How to use 3ds Max on a Mac, or Maya on a tablet
One of Autodesk’s most exciting announcements last year was its joint initiative with Nvidia, Otoy and Amazon to make it possible to host its software in the cloud, and stream the display to any device.
The system, which is based around Amazon’s EC2 cloud, enables users to run Autodesk software on platforms it wouldn’t otherwise support: 3ds Max on a Mac, for example.
However, the process, which requires you to set up an Amazon instance running Otoy’s Octane Cloud Workstation AMI, is a bit fiddly, and may be off-putting to anyone who hasn’t done much web development work.
Not as hard as it sounds
So hats off to Autodesk senior product manager Cory Mogk, who has just posted a plain-English, step-by-step guide to how it’s all done on his blog on the company’s AREA community site.
According to Mogk, set-up “can seem a little overwhelming but it’s actually pretty straightforward if you stay calm”.
We haven’t checked whether the instructions would work on any tablet, but you should certainly be fine on something like a Surface Pro, or on any other device running a standard desktop OS.
Read Cory Mogk’s step-by-step guide to running Autodesk software in the cloud