Autodesk 3ds Max 2024.1comes with a series of improvements and enhancements. Let's what is new:

BOOLEAN MODIFIERS IMPROVEMENTS

The release contains several Boolean modifier improvements, including a new caching method, support for normals, and various bug fixes.

New Boolean Caching Method
A new caching method has been added to the Boolean Modifier. Boolean result meshes are now saved with the scene file, which makes subsequent loading of boolean scenes up to 7x faster.

Support for Normals
The Boolean Modifier now fully supports smoothing groups, specified normals, and explicit normals that can exist on input boolean operands. When these types of operands are used in the boolean operations, the smoothing and normal data contained in the operands is now processed and included in the boolean result meshes created by the modifier.

ARRAY MODIFIER UPDATES

New Array By Element methods are now included in all of the Array modifier Distribution Rollouts, giving you greater control over the arrangement of elements. Additionally, you can use the new Variation parameter to adjust the angle of clones in your phyllotactic spirals.

Array by Element Parameters
Previously, if a source object had multiple elements and Array By Element was enabled, each element was randomly used as a clone. Now, two new Array By Element methods let you control how elements are arranged. You can select the following methods from any of the Distribution Rollouts (Grid, Radial, Spline, Surface, or Phyllotaxis):

• First, Middle, Last: The first and last elements are used once, at the beginning and end of the array. The remaining elements are arranged randomly. 
• Ordered: The order of the elements is repeated based on a selected orientation (X, Y, Z, or Clone ID).

CREATE CUSTOM DEFAULTS

User-defined defaults now available through the context menus in the UI. You can now set user-defined default settings (that were previously only available through Maxscript) directly in the UI to customize attributes in many spinners, check boxes, radio buttons, text fields, drop down menus, and colors. These are the two new parameters:

• Set as New Default takes the current parameter value and sets it as default. This change persists not only for the current session, but remains the default until you change or reset it. You can return to this new default value with the existing Use Default (Ctrl + right-click) that is already in the right-click menu. 
• Use the new "Restore to Factory Default" right-click option to revert to the original default values.

ANIMATION CONTROLLER IMPROVEMENTS

Copy and Paste Animation no longer require matching controllers to be accessible through the right-click Context Menu. 3ds Max now assigns the correct controller, enabling the Copy and Paste workflow to operate as expected through the right-click Context Menu. You can now Copy, and then Paste - Copy (or Paste - Instance) directly from an object or modifier parameter in the main UI, or Controllers in the Track View without first preparing the data. This improvement simplifies Animation and Modeling workflows for moving and linking data together between parameters, controllers, or different objects. The UI controls Context Menu has also been updated so there are now Assign Controller and Reset to Default Control options. This new unified system lets you also see the controller parameter that you are copying and pasting.

SMART EXTRUDE IMPROVEMENTS

These are the updates that have been made to the Smart Extrude workflow: 

• When performing Smart Extrude operations on an Editable Poly object, modelers can take advantage of new polygon smoothing that is applied to the resulting faces. 
• When performing a positive Smart Extrude that is co-planar to the original polygon surfaces, like extending the top polygon of a cylinder, 3ds Max tries to use the existing normals of neighboring faces on the new faces extruded with Smart Extrude, creating a smoothed result. 
• When using Smart Extrude to create new geometry from an inward or outward extrusion, faces that are not planar to the previously existing geometry are automatically smoothed if they are within 30 degrees of tolerance from one another. This result is similar to applying a Smooth Modifier with an angle threshold of 30 degrees.

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