r/TechnicalArtist

Hi all. I've been a 3D artist for 13+ years and tired every time exporting and importing when working on UVs, so over the last few months I built my own. It's called UV Unfoldr.

It runs inside Max 2022–2027 on top of a normal Unwrap UVW modifier, so everything stays undoable and your scenes stay standard. Highlights:

• Shift+click selects the run of edges between two clicks, with a live preview
• Straighten Shell turns curved strips into clean grids. Alt+T / Alt+V keep edges straight through Unfold
• Unfold (U), Optimize (O), and Unfold / Optimize / Move brushes you paint with
• Live checker on the model while you drag
• Select / stack / group similar islands, including mirrored ones
• Packer that follows real shell outlines and keeps stacks together
• And much, much more

It's in beta and launching soon. Two questions for people who unwrap in Max a lot:

1. What slows you down most in Unwrap UVW today?
2. What's missing that you'd need before switching?

Happy to answer anything in the comments.

If you are new to technical art, this ebook bundle might interest you. Together with several authors, I am writing technical art books, and every book includes a downloadable package with assets that you can use in your personal and commercial projects.

I invite you to take a look 🔗 https://jettelly.com/bundles/the-unity-dev-bundle

Hey everyone,

I’ve been working on MarkingForge, a marking-menu plugin for 3ds Max 2026 and 2027, and wanted to share it with the community.

The idea is simple: hold a shortcut, move toward a command, and release to run it. You can build menus around the tools you actually use and configure different commands for different selection contexts.

The video shows it in action, along with the editor used to build and customize the menus.

Here’s what you can do:

• Create your own marking menus with nested submenus.
• Make menus context-sensitive, with different tools for object and sub-object selections.
• Assign Max actions, macros, and custom MAXScript commands through the visual editor.
• Customize shortcuts, mouse bindings, labels, and colors.
• Access native Max menus through a Hotbox at your cursor.
• Generate a printable cheat sheet reflecting your current saved bindings.

One small feature I particularly like: for supported commands, moving past the dashed ring switches whether the command opens its settings or runs directly. That lets you choose between repeating an operation and adjusting its parameters using the same menu entry.

It’s a paid plugin, and I’m the developer. I’d appreciate feedback from people who spend their day in Max—especially on the menu interaction and editor workflow.

Which commands would earn a spot in your marking menu? And do you currently use quad menus, keyboard shortcuts, or another setup?