Hi people im getting some weird shading defects in 3ds max when i apply a normal map on a model its as if the uv maps have randomly shifted , i baked the normals map in mudbox and applied it with a standard material Please give some tips on normal map baking and applying

First check what the hell is actually going on with this map. Use Unwrap UVW and Edit map to see how does it behave. I suppose that in mudbox everything looks fine.

It looks like your UVs have some mirrored portions, i.e. the normals are facing in the opposite directions. Mudbox can not handle such UVs properly.
At least I had similar issues when some of my UV elements were mirrored.
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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

I hadn't have such problems but I've had some few days ago. I've made texture and bump layers. Texture worked fine in max but bump didn't. My character has empty area in the center of his back and some mess where legs are connecting with body part. Problem is solved but it's strange that there are two maps made in one file and aren't working both same way when use same UV. Freaky and it was pain in my ass for a while.

ah got it to work ,, i first took it into max ,re uv maped it and took it back into mudbox with the mudbox preset , and exproted the normal map again after making the highpolly