pretty good release. Mainly the viewport selection improvements which are a huge bonus.

[Donald2B]

What's this "viewport autosnap adjustment" you speak of?

[alexyork]

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/sc...port-auto-snap

I think that's the one. It's an old installer but it works fine in all versions of max.

It changes the snaps to 2D or 3D based on if you are in a 2D or 3D viewport. It's completely ridiculous that max doesn't have this built-in already. You never ever want 2D snaps in a 3D viewport or visa versa...

Enjoy

[Donald2B]

Ah! Thanks!

[stevesideas]

Are people finding the SP good ? Might be time for me to move to 2016 !!

[alexyork]

Finding 2016 generally good but some random crashes (straight to desktop, no crash window) and .NET errors.

[3LP]

got that from time to time with max 2014 SP5 as well although max 2014 has been rock solid for most part of our jobs, best max so far, but I haven't really tried 2015 and 2016 yet, I don't really like how they introduced that window on the side that list everything in your scene. In addition, the UI seems to be more and more gimmicky where everything goes bigger, I like small things when there is a lot of information, let you keep a bird eye on everything without scrolling.

Stan

[zoranm]

http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/sc...port-auto-snap

I think that's the one. It's an old installer but it works fine in all versions of max.

It changes the snaps to 2D or 3D based on if you are in a 2D or 3D viewport. It's completely ridiculous that max doesn't have this built-in already. You never ever want 2D snaps in a 3D viewport or visa versa...

Enjoy

Hi Alex, Do you have a working link to this plugin? This one is dead. I've been looking for this for ages. I agree, it's unbelievable that in 21st century we still have to manually switch between 2-2.5-3d? What are we? Savages? Zoran

[3LP]

I never really understood why the 2d or 2.5d existed, when you use the axe constrain, isn't it doing the same without switching?

Stan

[Vizioen]

I rarely switch to be honest.

[tricky]

Contemplating upgrading our studio to 2016 (from a quite stable 2014). Any other opinions on if we should or shouldn't? We have skipped 2015 entirely: it frustrates me as we are paying for it.

[alexyork]

Now that I've decluttered the UI it's all running nice and stable and snappy. I'd say it's all the stability and speed of 2014, some of the goodies from 2015 and then much better viewport selection tools.

So far my only gripe is the Layer Manager which is a farse, but that's it. Stable and fast otherwise.

[tricky]

Thanks Alex. I will ponder this a little more. Its always frustrating ton install something new only to turn off everything that is 'new'. VP performance is the key reason to move I think. Never been particularly happy with it despite sinking lots of money into good GFX cards over the years.

[3LP]

Is the viewport performance way faster in 2016 compared to 2014?
I haven't seen any bench but I haven't heard it was faster either.

Stan