Max.NET is a .NET CLR wrapper for 3d Studio Max's (3dsmax) software development kit (SDK).
It allows developers to write tools for 3dsmax in a managed and reflective environment using any of the common .NET
languages such as
C#, VB.net, J#, and C++/CLI. Moreover it provides access to all of the classes and their members accessible to normal
unmanaged SDK.
This carries a number of benefits over traditional development procedures, which include:
- The obvious benefits of using a managed language: garbage collection prevents serious memory bugs, ability to use reflection, integration with the rest of the .NET framework, and much better IDE support.
- Plugins compiled are forward and backward compatible: the interface assembly they link to doesn't depend on MaxDotNet implementation
- Plugins compiled are x86/x64 platform neutral: compiled IL code is platform neutral by definition
- Built-in SDK documentation: All of the 3dsmax interfaces used contain full documentation extracted from 3dsmax docs
- Unit testing and remote execution: Included remoting framework, along with .NET's great support for remoting allows all plugins and 3dsmax scenes to be unit-tested straight from the IDE, providing a very agile approach to tools development
- Dynamic loading/unloading of assemblies inside 3dsmax: I have added this feature to be able to not to restart 3dsmax once changes are done to a plugin. MaxDotNet simply re-loads the modified assemblies with the current scene so that testing/development can be continued un-interrupted.
Tutorials
Licensing
- Max.NET is available for non-commercial use under GNU General Public License. Please note that this license carries no waranties about the code or its function.
-
Commercial licenses for Max.Net 1.x, which remove all restrictions, are available for
USD$675 per 5 seats of 3d Studio Max.
These include 5 hours of support (per license) for any integration or issues that you might
come across as well as all
the (non-redistributable) source code and debug builds for your convenience.
Further support and consulting will be provided on demand. - Development licenses are also available upon request. These licenses allow developers to write and sell commercial tools that run using the Max.Net framework.







