Autodesk Viz 2008 and 3ds max Design 2009: What’s the Difference?

With Autodesk Viz being discontinued (Viz 2008 being the last version) and 3ds Max Design 2009 being announced as its replacement, the question arises: What’s the difference between the two?

Here is a list of the major differences between Autodesk Viz 2008 and 3ds Max Design 2009:

3ds Max Design has free, unlimited integrated mental ray rendering software. Viz 2008 requires a license per seat.

3ds Max Design has up to 8 mental ray rendering satellites. Viz 2008 is limited to 2 satellites.

3ds Max Design has integrated mental ray rendering support for up to 512 cores. Viz 2008 is limited to 4 cores.

3ds Max Design has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Viz is limited to only a 32-bit version.

3ds Max Design has Review viewport improvements that allow you to preview real-time shadows, photometric lights, Arch & Design materials, and sun/sky system directly in the viewport. Viz requires you to render the scene to see these features.

3ds Max Design has 10 times the performance gains over Viz for scenes composed of tens of thousands of objects.

3ds Max Design has the new Reveal iterative rendering optimizations for mental ray that allow faster rendering of incremental changes or specific regions and objects.

3ds Max Design has enhanced DWG workflow with new memory management for handling large scenes, improved normal and material support from Revit DWG files, and new material support for DWG Solids.

3ds Max Design has the new Recognize scene loading technology for interoperability with Revit Architecture 2009, allowing cameras, geometry, materials and lights to be easily imported.

3ds Max Design has the new Exposure lighting analysis technology for assisting in LEED 8.1 certification.

3ds Max Design has ProBooleans (enhanced Boolean modeling tools).

3ds Max Design has the Scene Explorer for managing scenes with thousands of objects and exposing Revit metadata for objects imported from Revit.

3ds Max Design has a fully-rigged character animation system and library of motions (Biped).

3ds Max Design has particle systems for realistic water, smoke and special effects.

3ds Max Design has the Reactor real-time physics system.

3ds Max Design has the Cloth system for banners, curtains and clothes.

3ds Max Design has the Hair system for grass, fur and hair.

3ds Max Design allows sub-object animation (deformable vertices).