3ds max - how to get your copy of 3ds for students

[Dwiss]

hello everyone,

 

as there has been a bit of confusion as of the licensing of 3ds max i thought i post this little guide how it works legally correct. First i like to explain the difference of the trial and the student versions here:

 

1. Autodesk offers free 30-day trials for their software. These trials are meant for evaluation purposes only - not meant for any kind of production at all.
    
2. Additionally Autodesk offers so called student-licenses. These licenses are usually full featured products with a license duration and specific limitations to what kind of support you are eligable to get for it. They are limited to educational usage and not meant for any kind of commercial work or payed-for results.

The license you would like to use as a modder for non-commercial, educational usage is of course a student license. Recent updates to the licensing text have caused some kind of misunderstanding as for some countries the educational license requires you to be

 

enrolled at a recognized degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution in a degree-granting or certificate-granting education program for three (3) or more credit hours, or in a certificate program of nine (9) months or longer.

I am not going to tell you how to work around or fulfill these requirements. If you feel you dont fit into this category then you can still work with the trial and follow this procedure here to renew the license for your trial when its about to expire.

 

1. Head over to the autodesk website
    
2. There have been recent changes in both design and structure to the website - dont get confused yet. The area you want to register in is found in 'Communities' - select 'Students & Educators'.
    
3. You will see 'Free software for students' - select 'Popular' and from there 3ds max
    
4. Follow the steps to register or sign in
    
5. In the section 'Select the free software you want' you want to select 3dsmax 2012 for your OS and language
   Why 2012? The existing nif-plugins work fine with 2012 and wont work with 2013 and newer versions yet.