3DS Max 4 and Gmax Differences

[Milton Shupe]

For those of you who were wondering:

What is the Difference Between gmax and 3ds max 4?

gmax is a subset of 3ds max 4. It contains the majority of the features for modeling and animating. Features for rendering and compositing and effects production have been removed. Materials that are not applicable to video games have been removed as well. The complex material editor in 3ds max 4 has been simplified in gmax. (An x in the following table indicates that the feature is present in the product.)

Feature

3ds max 4

gmax

Feature

3ds max 4

gmax

Feature

3ds max 4

gmax

Feature

3ds max 4

gmax

Modeling

Animation

User Interface

Effects Production

Primitive Objects

x

x (except Pyramid)

Track View

x

x

Customizable UI

x

x

Environment Mapping

x

Extended Primitives

x

Track Bar

x

x

MAXScript Recordable Tools

x

x

Atmospherics

x

Patch Modeling

x

x

Time Slider

x

x

Tab Panel

x

x (off by default)

Particles

x

Surface Tools

x

x

Animate Button

x

x

Viewport Backgrounds

x

x (no animated backgrounds)

Rendering and Compositing

Spline Tools

x

x (except Section)

VCR Playback Controls

x

x

Keyboard Shortcuts

x

x

Render to Still Image

x

Editable Mesh

x

x

Function Curve Editing

x

x

Materials

Render to Animation

x

Editable Poly

x

x

Constraints

x

x

Texture Mapping

x

x

Video Post

x

Editable Spline

x

x

Interactive IK

x

x

Self-illumination Mapping

x

x

Lights and Cameras

Lattice Deformations (FFDs)

x

x

Applied IK

x

x

Opacity Mapping

x

x

Omni Lights

x

x

NURBS Modeling

x

HI IK Solver

x

Bump Mapping

x

x

Spotlights

x

x

Loft Objects

x

x

HD IK Solver

x

Multi/sub-object Materials

x

x

Shadow Casting

x

x

Boolean Objects

x

x

IK Limb Solver

x

x

Glossiness Mapping

x

x

Direct Lights

x

x

ShapeMerge Objects

x

x

Dynamics

x

Shaders

x

x

Target Cameras

x

x

Morph Objects

x

x

Particles

x

Reflection Mapping

x

Free Cameras

x

x

Connect Objects

x

x

Space Warps

x

Raytrace Materials

x

x

Conform Objects

x

Schematic View

x

Displacement Mapping

x

Scatter Objects

x

Drag and Drop Textures

x

x

Terrain Objects

x

Material Libraries

x

x

Mesher Objects

x

Camera Rendering

Systems

Save .max Files

x

Bones

x

x

Save .gmax Files

x

Ring Array

x

x

Selection Modifiers

x

x

Sunlight

x

Patch/Spline Editing Modifiers

x

x

Utilities

Mesh Editing Modifiers

x

x

Asset Browser

x

x

Animation Modifiers

x

x

File Finder

x

x

UV Coordinates

x

x (no Camera map)

Resource Collector

x

x

Subdivision Surfaces

x

x (MeshSmooth only)

Assign Vertex Colors

x

x

Free-Form Deformers

x

x

UVW Remove

x

x

Parametric Deformers

x

x (not all included)

Map Path Editor

x

x

Surface

x

x (material only)

Reset Transform

x

x

NURBS Editing

x

Follow/Bank

x

x

Polygon Counter

x

x

MAXScript

x

x

Visual MAXScript

x

x

Camera Tracker

x

Camera Match

x

Motion Capture

x

Rescale World Units

x

Collapse

x

Other Utilities

x

[hairyspin]

There's other differences not listed there: MaxScript in Gmax has file and directory writing / creation disabled.

[Milton Shupe]

There's other differences not listed there: MaxScript in Gmax has file and directory writing / creation disabled.

I don't know Tom, this is referring to 3DS Max v4 and is from the HELP text in Gmax so I assumed it was comprehensive. :-)

It's just not a feature I was aware of that I was missing. Darn! LOL

[tgibson]

Another difference is that in MAX you can select multiple objects and use UVW Unwrap to display them on the texture. In GMAX you can only select one object at a time and have it display properly. I don't know if this is true for all versions of MAX though.

[hairyspin]

That's true for Max 2008 and newer only.

[tgibson]

Good to know, thanks.