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Arnold Scene Source (.ass) is the native scene definition format, stored in human-readable, editable ASCII files.

Exporting to .ASS by Rendering

MAXtoA lets you save scenes to .ass files that can later be rendered outside of 3ds Max with kick (a multi-platform, command-line utility) or used for rendering via Procedural.

From the Archive tab, select .ASS File.
Choose where you want to save the .ass file. When you next render the scene, MAXtoA will save an .ass file to the file path that you chose.

Arnold for 3DS Max User Guide > Arnold Scene Source > image2017-4-4 9:11:1.png

^{_{'Export to Ass File' in the System tab of Render Setup}}

Exported .ASS files done in this way is more suitable for rendering with kick or on a render farm.

Kick.exe can be found in the C:\ProgramData\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\MAXtoA

However, in order to run it without errors from the command-line you may need to copy kick.exe, ai.dll and MAXtoA_Shaders.dll (plus any 3rd party shaders you may use) to another directory, otherwise the special adapter shader MAXtoA_Adapter.dll - which can not be run outside of 3ds max itself - will cause error messages.

Exporting to .ASS from the Export menu

You can also export to .ASS from the file menu. Choose File -> Export -> Export... and pick "Arnold Scene Source (.ASS)" from the file type menu, which also allows you to only export selected objects.

The files exported in this way is more suitable for use in procedural objects, since no render options are exported, and by default, only geometry and shaders are.

Arnold for 3DS Max User Guide > Arnold Scene Source > image2017-4-7 12:10:24.png