Dousen + 3ds Max

By Luca Vitiello · Updated 6 October 2026

The Dousen addon for 3ds Max 2025 or later opens the same docked Qt panel as Maya. Each top-level node whose hierarchy contains a mesh becomes an instance, and named selection sets become instances you define yourself. You validate and publish checked instances to Unreal as FBX from the Publish tab.

Version: 3ds Max 2025 or later; the panel uses PySide6.
Load: launch 3ds Max from the apps bar in DousenDesktop; the panel opens at startup.
Menu: Dousen before the Help menu, with Dousen Panel, Publish and New Asset.
Exports: the instance’s nodes, plus skeleton root bones for a skinned mesh, as FBX.
Convention tags are written as dousen_<key>=<value> lines in each node’s user-defined properties.

How does the addon load?

DousenDesktop ships the addon and loads it when you launch 3ds Max from the apps bar. Check the executable path in Settings → DCC Apps. The panel has the same tabs as Maya: Publish, Perforce, New Asset, Materials and Tools.

What becomes an instance?

Each top-level node whose hierarchy contains a mesh. To create your own, make a named selection set; every named selection set becomes an instance. A selection set that holds only part of a node tree takes just those nodes out of the automatic instance, which keeps the rest.

The shared Qt Publish tab with three instances. The crate and barrel are checked, the pallet is not, and all validation checks pass. — The Publish tab, shared by the 3ds Max, Maya, Substance Painter and Substance Designer panels.

How do I validate and publish?

Open the Publish tab and click Reset to collect instances.
Check the instances to publish. Right-click to Set Type or Set Import Profile.
Click Validate. Select Invalid selects failing nodes. 3ds Max has no built-in fixes, so Repair appears only for rules that provide one.
Click Publish. Errors stop it.
Check Publish history in DousenDesktop.

3ds Max uses the same rule IDs as Blender and Maya for naming, mesh hygiene, Nanite and NonNanite, and covers scene, materials, rig and animation with its own host-specific rules.

Can 3ds Max publish on save?

Yes. Check Publish mesh.export on save on the Tools tab. Each save publishes the checked instances without running the validators, though it still checks instance names, so a naming rule set to error can stop it. The setting lives in the scene, so check it when you open another file.

What does the panel header tell me?

The header of the Qt panel shows the current Jira task and the Perforce stream, or Classic depot for a project without streams. After you switch tasks in DousenDesktop, check the header before you publish, because the addon tags what you publish with that task.

Where does Dousen save its data?

Convention tags and the material assignment are stored as file properties (dousen_convention_tags and dousen_material_assignment), and the auto-publish setting on the root node, so they travel with the scene in Perforce. The Dousen menu also has Send to Substance Painter when Painter was connected at startup. It exports the selected objects as an FBX file and sends it to Painter.

How does 3ds Max show Perforce status?

The Perforce tab shows lock state and the Check Out, Sync & Reload, Revert and Refresh actions. Publishing checks for other users’ locks before it exports. See Dousen + Perforce.

Dousen is free during the studio beta, with access by request, and free forever for teams of up to 5 users. Request early access.