Autodesk has announced new tools for Maya, 3ds Max 2025 and its cloud-based 'Make & Design' platform Autodesk Flow that will save you time and enable greater creativity. connected workflows and time-saving new toolsets.
Today's new update includes a new Smart Extrude tool, Motion Trail Editor, and an entirely redesigned Dope Sheet for Maya; in 3ds Max you can now speed up your work with new Retopology tools. (If you're new to this software, read our guide to the best 3D modelling software and our list of the best laptops for animation.)
If you're a 3D modeller or animator then Maya's new Smart Extrude tool, Motion Trail Editor, and a redesigned Dope Sheet will catch the eye. In 3ds Max, artists can achieve better results even faster with improvements to tools like Retopology.
"Media and entertainment professionals truly represent creativity and grit. At Autodesk, it's our job to fuel their success with better workflows so they can continue to craft incredible stories," says Ben Fischler, director of product management, content creation, at Autodesk. "Today's updates reinforce our commitment to enabling our customers to collaborate better and work smarter by supporting open standards, strengthening our content creation tools, and unifying workflows and data across entire production pipelines."
Highlights of today's Maya and 3ds Max updates, as detailed by Autodesk:
- Smart Extrude in Maya Extrude faces on a mesh in a predictable way with a new Smart Extrude tool and eliminate the need to handle messy geometry.
- Retopology enhancements in 3ds Max Speed improvements when optimising asset geometry with Retopology 1.5.
- Redesigned Dope Sheet in Maya A redesigned Dope Sheet, including the ability to create and flip between sets of commonly used animation controls.
- Motion Trail Editor in Maya Reduce mouse travel and clicks with access to everything motion trail-related in a new, single spot.
- Global Search in 3ds Max This displays a list of tools, functions, commands and settings when you press 'X' in the viewport.
- GPU Renderer An overhauled GPU Renderer in Arnold, bringing multiple improvements in startup time and rendering speed.
The new procedural updates to Bifrost for Maya:
- Bifrost Ocean Simulation System (BOSS) Reduce mouse clicks with procedural ocean simulation with BOSS, now integrated into the Bifrost graph, supporting 2D foam simulations and geometry displacement for waves.
- Liquid meshing Streamline content creation with in-graph liquid meshing tools in the Bifrost graph. This modular compound is designed to work with imported.bif caches from Bifrost liquids in Maya.
As for Autodesk Flow, this cloud-based platform is getting improved functions to help studios connect artists across the VFX and animation pipeline. The ShotGrid is being Flow Production Tracking and Moxion is now renamed Flow Capture; not that spectacular, but the renaming ushers in some new features that Flow users will find an improvement over the previous tools.
Flow Capture offers a new 'intuitive UI' aimed at speeding up workflows and easier connectivity to tools like Avid Media Composer. While Flow Production Tracking now includes new AI-powered scheduling tools to improve workflows.
For more on the latest updates to Autodesk's animation and VFX tools, including updates to OpenColorIO support in 3ds Max, LookdevX refinements in Maya and OpenUSD improvements, head over to the Autodesk website and click through to your preferred software, whether that's Maya, 3ds Max or Arnold.
