Moving Assets into Autodesk 3DSMax

Introduction and Import

We will use the file created in the “Illustrating the export/import process” section to illustrate how to get your MakeHuman ready for use in Autodesk 3DSMax.

Autodesk 3DSMax has two types of units: “system units” and “display units”. By default, Autodesk uses inches as its “system units”. It is essential that 3DSMax “system units” be set to their FINAL value BEFORE importing any asset. Once set, do not change them again for that scene. If a 1 cubic foot cube object is imported, and then the system units are changed from inches to meters, the cube will become 1 cubic meter in volume.

The use of imperial inches as system units can complicate the process of FBX export/import, but if you export from MakeHuman using inches and import into 3DSMax using “automatic settings”, things should work well. [edit RWB: this needs rechecking after finalizing MH unit handing for FBX]. This is the straight forward approach for architectural work in the U.S. where imperial units are common. The Autodesk web site discourages changing the system units of 3DSMax from default, but makes an explicit exception when importing assets from sources constructed using metric dimensions ( ).

If you are importing many metric objects into 3DSMax from other programs, it may make sense to change your “system units” to either centimeters or meters, and export your MakeHuman character in FBX format with the corresponding units. System units and Display units in Autodesk 3DSMax can be accessed from the Customize | Customization | Unit Setup menu: