Older 3ds Max scenes compatible with newer versions?

[labontefanboy]

I am a high-school student and am looking to obtain a free 3-year student license for 3dx Max so I can start rendering by myself. Long story short, I can choose from the 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 versions of 3ds Max. I've noticed that many of the scenes available here for download are for older versions of 3ds Max, so will I still be able to open them in a newer version, and which version should I get if that is the case?

I tried searching through these forums but could only find limited answers and some of them didn't make sense to me. I'm a total newbie at this stuff, so I don't really understand what Brazil and V-Ray and I-Ray and Mental Ray are. If someone could give a brief overview without going into the nitty gritty details, that would be much appreciated.

 

[Alan Harkleroad]

Yes older scenes are compatible with newer versions of 3DS Max.

Rendering engines are different. By default all 3DS 2011 and up comes with Scan line and Mental Ray. I-Ray and V-Ray come in 2012/2013/2014 editions. And each version of them is different. Example: The Mental Ray engine in 2012 is not the same as 2013. So once you build a scene in 2012 for example with Mental Ray for 2012 it's not backward compatible.

Brazil is optional, really big with 3DS Max 9 originally, and then came Rio or Brazil 2. Not sure what version they are up to, but the render engines that come with 3DS are better in my opinion stick with them. Mental Ray is the most common as far as the community is concerned.

 

[labontefanboy]

Thanks for the breakdown Alan, appreciate it.

 

[Alan Harkleroad]

No problem. I am a noob when it comes to 3DS Max in comparison to many in the community. Just things I have learned through my uses over the last few years. If you want more on version specific stuff I would talk to these people.


- Matt O' here at SRD
- TOUGH or Smoke over at Team Om3ga
- KingDa at Bullring
- Denis Rioux or Iceman at DMR
- Todd (Quick-Model) regardless of your thoughts on him, his render stuff has always been clean and well presented.

Those are just some of the guys off the top of my head that do alot with 3DS that I would talk to. They can give you better pro's and cons of versions and so forth.

 

[Rogue]

I have brazil 2.1 Professional which if I remember is the last version. It works with 3ds max 2010/2011.....But It is not as user friendly as brazil 1. Scenes made In max 2013 can be saved for earlier versions, but I think that is limited to max 2010 at the earliest. I do not know anything of 3ds max 2014. i do not have it.