Maxwell render for Mac

[jrm1]

I'm thinking of buying Maxwell.

I'm a Sketchup user on a Mac. I have a MacBook Pro i5 machine and also a 2008 Mac Pro 8 Core 3.2GHz 10Gb RAM machine. I have a feeling the laptop will struggle with Maxwell render, but will the 8 Core do a good job on complex models? I use a lot of vegetation, so the edges and faces count is often over 2 million.

If I buy the Maxwell for Sketchup plugin will that be enough or will I benefit greatly from the standalone version?

[chedda]

I got the standalone so it's the best of both worlds, you get the plugin (awesome) & studio which eats polys. I think the laptop will struggle to be honest the tower is more suitable i use a 12 core 2.93 and maxwell takes time. The results however are undeniably super. In the mean time you can try out the free version just to see the performance differences.

[jrm1]

Thanks Chedda. I'd rather not upgrade to a 12 core just yet - you think the 8 core will be good for a while longer?

So you opted for Maxwell instead of Vray...still happy you did?

[chedda]

Regarding hardware you really cannot ever have enough for maxwell, i think apple will launch a new pro soon. I am very happy with maxwell it's results are always predictable, i used artlantis for a few years when i had my slower power pc machine. This taught me the basics after i moved hard/software it was like running without ankle weights. Even if you get a super beast of a machine you will be tempted later to create a farm. Vray has speed on it's side i have seen some great images made with it, but with maxwell i think you get a lot more especially the full version. I am a bit biased as i've only used maxwell perhaps others will pitch in.

Your machine is no slouch it will render reasonably i'm sure, if not look at something like http://www.felixrender.com/

Personally i am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to images, in my opinion it's the end result that matters not the time or quantity. Have you tried the free version ? It may give you a better understanding of the time involved with your system.

I have really enjoyed learning & using maxwell, there are some really helpful & inspirational guys here & the next limit forums. Also the plugin & studio gets regular updates and the devs frequent the forums this in my opinion makes a big diference.

[jason_maranto]

One thing to bear in mind on a Mac is: the Mac version of SketchUp currently has a limitation in the way it reads saved SKM materials with Maxwell data attached (that is to say that it ignores it completely). What this means is that if you want to use pre-made SKM material libraries, without having to manually re-link an MXM each time you select a material, you will have to use the "Auto-MXM" function.

This will work fine in all the versions of the plugin, and I have begun to make my libraries compatible with this approach starting with the recently released free Arroway SKM/MXM sets here:
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=107&t=38528

It's really a simple process to use Auto MXM (provided the set is created with it in mind), but without it the utility of the plugin on the Mac platform is severely limited (when it comes to material libraries) -- so this is good information to know before trying it out.

Best,
Jason.

[jrm1]

Thanks guys. Are Apple bringing out a new 12 core?

If I want to run the Maxwell standalone suite, am I right in thinking I need to but Sketchup Pro (because SU free doesn't export a file that Maxwell standalone can use)?

[jason_maranto]

No, you can use SketchUp free now, but you do lose a few features that the Ruby exporter doesn't support.

Best,
Jason.

[jrm1]

I should go ahead and demo it tomorrow.

[chedda]

I believe a Mac pro refresh is imminent, could be 16 core or even 20 at the high end fast but pricey ! My machine is not a year old yet so I'm in no hurry to upgrade. I expect I'll upgrade the cpu's from 2.93 to 3.46 when the price drops.