Discreet announced that a consumer version of gmax, the company's game-content editor, is now freely available from the Discreet web site. Derived from technology within the company's flagship 3D modeling/animation environment, 3ds max, gmax lets users create and edit levels, materials, 3D objects, characters and animations.
In contrast to the new consumer version of gmax, gmax dev (the developer version of the product) lets companies create game levels and then integrate the product directly into their games so that customers can in turn customize those levels, ostensibly extending the life of the game.
Discreet also announced a free online is a beta version of gmax tempest, which lets consumers create custom content for
Quake III Arena. Game developers can license gmax tempest in source-code format, to illustrate the process of creating gmax game packs and to allow developers to integrate gmax dev into the game production process.
