Gmax was actually released for hobby modders to create content for the supported games that were out at the time. It's also a learning tool, for people to get use to Max's interface and some features. Other then that, Gmax can't really be used for personal projects, unless you are able to convert the currently supported Gmax exports to .x format.
Though some have found a way around this:
http://panda3d.org/wiki/index.php/Converting_from_GMax
but if you read the Gmax license agreement, this is against your agreement and you can get in trouble for it. if Discreet finds out you are using Gmax for use in a DBP project, they will take action. Srry to burst your bubble.
MOONDOG