I know people mentioned issues with the licensing services, trying to run 3D StudioMax using bootcamp... I am having the same problem. Did anybody manage to get around this and run 3DS Max on their Mac Intel ?
I talked w/ autodesk and they said as of now there is no fix...they do know about it...but there are no plans to fix as of now. They guy did suggest purchasing a server license and that some people had been lucky getting that to work for some reason but i can barely afford my student license so for now I'm still trying to find a fix w/ no luck
Autodesk seriously needs to release 3D Studio MAX for Mac OSX because there are PLENTY of people who would buy it the moment it is released (me being one of them)...
I would put money on there being less than 5% of 3ds max user market actually using a mac (even now) so from an economic standpoint it would probably cost more to convert than the money they would make.
Hey, I just wanted to share some info on this topic. I am running 3ds max on a macbook pro 2.4 2gig and its running just fine. I've had many issues with this like the previously described license problems both via boot camp and parrallels. But I didn't encounter this license problem in VMware Fusion. And even with version 1.x.x it did support direct3D. It was kind of buggy (resizing veiwports would cause them to fail all together; unity would cause the viewports also to crash) but it worked.
But now with the 2.0 update of fusion its runs better. Resizing viewports isn't a problem anymore but in unity they still crash. Wireframe and shaded+wireframe viewing is greatly improved and the viewport response seems better.
I have a dual screen setup in fusion and everything works on BOTH views. I would not recommend using both cpu cores because osx will slow down significantly when you do.
I hope this helps some people out.
Yes, with Fusion you run XP (or vista or ubuntu) at the same time as osx. You are able to switch back and forth between mac apps and windows apps. In unity you can use windows apps as if they where mac apps. However, if you run 3ds max in unity, you will lose your viewports. But it works absolutely fine in a window.
I have experienced the license problem in bootcamp as well as parrallels. I have a bootcamp partition with xp installed (and a bunch of games which run remarkably well). And I have a VMware Fusion XP install which I use to run 3Ds max. Only when I use this install I don't get the broken license problem. With this problem I got a constand broken license, I can't run max at all with this problem. But it doesn't occur in Fusion.
Note that this is my experience and it may very well be different for other users.
Hey, I run an individual license. I just discovered something awkward in 3ds max under fusion though. It is that if you have set your viewport rendering driver to direct3d; particles won't show up in viewports. In renders they look fine ofcourse and in opengl and software rendering they also show up correctly. I don't normally use particles so I found this out just now but if you must use them in conjunction with really complex models it is kind of annoying.
Anyway, don't let your choice on phurchasing a MBP only depend on my advise. I am biased by the fact that I already own one and use it with great pleasure. I sure do recommend buying one but if you can't afford or do not really need one it is probably not a good idea because in the end windows machines still run 3ds max better then macs. But then again, that might be the only drawback.
well, i don't think particles will be a big deal. i actually just started using 3ds max about a month ago. i design skateparks and i doesn't use 3ds max to its full ability or anywhere close, so i don't think particles will come into play. they gave me a pc laptop that runs it fine, but i travel a lot and already use a powerbook, so i'm going to get a macbook pro so i don't have to carry around two computers. and i can't stand pc's, i like innovation. hah. plus its really heaving in a backpack with another laptop.
thank you for all your help though. if you think of anything else i might need to know, well, just let me know. cheers!
I cant see why anyone would want this workflow with Max? Since 3DSR4 to Max present most serious Max'rs can run it fine on sub-par systems. Unless of course your doing huge archi billion poly data-setsvista 64 + 3dsmax = SUCKS on Mac pro 2008
try WIN XP 64 ..better performance