When you go to import an FBX file in 3ds Max Design , there's a button you might have missed at the bottom left that says Web Update. The Web Update button will check the version number of your FBX exporter, and alert you if there is a new one.
Well, there's a new one.
On April 9th, Autodesk released a majorly enhanced version of the FBX plugin for all the products. FBX allows for file translation between Revit and 3ds Max Design, as well as Maya, Motionbuilder and even SoftImage for those of you in the media and entertainment side.
FBX (formerly known as filmbox) came to Autodesk via the Alias acquistion. Originally made by a company called Kaydara, FBX was a format designed to transfer motion capture animation data, and as such is very good at 3D and Animation. It supports NURBS, polygons and subdivision surfaces, morph targets and blend shapes, materials and textures, lights, cameras, hierarchies, inverse kinematics, deformations and envelopes. And Autodesk says it's going to add more. There's a huge long list of bugfixes you can read on Ken Pimentel's blog.
One extremely cool thing about the new FBX are the Biped Enhancements that come all with it. They're calling if Biped merge-back workflow. This means you can now take Biped animation, edit it in Motionbuilder and send it back via FBX.
If I understand this correctly, once you've installed the new FBX, you can choose "update scene elements" during import and it will let you copy your FBX animation information onto existing Bipeds in the scene. To download the new FBX update click here.
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