importing 3ds max terrain

what's the best way to import a terrain created in 3ds max 2011 as an asset?

I would recommend create a raw heightmap of your terrain in max and import the heightmap into unity, for 2 reasons: 1.It's easier to deal with trees and all other plants you want to add to your terrain. terrain script does it for you if you use unity's terrain. 2.You have easy control over LOD.

Use this to convert a mesh to a Unity terrain.

If I export from 3ds max as a 3ds file I can import the terrain directly as a mesh