A Robust Hierarchy Cleanup Tool for ArchViz Pipelines in 3ds Max
Description
Hierarchy Guardian is a professional 3ds Max tool built to analyze, clean, and validate complex scene hierarchies—especially those coming from Revit, BIM, CAD, SketchUp, and other external sources.
Imported scenes often contain deep and chaotic hierarchies, technical placeholder nodes, broken group structures, inherited scale issues, and unstable transforms. These problems may go unnoticed at first, but they often surface later—breaking animation, instancing, lighting setups, or downstream exports.
Hierarchy Guardian takes a safety-first, analysis-driven approach.
Before applying any change, it analyzes the scene and clearly reports what will be modified, what will be preserved, and how impactful the cleanup will be. You always know exactly what will happen before you commit.
To ensure full control and peace of mind, Hierarchy Guardian includes a robust protection system. It can automatically create Hold snapshots and full scene backups before cleanup, and lets you restore the previous state at any time. Even high-impact operations can be reversed safely, making experimentation and iteration completely risk-free.
Designed for professional ArchViz pipelines and large production scenes, Hierarchy Guardian gives you precise control over hierarchy cleanup while preserving instancing, constraints, cameras, lights, proxies, and architectural intent. It scales reliably on heavy scenes and produces clean, readable, production-ready hierarchies you can trust.
Features
- Pre‑cleanup hierarchy analysis with detailed structural diagnostics
- Clear analysis report showing counts, depth, risks, and expected changes. Exportable to text file.
- Estimated Cleanup Impact (Low / Medium / High) based on structural intensity
- Clear preview of cleanup actions before anything is applied
- Preset-based cleanup strategies for CAD, BIM, ArchViz and asset libraries
- Safe hierarchy depth reduction with configurable maximum depth
- Intelligent rules to prevent unsafe reparenting (multi‑child nodes, meaningful names, sensitive objects)
- Robust group to hierarchy conversion, including structural group hierarchies
- Removal of technical placeholders, meaningless dummies, and leftovers
- Detection and optional fixing of inherited / corrupted scale
- Protection system for cameras, lights, proxies, XRefs, hidden or frozen objects, animated or constrained nodes
- Automatic preservation of object instancing and instance relationships in 3ds Max scenes
- Safety workflow: Hold snapshot + optional full .max backup for high‑impact cleanups
- Restore previous state or last backup at any time
- Post-cleanup validation to detect unexpected changes and ensure hierarchy integrity after processing
- Additional cleanup tasks:
– Flatten splines in Z. – Sanitize object names. – Move cleaned hierarchy to new layer. – Delete empty layers. - Comprehensive toolbox for targeted cleanup actions on selection
- Optimized performance for large complex 3ds Max scenes and heavy imports.
- No plugin dependency
- Easy drag & drop installation
Clean hierarchies. Predictable results. Zero surprises.
Know exactly what will happen before you clean.
Hierarchy Guardian is a robust, professional tool for controlled hierarchy cleanup in 3ds Max, built for studios and artists who rely on stable, predictable ArchViz pipelines.
If your workflow depends on safety, consistency, and professional standards, Hierarchy Guardian is built for you.
BETA TEST
** Beta registration is now closed **
We are currently beta-testing the product. If you want to participate in the process and get some benefits, please read the information bellow and fill in the Application Form (at the bottom of the page).
Beta testers can write us and provide feedback either in English or Spanish.
Requirements
- have Autodesk 3dsMax version 2019 – 2026 installed in your computer
- have at least 1 year of experience working with 3dsMax software
- commit to follow the rules of the beta test and provide the required feedback
Beta Test Schedule
End of call for testers: February 20, 2026
Length of Beta Test: 10 days (maximum)
Closing date: February 28, 2026
Benefits of participating
- 1 free Hierarchy Guardian lifetime license
- 50% off coupon for SplineDynamics’ shop, valid for 1 year (*)
- Direct contact with the plugin’s author
(*) not combinable with other promos.
Apply for beta access to Hierarchy Guardian and help shape a professional hierarchy cleanup tool for real-world ArchViz pipelines.
Application Form
After submission, you will get a confirmation email and we will contact you in the next 1-2 days. If you don’t get any email, please write us through this Contact form.