@thomthom said:
Not sure how things work in Maxwell, but if you use V-Ray for Sketchup, which runs from within SU and doesn't export anything this is a good aid to set the HDRI position as there are no visual aid provided. VfSU simply asks for offset values.
Mate maxwell is the same, studio (the standalone app) will allow you to position your background visually, though reflection, refraction and illuminaton channels are all by trial and error and lots of both!
For many the best way to avoid the excessive testing is to use a chrome sphere in the scene to replace the subject, run a test to see on the reflections where the location is and then adjust to correct, delete the sphere and unhide all other for the render, to get the reflections good enough to see this can take some lengthy render times!
I'm just reversing this process to speed it up and get accurate results first go!