max.js

max.js is a 3ds Max plugin that embeds a Three.js viewport through WebView2. Accelerated with shared buffers and compatible with modern 3ds Max workflows, it turns Autodesk 3ds Max into a seamless Three.js work environment.

Architecture is split between viewer and standalone into two optimized paths: the fully featured live viewer inside 3ds Max for authoring and the Snapshot Builder that builds a heavily optimized version of what you see in the viewer. Further optimizations can be made after export.

It does not export the advanced post processing stack yet. But it is coming soon!

Features

• Fast Sync using native callbacks, shared buffer binary deltas.
• Three.js Renderer with WGL2, WebGPU and WebGPU with forced WebGL.
• ActiveShade can directly embed into 3ds Max viewport. Uses a custom workaround instead of Autodesk's API so it does not lag or choke 3ds Max down.
• Snapshot Builder exports your scene to a deployable website in one click, with optimized packed geometry, copied assets, runtime layers, camera/look state, lighting, materials, animation, and standalone viewer files ready to host.
• Programmable (ctx) — edit the live synced scene via ctx.maxScene (transforms, visibility, queries) and add JS-owned objects via ctx.js, wired from project.maxjs.json and inlines/*.js.
• PostFX includes SSGI, SSR, Bloom, Toon and much more. See full list below.
• Materials Huge material coverage including automatic translation of 3ds Max materials.

Quick Start

Starting the viewer: You can start the viewer via macroscripts in search menu called "max.js" or stop using "kill max.js"

Releasing project manifest: You must save your .max file and release the manifest using "Layers" menu to save your post processing and display settings.

Three.js Materials: All three.js materials and nodes will be registered to Material Editor including TSL, Toon, HTML and other ones.

Three.js Objects: In create menu you can find max.js objects like "Audio Origin" or "Splat Origin (spark)"

ActiveShade: Assign the three.js renderer in settings and start ActiveShade to embed the same WebView2 viewport in the Max viewport. This is a hack so expect it to go off view sometimes. Use the kill macroscript or restart via CTRL+SHIFT+R

Renderer

max.js exposes three stable viewer pipelines:

Mode	Purpose
WGL2	Simple WebGL2 compatibility path with a small safe FX stack. Comes with the experimental pathtracer mode.
WebGPU	Main advanced renderer path for the full max.js FX stack. Supports forcing WebGL.

Scene Data

Geometry

• Meshes, splines, and generated geometry with vertex color, normals and UV channels.
• Automatic instancing, includes Forest Pack and RailClone generated output.
• Gaussian splats through Spark.
• HTML loading as a texture or scene object. You can load webpages to viewer. (uses in-canvas API)

Materials

Supported Max materials are extracted into a portable PBR descriptor (materialModel, maps, scalars) and rebuilt in Three.js for the live viewer and snapshots.

3ds Max material	Synced model	Notes
Physical Material	MeshPhysicalMaterial	Autodesk physical shading path
OpenPBR Material	MeshPhysicalMaterial	OpenPBR field mapping
V-Ray Material	MeshPhysicalMaterial	Mapped fields only; unmapped inputs are ignored
glTF Material	MeshStandardMaterial → MeshPhysicalMaterial	Promoted when clearcoat, specular, transmission, volume, or IOR extensions are enabled
USD Preview Surface	MeshStandardMaterial → MeshPhysicalMaterial	Promoted when clearcoat is used or IOR ≠ 1.5
MaterialX	MaterialXMaterial	File path, inline export, or live graph
Standard / legacy	MeshLambertMaterial	Diffuse, opacity, self-illum, and common map slots
three.js Material	MeshStandardMaterial, MeshPhysicalMaterial, or MeshSSSNodeMaterial	Mode selected on the native max.js material
three.js Utility	MeshDepthMaterial, MeshLambertMaterial, MeshMatcapMaterial, MeshNormalMaterial, MeshPhongMaterial, MeshBackdropNodeMaterial	Per utility preset
three.js TSL	MeshTSLNodeMaterial	JS shader source and/or MaterialX compiler sub-slot
three.js Toon	MeshToonMaterial	Gradient, outline, and map slots
Shell Material	(first supported sub-material)	Walks Shell slots for a supported material above
Multi/Sub-Object	Per face/material ID	Emits per-group materials when mesh groups carry distinct IDs

Unsupported assignments fall back to the object wire color. TSL and MaterialX compile on the active renderer path (WebGPU or WGPU forced WebGL).

Textures

• UberBitmap.osl translation.
• Bitmap, video, HTML, and TSL code paths.
• MP4/WebM video textures.
• Bake override maps with _UV1 / _UV2 suffix routing and UV2 fallback.

Lights And Environment

Light Type	Shadows	Synced Parameters
Directional	Yes	color, intensity, bias, radius, map size
Point	Yes	color, intensity, distance, decay
Spot	Yes	color, intensity, distance, decay, angle, penumbra
Rect Area	No	color, intensity, width, height
Hemisphere	No	sky color, ground color, intensity
Ambient	No	color, intensity

Environment support includes HDRI, authored Three.js sky, geospatial atmosphere where supported, fog, camera clipping, and sky/sun linking.

PostFX

WebGPU and TSL_GL use the unified max.js PostFX controller. WGL2 uses webgl_basicfx.js, a smaller compatibility stack.

Stable viewer effects include:

• SSGI
• SSR
• GTAO
• TRAA
• Motion blur
• Bloom
• Depth of field
• Toon outline
• Contact shadows
• Volumetric/fog look controls
• Pixel, retro, CRT, film, color, exposure, and tone controls
• Shader Lab

Snapshots

Snapshots export a standalone web package from the current 3ds Max scene.

Exported snapshot folders can include:

• index.html seeded only when missing, so user-authored standalone edits are not overwritten.
• snapshot.html as the max.js-owned standalone runtime.
• snapshot.json scene metadata.
• scene.bin packed scene payload.
• scene_anim.bin optional binary animation payload.
• assets/ copied texture/media files.
• project.maxjs.json and inlines/ for scene-local runtime replay.
• postfx.maxjs.json for saved look state.
• vendor/ runtime dependencies.

Snapshot export preserves scene hierarchy, transforms, materials, textures, lights, shadows, camera state, environment, sky, fog, animation, splats, runtime layers, and selected viewer UI state. PostFX coming later.

max.js treats runtime files as plugin-owned and index.html as project-owned. Re-exporting should refresh the runtime and scene payload without destroying standalone edits.

Runtime Layers

Scene-local runtime code lives beside the .max scene:

scene_folder/
  scene.max
  project.maxjs.json
  inlines/
    behavior.js
    effects.js

Runtime layers read authored Max data through ctx.maxScene and create JS-owned objects through ctx.js. Snapshot export replays project layers when project.maxjs.json and inlines/ are present.

Use runtime layers for interactive behavior, particles, overlays, camera logic, UI, gameplay-style logic, and deployable scene-specific code.

Animation

Snapshot animation can include:

• Transform animation.
• Material scalar animation.
• Geometry, bone and vertex-level animation.
• Camera animation.
• Visibility tracks.
• Runtime layer animation when replayed from project sidecars.

Build

Requirements:

• Visual Studio 2022 with the v143 toolset.
• CMake 3.20 or newer.
• 3ds Max SDK for the target version.
• WebView2 Runtime.

Build and deploy for the installed target:

build.bat
build.bat 2027

Build without deploying:

set MAXJS_SKIP_DEPLOY=1
build.bat 2026
build.bat 2027

build.bat builds maxjs.gup and deploys maxjs_web unless MAXJS_SKIP_DEPLOY=1 is set. Restart 3ds Max after replacing the plugin.

Release Packaging

Release ZIP shape:

maxjs.gup
maxjs_web/

Acknowledgments

• three.js
• WebView2
• Spark
• Shader Lab
• Rapier

License

MIT