Posts made by brodie

Thanks Marian, that's what I needed.

-Brodie

It's been awhile since I've used the free version of SU. From what I'm seeing you can only export to 3ds in the Pro version. Can anyone confirm this for me please?

-Brodie

I'm interested to try it although I have my reservations. Based on the previews I've seen it looks like the new Xbox interface mimics it and I don't very much like that at this point. But I can understand why microsoft would want a consistent UI between all the platforms.

I've actually still got Vista on my machine at home. If I download the Win 8 'consumer preview' will I be able to use it forever or is there some sort of time limit on it?

-Brodie

As has been mentioned 3ds files can come into SU just fine with textures. If you have a 3ds model and no control over it I don't know what to say. If you have a model in 3ds Max the trick is to change the materials from Vray or some other specialized format to Standard. Then they come into SU perfectly.

-Brodie

I can't say how the licensing works now either but a couple years ago I was in a situation at work where I had one license and Maxwell was installed on 2 networked computers. I could create materials, work in Studio, etc. on both computers. It was only in the occasional circumstance when I'd try to run a rendering on a computer not realizing I already had one rendering on the other computer that Maxwell would check for the license, find it was already being used and fail to render. So it wasn't even checking for a license unless you hit render, and so MXED could be used forever. Perhaps things have changed but I haven't heard of it.

-Brodie

@zoom123 said:

From what is said I understand that creating the materials based on the Arroway textures is not as simple as just loading the maps and values provided by Arroway in MXED. Is that correct? In that case maybe instead of trying to create the materials myself with the demo version I would be better off downloading ready made materials created by pros!

Material creation in any professional program is as much art as science (although maxwell in general and Jason, in particular, has the potential to create materials in a highly scientific way). That said, you should do both. Jason's materials will give you a great idea of how to create your own. The MXED has some wizards that can help you create plastic, glass, textured materials, metals, etc. so it's easy to pick up and get something very good without being a pro. But the more you use it you'll discover what exactly the values and settings do and the process will be faster.

With the arroway textures you can pretty much just use the wizard to create a "textured" material, drop in the arroway maps and you'll be in great shape. Jason tends to take them to the next level though tweaking values and adjusting layers to get them just right (and then generously GIVING his hard work away to the joy of us all!). However, if you're new to Maxwell, photography, and/or rendering in general using Jason's materials could be like learning how to golf with a $400 driver - it won't hurt but it's not going to magically make you a good golfer...or renderer. So keep that in mind, and definitely play around with the material creator as it's one of the most enjoyable parts of Maxwell IMO.

-Brodie

Let us know how you like it. I think you'll really like the material creation process.

-Brodie

There's no difference between the materials you make in the demo or your ability to save them so you'd be able to use them in the free version forever.

You get free upgrades to point releases, and then discounts (as I recall) to upgrading at major releases (ie. v3 whenever that comes out).

-Brodie

I'd second Thomthom's mystic thumbs recommendation. It's not free but it's the sort of software you can buy super cheap and then forget about. It just works. I've been using it for a couple years now.

I tried sage and I tried getting used to xnview and some other softwares but in the end I found that if I couldn't have thumbnails within explorer and I had to keep fiddling around with a program to try to get it to do what I wanted, it wasn't going to work. With mystic, you don't have to change your workflow or anything.

-Brodie

@zoom123 said:

My only issues with Maxwell now is the inability to test the production engine

The same engine used by the free version is that used by the paid version so you have unlimited access to the production engine. The main thing you're missing out on is Maxwell Studio which I believe you can test in the demo.

@unknownuser said:

and the inability of non-licensed users to post in the forums - which results in low forum activity in general ("Maxwell for Sketchup (Standalone)" section has just 3 topics).

I don't have much of a position on this although I agree with many of Jason's sentiments. But if I were in your shoes I'd want a dedicated forum as well that I could ask questions of. That said, Jason and I would be more than happy to get you any answers to questions that come up. Jason's tested more aspects of the program and probably done more test renders than would be imaginable. And although he has an excellent training series he continues to give a plethora of free advice. I've been using Maxwell in a production setting for several years now in association with SketchUp and also try to answer any Maxwell questions I come across here.

-Brodie

Ya, the 2600k he mentioned has a 3.4 clock speed which is quite high for modern processors and has a turbo mode of 3.8 which I believe SU could take advantage of.

-Brodie

@thomthom said:

I have found a way to make components not fade out. Stay tuned for a new plugin. Should be useful for modelling by references.

Thanks buddy. If you happen to think about it please post back if/when you create it as I don't follow the plugins section as much as I should sometimes and would hate to miss it.

-Brodie

Welp, there's one for the ol' Doh! thread.

Thanks TIG

-Brodie

Where can I find a list of dynamic component commands. In particular I was trying to find out how to structure an if/else statement but a complete list would be great.

-Brodie

Thanks Tom. And you should

Francois, it's not my design. It's not apparent from this particular image but it's actually a houseboat named Watervilla de Omval. It may not be too far from you actually as it's in Amsterdam. Here's a link with a lot of good photos, floor plans, and an address http://architecturelab.net/2010/11/watervilla-de-omval-amsterdam-by-31architects/

Richard, my goodness, you're still around? I thought you'd fallen into a hole long ago I seem to see you so rarely these days! I hope you're just too swamped with work these days. As grandma always says, you really should come around more often Anyways, thanks for the congrats, it means a lot coming from you.

-Brodie

Thanks guys

-Brodie

Box, that post gives me as much insight into your head as it does into SketchUp.

I thought that might be the case with those raw images. I guess that's an option. The reason I'd turned them into textures is because I found them easier to scale appropriately and then I could clip off the unnecessary bits. But I did find an easyish way to scale an un-textured image and I suppose I could crop it in photoshop if i really want to.

Thanks for the tip.

-Brodie

Thanks guys. I'd hoped I'd been missing something but I guess not.

Rich, Haha, no, I gotcha. It's nice when the interior designers pick something that's pretty straightforward to model.

If your interested in posting it, this is the piece (below). There are some dwg floor plan views but otherwise it's just going off the photos.

http://www.wielandhealthcare.com/product.asp?p=62172T#

-Brodie

I'm modeling based off of some images. But when I go into component view for an object the images, which are outside of my component, go blank. Is there a setting somewhere to change that?

-Brodie

@gtalarico said:

Good thing they are sending the iPad from an US retailer...!

I remember something about licenses and cameras as well...

I don't think my rendering was really at the same level as some of the other images, but I think it caught their attention because it is different...
(I did that image as part of my architectural thesis project. You can see some more images of it here: http://issuu.com/guitalarico/docs/urban_data_center)

Not to swell your head but I'd have to disagree that your image wasn't on the same level. I think it was really well done both in composition, color, and lighting. It fits really well into that thesis book as well which looks really nice also.

IMO, the difference isn't in quality but purpose. I didn't think about it until today, but the whole purpose of the comp is essentially so NL can have some more cool images to show off the new SU/Maxwell plugin. I think that probably played a major role in the selection process. You'll notice that mine, a bright white interior, is very similar to the images they've been showing on their website for awhile now to show off the new plugin.

-Brodie