Gmax, no longer Autodesk/descreet. Can we use it now?

#1 You can make exporters etc by reverse engineering for GMax, only if Autodesk no longer provide/licence this information.

So, if they have dropped the sparks programme, it should be good to go.

#2 One would have to contact TurboSquid to see what their licensing entails. Right now it seems that it is still licensed as a GamePak tool, but that may simply be an artifact. The key lies in whether or not TurboSquid has full rights to the software and any additions to it or if they have simply negotiated a means of distribution to keep it alive.

#3 Sorry guys but gMax is still not an option.

The software might not have any new versions or updates provided to it by Autodesk, but it is still their property and it is still governed by their liscense rules and restrictions. Distribution of gMax is now exclusively handled by Turbosquid, who is handling all the liscensing and support questions for the software. Turbosquid does not own the software or the code, this is still owned by Autodesk.

If you want to make a gamepak for gMax that you are going to distribute then you must get a liscense to do this and Turbosquid would be the company that you would need to talk to. You would also need to own a copy of 3DS Max in order to develop said plug-in (and most likely 3DS Max 4 since this is the code base that gMax is built from). You would also need to own a copy of Flash to build the custom UI too.

As an interesting side note, you can load existing gMax modules into 3DS Max 4.

#4 Waaay ahead here (for a change).

www.turbosquid.com/Forum/Index.cfm/stgAct/PostList/intThreadID/18781

#5 Man that autodesk website sucks compared to the old discreet site.

GG should ask Autodesk for a good indy price deal. Help a brother out :)

#6 Actually GarageGames has checked in on this a few times and unfortunately the liscensing cost was too prohibative to really make it worth their while to consider.

To be perfectly honest though even if a blue moon came and Autodesk said "ok let's cut a deal so that a bunch of Indies that have yet to proove their worth can use gMax in their games" I would honestly have to question the sanity of GarageGames if they went and made a gMax module for Torque. Why? Well the answer is simple, gMax is based on Max 4 and for those of you that don't work in the 3D market, that code is about six years old now, there is no support from Autodesk for the bugs or issues that it has, features have been crippled, other features are kinda lackluster (lets face it Max 4 was at best an average release, not like Max 5 thru 8) and it would be a general pain in the ass to deal with and a waste of resources to support.

#7 Point I was making, is if they dont licence the info to make the modules to export/import, you can make your own.

If it has been dropped, its a free tool. If not, well, Silo looks good, but I'm probably going to get Modo anyway. Export through Milkshape, and I'm good to go.

Cheers.

#8 And, like Radiant, you can have legal entanglements if you choose to use it as a commercial modeling package. But them not choosing to talk about such things is not a legal justification for using someone else's IP. Of course, if you never want to make money, using something like gMax and Radiant to do your TGE work would be rather nice...albeit, horribly old technology in terms of gMax. Of course, in that case, pirating Max would give you a better workflow and at least you would know the legality...

I don't know if gMax had any animation capabilities, but I know that Silo and Modo do not.

#9 I cant animate, and would rather leave that to someone who can... :-)

You are quite right however that it will mainly be of use to people learning, and not commercial types, and that is its value if it is available free. No pirating, no IP theft. Just an entry level tool for hobbyists. I guess I sound like I'm trying to champion it's use, I'm not.

Quote:
Autodesk grants to you a personal, nonexclusive license to make and use the Software for the
purpose of designing, developing, testing, and producing game content provided that you are the
only individual or entity using said Software and provided that you do not modify or alter the
Software.

I should have maybe mentioned that the licence does state it is for personal use, I'm not entirely clear on whether that includes content created with it, though I dont think it is. It was mainly limited in that to get your content into a game, you had to have an exporter, and the info to do so was licenced for a fee.

Please point out where I am going wrong if you think I am, I'm no leagle eagle, so I may be wrong.

#10 The best free tool i know of and use is still Blender.
It's a pain to grasp all the shortcuts, but everthing you could want is about 2 steps from what your working on, unlike most other programs where its buried in a menu system.
Oh, and Blender exports into Torque :)

#11 If they succeed in getting a Max like interface on Blender, as I know some people are trying, it will be a winner I think.