Page History
...
Running Phoenix for 3ds Max from an arbitrary location has two parts to it. First, you must run the installation to extract the necessary files and store them on the network. Next, you must configure your local machine to use these files to run Phoenix for 3ds Max.
UI Text Box | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
Phoenix does not require a V-Ray for 3ds Max installation to load and work correctly inside 3ds Max. |
- Run the Phoenix for 3ds Max installation with its default settings.
- Go to C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\Phoenix3dsMax20xx and copy all the files from there and put them on the specific network location you would like to use ( for example C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install ).
The Phoenix installer places some additional files in C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64 used for simulation, preview or conversion of the simulation caches. You can find more about what each one does here - Phoenix Tools.
There are also SDK files - you can find more info about them here - Phoenix API.
And finally, there are files needed by the V-Ray Standalone Renderer in order to render Phoenix Simulators, Particle Shaders and textures. - Copy the files from C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64 and place them in a folder in the network location you would like to use ( for example C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files ).
- Uninstall Phoenix or delete the files from the default location so that they won't load from there anymore.
Anchor | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
|
Before you run 3ds Max, you need to set the following environment variables on the local machine.
Action | Variable | Location | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Set | ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install | set ADSK_APPLICATION_PLUGINS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install |
Set | PHX_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_BIN | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin | set PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2023_BIN =C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin |
Set | PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2xx_STNDPLUGS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin\plugins | set PHX_FOR_3DSMAX2023_STNDPLUGS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\bin |
Additionally, if you are rendering with V-Ray Standalone 6 or newer (meaning you render vrscenes or render using V-Ray GPU), you need to edit or append this environment variable:
Action | Variable | Location | Example |
---|---|---|---|
Set | VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_PLUGINS | C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\vray6plugins | set VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX2023_PLUGINS=C:\Custom_Phoenix_Install\Additional_files\vray6plugins |
Alternatively, you could append this path to the VRAY_PLUGINS environment variable, but please note that this would affect all installed V-Ray Standalone versions.
Finally, another alternative and the official way to do this for V-Ray versions older than V-Ray 6 would be to copy all files from C:\Program Files\Chaos Group\Phoenix FD\3ds Max 20xx for x64\vray5plugins to the folder that the VRAY_FOR_3DSMAX20xx_PLUGINS environment variable points to. This would affect only this specific V-Ray Standalone version.