Saw this on Shane Griffith's blog at the AREA site and thought I'd pass it along here for those that may not visit the AREA site.

The latest Service Pack from Autodesk for Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2010 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2010 software includes nearly 30 fixes for issues with undo, performance, responsiveness, viewports, material workflow, and mental ray® software. Specific areas addressed are Biped, Bitmap Pager, Bitmap Proxies, Containers, Edit Poly, Interoperability, Licensing, Materials, mental ray, Particle Flow, Performance, Photometric Lights, ProOptimizer, Render To Texture (RTT), Rendering, UVW Unwrap, and Viewports.

Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 SP1
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servle...&linkID=9241178

Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2010 SP1
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servle...&linkID=9241178

For more info on what is addressed in this service pack, here's a link to Shane's blog:
http://area.autodesk.com/blogs/shan..._service_pack_1

Just wanted to take a minute to mention a challenge with prizes at 3dallusions.com. Here's a link to the site where you can find out more info & the scene files to get started: http://www.3dallusions.com/forums/d...inta-house.html

It's free to enter and they have quite a nice selection of prizes for the winner(s), like:

1st - Grand Prize Winner:

aXYZ-Design Package:
Rigged Models Bundles: 10 collections (50 characters) + 4 Emotion (132 mocap files)
MeAnEscalator - Parametric Escalator model
Velocity 3D Vehicles packs
The g(O)ng Sounds collection

Wacom Intous 4 (Wacom)
Maxwell Render (Next Limit)
PixPlant (PixPlant)
Ready2Render content (Ready2Render)
iPod (Rod and Jakub)

2nd - Runner Up Winner:

aXYZ-Design Package:
Rigged Models Bundles: 10 collections (50 characters) + 4 Emotion (132 mocap files)
MeAnEscalator - Parametric Escalator model
Velocity 3D Vehicles packs
The g(O)ng Sounds collection

PixPlant (PixPlant)
Ready2Render content (Ready2Render)
iPod (Rod and Jakub)

3rd - Honorable Mention:

aXYZ-Design Package:
Rigged Models Bundles: 10 collections (50 characters) + 4 Emotion (132 mocap files)
MeAnEscalator - Parametric Escalator model
Velocity 3D Vehicles packs
The g(O)ng Sounds collection

D'Artiste (DoschDesign)
PixPlant (PixPlant)
Ready2Render content (Ready2Render)

4th - Work of Merit:

aXYZ-Design Package:
Rigged Models Bundles: 10 collections (50 characters) + 4 Emotion (132 mocap files)
MeAnEscalator - Parametric Escalator model
Velocity 3D Vehicles packs
The g(O)ng Sounds collection

Expose 3 (DoschDesign)
Lowpolygon - 1 set of either cars or 3D people (Rod/Jakub)

5th - Work of Merit:

aXYZ-Design Package:
Rigged Models Bundles: 10 collections (50 characters) + 4 Emotion (132 mocap files)
MeAnEscalator - Parametric Escalator model
Velocity 3D Vehicles packs
The g(O)ng Sounds collection

So go throw you hat in the ring and try to win some of these really nice prizes!

I just wanted to give a heads up on some new training material that's coming out and some that's already available. First up, is an excellent resource called "3ds Max 2010 Architectural Visualization - Advanced to Expert" and it's created by a most impressive array of talent.

Here's a list of the contents & authors:

Chapter 1 - Color Management - Jeff Mottle
Chapter 2 - Composition - Ernest Burden

Part II - Materials
Chapter 3 - Advanced mental ray Shaders - Joep van der Steen
Chapter 4 - Advanced Unwrapping - Lukas Dubeda
Chapter 5 - Texture Painting - Leigh van der Byl
Chapter 6 - Physically Based Materials - Pierre-Felix Breton

Part III - Lighting
Chapter 7 - Lighting Analysis tools - Tod Stephens
Chapter 8 - Render to Texture - Louis Marcoux
Chapter 9 - Advanced mental ray lighting - Darren Brooker

Part IV - Animation
Chapter 10 - Reactor - Mir Vadim
Chapter 11 - Particle Systems - Pete Draper
Chapter 12 - Rigging - Michele Bousquet

Part V - Workflow
Chapter 13 - Revit Integration - Scott Rosenbloom
Chapter 14 - Advanced Poly Modeling - Todd Daniele (neeg!)
Chapter 15 - Managing Large-scale Projects - Spine 3D
Chapter 16 - MAXScript - Markus Boos

Part VI - Post production
Chapter 17 - 3D Tracking - Mike Merron
Chapter 18 - Green Screening - Smoothe
Chapter 19 - Compositing - Gary Davis
Chapter 20 - Video Editing - Kim Lee

Appendix A - Cloth Modifier - Danny Jones
Appendix B - Gallery

You can find more information about this book including a preorder special price on the official website here: http://3dats.com/expert_book/

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I saw Michele Bousquet listed as an author above and I thought I'd also mention her upcoming book "How to Cheat in 3ds Max 2010: Get Spectacular Results Fast" because it looks to be another great resource! Looks like the release date on this book is September 18th, 2009:
http://www.focalpress.com/Book.aspx?id=11736&terms=3ds

It's also already listed on Amazon.com for preorders but keep an eye on the focal press link above because you may get a better price there once the book is released:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Cheat-3ds...47777896&sr=8-2

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Next I wanted to mention Allan McKay's new 2-disk training DVD called "FumeFX Advanced". I've ALWAYS found Allan McKay's content to be top notch. And now that FumeFX works with mental ray...I'm all over that!

Here's a link to "FumeFX Advanced" at Turbosquid:
http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPrevi...x.cfm/ID/474892

Plus here's a YouTube sample:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdbUPf4GH0Q

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Whew! I know all this may come across as an advertisement but I've had the opportunity to get a sneak peek into some of this stuff and I would only recommend it here if I personally find it helpful so please don't consider this to be a blind advertisement! I just figure I'd help spread the word when quality content like this comes along.

On the "free" tip, I was recently pointed to a new (to me anyway) website that looks to be VERY helpful for the mental ray camp it's called mrbluesummers.com & here's a link: http://www.mrbluesummers.com/ Be sure to check that site out because I'm sure you'll find some very helpful video content there!

At any rate right now seems like an excellent time to expand your skill set and make yourself more productive, efficient, and marketable so gear up!

Updated my blog at mrmaterials.com to add some tips on rendering foliage with cutout maps quicker.
link: http://mrmaterials.com/jeffs-blog/1...ge-renders.html

I also wanted to mention the release of Neil Blevins' "Hard Surface Shading and Texturing" DVD. Good stuff with a lot of very useful information for use in any render engine!
Link:http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/product/542/