Discreet has announced an agreement with Microsoft to become a tools and middleware partner for the Xbox console. Under the terms of the agreement, Discreet has introduced architectural and feature changes to its 3dx max modeling and rendering product for Xbox game developers. Now optimized for the Xbox development environment, 3ds max gives developers the ability to introduce their own pixel and vertex shaders in order to replicate, down to the line of code, the performance of their game-rendering engine.

　　"We have created an optimized environment that is graphically identical to the Xbox," Lance Alameda, industry manager at Discreet, told GameSpot. "In development, engineers will have written specific vertex and pixel shaders that are optimized specifically for the game engine that you're working on. That vertex shader will pop up in the viewport in real time. There is no more rendering and no more guesswork. So, you have optimized workflow and no guesswork, and you have the closest thing in your development environment to the target that you had--it is unprecedented."

　　"Every game developer we have talked with couldn't wait to get ahold of our product," added Phillip Miller, senior director of Discreet software products. "As game developers come up to speed on how to create their own vertex and pixel shaders, each company will use it differently. One group will use it to make sure its titles are coming in on schedule, while others will actually use that benefit to create richer content. They're gaining all of that extra time with 3ds max. Our alignment with Microsoft makes it so that we are able to include more direct connection in our product to the Xbox platform. Those will be available to the Xbox developers."

　　Discreet's 3ds max utility can be used in the early stages of development by game programmers to test their shaders without using a development system. Artists will be able to use it throughout the development process, because the 3ds max can be the target viewer and lets them see hardware-rendered textured models animating in real-time as they would appear in a finished Xbox game.