New versions of Max 2013, Maya 2013, Softimage 2013, MotionBuilder 2013 and Mudbox 2013 are coming with ironclad regularity.
The main new features in Max 2013:
- Interoperability with Adobe® After Effects®
- Enjoy a more seamless 2D/3D data exchange.
- New render layer system
- Create render layers for use in Autodesk® Smoke® 2013, Adobe After Effects and Adobe® Photoshop®.
- ActiveShade Interactive Rendering with NVIDIA® iray®
- Iterate more efficiently with an interactive renderer that displays changes to camera settings, lighting, materials, and geometry as they are made.
- Enhanced interoperability with Autodesk® Revit® Architecture and Autodesk® DirectConnect support
- Import Revit files directly into 3ds Max and share project data with CAD products.
- Enhanced MassFX
- New mCloth module enables fabric tearing and supports dynamic Ragdoll hierarchies.
Major new features in Maya 2013:
- Maya nHair
- Create highly realistic hair and other dynamic curve-based objects.
- Viewport 2.0 enhancements
- Enjoy highly accurate interactive rendering and fast batch rendering.
- New Node Editor
- Create, edit and debug nodal meshes - easier and faster.
- Bullet physics engine
- Simulate flexible and rigid bodies faster.
- Heat Map skinning
- Enjoy more accurate geometry referencing on skeletons.
- Trax clip comparison
- Visualize overlaying Trax clips to create complete character movements from individual animations.
- ATOM Animation Transfer Format -
Transfer animations between characters using the new ATOM (Animation Transfer Object Model) file format.
- Alembic format support
- Turn complex animation and simulation data into application-independent geometry for faster animation playback.