Esteban Cuesta has a look at using PullDownIt 3 in Autodesk Maya. PulldownIt is more than just a fracturing tool, it is a complete dynamics solver that is tuned to handling massive rigid body simulations.
cracking ground and breaking obstacles with an animated object using Pulldownit in Maya
PullDownIt 3 launched with a huge speed increase in generating fractures, and included a new preview shattering mode.
This allows you to see the affects of all your set parameters before actually breaking the geometry.
It’s interesting to see the workflow between objects and the destruction tool in Maya. Seems to be a great and affordable solution for creating destruction visual effects in 3ds Max and Maya.