Autodesk 3ds Max Services & Support

System requirements for Autodesk 3ds Max products

This document provides the system requirements for Autodesk 3ds Max Products.

System requirements for Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2014 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2014

3ds Max 2014 is supported on the following 64-bit operating systems and at a minimum requires a system with the following 64-bit specifications:

  • Windows® 8 or Windows® 7 64-bit Professional operating system
  • 64-bit Intel or AMD multi core processor
  • 4 GB RAM minimum (8 GB recommended)
  • 4.5 GB free disk space for installation
  • 3-button mouse
  • Latest version of Microsoft® Internet Explorer®, Apple® Safari®, or Mozilla® Firefox® web browser
  • Refer to the Recommended Hardware Wizard for a complete list of recommended systems and graphics cards

Autodesk is not responsible for errors or failures of Autodesk software arising from the installation of updates, extensions or new releases issued by third-party hardware or software vendors for the qualified software or hardware identified in this document (or for any other third party software or hardware that you may use in connection with Autodesk products).

Autodesk 3ds Max & 3ds Max Design 2013 System Requirements

For 32-Bit 3ds Max 2013 or 3ds Max Design 2013 for Windows

Operating System[1]: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional operating system (SP3 or higher)[2]

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology[3]
  • 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
  • 2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended)[4]
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card[5]
  • 512 MB or higher video card memory (1 GB or higher recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive[6]
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk® Subscription-aware access

For 64-Bit 3ds Max 2013 or 3ds Max Design 2013 for Windows

Operating System[1]: Windows 7 Professional x64 or Windows XP Professional x64 edition (SP3 or higher)[2]

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology[3]
  • 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
  • 4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended)[4]
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card[5]
  • 512 MB or higher video card memory (1 GB or higher recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive[6]
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

For large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology[3]
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 8 GB swap space[4]
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card[5]
  • 1 GB or higher video card memory
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive[6]
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

For 3ds Max 2013 or 3ds Max Design 2013 for Macintosh

Boot Camp You can install Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2013 and Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2013 software on a Mac® computer on a Microsoft® Windows® partition. The system must use Boot Camp® application program to help manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.

  • Intel-based Mac Pro or MacBook® Pro computer
  • Mac® OS® X 10.5.x or higher operating system
  • Boot Camp V 2.0 or higher
  • Minimum 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended for 32-bit Windows, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows)
  • Minimum 20 GB disk space for Apple OS partition, minimum 20 GB for Windows OS partition

Mac Virtualization on Parallels Desktop Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and 3ds Max Design 2013 can be used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop® for Mac software without having to boot directly into the Windows OS, so it is easy to switch between platforms. The system must meet the following requirements:

  • A Mac computer with an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7, or Intel® Xeon® processor
  • Mac OS X 10.5.x operating system or higher
  • Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.8 or higher Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac
  • 4 GB RAM minimum (6 GB system memory for 32-bit Windows OS, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows recommended)
  • Minimum 40 GB available disk space (100 GB recommended)

For more details, read the 3ds Max for Mac FAQ.

Autodesk is not responsible for errors or failures of Autodesk software arising from the installation of updates, extensions or new releases issued by third party hardware or software vendors for the qualified software or hardware identified in this document (or for any other third party software or hardware that you may use in connection with Autodesk products).

  1. The 3ds Max Composite feature requires one of the following 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems:
    • Windows XP Professional operating system (SP3 or higher)
    • Windows XP Professional x64 operating system (SP3 or higher)
    • Windows 7 Professional x64 operating system
  2. Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013 English only. Additional language support requires a Windows 7 operating system.
  3. Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013 have been optimized to take advantage of the SSE2 extended instruction sets supported on Intel Pentium 4 processor or higher, AMD Athlon 64, AMD Opteron, and AMD Phenom™ processors. 3ds Max 2013 will not operate on computers that do not support SSE2. Several utilities are available on the Internet that report CPUID, including supported instruction sets.
  4. Autodesk recommends settings that allow Microsoft Windows to manage virtual memory, as needed. There should always be at least twice as much free hard disk space as system memory (RAM).
  5. Some features of 3ds Max 2013 and 3ds Max Design 2013 are only enabled when used with graphics hardware that supports Shader Model 3.0 (Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 3.0). In addition, Quicksilver hardware rendering requires additional GPU resources to work effectively. A minimum of 512 MB of graphics memory should be used. A minimum of 1 GB is recommended for the most complex scenes, shaders, and lighting modes. The integrated NVIDIA® iray® rendering technology operates well solely with CPU processing but processing can be accelerated by NVIDIA GPU CUDA technology.

    Learn more about graphics hardware compatibility.

  6. Autodesk 3ds Max 2013 and Autodesk 3ds Max Design 2013 are available only on dual layer DVD media (or electronic download where available). CD media is no longer available. DVD-ROM drive is not required if installing using electronic download. However, to accommodate the installation files, you will need 9 GB of hard disk space and an additional 16 GB of space for temporary files created during the installation

Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 System Requirements

32-Bit 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Windows

Operating system: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system, Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business operating system (SP2 or higher), or Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional operating system (SP3 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
  • 2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended)**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB or higher recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 8.0 internet browser or higher or Mozilla® Firefox® 3.0 internet browser or higher
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk® Subscription-aware access

64-Bit 3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Windows

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64, Microsoft Windows Vista Business x64 (SP2 or higher), or Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 (SP3 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
  • 4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended)**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

For large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 8 GB swap space**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (1 GB or higher video card memory)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
  • Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

3ds Max 2012 or 3ds Max Design 2012 for Macintosh

Boot Camp
You can install Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design 2012 software on a Mac® computer on a Windows® partition. The system must use Boot Camp® application program to help manage a dual OS configuration and meet the minimum system requirements.

  • Intel®-based Mac Pro or MacBook® Pro computer¹
  • Mac® OS X 10.5.x or higher operating system
  • Boot Camp V 2.0 or higher
  • Minimum 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended for 32-bit Windows, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows)
  • Minimum 20 GB disk space for Apple OS partition, minimum 20 GB for Windows OS partition

Mac Virtualization on Parallels Desktop
Autodesk 3ds Max and 3ds Max Design 2012 can be used on the Mac via Parallels Desktop® for Mac software without having to boot directly into the Windows OS so it is easy to switch between platforms. The system must meet the following requirements:

  • Intel-based Mac Pro or MacBook Pro¹
  • Mac OS X 10.5.x or higher
  • Parallels Desktop 4.0 (4.0.3844 or higher)²
  • Minimum 4 GB RAM (6 GB system memory for 32-bit Windows, 8 GB or more for 64-bit Windows recommended)
  • Minimum 40 GB available disk space (100 GB recommended)

For more details, read the 3ds Max for Mac FAQ.

¹64-bit Windows Vista requires an Intel Core® 2 Duo or Intel® Xeon® processor.
²Parallels Desktop is the only supported virtual machine software at this time.


Autodesk 3ds Max 2011 System Requirements

32-Bit 3ds Max 2011 or 3ds Max Design 2011 for Windows

Operating system:

  • Microsoft® Windows® 7 Professional operating system
  • Microsoft® Windows Vista® Business operating system (SP2 or higher)
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional operating system (SP3 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD® processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 2 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
  • 2 GB swap space (4 GB recommended)**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D® 10 technology, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB or higher recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 8.0 internet browser or higher or Mozilla® Firefox® 3.0 internet browser or higher
    Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk® Subscription-aware access

64-Bit 3ds Max 2011 or 3ds Max Design 2011 for Windows

Operating system:

  • Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64
  • Microsoft Windows Vista Business x64 (SP2 or higher)
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 (SP3 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
  • 4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended)**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB recommended)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
    Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

For large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

  • Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 8 GB swap space**
  • 3 GB free hard drive space
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (1 GB or higher video card memory)
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • DVD-ROM drive††
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
    Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 System Requirements

Autodesk® 3ds Max Design® 2010 software requires one of the following 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems:

  • Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (Service Pack 2 or higher)
  • Microsoft® Windows® Vista (Business, Premium and Ultimate)
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64
  • Microsoft® Windows® Vista 64 bit (Business, Premium and Ultimate)

3ds Max Design 2010 software requires the following internet browser:

  • Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6 or higher

3ds Max Design 2010 software requires the following supplemental software:

  • DirectX® 9.0c* (required), OpenGL® (optional)

*Some features of 3ds Max Design 2010 are only enabled when used with graphics hardware that supports Shader Model 3.0 (Pixel Shader and Vertex Shader 3.0). Check with your manufacturer to determine if your hardware supports Shader Model 3.0.

Hardware Requirements

At a minimum, 3ds Max Design 2010 32-bit software requires a system with the following:

  • Intel Pentium® 4 or higher, AMD Athlon® 64 or higher, or AMD Opteron® processor
  • 1 GB RAM (2 GB recommended)
  • 1 GB swap space (2 GB recommended)
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card, 128 MB
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • 2 GB hard disk space
  • DVD-ROM drive

Note: Apple® computers based on Intel processors and running Microsoft operating systems are supported using Apple’s Boot Camp. Click here for the system requirements.  Virtual machine environments are currently not supported.

At a minimum, 3ds Max Design 2010 64-bit software requires a system with the following:

  • Intel® EM64T, AMD Athlon® 64 or higher, AMD Opteron® processor
  • 1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
  • 1 GB swap space (2 GB recommended)
  • Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card, 128 MB
  • Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
  • 2 GB hard disk space
  • DVD-ROM drive

Autodesk 3ds Max 2009 System Requirements

32-bit:

·  Microsoft® Windows Vista™
·  Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)
·  Intel® Pentium® IV or AMD Athlon® XP or higher processor
·  512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
·  500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
·  Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
·  Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized for Microsoft IntelliMouse®)
·  DVD-ROM drive

64-bit:

·  Microsoft Windows Vista
·  Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64
·  Intel EM64T, AMD Athlon 64 or higher, AMD Opteron® processor
·  1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
·  500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
·  Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
·  Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized IntelliMouse)
·  DVD-ROM drive

Note: Apple computers based on Intel processors and running Microsoft operating systems are not currently supported for this release.


Autodesk 3ds Max 2008 System Requirements

32-bit:

·  Microsoft® Windows Vista™
·  Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional (SP2 or higher)
·  Intel® Pentium® IV or AMD Athlon® XP or higher processor
·  512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
·  500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
·  Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
·  Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized for Microsoft IntelliMouse®)
·  DVD-ROM drive

64-bit:

·  Microsoft Windows Vista
·  Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64
·  Intel EM64T, AMD Athlon 64 or higher, AMD Opteron® processor
·  1 GB RAM (4 GB recommended)
·  500 MB swap space (2 GB recommended)
·  Hardware-accelerated OpenGL and Direct3D supported
·  Microsoft Windows-compliant pointing device (optimized IntelliMouse)
·  DVD-ROM drive

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  • Document Information

    Published date: 2013-Mar-18
    ID: TS15458146

     

    Applies to:
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2014
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2013
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2012
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2011
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2010
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2009
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® 2008
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2014
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2013
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2012
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2011
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2010
    Autodesk® 3ds Max® Design 2009