What Is gmax?

gmax is a special version of 3ds max 4 designed for use by the producers and players of video games. It includes the majority of features found in 3ds max 4 that are useful to the developers of real-time video games. 3ds max 4 features have been removed that are not required or supported for real-time game production.

gmax allows the professional video game producer to supply video game players with a free version of gmax to modify their video game. gmax is enabled for use with a particular game via a Game Pack that is published and distributed for gmax by licensed game developers.

Who is gmax For?

gmax is intended to be used by two distinct groups of gamers: professional game producers, and gamer enthusiasts who want to modify their video game characters, vehicles, terrain, weapons, or animation.

For the Professional Games Developer

Professional game producers can use their copies of gmax to model and texture characters and levels. They can also use gmax to animate using either forward or inverse kinematics. They can create bone structures, rig characters with two-bone IK chains, and animate using constraints.

For the Video Game Player

Gaming enthusiasts will be able to use gmax to customize and personalize their game play. They can build and export animated 3D characters, vehicles, weapons, and terrains, directly to real-time 3D game formats.

What is the Difference Between gmax and 3ds max 4?

gmax is a subset of 3ds max 4. It contains the majority of the features for modeling and animating. Features for rendering and compositing and effects production have been removed. Materials that are not applicable to video games have been removed as well. The complex material editor in 3ds max 4 has been replaced with a simplified material editor in gmax.

Feature	3ds max 4	gmax
Modeling
Primitive Objects	x	x (except Pyramid)
Extended Primitives	x
Patch Modeling	x	x
Surface Tools	x	x
Spline Tools	x	x (except Section)
Editable Mesh	x	x
Editable Poly	x	x
Editable Spline	x	x
Lattice Deformations (FFDs)	x	x
NURBS Modeling	x
Loft Objects	x	x
Boolean Objects	x	x
ShapeMerge Objects	x	x
Morph Objects	x	x
Connect Objects	x	x
Conform Objects	x
Scatter Objects	x
Terrain Objects	x
Mesher Objects	x
Animation
Track View	x	x
Track Bar	x	x
Time Slider	x	x
Animate Button	x	x
VCR Playback Controls	x	x
Function Curve Editing	x	x
Constraints	x	x
Interactive IK	x	x
Applied IK	x	x
HI IK Solver	x
HD IK Solver	x
IK Limb Solver	x	x
Dynamics	x
Particles	x
Space Warps	x
Schematic View	x
User Interface
Customizable UI	x	x
MAXScript Recordable Tools	x	x
Tab Panel	x	x (off by default)
Viewport Backgrounds	x	x (no animated backgrounds)
Keyboard Shortcuts	x	x
Materials
Texture Mapping	x	x
Self-illumination Mapping	x	x
Opacity Mapping	x	x
Bump Mapping	x	x
Multi/sub-object Materials	x	x
Glossiness Mapping	x	x
Shaders	x
Reflection Mapping	x
Raytrace Materials	x
Displacement Mapping	x
Drag and Drop Textures	x	x
Material Libraries	x	x
Effects Production
Environment Mapping	x
Atmospherics	x
Particles	x
Rendering and Compositing
Render to Still Image	x
Render to Animation	x
Video Post	x
Lights and Cameras
Omni Lights	x	x
Spotlights	x	x
Shadow Casting	x	x
Direct Lights	x	x
Target Cameras	x	x
Free Cameras	x	x
Camera Rendering
Save .max Files	x	x
Save .gmax Files	x	x
Selection Modifiers	x	x
Patch/Spline Editing Modifiers	x	x
Mesh Editing Modifiers	x	x
Animation Modifiers	x	x
UV Coordinates	x	x (no Camera map)
Subdivision Surfaces	x	x (MeshSmooth only)
Free-Form Deformers	x	x
Parametric Deformers	x	x (not all included)
Surface	x	x (material only)
NURBS Editing	x
Systems
Bones	x	x
Ring Array	x	x
Sunlight	x
Utilities
Asset Browser	x	x
File Finder	x	x
Resource Collector	x	x
Assign Vertex Colors	x	x
UVW Remove	x	x
Map Path Editor	x	x
Reset Transform	x	x
Follow/Bank	x	x
Polygon Counter	x	x
MAXScript	x	x
Visual MAXScript	x	x
Camera Tracker	x
Camera Match	x
Motion Capture	x
Rescale World Units	x
Collapse	x
Other Utilities	x