Personal information in .max files

[majcee]

I hope this question is okay to ask.

I recently had a client that requested the original .max files for some work provided for them. I am usually quite careful with my resource paths and naming but I was preparing the files to send and decided to double check there was nothing revealing in the project and so loaded the max into a file editor and did a search.

This is where I noticed that every max file I have created contains my full name, my computer's name and my Autodesk profile name (I'm assuming other personal data, but could not be sure and the main one of importance to me is full name and profile).

Privacy is quite important to me (and some of my clients - I work under a pseudonym for some online influencers and personas whose privacy is paramount, as do I consider mine) and so I was wondering how I should go about removing this personal information from the project files and how to disable this embedding of personal information into them.

[iadproductions]

Do you have to submit the .max file to the client?  If you export the .max file to OBJ or FBX and check those files are your name, hardware name, and profile id still visible ? 

[majcee]

I do, unfortunately. It's a rigged character and FBX importing of skinned meshes/rigs is very poor still after all this time. The client wishes to have the rig for animation purposes. They will also be sharing the max file with outsourced animators, which further makes me feel uncomfortable with my personal information being readable from both inside Max (File Properties from File menu) and in file editing software.

[spacefrog_]

Are you sure about your Autodesk User's profile name ?

I know that the max file contains computer name/ windows user name  and of course resource paths

You can easily verify that by using the MaxFind tool in 3ds Max's root folder ( see screenshot )

Additionally to the max fileformat internally stored info, there is also the possiblity via file propertes ( a standard windows  mechanism to add info to files ). You can edit that info via File->File Properties in 3ds Max itself.

But i think per default its empty .

The file property dialog ( File -> File Properties ) in 3ds Max looks like the second screenshot
Here it contains the same info that is also displayed in the MaxFind screenshot above

[majcee]

Thanks for the tip about maxfind. I had a look and it looks like it is just my name and computer name as far as I can tell.

So how do I go about removing my name from the max file? The name does not seem to be editable in Max and there are multiple instances of it in a file editor (and editing it breaks the .max file).

[domo.spaji]

Create other user account or change account name (Windows) and re-save max files with that...

Log in Windows as other user, open Max and...

Create account with enough rights to make some changes.

[majcee]

Thanks for the help. Unfortunately this did not work.

I created a new user, logged in, loaded the scene, saved it as a new scene and then checked the .max file (just in notepad as it was the quickest thing to look in). The newly saved max file now contains both my original user name and the newly created user name. The max file also still contains my machine name.

I'm open to any other suggestions.

[Diffus3d]

Save your render presets and merge everything into a new scene?

Best Regards,

[darawork]

Hi,

I'm trying out Virtual Machine software now, to test plugins. Sandboxing their installations.
It comes with later builds of W10 Pro, and I think as standard on W11.
You can even get this on W10 Home edition, with a bit of research.

Windows Sandbox.

You have to do some BIOS tweaking if you have an off-the-shelve big name brand PC.
I have a big name, off the shelf PC in work so I didn't want to mess around with the BIOS.
Instead, I'm messing around with it on my home DIY PC. So nobody gets hurt.

I also found this: https://sandboxie-plus.com/sandboxie/ I'm trying it out too.

TLDR: If you know how to run VMware or Virtual Machine software. Try that.
It will keep your main workstation installations and registry away from harm.
It should also block any of your Windows credentials exiting into the great abyss. 

Create a big enough partition space to install and run max and all your work plugins.
Remove META deta and GPS info from all bitmaps.
Close your curtains.
Switch off the lights.

Regards 🙂

[darawork]

Hi AJ,
As long as you're using the same Windows installation, you may as well be turning over in the same bath of water, expecting it to be slightly warmer. (It sometimes is).

Best regards,

[Diffus3d]

Agreed, I was figuring on another machine.  

[darawork]

You can do this with Android apps, that's how I learnt it. 

Regards, 

[majcee]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Unfortunately even with virtual machines and different machines my original name still appears in the .max when it is re-saved.

The closest I got so far is from merging the scene on a separate machine. This removes traces of my name, but unfortunately things are missing and not merged (selection sets, for example) and I also still don't feel confident that there isn't still identifying data in the .max.

This also all seems a very convoluted and time-consuming method just to remove personal information from a data file. I feel like my scenario is mostly a personal preference (privacy) but it feels like there are situations where a person's name being known could affect them negatively and this may be something that comes up more often as the world begins embracing things like metaverses and alternative identities.

Disappointingly I have told the client that I cannot deliver the .max and they are understandably a bit upset. 

Is there any way a future update could add a preference that disable personal, identifying information being stored in files (or a way to at least remove it)?

[domo.spaji]

How many times your (or your + new user) name is written in max file?

What tool you using for checking that?

[majcee]

It is originally written 3 times in different places (not just the Render settings place). When I change user and re-save the max file my new username is written twice. I'm just checking it with notepad (and searching my name).

[Serejah]

Search for a tool named Structured Storage Viewer and use it to edit the metadata of the file

Also you can use any hex editor to replace your name from the scene file, but make a copy first

[majcee]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately search doesn't seem to be available in the free version. I tried to manually replace my name with the editor but it seemed to corrupt the .max file.

[darawork]

Hi,

Just an idea, not sure if you know about it but; Max files can be unzipped with 7-zip into a series of seperate files. The Max extention is only a container. Maybe if you tried to investigate the seperate files instead of the main container file, then piece it back together by rezipping it, then renaming it back to a Max extention it might not corrupt, or take as long to search through the data? Just an idea.

Here is a screenshot of a random free Max file downloaded from 3DSky, extracted with 7-zip:

I just tried myself, to open the most obvious ones with Notepad. They are very encrypted unfortunately.
There is a post here about de-encrypting the container file to view metadata. No solution marked.

I can do it with .MSE files, but I've never tried .Max files or their constituant parts.

It seems like it might be bordering into unsafe copyright territory to proceed any further.
 
Regards,

[majcee]

Thanks, Darawork. I gave this a try, but it doesn't like the resulting .zip renamed to .max file. I think because 7-zip is not unzipping it, rather just decompressing it and can't recompress it to the same format.

Not sure this is nearing any kind of copyright issues decompressing and editing your own data. I just wish there was a way in 3dsmax options to turn off my personal information being stamped into every file I work on. As I mentioned, this is mainly just a privacy issue for me, but there are plenty of instances where a name may be the cause of prejudice or malice.

[darawork]

Hi, 

Are you by chance in the arms industry, and have designed a 3D Printable WMD?

Just checking.

Regards,