Best way to buy and import 3d models into Autodesk 3ds Max 2021

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What render engine are you using? If you are new I suggest buying models pre-made for that render engine, the most common format for 3dsmax is Vray so you wont run into material problems.

Textures always need to be re-pathed if your assets are located in different directories. Either that or place all downloaded assets in a folder in the same directory as your project file (simple method).

3D file management can be quite tricky at first, there is not really a scenario which will be easy for any type of drag and drop - as it all depends on how you have file managed your projects and assets.

Good answer, 3DCargo.

Agree, for drag-and-drop ability, the very first thing to consider is the identity of the rendering engine you are using with Max. If you have not purchased or acquired a special rendering engine, you probably are using Arnold, that ships with MAX. But in any case, you need to focus on purchasing models for MAX whose textures/materials are specified as being for whichever rendering engine you are using.

Higher polygon count ("higher resolution") models will render to a higher, photo-realistic quality. So, your next consideration for drag-and-drop should be to look for models that are listed as being high-resolution. In your search for models, look at the "wireframe" pictures. You will be able to tell if a model has too few polygons to make a good render right out of the box. (Nothing wrong with low-resolution models. It is just that you don't want to be "improving" them yourself - you just want to "drag-and-drop".)

If you find a good model for your purposes that is not in MAX format, look to see if the model is available in *.fbx file format. These import well into MAX. If you find a model that you just have to have, but it is not in *.max, *.fbx, *.obj or *.mb (Maya) file format, as the CGTrader administrators if they will make a conversion for you (at a small or at no charge).

Now, as to materials and textures... Some vendors package these in separate directories (file folders), or in separate zip files, and some package them in the directory that holds the models. (Models in *.obj file format require the materials to be loaded in the same directory as the model.)

For purposes of "drag-and-drop", you should create a sub-directory in your "clinic office" project directory to hold "assets". ("Assets" being the industry term for models that you purchased elsewhere, in this case.) Then, for each purchased model, you should create a sub-directory within "assets" with the name of the model you purchased. After downloading the purchased model, move this model's *.zip or *.rar file into that special sub-directory, and then unzip all of the content into that model's sub-directory. If the zip file contains special sub-directories for the textures, (or even sub-zip files for the textures), ignore those, but navigate into them and dump all the textures and materials into the same sub-directory as contains the model. When in Max, if you import your new model into your clinic scene, MAX automatically will find and apply the textures for the model, so long as they are in the same directory as contains the model. ...Also, by taking the time to create an "assets" directory in your project file, and then systematically creating sub-directories within it for each of your purchased models, MAX will learn where these models are, and you'll have far less navigating to do to find and import each of them into your various scene shots.

For good renders, you'll want to purchase models that claim to have "PBR" textures and materials. In general, "PBR" (physically based rendering") materials will appear more or less the same across most rendering engines. For your purposes, many of the materials, such as "stainless steel", aluminium, white plastic, clear and frosted glass, etc. should be the same, and you'll want them to look the same, ... be consistant throughout your various scene shots.

But, two models with something like stainless steel PBR materials that are made by different vendors won't always look the same. So, one tip that will save you a lot of time is to make an assessment of materials that often appear in your scenes and that should be the same across all your various scenes, and then either find a model that has a materials you like, or take the time to make these materials yourself and save them in your MAX Material Library. If you import a model that seems to have a good stainless steel material, for example, save that material to your Material Library, and then whenever you load another model that has a stainless steel part, quickly replace that model's stainless steel material with the one out of your Material Library. Doing this only takes a second or two of your time, and will give your a good, consistant appearence in all your renders.

Glasses are a little bit problematic for MAX with PBR materials. Typically, these and shiny ceramics are the materials that vary the most widely across different model vendors. So, if you are using Arnold Render, or V-Ray, or another of the high-end rendering engines (Maxwell Render, Corona, Redshift, etc.), you should follow the same procedure as above; that is, load or create a bunch of these kind of materials to be standard materials for your project and put them into your MAX Material Library. Just automatically plan on replacing these materials on any imported model with the standard ones in your Material Library.

There are tons of good models out there in *.obj and in *.fbx file format, and if you have set up a bunch of standard materials in your Max Material Library, there is no reason you shouldn't be able to purchase models in these formats as well. Just plan on automatically replacing the metals and the glasses and ceramics on the imported models with the ones in your Material Library immediately after you've imported them.

If you are using Arnold, and you need help to create a library of glass materials for you Max Material Library, just email me. I can point you to good sources for those.

FBX or OBJ file is the best way

Thank you all for these answers! Working on it now ...