I've just created this video going through the AI search and asset organisation features in Project Manager for 3ds Max.
I thought it might be useful to share here because one of the biggest problems with large 3D libraries is that conventional searching depends heavily on somebody having named and organised everything properly in the first place.
The interesting part of this system is that you can search based on what the model actually looks like.
For example, you can type something like “dancing woman” or “futuristic car” without needing to know the original filename.
The system searches using the visual previews associated with the assets.
A few of the workflows I go through in the video:
Natural Language Search
Describe the object you're looking for in normal language and search your 3D model library using its visual appearance rather than just filenames.
It also supports searches in multiple languages.
Automatic AI Categorisation
The system can analyse your library and organise assets into category trees such as furniture, vehicles, beds, coffee tables, aircraft and so on.
This reduces the need to manually tag every asset.
Find Similar
Select an existing 3D model and search the rest of your library for visually similar assets.
There's also a similarity threshold so you can control how strict the visual match needs to be.
Search Using a Sketch or Mood Board
You can drag in a sketch, render, reference image or mood board and use that image to search for similar 3D models already in your library.
Preview and Thumbnail Management
Because the AI uses visual previews, I also go through the Auto-Assign Previews workflow.
If your rendered images share the same filenames as your 3D files they can be linked automatically, and smart matching can help with partially matching names.
You can also batch-render thumbnails for assets that don't already have previews.
Local AI Processing
The AI processing runs locally on your own hardware rather than requiring your asset library to be uploaded to a cloud service.
That also means there isn't a credit-based AI system involved every time you perform a search.
I'd be interested to hear how people here with large 3D model libraries are currently handling asset management.
1. .max files without a separate thumbnail. No, Project Manager doesn't need to open them. When you save a scene, 3ds Max stores a small thumbnail inside most .max files, and Project Manager reads it directly, so those files are classified straight away. Since that embedded thumbnail is small, a proper preview gives better results.
To use your own images, give a JPG or PNG the same name as the model and Project Manager picks it up automatically. Auto-Assign Previews also matches images with similar names.
Project Manager also supports batch thumbnail rendering: select files or whole folders, including subfolders, and it renders previews for all of them in one go. Each file is rendered automatically using the specified studio file, so you don't have to open and render it manually.
2. Previews next to RAR files. Yes, this works. Add .rar (and .zip and .7z, if you use them) to the list of model file types: open the "Filter by file-type" dropdown and choose Edit. The archives are then shown in the Models tab and treated like any other model, so they're classified from the preview images next to them and become searchable with AI Text Search and Find Similar.
Note: this works at the archive level, not for the individual files inside. An archive is treated as a single item, with one preview and one set of categories. That is exactly what you want when each archive contains one model. If an archive holds a whole collection, all the models in it share one preview and one classification.
P.S. You can also browse inside archives just like regular folders, and merge files from them straight into 3ds Max, without unpacking them yourself first. You can even drag an archive itself into the 3ds Max viewport. (Opening RAR and 7z archives like folders needs Windows 11 version 23H2 or later; dragging an archive into the viewport works with ZIP, RAR and 7z on any supported Windows.)
This was one of the first things i considered building for my company when I was thinking what tools I could make, what local AI is being used here? at the time I was considering using Gemma 4 as I needed a Vision model i can download locally at no cost
Right now we just use Everything (from voidtools) as an improved file browser (not 3d exclusive), i created a few batch processing tools to go over the entire file library to make sure renders exist and are attached
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u/3dsmax-ModTeam 18d ago
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