It is time for the 3ds Max SDK Survey!

The 3ds Max SDK Survey is a crucial source of information for both the SDK development and documentation teams when we decide where to focus our efforts for upcoming releases of the 3ds Max SDK. We take the feedback of our SDK users very seriously and have implemented a number of changes in the SDK and the accompanying documentation over the last two years to address the needs and suggestions of our users.

The challenge facing us currently is that we don't have sufficiently high participation rates in the SDK surveys for us to have reliable guidance about where to most effectively place our efforts. This survey is the best way to make your voice heard, and to influence our direction.

Here are some of the things that we have done over the last couple of years in the SDK and the accompanying documentation in response to feedback from the SDK users:

3ds Max 2010 SDK Documentation:

• Reorganized programmer's guide structure and content to make it more logical and make essential information easier to discover
• Introduced "Best practices" section.
• Added several new topics
• Added hundred of links from programmer's guide to reference guide
• Added a "plug-in upgrade guide" to help people migrate plug-ins due to break in binary backwards compatibility

3ds Max 2010 SDK:

• Improved robustness of reference system
  • Correct deletion of reference type objects via Animatable, ReferenceMaker, ReferenceTarget pointers is enforced at compile time 
  • Broken reference links are recognized and discarded at run-time

3ds Max 2011 SDK Documentation

• Improved SDK Help navigation system with "bread crumbs" and navigation buttons
• Introduced changes summary
• Extended "Best Practices" section

3ds Max 2011 SDK:

• Maintained binary backwards compatibility with 3ds Max 2010
• Introduced .NET assembly loader, and .NET CUI actions
• All SDK header files are self-sufficient and compile at warning level 4
• Improved robustness of cloning plug-in objects
• Improved support for rebuilding plug-ins for several versions of 3ds Max, via environment variables that contain the paths of the 3ds Max 2011 SDK and product. 

 Thanks everyone in advance!