Very cool idea -- thank-you!

Best,
Jason.

Another test -- mostly just trying out different ideas for the workflow into Maxwell before I get too far into it.

Best,
Jason.

So here's the first piece unwrapped and painted in ZBrush (and rendered in Maxwell)... I used this peice to demo the process in some ZBrush videos I'm wrapping up now:

Best,
Jason.

I've been eyeballing Modo for some time as well -- it certainly is an intriguing package and works well with other softwares I already have like ZBrush, Maxwell and messiah:Studio... if they come out with native support for Allegorithmics Substance Designer (like 3DS Max, and Maya) then I will be forced to take the plunge.

I have no children but the "starving artist" lifestyle means I need to make all my purchases return maximum value

Best,
Jason.

This is very cool! I've been wondering about this for a long time and it looks like I will need to dig deeper into ruby now

Best,
Jason.

That is a really good question and one which I'm pretty sure nobody knows the answer to -- right now they are CPU only and they have hinted that they will be more hybrid in the future... but from how I read it they don't think GPU is mature enough to support the level of complexity they have now and they don't want to take a step backwards (in terms of features/power).

Personally this is a non-issue for me as I fully expect that as the technology matures it will integrated.

Best,
Jason.

Not having looked at Thea in a while I couldn't guess at the current speed comparison, but generally I find it to be fast enough for my needs and FIRE gives a reasonable preview of your scene in a few seconds... which combined with the fact that it automatically updates means scene setup is super fast.

Generally when doing the final render I can expect most scenes to be completely clear on my machine within 2-3 hours (overnight at most) and I'm running on a system that was current 2+ years ago.

Best,
Jason.

Everything is Maxwell is dependent on what settings you use (particularly for materials) -- it can be as fast or as slow as you want it to be depending on how flexible you are about the materials.

For instance any true dielectrics, SSS, and displacement based materials will take longer to calculate -- sometimes much longer... whereas if you use more normal materials (like my brick wall here) and AGS it will be much faster.

Best,
Jason.

Here's a quick screen grab:

It automatically updates for most changes (camera settings, environment, etc).

Best,
Jason.

BTW, I highly recommend any Sketchup/Maxwell user frequent the Sketchup subforum of the Maxwell Forums -- the plugin developer (JD Hill) often does "open Betas" for new versions of the plugin there... good stuff

Best,
Jason.

It's also been revealed in this interview: http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=6208 that Maxwell will be releasing a 2.6 update sometime in June which will have the ability to render hair/fur.

Best,
Jason.

This would certainly be something to post here: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=107

But if I had to guess, you need to set the group using the "hide to camera" context menu item instead of applying a transparent material.

Best,
Jason.

Such imaginative and cinematic artwork and story, it's always a pleasure to see new posts by you

Best,
Jason.

Looks great!

Follow the instructions here to get posting rights:

301 Moved Permanently

(www.maxwellrender.com)

This keeps the spambots out very nicely

Best,
Jason.

@chedda said:

I only just got my license Jason, i was lucky enough to get it at a charity auction for Japan's earthquake. It was super of next limit to donate a copy ! These small things make all the difference in my eyes. I helped Japan through the red cross and got a license as well !

That is a great cause -- Next Limit does charity donations like this often...

@chedda said:

The forums, no not yet Jason but i intend too ! That's great news as i do have some basic workflow questions. Forums and communities cannot be underestimated in software choice.

I agree and Brodie and myself are just a few of the active members on the Maxwell forum that try to help whenever possible -- overall it is a great community to be a part of. If you haven't discovered it yet there is also a free video tutorial site called THINK!( http://think.maxwellrender.com/ ) that can help as well.

Best,
Jason.

Hey Chedda, do you participate on the Maxwell forum? We can always use some more active Mac and Sketchup users to represent Also JD (who designs the plugins) is easy to approach about plugin design issues... feedback is very welcome there.

Best,
Jason.

You are such a tease

Those all look great but the night shot is especially appealing to me

Best,
Jason.

That is one of the most customizable DC's I've seen -- and I've only watched 12 minutes of the video

Best,
Jason.