Autodesk have released the latest service pack update for 3ds Max 2021 with a focus on modernization, performance, fit and finish.
New Features Include –
Bake to Texture Improvements
Multiple UV tile baking support, Animation support, display of active renderer in the Bake to Texture Tool, multi-edit of the output column and performance improvements
Faster and Simplified Installation
3ds Max 203ds Max 2021.1 can be installed independently, not requiring an existing installation of 3ds Max 2021. The upgrade is also faster compared to previous releases.
Shared Views Support for the Physical Material
Shared Views now support the Physical Material in the web viewer, for enhanced visual quality and accuracy.
Arnold as the Default Renderer
AOV token system for organizing output, animation support for Alembic, more accuracy in the UI controls, support for Bake to Texture workflows, scene exporting to a USD file from the Archive tab and faster shutdown after rendering massive instances.
Improved Viewport Quality & Settings
Depth of Field in Viewport can now affect the background/environment map, vignetting in the viewport is now the same as what’s defined in the camera settings, per-camera/viewport exposure and white balance settings, matte/shadow materials are now supported in the Viewport and the Viewport can now display up to 128 UDIM textures.
User Defined Defaults
Using Maxscript, users can now set their own default values that persists through 3ds Max sessions, allowing them to further configure their work environments to operate the way they need them to be.
Modelling Improvements
Faster polygonal extrusions by using the shift + drag shortcut in the edit poly modifier, also allows insets using the scale transform tool. Stability and multi-threading support has been added to the Weighed Normals modifier and Explicit Normals are now preserved when working with the Edit Mesh modifier.
Material Editor Improvements
The Slate Material Editor interface is smoother and faster when navigating, with noticeable improvements on high-resolution displays. The Slate Material Editor now has a Global Search for materials and maps.
Modern Render Settings
The default output size has been changed to 720p, HDTV presets are now: 720p, 1080p, 1440p and 2160p.
Enhanced SketchUp Importer
Better handling of internal edge visibility settings, preserving settings from SketchUp source data.
Fluids Enhancements
Fixes to the velocity channel, support for signed and unsigned PRT export and exposing the fluid loader so that the data can be loaded and interacted with other systems and objects that operate within 3ds Max.
A full breakdown of what’s new can be found here.