3ds Max 2009 New Features: General and Miscellaneous

ViewCube Navigation
The new ViewCube navigation system is an on-screen, cube-shaped UI element that provides feedback about the current viewing angle in relation to model world coordinates. You can directly click on a face or rotate the ViewCube by clicking and dragging in order to change the view.

SteeringWheels Navigation
A new camera interface.

Edit Soft Selection
When using soft selection, you can interactively manipulate falloff, pinch and bubble directly on the screen. The cursor changes to indicate which values are being affected, and feedback is given directly on the object.

Enhanced Windows Vista Support
3ds Max now supports the Windows Vista Aero interface.

Object Metadata
Support has been added for object-level metadata. Metadata objects can be interactively created and populated with properties by the user through MaxScript and the SDK (Software Development Kit).

.NET Support
Support for .NET allows programmers to use Microsoft's high-level UI APIs to extend, for example, the Scene Explorer. The 3ds Max 2009 SDK ships with sample .NET code and documentation showing developers how they can take advantage of the development tools.