Maxwell Update 2.6.10
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The 2.6.10 plugin is available here, so you may be looking at a cached page, Jason. Since I got feedback indicating that some people did not like the zero-impact .zip-based plugin installation, you will see that there are now also two OS-specific installer-based packages, for use with SketchUp 8. The universal .zip-based package is still available for people who still prefer that, or are using another version of SketchUp.
Regarding IES support, if you look in the new [plugins]/maxwell/res/ies folder, you will find a fairly sizeable collection of IES & LDT files. For fun, I attach below an example DC that demonstrates one possible use of IES files in this version of the plugin:
And here is the DC:
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Nice model. Love it! Any chance there will be more on the way like this? So looking at your setup in this file, we still need to create a sphere and apply the IES material to that? I did some tests and it seems like size of the sphere does matter, so whats the general rule, .5" diameter?
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Brodie did some tests a while back and found that small, low-poly spheres work best for crisp IES patterns -- I like this plugin for making quick work of IES spheres http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?p=255372#p255372
I believe 1" was the size Brodie settled on which would be about 2.5cm... larger sizes will soften the pattern and possibly make the render a bit slower.
Best,
Jason. -
@valerostudio said:
Nice model. Love it! Any chance there will be more on the way like this? So looking at your setup in this file, we still need to create a sphere and apply the IES material to that? I did some tests and it seems like size of the sphere does matter, so whats the general rule, .5" diameter?
No, not really any more models where that one came from -- I mostly wrote it to help me with the coding. And yes, that is how it works: you just apply an IES material to a piece of geometry (a group or component, so that you have directionality); I chose to do it that way because this is how it works underneath, in Maxwell, and allows you to control the output of banks of lights from a single material. As for questions on the use of IES in general, I wouldn't be a good authority on that, since they have never been a part of my own workflow.
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This plug-in update looks great. If we are using Suite are we looking at cleaner less-noise renders? That seems to be something that was tackled in this update?
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Can I ask a slightly off-topic question while there are some Maxwell users around?
I'm looking to evaluate Maxwell, but I'm on a Win XP PRO 64 bit system. In checking the system requirements on the Maxwell site, it appears my OS is not listed. Should I take then with some authority that Maxwell isn't suitable for my system?
Cheers and thanks.
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SSS materials will definitely clear faster and generally look better -- noise is a tricky subject with Maxwell because it really all depends on your materials and lighting...
However the full Maxwell Render Suite will always clear faster in the same amount of time due to the additional processing power it leverages.
Best,
Jason. -
@idahoj said:
I'm looking to evaluate Maxwell, but I'm on a Win XP PRO 64 bit system. In checking the system requirements on the Maxwell site, it appears my OS is not listed. Should I take then with some authority that Maxwell isn't suitable for my system?
I use it both on Windows XP Pro (32-bit) and Windows 7 (64-bit) -- they work identically, although I'm not sure if the SketchUp 8 "large address aware flag" allows SketchUp to use the 4 Gb of Ram it does in my Windows 7 64-bit Setup. That might effect the size of SketchUp scenes you can render, but it shouldn't effect the normal operation of the plugin.
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks Jason ... I'll give Maxwell a try ...
Cheers.
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@jason_maranto said:
@valerostudio said:
If we are using Suite are we looking at cleaner less-noise renders? That seems to be something that was tackled in this update?
the full Maxwell Render Suite will always clear faster in the same amount of time due to the additional processing power it leverages.
Technically, this should not be the case (with the licensed Standalone, using the Production engine), though I have not personally run any comparisons. The engine should be identical inside; the Draft engine, on the other hand, may take a good deal longer in situations involving more complex lighting.
@idahoj said:
I'm looking to evaluate Maxwell, but I'm on a Win XP PRO 64 bit system. In checking the system requirements on the Maxwell site, it appears my OS is not listed. Should I take then with some authority that Maxwell isn't suitable for my system?
It should work fine on XP Pro x64, though I have never personally run it on that platform.
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I've run a bunch of side-by-side comparisons and it does run a bit slower -- I always credited the fact that it shares SketchUps process as the culprit.
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks, I'll have to check it out, then. A process, be it SketchUp or maxwell.exe, should consume a negligible amount of processing capacity, in comparison to that used by the engine. The only thing to do, then, is to measure.
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Does anyone know of a way to take a material that's generated right from SU and open it directly into the Maxwell Material editor? The edit button is grayed out unless you load a MXM file. Want I want to be able to do is advanced edit some of my SU materials. Should this go into the wish list bin?
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The Maxwell Materials are special characters which can be changed in the Material Editor.
For Sketchup Materials you just can use the embedded Materials like Metal,AGS....
I asked for an advanced setting tab, where you can setup some global settings like reflection, refrection, bumpmap,....
But it was mentioned that it will be extended by time and it's not prior on the list. So you can only use the settings from the embedded Material or the mxm ones. -
It sounds like a simple thing - save SU material to MXM? Wonder why its not there in the Suite version.
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You have to export the scene to Studio, from there you can export all the materials in the scene as MXM's and bring them into your SketchUp file that way.
It's not ideal, and the material system of the plugin I think may still be one of it's weaker points from my POV... I prefer to make SketchUp materials linked in MXM mode to simplify my life and bypass the character-type materials limitations. It's a bit more work up front, but the flexibility it gives pays off down the line.
Most of the character types are adapted from the MXED "wizards" anyway so you can get alot of the same results in MXED easily.
I often wish it was possible to simply embed the MXED application into the plugin (as it is in Maxwell Studio) and be done with it.
Best,
Jason. -
MXED linked in would we incredible. The material editor in the plug-in is well done but some of us advanced users want more advanced settings.
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