I was alerted to this bit of news from the Ken Pimentel "Maxed Out" blog on the 'Area' website by Louis Marcoux who was thoughtfull enough to put the notice on his Facebook page stating: "Anybody interested in 3ds Max should attend this webinar...It's a sneak peak at the future of 3ds Max. And the future is exciting." Ken Pimentel is the Director of Visual Communication Solutions within Autodesk's Media & Entertainment division, responsible for guiding 3ds Max.

from the blog:
Join Autodesk Product Management and Development for a special webcast where we’ll unveil our plans for Project Excalibur (XBR). XBR is a restructuring of 3ds Max that is intended to occur over three phases. It addresses fundamental improvements in workflow, UI, and performance. 3ds Max 2010 is part of Phase I, and elements of XBR in the release include the visual quality of the viewport, the use of metasl, and new UIs. 3ds Max 2010 was a launching pad for XBR, but there’s still much more to come. Attend this webcast and get a sneak peak at the future of 3ds Max.

This 90 minute webinar is scheduled only forJanuary 27th and is only availabe at 9AM, 5PM and 8PM EST. This session will not be repeated. We apologize in advance if you can't make these times.

Because of financial accounting reasons they will not be able to talk about specific features being delivered. The line in the blog that I found most disturbing was: "If you're attending to learn what the next release might have, you will be dissapointed because we cannot even confirm the existance of a future release"

For more information, and to register for the webinar, go to Ken Pimentel's Maxed Out Blog on Autodesk's Area website.