This tutorial is aimed at 3ds Max users who seek for an easy way to publish their 3D models on the Web and have no time to read thick manuals. For this reason, only necessary steps have been mentioned that lead to a smooth 3ds Max-to-WebGL workflow.

Quick Résumé

Download and install Verge3D for 3ds Max

Create a new WebGL project

Add your models to the project and export

Publish on the Web

A few words about WebGL

WebGL is a feature which allows you to render interactive 3D graphics straight in modern web browsers without the need to download anything or use any third-party plug-ins. The bad part is that you need to be a graphics programmers to handle this technology. Fortunately, various WebGL toolkits exist to make your life easier.

One of them is Verge3D, a framework that features a comprehensive integration with Autodesk 3ds Max, a physically-based rendering pipeline, support for native materials and animation.

Step 1. Getting Started

Download Verge3D and run the .exe file so that unpacks to a directory of your choice. Make sure you have enough permissions to read/write in this folder. Installing in a system directory such as “Program Files” is not recommended.

Run 3ds Max, and select “Configure System Paths…” under “Customize” in the main menu bar.

Switch to the “3rd Party Plug-ins” tab and click the “Add…” button.



Navigate to the folder in which Verge3D is installed and then to the “max_plugin” folder inside it. Click “Use Path”.

Click “OK” and re-open 3ds Max.

Installation complete! Now you should see “Verge3D” in the main menu bar.



By the way, from now on you have a really great feature called “Sneak Peek”. By selecting the corresponding menu entry you will perform an export to a temporary folder and immediately show your scene in a new browser tab. Use this for quick tests when creating new projects is not feasible.

Step 2. Creating a new WebGL project

The App Manager as a web-based tool which opens up in the browser when you select the “Run App Manager…” menu entry.

You can create a new project using the form on the right. Just enter a project name (My Awesome App will also work) and click “Create App”. You can safely leave other creation options as is.



After you created a project, return to the main screen of the App Manager – your project should be listed there. Now you can proceed with your app in several directions: simply running it, authoring the graphics, creating interactive scenarios and finally, publishing.

You can run your app any time by clicking the Verge3D icons, either the blue or the green one. The blue icon launches an app in its final form, with its Puzzles scenario and the programming code (if present). On the contrary, the green icon only opens the exported scene.

Step 3. Adding 3ds Max assets and exporting

Clicking on the 3ds Max icon opens up the main .max file of your application. You can simply edit this file or completely replace it with your own asset.

Exporting is performed from the “Verge3D > Export glTF…” menu in 3ds Max. You can export your scene file right to the root of the application folder, in the WebGL-friendly format called glTF.

After successful export, launch your app by clicking the blue Verge3D logo icon in the App Manager.

Step 4. Publishing

You’ve created a web application and probably you’d like the zillions of Internet users to come and check it out. If you own a website, this won’t be a problem – simply upload the entire folder with your application to your server (for example, via FTP or SSH).

But what if you haven’t had the chance to become a webmaster? Actually, there is a button for that in the App Manager (one with the “Earth” icon). Clicking that button will upload your app to the Verge3D Network, a distributed hosting platform which comes with Verge3D.

You have many options here: you can share a public link to your app or create a new post using your social media account.



What’s next

In this step-by-step guide, we used Verge3D as a comprehensive web exporter, which “just” generates live WebGL views running in the browser. But you can do much, much more! With Puzzles, the powerful yet entertaining scripting environment which comes with Verge3D, you no longer have to be a programmer to do… programming. Try it out!

This is just a brief overview of Verge3D workflow with many topics possibly left undiscussed. Check out the Beginner’s Guide to learn about more exciting features of this framework.