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    How to use emitters in Maxwell Standalone for Sketchup

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    • brodieB Offline
      brodie
      last edited by

      Oh, sorry about that. Either they changed it or I was just wrong. That is unfortunate.

      -Brodie

      steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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      • Z Offline
        Zoom123
        last edited by

        No problem Brodie. Maybe Maxwell will revise their policy on this. I understand not including IES, but the ability to create spotlights shouldn't be considered an advanced feature reserved only for the Suite. If they don't include MXED then they should at least create some other feature that would allow the creation of spotlights.

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        • jason_marantoJ Offline
          jason_maranto
          last edited by

          The reality is they are always adding new features and they know that embedded IES lights were a need for the stand-alone plugin so that is likely to appear soon.

          There was no need for them before the stand-alone plugin came out because anybody who had Maxwell had MXED as well and could make any material they needed at any time... this wasn't a purposeful slight to stand-alone plugin users, simply an oversight. It's still a relatively new application (a little over a month old) so there are bound to be some hiccups.

          I did notice you were commenting on VRay ability with exteriors -- which Maxwell handles quite well... I am curious are we talking hypotheticals here or do you have actual projects that you need to accomplish with these tools?

          Best,
          Jason.

          I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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          • Z Offline
            Zoom123
            last edited by

            Yes, I did notice that the Standalone app was new. If they add a few missing features then I think it will be really competitive. If they could also figure out a way for quick preliminary renders, then it would have everything I need and I would certainly buy it!

            I am not a pro in 3D (neither I am planning to be - I am a Web Developer). I have one project and that is my own house which I am currently designing. I have an architect, interior designer etc, and I could also hire somebody to do the 3D for me. But I am a bit of a perfectionist and I like to evaluate many different possibilities until I find the "perfect" one. So I learned Sketchup and I used the plans to make the house in 3D. Now we moved into the phase when we have to decide about specific materials and do the lighting plans, and Sketchup by itself is not very good for this. So basically I am looking for an app that will allow me to evaluate several different possibilities for materials, lighting and other aspects of the interior design.

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            • jason_marantoJ Offline
              jason_maranto
              last edited by

              Well Maxwell is the render engine for perfectionists by perfectionists -- the reason for it's reputed lack of speed (which I think is blown way out of proportion) is because they refuse to compromise in any way from their ideals... Which they say right up front on their website.

              There will be no biased engine added to Maxwell, FIRE is it for previews... any speed improvements will come from upgrading to more powerful hardware and possibly some code optimization.

              I respect that approach since I take a very similar one to my work -- however everyone has different priorities and it's nice that there is an option to fit just about everyone.

              Best,
              Jason.

              I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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              • B Offline
                bravoddb
                last edited by

                I had the same problem, but I applyed the light material on both faces, but some times it did't work, so finally I figured out that after put the material in both faces, I had to group it ( the light source, using emitter material) and the problem solved. No more black faces on emitters.

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                • Z Offline
                  Zoom123
                  last edited by

                  Speed might not be such a big issue once I upgrade my computer (i7 overclocked to about 4.5GHz) but not being able to add spotlights easily is an important issue. Do you know when they are planning to change this?

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                  • JD HillJ Offline
                    JD Hill
                    last edited by

                    There will be an IES material character in the next build.

                    Developer - Bella Render

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                    • Z Offline
                      Zoom123
                      last edited by

                      @jd hill said:

                      There will be an IES material character in the next build.

                      Great news! Any estimate about when the next build will be out? Are we talking about days, weeks or months?

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                      • JD HillJ Offline
                        JD Hill
                        last edited by

                        I don't mean to seem evasive, but as a matter of policy, I never answer that question with any precision. I plan on putting up some pre-release bits for customers pretty soon (the plan for this is on the order of days, not weeks), but I won't make any estimate on timing for a public release.

                        Developer - Bella Render

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                        • brodieB Offline
                          brodie
                          last edited by

                          I don't think there's any specific plan that's been made known. If you're really interested you could email Jeremy who's the creator of the plugin and very helpful. If he has anything in the works I'm sure he'd be happy to let you know.

                          -Brodie

                          steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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                          • V Offline
                            valerostudio
                            last edited by

                            This is excellent news. Thanks

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                            • M Offline
                              markewi
                              last edited by

                              mmh, I still have trouble getting emitters to work. I turned the enviroment settings to none and either changed sketchup materials in the maxwell scene manager to have max watts etc. or used mxm files that suppose to have emitter lights but none of them will glow! The scene will render dark and you see the material but it will not be a light source. What am I doing wrong?

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                              • B Offline
                                bravoddb
                                last edited by

                                @markewi said:

                                mmh, I still have trouble getting emitters to work. I turned the enviroment settings to none and either changed sketchup materials in the maxwell scene manager to have max watts etc. or used mxm files that suppose to have emitter lights but none of them will glow! The scene will render dark and you see the material but it will not be a light source. What am I doing wrong?

                                Hi, make the surface with emitter material a group, then rerender it again.

                                Bravoddb

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                                • brodieB Offline
                                  brodie
                                  last edited by

                                  @markewi said:

                                  mmh, I still have trouble getting emitters to work. I turned the enviroment settings to none and either changed sketchup materials in the maxwell scene manager to have max watts etc. or used mxm files that suppose to have emitter lights but none of them will glow! The scene will render dark and you see the material but it will not be a light source. What am I doing wrong?

                                  What are your camera settings (what's the EV) and what are your emitter settings and what size is the emitter?

                                  If you have realistic emitter settings and the emitter isn't too big and you've got a realistic EV (for interior scenes with emitters you're usually looking at 7ish) you should be good.

                                  -Brodie

                                  steelblue http://www.steelbluellc.com

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                                  • jason_marantoJ Offline
                                    jason_maranto
                                    last edited by

                                    Also, Emitters are only going to emit in the direction of the normals -- which means the "front" of the polygon.

                                    So to recap, the short checklist for emitters working right is:

                                    1. Is the geometry to real-world scale?
                                    2. Is the camera exposure value realistic?
                                    3. Are the surface normals pointing in the direction you want light to emit?

                                    In addition to that there are also some limits to emitters as far as their use in components -- However, there are a number of emitter related changes availible in the the latest pre-release preview (2.6.3) on the Maxwell forums and I do recommend you download that and see if that fixes the issue.

                                    Best,
                                    Jason.

                                    I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                                    • M Offline
                                      markewi
                                      last edited by

                                      Thanks to all! I'll give it a try.....

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                                      • CarlohC Offline
                                        Carloh
                                        last edited by

                                        are there MXM files with IES in the maxwell material gallery? this far i haven't figuered out how to create a spot light with the maxwell standalone sketchup plugin ๐Ÿ˜ข

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                                        • jason_marantoJ Offline
                                          jason_maranto
                                          last edited by

                                          @carloh said:

                                          are there MXM files with IES in the maxwell material gallery? this far i haven't figuered out how to create a spot light with the maxwell standalone sketchup plugin ๐Ÿ˜ข

                                          The newest version of the plugin supports creating IES materials directly within SketchUp (as an embedded character type material) -- I would re-download the plugin (from the Maxwell website) to get the new features. Also, I would check the Maxwell forum regularly for the latest pre-release version (which right now is 2.6.11) because often they will be newer than what is available from the Maxwell website: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=107

                                          Best,
                                          Jason.

                                          I create video tutorial series about several 2D & 3D graphics programs.

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                                          • CarlohC Offline
                                            Carloh
                                            last edited by

                                            thank you very much jason! wooohooo finally the possibility to put IES in my scenes!

                                            and i was this close to buying the full render suite just for IES lights ๐Ÿ˜‰

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