Changing default 3ds max 2019 ui font

[bimidugunathilake]

hi ! is there a way to change the default ui font in 3ds max ? I'm using 3ds max 2019. 

[brentscannell]

Hi @bimidugunathilake 

I don't think there is a straightforward way. Maybe if I understood the issue you're having, I can help brainstorm some workarounds?

[bimidugunathilake]

Thanks for your reply. Actually there is no issue but I just don’t like the look. Are there any files I could edit in the text editor to change the font ?

[gazarika]

I need to do this too I have bad eyes and I want the UI font to be in Bold. I can change any font on my system for any program just when I know what the font exactly used by this program but I have no idea what the 3dsmax font!?

[brentscannell]

Hi @gazarika 

The font used by 3ds Max in recent years is Tahoma.

I must provide clear warning, however, that performing manual modifications to system fonts may result in unknown and undesirable effects on the application and is not recommended or supported.

[pixelwash]

"The font used by 3ds Max in recent years is Tahoma."

Give the man a prize. Tahoma, the incredibly UGLY Microsoft UI font of choice from its glory NT days, when Wintel was making inroads for the first time into the professional 3d space. Microsoft had just bought Softimage, and ported it to Windows, making Windows cool for 3d at prices below the SGI and Alias Wavefront. At the time, Maya was ported to NT also (and back to the Mac again - it started as "Alias Sketch" on the Mac)....and 3dsMax thirty years ago was very briefly kind of cool.

"I must provide clear warning, however, that performing manual modifications to system fonts may result in unknown and undesirable effects on the application and is not recommended or supported."

Thanks for the warning, but how about a suggestion that actually answers the question asked ie  how we might take the dangerous step of changing 3ds Max's UI  font to something less ugly and illegible, lol....

In Maya, it's relatively straightforward to change both the size, weight, and font type on the PC - and even change the look back to the "light" look using a script in an alias with the QT UI "maya -style fusion" tag (on the Mac you can do it by starting Maya using the shell with that line in the startup.). 

I've got Maya on windows running in Apple's UI font of choice in both Mac and IOS, SF Pro Text (Bold), (which in turn is very similar to Google's Android face of choice, Roboto), and it looks great!

Whereas the UI in 3dmax looks like it was designed over thirty years ago.....when of course, it was.

[irishman_team_kilber]

if someone has poor vision why not use use the windows ease access center in your windows control panel this has a magnifier where it lets you zoom as much as you want. i just tried it in 3ds max and it works fine, you can increase the zoom or decrease it  

[pixelwash]

That is funny. The best way a clearly dedicated Max user can suggest to update the god-awful un-antiliased skinny, and practically illegible, and UGLY, NT Tahoma "book" menus is to use the built in windows 10 magnifying glass features.

Funny, and sad also. I love it also that Max still has the ugly little underlines from Windows NT to subtly remind people of keyboard shortcut letters too. Very sophisticated, and tasteful.

Artists just LOVE working with an app that looks ugly, and treats them as though they are stupid, and blind to bad taste.

[irishman_team_kilber]

well i did not say anything about changing the front i just said "if you had poor eyesight you can use that window feauture" why would you need to change the font anyway, no one else mind that font yes it maybe awful but that is life.

why not apply for a job at autodesk to re-design the interface. or put it in the sugestions community https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/suggestions/bd-p/area-b101 if it gets enough agreement autodesk may change the interface and the fonts, but don't get your hopes up

[pixelwash]

It's a cultural thing. If the 3dsMax developers changed the UI to a more legible and modern font, and dropped the windows NT underlines, they would have to acknowledge also that fashion , art and design has a place in the world, beyond their computer code.

It's never going to happen. Those guys believe they are the masters of the universe.

[Anonymous]

I agree with this view point。