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3ds Max Support

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3ds Max Geometry Support​

3ds Max supports various methods for generating objects, but currently only meshes are supported for conversion.

Supported Input Geometry​

All surfaces and primitives that are convertible to Editable Meshes, even if not listed here, are supported by RapidPipeline DCC Importer.

  • ✅ Editable Mesh, Editable Poly, Patches, Shapes.
  • ✅ Standard Primitives
  • ✅ Extended Primitives
  • ✅ Patch Grid Primitives
  • ✅ Door Primitives
  • ✅ Compound Objects
  • ✅ Body Objects
  • ✅ NURBS Surfaces
  • ✅ Windows Primitives
  • ✅ Dynamics Objects Primitives
  • ✅ Stairs Primitives
  • ✅ VRayProxy mesh (non-mesh VRayProxy objects remain unsupported)

Unsupported Input Geometry​

Unsupported Geometry objects are removed during scene preprocessing within 3ds Max.

  • ⛔ Particle System Primitives
  • ⛔ AEC Extended Primitives
  • ⛔ PointCloud Primitives
  • ⛔ Fluid Primitives
  • ⛔ All Chaos Scatter-specific geometry is unsupported
  • ⛔ V-Ray-specific geometry such as VRayFur, VRayPlane, VRayClipper
  • ⛔ VRayProxy non-mesh objects
  • ⛔ Corona-specific geometry
  • ⛔ Arnold-specific geometry

3ds Max Modifier Support​

Supported Modifiers​

Any modifiers not listed here can be considered to be supported. Some modifiers have partial support, they are listed here:

  • ✅ Displace modifier
    • Displacement is automatically converted into geometry.
  • ✅ Hair and Fur (WSM) modifier
    • Each hair modifier will have only one Material ID.
    • Only the Diffuse color is converted from a VRayHairNextMtl material applied to the model; all material settings are ignored from within the Hair and Fur modifier.
  • ✅ VRayDisplacementModifier
    • Displacement is baked into normal maps by default.
    • If "3D Mapping" mode is used, displacement can be converted into geometry using the option --bakeDisplacement. See bakeDisplacement for more information.


Displacement conversion methods

Unsupported Modifiers​

These modifiers cannot properly apply their changes when the model is collapsed, therefore these are unsupported. These are ignored during processing and will not have any effect in the result.

  • ⛔ Particles or Animation related modifiers (e.g. Skin, Physique, Flex, etc.).
  • ⛔ Skin, Skin Wrap, Skin Morph, Skin Morph Patch
  • ⛔ PathDeform, PatchDeform, PathDeform (WSM), PatchDeform (WSM)
  • ⛔ Point Cache, Point Cache (WSM)
  • ⛔ Camera Map Modifier, Camera Map Modifier (WSM)
  • ⛔ Particle Skinner, PFlow Collision, Particle Face Creator, PFlow Collision (WSM)
  • ⛔ VRayHairFarmMod
  • ⛔ Arnold-specific Modifiers
  • ⛔ Corona-specific Modifiers

3ds Max Material Support​

Fully Supported Materials​

  • ✅ V-Ray Materials:
    • ✅ VRayMtl
    • ✅ VRayLightMtl
    • ✅ VRayBumpMtl
    • ✅ VRayMtlWrapper
    • ✅ VRayOverrideMtl
  • ✅ Standard 3ds Max Materials:
    • ✅ MultiMaterial
    • ✅ Shell Material

Work-in-Progress/Partially Supported Materials​

  • *️⃣ V-Ray Materials:
    • *️⃣ VRayHairNextMtl
    • *️⃣ VRayHairMtl
    • *️⃣ VRayFastSSS2
    • *️⃣ VRayALSurfaceMtl
    • *️⃣ VRaySkinMtl
    • *️⃣ VRayBlendMtl
    • *️⃣ VRay2SidedMtl: Replaced by front Material.
    • *️⃣ VRaySwitchMtl: Replaced by first material.
    • *️⃣ VRayCarPaintMtl
    • *️⃣ VRayCarPaintMtl2
    • *️⃣ VRayStochasticFlakesMtl: Only supported as a coat material of VRayBlendMtl at this time.
    • *️⃣ VRayFlakesMtl: Only supported as a coat material of VRayBlendMtl at this time.
    • *️⃣ VRayFlakesMtl2: Only supported as a coat material of VRayBlendMtl at this time.
  • *️⃣ Standard 3ds Max Materials:
    • *️⃣ Blend
    • *️⃣ Physical Material
    • *️⃣ Standard Material
    • *️⃣ Raytrace Material
    • *️⃣ Architectural
    • *️⃣ Shellac
    • *️⃣ Composite Material
    • *️⃣ TopBottom
    • *️⃣ DoubleSided: Replaced by first material.
    • *️⃣ PBR Material (Metal/Rough)
    • *️⃣ PBR Material (Spec/Gloss)
    • *️⃣ GLTF Material
    • *️⃣ USD Preview Surface

Unsupported Materials​

  • ⛔ V-Ray Materials:
    • ⛔ VRayToonMtl
    • ⛔ VRayScatterVolumeMtl
    • ⛔ VRayVectorDisplBake
    • ⛔ VRayGLSLMtl, VRayMDLMtl, VRayOSLMtl
    • ⛔ VRayPointParticleMtl
    • ⛔ VRayPluginNodeMtl
    • ⛔ VRayVRMatMtl
    • ⛔ VRayScannedMtl
  • ⛔ Corona Materials
    • All Corona-specific materials, such as CoronaPhysicalMtl, are currently unsupported.
  • ⛔ Arnold Materials
    • All Arnold-specific materials, such as Standard Surface, are currently unsupported.
info

Corona materials can be converted into V-Ray materials, through a tool provided by Chaos which converts most settings reliably. It can be found in the V-Ray menu, under Converters, V-Ray scene converter. Currently, you must convert your Corona materials before processing such a scene with the DCC Importer.

3ds Max Texture Node Support​

If any 3ds Max texture node is not mentioned here, it should be considered "unverified" and will force the material to be atlas baked. If any texture of a material is considered to be "procedural" the material will also be atlas baked.

Supported Input Texture Nodes​

Non-procedural Texture Nodes​

  • ✅ Standard 3ds Max Nodes:
    • ✅ Bitmap Texture
    • ✅ Checker
    • ✅ Color Correction
    • ✅ Color Map
    • ✅ Composite Texture
    • ✅ Gradient
    • ✅ Gradient Ramp
    • ✅ Mask
    • ✅ Missing_TextureMap
    • ✅ Mix
    • ✅ Normal Bump
    • ✅ Output
    • ✅ RGB Multiply
    • ✅ RGB Tint
    • ✅ Shape Map
    • ✅ Swirl
    • ✅ Text Map
    • ✅ Tiles
  • ✅ V-Ray Nodes:
    • ✅ VRayColor
    • ✅ VRayBump2Normal
    • ✅ VRayColor2Bump
    • ✅ VRayNormalMap
    • ✅ VRayBitmap
    • ✅ VRayCompTex
    • ✅ VRayUserColor
    • ✅ VRayUserScalar

Procedural Texture Nodes​

  • ✅ Standard 3ds Max Nodes:
    • ✅ Advanced Wood
    • ✅ Camera Map Per Pixel
    • ✅ Blended Box Map
    • ✅ Cellular
    • ✅ Dent
    • ✅ Marble
    • ✅ Multi Tile
    • ✅ Noise
    • ✅ Particle Age
    • ✅ Particle MBlur
    • ✅ Perlin Marble
    • ✅ Smoke
    • ✅ Speckle
    • ✅ Splat
    • ✅ Stucco
    • ✅ Texture Object Mask
    • ✅ Vector Displacement
    • ✅ Vertex Color
    • ✅ Water
  • ✅ V-Ray Nodes:
    • ✅ VRayCurvature
    • ✅ VRayDirt
    • ✅ VRayDistanceTex
    • ✅ VRayEdgesTex
    • ✅ VRayMultiSubTex
    • ✅ VRayParticleTex
    • ✅ VRayPluginNodeTex
    • ✅ VRayTriplanarTex
    • ✅ VRayUVWRandomizer

Unverified Input Texture Nodes​

If an unverified texture node is found, it forces the material to be atlas baked as a fallback. Some examples include:

  • ❔ All OSL 3ds Max texture nodes, including OSL Map
  • ❔ Standard 3ds Max Nodes:
    • ❔ Raytrace
    • ❔ Substance
    • ❔ Vector Map
  • ❔ V-Ray Nodes:
    • ❔ VRayLut
    • ❔ VRayGLSLTex
    • ❔ VRayOCIO
    • ❔ VRayOSLTex
    • ❔ VRayOSLOutputSelector
    • ❔ VRayPtex
    • ❔ VRaySky
    • ❔ VRaySamplerInfoTex
    • ❔ VRayPointCloudColor
    • ❔ VRaySoftBox

Unsupported Input Texture Nodes​

Unsupported texture nodes are removed, skipped or converted significantly during scene preprocessing. Errors and Warnings logged during conversion can be reviewed using RapidPipeline QC Tools.

  • ⚠️ Falloff:
    • Falloff nodes are converted by DCC Importer into an 80:20 mix between the two nodes/colors in use, and Falloff Curves are ignored.
    • Falloff cannot be supported directly in standardized real-time materials because Falloff is view-dependent.
    • As an alternative, we suggest using the Sheen parameters in VRayMtl; DCC Importer can convert this directly into the glTF extension KHR_materials_sheen.
  • ⚠️ VRayHairInfoTex:
    • Basic colors are converted to a color map, or a mix of colors, to roughly preserve the general appearance of fur geometry.
    • VRayFur is not currently supported, but we do support VRayHairInfoTex when used on explicit geometry.
  • ⛔ SigerNoise and other third-party plugins:
    • We do not have support for third-party plugins at this time.
    • If unsupported third-party nodes are detected, they are removed during scene preprocessing, and an Error is logged.
  • ⛔ All Arnold 3ds Max texture nodes
  • ⛔ All Corona 3ds Max texture nodes

3ds Max Additional Support​

  • Cameras are preserved for rendering by RapidPipeline QC Tools.
  • Cameras can be converted into glTF cameras using the optional flag --convertCameras. Note however that V-Ray cameras are not supported at this time.
  • Animation is currently not supported: generally meshes will be converted using their appearance at frame 0.
  • Negative transforms should be avoided if possible, however the converter will attempt to preserve mesh appearance as it appears when rendered in V-Ray.
  • For best practices about scene organization for optimal conversion results, please see 3ds Max Guidelines.