Should I upgrade 3ds Max for 2024 or wait for stable 2025?

I made the leap from 2020 to 2024 about six months ago and I've been really happy with it. The QT interface in the Slate Material Editor is a massive improvement - everything feels more responsive and the workflow is smoother. The conform modifier alone is worth the upgrade if you do a lot of modeling.

I work primarily in architectural visualization and haven't had any stability issues. Just make sure you're on at least 2024.2 as the initial release had some quirks that have been ironed out in updates.

All my plugins (Corona, Forest Pack, RailClone, etc.) worked fine after reinstalling them. Just backup your settings and customizations before making the switch!

Don't do it! The SME in 2024 has this annoying bug where textures don't show properly in viewport if you use MultiSubObject materials. It's been driving me crazy. They fixed it in 2025, but 2024 never got the patch.

For proof, check this forum thread: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/3ds-max-forum/sme-quot-show-map-in-viewport-quot-not-functioning/td-p/11942067

If you rely heavily on seeing your maps in the viewport while working, stick with 2023 for now.

That MultiSubObject bug isn't a problem for everyone. I'm using 2024.2.1 and haven't had issues showing materials in viewport. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but you can always show the material (not the map) in viewport and that works fine.

2024 is definitely more stable than 2023 in my experience. They changed some keyboard shortcuts though - that took me a week to get used to. The loop select and smart extrude work differently.

That's wrong information. The viewport texture display issue IS a confirmed bug. Just because it doesn't affect your specific workflow doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Thanks for all the responses! The SME bug is concerning since I do rely on previewing maps in viewport a lot. Does anyone know if there's a reliable workaround? Would using Corona IR be a decent alternative for checking textures?

For what it's worth, I also occasionally run into that bug, but I've found that using Corona IR is actually a better workflow anyway. It gives you a more accurate preview of how things will actually render.

If you absolutely need to see specific maps in viewport, a workaround is to temporarily plug the map into the diffuse channel and view it that way. Not ideal, but it works.

Wait until 2026 is out, then move to 2025. That's been my strategy for years - let all the bugs get worked out and then jump to a fully stable version.

My team of 12 has been using 2024 for nearly a year now for commercial viz projects. Had some initial hiccups with the new smart extrude behavior (I kept hitting the wrong keys from muscle memory), but overall it's been solid.

One thing to note - if you use a ton of custom scripts and macros, test them thoroughly before committing. We had to update about 25% of our scripts when moving from 2020.

Just bite the bullet and do it. The longer you wait, the more painful it gets. I stayed on 2014 until 2020 and that transition was brutal. Smaller, incremental updates are way easier to manage.