3ds Max Product Manager, Eddie Perlberg, Discusses The Software's Future

At SIGGRAPH last week, Autodesk interviewed its own 3ds Max product manager, Eddie Perlberg, to discuss the software's future and to address the much anticipated announcements at this year's conference. Perlberb, who has 20 years working with 3ds Max has served as product manager for almost a year now. One important point he emphasized was the quality of the design, development, and marketing teams that are leading the future of 3ds Max. He noted that bringing back veteran 3ds Max designer Tom Hudson to help was key in creating the new upgrades, which include subdiv surfaces, an Alembic interchange, and improved shader effects. "Tom's addition to the team has been amazing," Perlberg states, "It's really like having Merlin joining a number of wizards and guiding us. [Tom] brings history... excitement, and...knowledge." Perlberg emphasized that these initial upgrades represent top customer requests and are only the beginning of more to come. “This is only the start. The ability for this team to bring in the number one requested user voice items is only our first offering. It’s an example of how we’re working on 3ds Max and really listening to customer needs…and getting those to [customer] as fast as possible,” he states. Other upgrades are scheduled to be released during Autodesk University Conference in late November. 3ds Max's product manager also addressed some of the communication issues surrounding the software's upgrades. The new 3ds Max team now sports a robust and excited marketing team that working on facilitating communication with customers. "The reality is they're excited to bring [customers] the message. When people talk about the past of 3ds Max, one of the concerns was 'We don't hear about it.' Now...to have a group of people that are excited to bring [customers] that message...really is a bringing together of a lot of great energy." During the interview, Perlberg refers to a "sneak peek" video in which Mitch Gates from FuseFX and Darren Cranford from Keyframe praise the software's ability to execute quality visuals quickly. This kind of effectiveness-meets-speed is what Perlberg and his team are hoping will motivate studios to choose 3ds Max. With deadlines getting shorter and projects even larger these days, this focus seems right on target for the current market demands. With discussion boards lighting up around news and feature upgrades, it seems that Perlberg and his 3ds Max team have the experience and knowledge to protect the future of the 3D software and this could be the start that he's talking about. Check out the full interview below and let us know what you think. It may be helpful to watch the "sneak peek" video first to get some perspective on Perlberg’s comments.