For a number of years now Autodesk has been drip feeding new functionality throughout the year, rather than waiting for the major releases. With more new functionality being added to your applications alongside security and performance fixes, it can be difficult to keep track of what’s new.

With the release of 3ds Max 2025.2, Autodesk have introduced several new, or enhanced features, one of which being a very welcome, but long overdue addition…

3ds max now supports both import, and exporting of SVG files out of the box, offering an easier route to several different workflows, especially when working with third party tools as part of your workflow.

SVG is one of the industry standard file formats for Vector files, and therefore having a simpler route to working with vector data inside of these files is key. With the latest release of 3ds Max, Autodesk support Scalable Vector Graphics for importing and exporting data for a variety of uses.

First and foremost, when importing you are able to use SVG data as a 3ds Max spline, which will be coloured to match the SVG object. You are also able to turn the SVG colours as a 3ds Max material, although gradients are not supported, and will be brought in using the start colour only.

Strokes with the SVG are supported as renderable splines, and any spline imported can be treated individually or as a group. One nice feature is how max supports the layer order of the vector objects, which are positioned in the Z axis matching their layer order inside of the SVG, allowing you to easily select and work with them once inside of Max.

There are some beneficial options on import, which would suit certain scenarios, such as the ability to automatically add an extrude modifier to your splines, or run automatic cleanup routines.

When is comes to exporting, of course 3ds Max splines can now be exported out to SVG, with their colour in Max used to define their colour at the time of export. You can, much like on import, use the position of the splines in your model to determine any layer order inside of the exported file, and even export strokes by having a renderable spline exported from Max.

The lists above are not exhaustive, with more specific information available on the new SVG functionality inside of 3ds Max here: 3ds Max 2025 Help | SVG File Support | Autodesk

To see a full list of features available with 3ds Max 2025.2 you can visit the Autodesk website: 3ds Max 2025 Help | What’s New in 3ds Max 2025.2 Update | Autodesk