Usually, when we hear ‘AI-driven updates', the defences go up, just look at the furor over NVIDIA DLSS 5, but with Autodesk’s news of more AI workflows being added to Maya, 3ds Max, Flow Studio, and Arnold, I can’t help but be a little more positive. Working in 3D, animation, and simulations is taxing, time-critical work, and the artists I’ve always spoken to want easier, faster ways to do the busywork so they can focus on being creative.
The headline news? Use AI to generate realistic horse motion in seconds in MotionMaker; Wonder 3D generates editable 3D characters or objects from text prompts or reference images; AI‑assisted generative texturing in Maya; and Autodesk Assistant means you can ditch complex docs for an AI interface that offers clear advice. This builds on the AI tools Autodesk announced at AU 2025 to refine animation, generate 3D models and more.
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AI done right?
What Autodesk is doing here is targeting something far more tangible than headline news for its own sake. Instead, these announcements aim to smooth out the slow, frustrating, often invisible parts of the 3D workflow that eat up artists’ time. The hours spent setting things up, fixing broken geometry, re-simulating shots, or rebuilding work just to try a slightly different idea.
I’ve watched and rewatched the MotionMaker demo, where you can now generate believable horse animation in seconds; Wonder 3D can create up characters and objects from a text prompt or reference image that can be edited; Lookdev workflows can plug into generative texturing tools; and there’s even an AI assistant embedded directly into the software.
But none of these tools are positioned by Autodesk as a one-click solution, and that’s important to note. The horse animation acts as a jumping-off point and isn’t sold as a finished performance. Wonder 3D is about previs, concepting, and quickly filling in gaps, not just generating final assets and dropping them into a scene. Even the assistant is less about automation and more about removing friction when you’re stuck.
Giving artists more control
Across the board, the emphasis is the same: everything remains editable, adjustable, and under the artist’s control, and that’s a subtle but significant distinction between what Autodesk is aiming for and offering an AI-first approach to art and creativity. In my view, Autodesk wants to remove the ‘dead time’ around creating complex 3D assets so we humans can jump in and refine and create on top.
A more understated inclusion in today’s news is the development of Autodesk Assistant, which is still in preview but uses LLMs to offer quick, conversational advice to Maya and 3ds Max users. It’s designed to make this complex software accessible to everyone by pulling answers from official docs and offering step-by-step explanations on how to use a tool, solve a problem, or even get started. It may not be as headline-grabbing as generating animal animations, but for everyone, every day, it’s maybe the AI that many people will use.
Behind the AI headline news, Autodesk is also just getting on with things. There’s the introduction of Smart Bevel, a ‘modelling algorithm’ that can clean up geometry after Boolean operations, solving one of the most persistent headaches in hard-surface workflows. Bifrost’s updated rigid-body dynamics make the workflow fully procedural, which, in practice, means you can tweak constraints, adjust physics, refine fractures, and re-simulate without rebuilding the entire setup. Likewise, the often overlooked Maya Sequencer now offers a modern interface, non-destructive shot editing, and the freedom to experiment across sequences without locking anything down.
Arnold feels a little like the lost child at first, as it simply gets ‘faster rendering’, but dig a little further, and there’s now greater creative control, with new stylised shading options, improved hair rendering, and more refined bloom effects that aim for both stylisation and photorealism.
Whether it's a new AI tool or simply a workflow update, there’s a unifying theme across Autodesk’s announcements for Maya and 3ds Max today: making artists' lives easier. You may still be recoiling at the mere mention of AI, but ultimately, everything here is aimed at helping artists rebuild their work, remove problems, and find an easier solution.
Taken together, these updates signal a broader change overall for Autodesk, as it’s moving away from a traditional pipeline that prioritises setup and stability toward one that focuses on flexibility and refinement for all artists, whether working in indie games, where Wonder 3D can be help, to VFX artists who’ll welcome procedural destruction and improved rendering, generlaists will welcome small improvements – cleaner bevels, faster renders, better sequencing – and anyone who’s ever tried to animate a four-legged animal will make a coffee and simple enjoy the MotionMaker news.
Visit the Autodesk Blog for more details.
What do you think of these Autodesk updates?
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