1. Open 3ds max and draw ground like object, wider plane is idel for creating lava.
2. Now for the lava material, open material editor and select an empty slot, in the Diffuse add Gradient Ramp and do the setting as given below at Frame 0.
After setting the Gradient Ramp Parameters as same as the above image, you have created lava material, Yeah ! this is all, our lava material is ready, Apply this to the plane and hit F9 for quick render.
3. Now, for animating the lava, just change the Phase value of Noise. For that goto Frame no 200, on the Auto Key and change the Phase value from 0 to 
.
4. For some realistic animation add Wave modifier on plane with the following setting :
Change to 
Render all 200 frames as video.
Download Max(9) file Here
