& Construction
Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
& Manufacturing
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Delve into the tools you can use to craft astounding animations that make an impression.
Create sophisticated motion systems for rigged characters including deformations that deliver lifelike performances.
Create parametric and organic objects with polygon, subdivision surface, and spline-based modeling features.
Create, view, and modify animation curves using a graphical representation of scene animation.
Switch between and combine different takes into a single animation with clip-blending and nonlinear animation.
Load and edit large data sets quickly and work directly with data using native tools.
Use Arnold Render View to view scene changes in real time, including lighting, materials, and cameras.
Retopology tools
3DS MAX, MUDBOX
Reduce complex and high-resolution assets, or traditional modeling work by automatically reconstructing polygonal mesh data as clean, quad-based topology with uncompromising accuracy.
Smart Extrude
3DS MAX, MAYA
Take polygon modeling to the next level through industry-leading Smart Extrude, which enables you to interactively extrude to Add To or Take Away from the mesh to quickly create expressive content.
Mesh and surface modeling
3DS MAX, MAYA
Create parametric and organic objects with polygon, subdivision surface, and spline-based modeling features.
Comprehensive UV editing toolset
MAYA, 3DS MAX, MUDBOX
View and edit the UV texture coordinates for polygon, NURBS, and subdivision surfaces in a 2D view.
Modifier stack workflow
3DS MAX
Conceptualize, iterate, and explore design ideas using a range of industry-defining modifiers that are nondestructive and easy to use.
Character setup
3DS MAX, MAYA
Create sophisticated motion systems for rigged characters including deformations that deliver lifelike performances.
Blue Pencil toolset
MAYA
Sketch poses over time, define motion arcs, mark up a shot, or add comments and annotations to your scene.
Animation curve editing
3DS MAX, MAYA, MOTIONBUILDER
Create, view, and modify animation curves using a graphical representation of scene animation.
Story Tool
MOTIONBUILDER
Switch between and combine different takes into a single animation with clip-blending and nonlinear animation.
Evaluation Manager
MAYA
Review animations faster and produce fewer playblasts with parallel evaluation, GPU accelerated deformers, and background caching.
Plug-in support
3DS MAX, MAYA, MOTIONBUILDER, MUDBOX
Extend capabilities with support for powerful third-party plug-ins.
Bifrost visual programming environment
MAYA
Create physically accurate and incredibly detailed simulations in a single visual procedural programming environment.
Simulation and effects
MAYA
Deliver natural looking effects like combustion, snow, or particles with Aero, MPM, and Particles systems.
Scattering and instancing
MAYA
Create large scale complexity for world building or set dressing with expressive scattering tools.
Ready-to-use-graphs
MAYA
Create great-looking effects, such as explosions and dust storms, right out of the box with prebuilt graphs.
NanoVTT
MAYA
Render volumes that closely match Arnold renderings directly in the viewport with NanoVTT.
Interactive hair grooming
MAYA
Use powerful interactive groom tools to create realistic hair and fur for your characters.
LookdevX
MAYA
Graph shading networks and create materials for USD objects with an artist-friendly look development system.
Arnold GPU
ARNOLD
Switch seamlessly between CPU and GPU rendering.
Standard Surface shader
ARNOLD
Produce a wide range of materials and looks with this energy-saving, physically based uber shader.
Imagers
ARNOLD
Use Bloom, Light Mixer, Noice, and OptiX denoiser imagers to control lighting effects and automatically denoise after each render.
Flexible and extensible API
ARNOLD
Integrate Arnold into external applications and create custom shaders, cameras, light filters, and output drivers.
Universal Scene Description (USD) support
ARNOLD
Maximize the power of USD with Arnold in production scenarios.
Lightning speed
MAYA
Load and edit massive data sets in a matter of seconds using USD.
Seamless import/export
3DS MAX, MAYA
Import USD data as native Maya or 3ds Max data and export native Maya or 3ds Max data as USD data.
Lightweight previews
MAYA
See quick previews of USD scene structure using the Hierarchy View window.
Open source and fully customizable
The USD plug-ins for Maya, Bifrost, and Arnold are available as open-source projects for studios to customize as needed.
Python 3
3DS MAX, MAYA, MOTIONBUILDER
Create scripts and write plug-ins using Python 3.
Customization
3DS MAX, ARNOLD, MAYA, MOTIONBUILDER, MUDBOX
Customize how software looks and works to suit your pipeline.
Scene Assembly tools
3DS MAX, MAYA
Create large, complex worlds more easily and manage production assets as discrete elements.
Software security
3DS MAX, MAYA
Use scene security tools to protect your work against malicious scripts that could be part of scene files.
glTF support
3DS MAX
Publish assets from your 3ds Max scene to glTF for use in web applications, online stores, browser games, and other online outlets.