What is a difference between 3DS STUDIO MAX DESIGN 2010 and 3DS MAX 2010?
The main difference is the SDK and the Lighting analysis. Games Industry developers etc require the full 3DS Max Product because they need to be able to access the models on a low level and write plugins to export the data into specially developed often proprietory formats. If you use 3DS Max purely to create models for printing or exporting through the standard 3DS export formats then you should buy The Design version. Note: Games developers do not need the lighting analysis insde 3DS Max as their rendering engine built in OpenGL or DirectX will handle lighting. Quote: If you work primarily in the entertainment industry and require the software developer toolkit (SDK) for pipeline integration or to write your own custom plug-ins, choose 3ds Max. 3ds Max includes all the features of 3ds Max Design, with the exception of Exposure™ lighting analysis. If you work primarily in the architecture, civil engineering, or manufacturing sectors, and you do not need to develop your own plug-ins u