Academia

Autodesk 3ds Max Design
Autodesk 3ds Max Design provides a comprehensive, integrated rendering, 3D modeling, and animation software solution for architects, designers, civil engineers, and visualization specialists to help tell the story behind their designs.

• Rapid iteration of designs—With interoperability with the AutoCAD®, Revit®, and Autodesk® Inventor® software product families, 3ds Max Design enables users to experience non-destructive workflows when upstream changes occur. The software also supports more than 30 2D and 3D data formats.
• Accurate daylight analysis—3ds Max Design is one of the tools validated by the CNRC for the simulation and analysis of indirect and daylight effects. In addition, direct lighting can be explored in real-time in the viewport.
• High-impact visuals—Technology proven in the entertainment industry enables designers and visualization specialists to create cinematic-quality imagery using:
  • An industry-leading polygon modeling toolset
  • Out-of-the-box animation, character, and effects tools
  • Network rendering with mental ray

 

32-Bit 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Windows
Operating system: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system, Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business operating system (SP2 or higher) or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional operating system (SP3 or higher)
For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):
Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology*
2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended)**
3 GB free hard drive space
Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9 or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB or higher recommended)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
DVD-ROM drive††
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 8.0 internet browser or higher or Mozilla® Firefox® 3.0 internet browser or higher
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk® Subscription-aware access

64-Bit 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Windows
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64, Microsoft Windows Vista Business x64 (SP2 or higher) or Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 (SP3 or higher)
For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):
Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended)**
3 GB free hard drive space
Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9 or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB recommended)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
DVD-ROM drive††
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access
For large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):
Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
8 GB RAM
8 GB swap space**
3 GB free hard drive space
Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9 or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (1 GB or higher video card memory)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
DVD-ROM drive††
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Macintosh
Boot Camp
You can install Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design 2012 software on a Mac® computer on a Windows® partition. The system must use Boot Camp® application program to help manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.
Intel®-based Mac Pro or MacBook® Pro computer¹
Mac® OS X 10.5.x or higher operating system
Boot Camp V 2.0 or higher
Minimum 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended for 32-bit Windows, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows)
Minimum 20 GB disk space for Apple OS partition, minimum 20 GB for Windows OS partition

Mac Virtualisation on Parallels Desktop
Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design 2012 can be used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop® for Mac software without having to boot directly into the Windows OS so it is easy to switch between platforms. The system must meet the following requirements:
Intel-based Mac Pro or MacBook Pro¹
Mac OS X 10.5.x or higher
Parallels Desktop 4.0 (4.0.3844 or higher)²
Minimum 4 GB RAM (6 GB system memory for 32-bit Windows, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows recommended)
Minimum 40 GB available disk space (100 GB recommended)
For more details, read the 3ds Max for Mac FAQ.
¹64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core® 2 Duo or Intel® Xeon® processor.
²Parallels Desktop is the only supported virtual machine software at this time.