Discreet announced that 3ds max 7 will integrate ATI shader technology to provide realtime hardware accelerated rendering in the 3ds max viewport. The co-developed technology dubbed "Ashli" will make a real-time 3D images rendered in the 3ds max viewport appear close in appearance to the final offline product. Purportedly, it will allow 3ds max 7 to access virtually unlimited shader instructions on the visual processing unit (VPU).
