FREE Maxwell Render for Sketchup (free version).
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SketchUp (SKM) material opacity lower than 100% is interpreted by the Maxwell plugin as becoming more and more "AGS" (A simple material made to mimic glass reflections) as it reduces opacity. The solution to create these type of "false transparent" materials in SketchUp to Maxwell is to use images in PNG format that contain transparency data (as an alpha channel) for creating your SketchUp objects -- the Maxwell plugin will render these PNG based "SKM" materials as normal diffuse-type materials while respecting the transparency data in the images alpha channel.
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks Jason, I'll give it a whirl!
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Got it, Jason!!
Another thing; with the latest release I notice that when you click the Fire render button it starts rendering straight away... can that be changed? I recall the previous versions would allow you to edit the parameters of the render before firing up!! -
Just open the scene editor without hitting the Fire button... but I haven't upgraded yet. Doesn't that still work?
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In the Maxwell Scene Manager>"Options" tab>"General" subsection you should see a "Start Maxwell Fire" option, which you will want to set to "Manually".
Best.
Jason. -
That's what I needed, thanks Jason!!
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Is the requirement for Silverlight 4 with Fire going to end soon? I now have the choice to watch movies or run Maxwell...
Whereas it's so slow I would like to do both at once 
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Silverlight is being phased out -- the Grass palette is a preview of this, as per this post: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=357436#p357436
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks Jason! That's interesting and good to hear. Peter
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Am I right in saying that Maxwell doesn't recognize section cuts and hence won't render floor plans?
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Maxwell does not currently recognize section cuts (because they are not real geometry) -- Maxwell has something similar called Z-Clipping, which can be used for floor plans... however it's worth noting that Maxwell also has some issues with non-perspective based camera views. So a true floor plan would be tricky (though if you are willing to accept a slight fudge factor it can be done).
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks Jason,
Are you talking about the full Maxwell Suite or Maxwell for SketchUp?
As for non perspective based views I guess I could wind out the FOV to near 0 and render..?
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Both. Maxwell cameras always operate in 3-point perspective, so orthographic and 2-point perspectives are "approximate" matches... which is often close enough. The plugin should automatically make the adjustments for you.
To be clear about what I said before: you can setup section cuts using SketchUp, but you would have to "bake" them into the geometry, either manually or via a plugin.
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks Jason, you're da Maxwell Man!!!!!
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Small (dumb?) question.
When I add a picture to an object in sketchup and render using Maxwell for Sketchup then the image doesn't render.
Do I do something wrong ? or do I need to set some settings to make it work ?Peter
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Could you clarify exactly how you are adding the picture?
Best,
Jason. -
Hi Jason, Is there a way to view the mxm files from the Insert dialog box? [See attached screenshot]
Would be nice to know what the materials look like rather than relying in names...
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The full render suite installs a thumbnail viewer so that you can view the material previews like you would any other program thumbnail... however I'm pretty sure the stand-alone plugin does not have this due to the lack of MXED.
I really feel like the lack of MXED is crippling to the stand alone version and I hope this is resolved somehow in future updates... as a user of the stand alone plugin my number one request would be to either improve the material editing controls in the plugin itself or include MXED in the package and I would make those requests directly here:
If enough users make the request I'm sure something would happen.
Best,
Jason. -
Thanks mate, I will!
Another thing: attached is a screenshot of a render in progress. You'll see a png of a Fig tree in the model which I have wound back the opacity for clarity behind but when rendered the image almost doesn't show. Am I better off changing the opacity in the image itself prior to importing it in as a component?
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Yeah definitely, the way the plugin interprets SketchUp material Opacity is not good for this type of stuff -- partially because it always makes it shiny (to mimic glass).
Best,
Jason.
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