To install the exporter, look in the panda3d "plugins" directory. There, you will find the files maxegg5.dlo, maxegg6.dlo, and maxegg7.dlo. These are for 3D Studio Max versions 5, 6, and 7 respectively. Copy the correct file from the Panda3D plugins directory into the 3D Studio Max plugins directory, then, restart 3D Studio Max.

As of Panda3D 1.0.4, the old MAX exporter has been replaced with a brand new exporter. The new exporter is somewhat unconventional in its design. Max has a menu item "File/Export". Panda's egg format does not show up in this menu. Instead, Panda's exporter is a helper object. This enables the exporter to save your export settings from one session to the next.

To export a scene, your first step is to create the necessary helper object. Go to the creation panel, select "helper objects," choose "exporters," and then click on the button to create a Panda3D export helper:

Drop an egg exporter into the scene:

Switch to the modify panel. You will now be able to see the configuration settings that are stored in the export helper.

The exporter can generate several egg files from a single scene. The exporter therefore contains a list of egg files to generate. To export this particular scene (the one with the blocky humanoid and the biped skeleton), we will create an egg containing the model and one containing the animation. Click the "add..." button on the exporter's modify panel. You will be prompted:

I have filled in the file name, and I have selected the mesh I want to export. When I click "OK," an egg file will be added to the list of eggs to generate. I then click the "add..." button again, and add another egg to the list:

This time, I'm generating an animation egg. I have listed the bones to export, and the range of animation frames. Once I click OK, the modify panel for the egg exporter looks like this:

When I click the "export now" button, the two egg files are generated, and I am asked whether or not I would like to pview them.

When you save your MAX file, the export helper will also be saved. The next time you load it up, it will still remember which meshes go in which egg files.