Live links between CAD/BIM models and 3ds Max scenes — update your design in Archicad, Revit, Rhino, SketchUp, or AutoCAD without losing the work done in Max. Materials, modifiers, properties, and plugin references like Forest Pack are preserved.
Mz Link Manager is a 3ds Max plugin for archviz artists who work alongside a CAD/BIM-driven pipeline. Each linked file becomes a MzModelLink node in your scene — a parent helper that owns the imported meshes. When the architect re-exports, you re-import through the plugin and your scene work is transferred onto the rebuilt geometry, matching meshes by material name.
You keep your archviz work. The geometry stays in sync with the architect's design.
From install to your first updated link in five steps.
Drag the .mzp package onto 3ds Max. Open the plugin from Tools menu → Mirza tools → Mz Link Manager.
The Mz Link Manager floater has four rollouts: Create, Manage, Material converter for Revit, and Help. Open Create.
Pick your BIM/CAD Software (Archicad, Revit, Rhino, Sketchup, Autocad, Other). Choose Meshes by → Material for archviz work. Leave Clean edges, Autosmooth, and Weld ticked.
Click Create link... and browse to the exported file. The plugin applies the right import preset, splits geometry by material, runs the cleanup steps, and parents everything under a new MzModelLink node. A confirmation dialog shows the duration.
Open the Manage rollout. Rows turn yellow when the source file is newer than the last update. Click Update all outdated, or select rows and click Update selection. Your materials, modifiers, properties, and selection sets are transferred onto the new geometry.
Everything happens in a single floater called Mz Link Manager, opened from the Tools menu. The floater stacks four rollouts vertically.
For building a new link from a CAD/BIM file. Holds the software picker, merge mode, geometry cleanup options, and the Create link... button.
For working with all links in the current scene. The centerpiece is a table listing every MzModelLink with its source file, software, last update, and per-link options. Below it sit the update, clone, merge, and import-into buttons, plus the reference system.
A one-click fix that converts Autodesk materials and Autodesk maps (the kind Revit brings in via FBX) into native 3ds Max Standard or Physical materials.
Hyperlinks to the Mirzasoft contact page, bug report form, and review page.
Each MzModelLink node also has its own UI in the Modify panel — a Globals rollout (icon size, open editor) and a Settings rollout that exposes the same import settings used at create time. The Update button there lights up when the link is outdated.
The Create panel turns a CAD/BIM export into a Mirza link. The settings you choose are saved on the new link object and reused for every future update — so it pays to pick them deliberately the first time.
The flow is: pick the source software, pick the merge mode, set the geometry cleanup options, then browse to the file. Everything else is automatic.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| BIM/CAD Software | Archicad · Revit · Rhino · Sketchup · Autocad · Other |
| Meshes by | Material (default) · Layer · ObjectID (Archicad/Revit only) |
| Units | m · cm · mm · inches · feet — used for AutoCAD only |
| Clean edges | Marks edges visible/invisible by angle — hides triangulation on flat surfaces |
| Autosmooth | Generates smoothing groups across edges below threshold |
| Weld | Welds coincident vertices within tolerance |
| Explode Generic (Revit) | Splits Revit's catch-all Autodesk Generic material by RGB color |
| Use reference | Apply materials/modifiers/properties from a reference link immediately after import |
The Manage panel is where you work with the links you've already created. Its central control is a table listing every MzModelLink in the scene; below the table sit the bulk operations.
The table shows ten columns: Name, Path, Format, Software, Last update, Edge, Smooth, Weld, Units, and Link by. Edit the name in place, toggle the geometry checkboxes inline, or double-click the Path cell to re-link to a different file.
| Button | Selection | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh | — | Re-checks file modification dates and re-paints outdated rows |
| Update all outdated | — | Updates every yellow row in the table |
| Update selection | 1+ rows | Updates only the selected rows |
| Clone | exactly 1 | Duplicates the link and its children |
| Import into… | exactly 1 | Browses a file and adds its meshes to the selected link |
| Merge selected | exactly 2 | Merges the second selected link into the first |
| Apply reference | 1+ rows | Applies the chosen reference to the selected links |
The Create and Manage panels work on the same MzModelLink objects but at different points in their lifecycle. Create owns the birth of a link; Manage owns everything that happens to it afterward.
MzModelLink node in the sceneMz Link Manager ships with tuned import presets for five source applications. Each card below shows the recommended export format and the quickest setup tip.
Export to FBX (from Archicad 27) or OBJ at 1000 mm with model normals. Splits by material, layer, or ObjectID.
FBX is the cleanest path. Uses 3ds Max's File Link Manager with a "Combine by Revit Material / Category / Family Type" preset.
Export OBJ as Polygon Mesh in meters. The plugin strips Rhino's object-name prefix from sub-materials.
OBJ in meters with model units, don't change YZ axis. SKP imports work in 3ds Max 2020+ via the new importer.
Set Units in the Create panel to match the DWG's drawing units. Splits by material (collapsing layers) or by layer.
Generic preset, no per-software cleanup. Use this for one-off imports from anything not in the list above.
A reference link is a Mirza link in your scene (or in an external .max file) that holds the materials, modifiers, and properties you want to apply to other links. The reference system pushes those properties from the reference onto target links, matching meshes by material name.
Three patterns come up most often:
| Scenario | Setup |
|---|---|
| New revision of a project | Previous revision's link becomes the reference for the new one |
| Variations of one building | One master-shaded link holds final materials; variations inherit from it |
| Shader library across projects | A dedicated .max file of reference links, loaded via Load from external file |
Tick what to apply in the Reference group of the Manage panel:
| Property | Default | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Materials | On | The full 3ds Max material assigned to each matching mesh |
| Modifiers | On | The full modifier stack — including Forest Pack and other plugin-dependent modifiers |
| Properties | On | Object properties: visibility, render flags, motion blur, etc. |
| Selection sets | Off | Membership in named selection sets |
| Layers | — | Deliberately excluded; protects your scene's layer structure |
Tick Load from external file and browse to another .max file. The dropdown lists every MzModelLink found in it. On apply, the chosen link is temporarily merged into the scene, used as a source, then removed.
.max file containing only Mirza links with finished materials. Use it as the Load from external file reference for every new project — your shader library is decoupled from any specific scene.When the source file's modification date is newer than the link's stored last-update timestamp, the row turns yellow in the Manage table. Click Refresh to recheck after a file change.
| Property | Preserved by update? |
|---|---|
| Materials | Yes — by material name match |
| Modifier stack | Yes — including plugin modifiers (Forest Pack, RailClone, etc.) |
| Object properties | Yes — visibility, render flags, motion blur |
| Layer assignments | Yes |
| Selection set membership | Yes |
| Link transform (position/rotation) | Yes — temporarily reset to origin during import, restored after |
Revit FBX imports bring in Autodesk_Material objects and Autodesk_Map texture nodes. These often don't render correctly in V-Ray, Corona, or Arnold. The Material converter rollout replaces them with native 3ds Max Standard or Physical materials and their map equivalents.
| Autodesk map type | Converted to |
|---|---|
| UnifiedBitmap (bitmap) | Bitmap |
| Noise | Noise |
| Speckle | Speckle |
| Tile | Bricks (approximate) |
| Other / unrecognized | Color map (if Replace unsuccessfully converted is on) |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Convert to | Standard (for V-Ray/Corona) or Physical (for Arnold and modern PBR) |
| Replace unsuccessfully converted maps | Substitute a solid color map carrying the original tint, when conversion fails |
| Select objects with problem maps | After conversion, select meshes that use unconvertible maps so you can review them |
Each link in your scene is an MzModelLink node — a parent helper that owns the imported meshes and the import settings. Selecting it and opening the Modify panel exposes two rollouts owned by the link itself.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Open editor | Opens the main Mz Link Manager floater |
| Icon Size | Viewport size of the link's gizmo. Range 0.01–10000, default 1. |
The link's per-instance import settings. These are read on every update. Editing them here is equivalent to editing the matching columns in the Manage panel's table.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Link (file button) | Source file path. Click to re-link to a different file. |
| Software | Source software dropdown |
| Format / Last update | Read-only labels — file extension and last update timestamp |
| autoEdge / autoSmooth / autoWeld | Geometry cleanup toggles applied on every update |
| Units | Import unit (Autocad only) |
| Merge by | Material · Layer · No merge |
| explode generic material | Revit-only — split Autodesk Generic by color |
| Update | Lit when the link is outdated. Press to update from the Modify panel. |
The menu is created on startup. If you installed while 3ds Max was running, restart Max. If it still doesn't appear, verify the app/ folder is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\ and that PackageContents.xml is at its root.
The transfer matches old children to new children by material name. If material names changed in the source file (or you renamed materials in 3ds Max), the match fails silently. Before risky updates, clone the link — the clone preserves the previous state and can serve as a reference after the update.
Plugin-dependent modifiers only transfer when the plugin is loaded in 3ds Max at update time. Confirm Forest Pack (or RailClone, MultiScatter, etc.) is loaded before clicking Update.
This is the delete protection talking. The plugin detected that a link node was deleted while its children are still in the scene. Choose Yes to restore the link with its meshes; No to remove it from the protection list.
Large Revit FBX/RVT files (500 MB+) can take several minutes. The viewport doesn't redraw during import — this is intentional and faster. Check the status-line progress bar. If there's truly no progress for 5+ minutes, look at the MAXScript listener for errors.
Check that material names in the reference match those in the target. concrete_grey and concrete_gray (US spelling) are different to the matcher. Either rename the materials, or rename the meshes manually before applying.