For many of us, this is no longer just about software.
It is about professional identity.
We spent years — often decades — building our careers around 3ds Max.
We invested thousands of hours mastering it. And thousands of dollars.
We built our livelihoods on it.
While still paying we are watching Autodesk slowly abandon the very product that shaped our professional lives.
This creates something deeper than frustration:
it creates a career identity crisis.
For years now, 3ds Max has clearly been in maintenance mode:
mostly bugfixes and performance tweaks
almost no meaningful new tools
no modern workflows
features and plugins still dating back to the 90s cluttering the core
previously introduced tools left unmaintained for years
Meanwhile Blender, which is free, delivers:
When I search for a Blender problem, I get multiple solutions and dozens of videos.
When I search for a 3ds Max problem, I get outdated forum threads from a decade ago — if anything at all.
Young artists simply do not choose 3ds Max anymore.
Outside of some archviz pipelines, the ecosystem is visibly shrinking.
3ds Max does not need more maintenance.
It needs vision.
It needs real development.
It needs a future.
Because what Autodesk is losing here is not just a product.
It is the trust of the professionals who built their careers on it.
