At the end of this month Autodesk will be releasing some very interesting Advantage Pack for 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design to those who have a subscription to those software packages. Thes will include substance procedural textures, PhysX rigid-body dynamics, and the one we were waiting for since we first reported on it back in January of this year the iray photorealistic renderer.

According to what I've read and heard about the iray renderer (from mental images) is that it's kind of like a point and shoot camera. It progressively refines the image until you end up with a very photorealistic rendering. After choosing iray as your renderer in Max the one, and only rendering tab is so striped down that there are only a few decisions you have to make. It is the world’s first physically correct, interactive photo realistic rendering solution.

I don't mean to short change the other wonderful additions that this Subscription Advantage Pack is adding to 3ds Max 2011, I'm just very excited about this renderer. As the news release states; this technology is leveraging the latest hardware advances. So be aware that your video card has to be in the higher end spectrum.

The substance procedural textures look like a great addition also. These are 'smart map type' supporting procedural materials. This is a whole new way of thinking about materials. This looks like one I'll be using a lot.

The PhysX rigid-body dynamics should also be a handy tool for many. Using the NVIDIA PhysX engine we'll be able to create dynamic rigid-body simulations directly in the viewport. It reminds me of the RayFire tool - I'm not saying it's exactly the same but it does seem, at first glance, to be based on similar approach.

Go over to the Area and check out Ken Pimentel's Maxed Out blog and read more details and watch the demo videos you'll find there.