I went to the link above but could not find a buy link. I searched on the internet but got alot of info about student/teacher versions. The full version should be around 3k. Does 3ds max have an official website?

I think you buy it from Autodesk

Try this link: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5679449&linkID=5573082

Regards,
ViLiO

What about 3D Studio which makes .3ds while 3ds max makes .max files.
I thought they were the same thing. Where can people buy 3D Studio instead of 3ds max?

Quote: Original post by GiantPaul
What about 3D Studio which makes .3ds while 3ds max makes .max files.
I thought they were the same thing. Where can people buy 3D Studio instead of 3ds max?

If you don't know the difference, maybe you you should get trial versions of several different 3D authoring packages before you blindly spend 3K+.

Trials:
- Softimage
- Maya (Now owned by Autodesk, the makers of 3DS/Max. I don't know what this will do to their product line in the near future)
- 3D Studio MAX (By the way, 3D Studio MAX is the continuation of 3D Studio on the NT platform.)

Free:
- Blender

There are more options if you look around, and I recommend you do.


jfl.

Quote: Original post by GiantPaul
What about 3D Studio which makes .3ds while 3ds max makes .max files.
I thought they were the same thing. Where can people buy 3D Studio instead of 3ds max?

3D Studio Max - it is one product that makes both.

Can other (cheaper) 3d modeling programs import .max files?
For example I heard that Blender can import .obj files.
The reason I ask this is because when I search to buy art then I usually get .max or .3ds models for sale.

3ds max stands for "3d studio max"

And as .max is their proprietary scene format, I'm almost positive there isn't any other program which supports it

Quote: Original post by GiantPaul
Can other (cheaper) 3d modeling programs import .max files?
For example I heard that Blender can import .obj files.
The reason I ask this is because when I search to buy art then I usually get .max or .3ds models for sale.

most cheap or even free modelers can import .3ds files atleast,
.max files are complete scenes and are generally not supported.

The problem with .max files is that they contain alot of data, including but not limited to: Physics solvers, particle systems, camera movements, post render effects, etc. Many of those effects are done very differently or not supported at all by other tools. Autodesk doesn't provide any information about the .max format either so writing importers are extremely hard.

There are one .max importer for maya 4(imports mesh data + a few other things from the .max files), i don't know of any for newer maya versions or for other modeling tools though.

In general you should always ask your artists to send you files in a commonly supported format.

If you're a student, you can always hit up the Academic Superstore.