Virtalis has been busy creating a way to move data developed in Autodesk 3ds Max into software commonly encountered powering advanced visualization environments and back again, since joining the AutoDesk Developers’ Network earlier this year. Now complete, Virtalis is launching its MaxExchange software, a plug-in for Autodesk 3ds Max. It allows models created in 3ds Max to be easily translated into software like Virtalis’ own renderer, Visionary Render, or PTC’s DIVISION MockUp without any loss of data or formatting. Similarly, the Virtual Reality (VR) models can move in the opposite direction and be translated into Autodesk 3ds Max. Virtalis MaxExchange is an advance that will enable fast creation of high visual quality content for VR installations across the world. A Virtalis MaxExchange licence costs from £4,000 British Pounds ($6340 US Dollars).
One of the early beta testers of Virtalis MaxExchange is the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) with Boeing. The AMRC is a world-class centre of advanced machining and materials research for aerospace and other high-value manufacturing sectors. It is a partnership between industry and academia, and has become a model for research centers worldwide.
Dr Rab Scott, head of Virtual Reality and Simulation at the AMRC, said: "3ds Max is so widely used for modeling, animation, and rendering, so we have long dreamt of a system that would preserve our geometry, material files, and animations without the need for any intermediate steps. Virtalis MaxExchange will form a significant part of a general movement to make 3D easier for everyone. There is no question the market for VR is growing and the easier we make it, the more accessible and useful it becomes. We are using Virtalis MaxExchange as the link between 3ds Max and VR. We are able to bring everything together in one format, simply and quickly. This means we can use the same VR environment for assembly, for factory layout and for simulation.”
Richard Davies, head of the Virtalis Development Team, commented: “MaxExchange is all about increasing productivity and improving advanced simulation. By facilitating a data exchange with AutoDesk 3ds Max using Virtalis MaxExchange, we are tapping into a leading software modeling package whose users span the globe. AutoDesk has made it very easy to work with their native data to create this product and the result is we’ve created a very robust, reliable product that does exactly what we wanted it to do.”