hello everyone!

I'm trying to make a model ready for 3D printing but I don't know how to make the model hollow to save cost as shown here in their tutorial:

http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/creating-hollow-objects

I have attached my SU model and as you can see it's more complex so i have no idea how to solve this, I have tried to copy the model and scale it down to make a "smaller" version within the outer faces but it didn't work, maybe there's a plugin that can help me out or just some of your expert guidance

I have a made a "hole" in the top of the model as a test but that wasn't enough. They recommend a wall thickness of at least 2mm
Beside this The model is tested and is accepted for printing but the cost is too high due to the large material volume usage, so If I can make it hollow it would be great.

I hope you can help me as I need to get this shipped ASAP :S

3dprint_10_test.zip

Is it likely that the "bug splat" error will be corrected in the Zorry plugin? I absolutely love the plugin but it's always a challenge to make it work without too many "splats" :S ?

@jason_maranto said:

As I said Maxwell will not respect Sketchup section cuts at all -- the sample scene from Gaieus contains a section cut (which again Maxwell does not see or render).

If you wish to do a section cut effect and not use Z-Clip Planes then you will have to manually separate the geometry and set the group you want to be "cut away" to "hide from camera"... like this: [attachment=0:19y7atlf]<!-- ia0 -->SectionCut_j.skp<!-- ia0 -->[/attachment:19y7atlf]

All you need to do is select the section plane and context click to choose "create group from slice", then explode any geometry necessary to let the new "section plane" group divide the relevant geometry... then group the parts you wish to hide and context click to select Maxwell>Hide from>Camera.

Here's the resulting render: [attachment=1:19y7atlf]<!-- ia1 -->SectionCut_j.jpg<!-- ia1 -->[/attachment:19y7atlf]

Best,
Jason.

WOW thank you very much!

I am able to reproduce the results from your explanation I have tried the "hide from camera" option before but I think it failed because I didn't group it first.

Thanks again

Jason,

Thank you for the reply and your guide to activating posting at the Maxwell forums.
Please take a look at the link I mention in the post you replied to
The problem aren't in regards to sections - In the post I refer to, the solution to my objective is described by 'Gaieus' BUT I failed to see was that what he decribes isn't targeted at the Maxwell plugin but only SU :S

I simply need Maxwell to produce the same result as the one he gets from within SU and I can't use the Z-Clip Planes method because I need more freedom with the render output.

I hope you can help!

I haven't been able to post at the maxwell forum, I think they have changed who can post over there.

Tig:
yes I have checked the face orientation.

Jason:
I have tried the 'hide to camera' option but the face is rendered solid anyway so it seems like maxwell isn't respecting it's own options :S

I even found this how-to here:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=36952

I used the test files attached but the result is the same, the transparent area is rendered solid.

I hope you have an idea of what's going on

It's probably just one of those small settings that I have overlooked :S

Gaieus,

I have been trying to do what you describe but no matter what I do maxwell renders the transparent roof as solid white and also if I use your sample files.

I have tried via SU7 + 8 with maxwell 2.5

I have tried to use the hide to camera option on the group too but it's still rendered as solid white, do you have any idea?

It's a great method you're describing if only I could make it work!

Hello I have made a section cut in SU with ZORRO and then I have applied a face to block the entering light and applied a transparent texture. The result looks correct inside SU but maxwell renders it as 100% solid? What can be wrong? I have tried to apply the texture both at face level and group level

Steelers05:
I don't know why i come across as a complete noob but anyway, i just felt this forum was the best for the SU>>Max questions. At our architecture school we get Max for free while we're studying there so it's simply a tool to get the job done.

Brodie:
Thanks again! Your workflow description helped me a lot I have attached a render from the latest school project where I went from SU to Max to create the wanted atmosphere via lighting and materials.

EarthMover:
My questions are mainly in regards to the work in SU, and how to do this the best way before even entering Max with the geometry. I'm simply trying to find the best work flow

Brodie:
Thank you for the detailed information The new .SKP importer seems very good. I'm a bit unsure how to manage the SU modeling in regards to layers? The normal workflow where all geometry is located on the default layer and the groups on other layers aren't working so well when importing in 3DS Max. In the tests I have made I had to put the geometry into separate layers because 3DS understood the layer based separation?

Thanks again!

I'm having a really hard time getting an interior photomatch succes! I'm not sure how to define how the SU model is rotated? When I start to adjust the red and green perspective lines, the model starts to rotate and when I have placed the perspective lines I see the model from the back hmm?

I can load the SU Scene i used for the render, but I need the model to stay in the exact same position in regards to the perspective so I can zoom out and keep everything as it was at render time and it seems to be very difficult?

Gaieus: Do you know if there's any difference between exporting to 3ds format or just directly importing the .skp file?

Brody: Thank you very much for the detailed workflow! I have given it a small test as it seems to work Do you have any info on how to create a custom SU library with only the materials I want in there? and a good way to expand it along the way when I create new materials within Max?

Thanks again to both of you, it's very nice of you to take your time to help me out!

Thank you for taking the time to reply

I am aware that Max can import .skp files directly, but i'm not sure how to apply/adjust a low quality placeholder texture in SU and then swap this to the real render quality texture within Max without too much of as hassle?

lets say I have a Vray "Brick" material in the Max library, how is this applied to the SU model and adjusted precisely as the low quality placeholder "Brick" material?

Thanks again!

Hello Everyone

Does anyone here have some experience with a good SU to 3ds Max 2011 workflow? I would like to model my building in SU, apply materials and setup the right UV location within SU and then import the SU file in MAX with all the material info intact?

My great masterplan is to have a SU material library with low quality materials and then my VRAY library with the high res textures ready for when thenSU file is loaded in MAX, how is this possible?

I hope someone here can help me out

I have problems as well, I have managed to cut my model after exploding everything and then making one big group, then it does the slicing but it doesn't delete anything afterwards? it's like it only creates an intersect with model line at the section plane?

I'm working on some interlinked rooms and their daylight analysis. this is complicated since i need to hide faces to look into the actual room, but this gives a false light experience since the missing faces slips in much light. is it possible to create a invisible face so i can look into the room and see the actual daylight? (i export the scenes to maxwell render to get the final lighting results)

Hello everyone,

I just bought the texture packages from arroway and now i'm in the process of creating mxm files+smaller SU friendly texture resamples for the maxwell render plugin, but maybe someone did this already? It seem very time consuming ?

I think i get it now, but is there an easy way to edit path's in the MXM files? The tool mxmchecker doesn't work for MR V2 :S

found this in the support doc for the maxwell plugin: I'm not sure if it's related to my problem? (and what to do if it is :S)

Texture map is not working for me. What went wrong?
· If you want to use any map with SketchUp geometry you need to set
material with texture for given geometry (face/component/group).
Otherwise UV coordinates (responsible for "mapping" image map to a
geometry are not generated by SketchUp at the export and the map will not
appear in Maxwell rendering.

Hello everyone,

I have been rendering my projects in Maxwell Render V2 from SU pro via the MR plugin, and now I would like more realistic rendering so i have bought the good looking Arroway texture packages and created some MXM files with Bump mapping and so on. I'm not sure how to correctly apply these to the SU model, I have looked everywhere but can't find a tutorial that shows how to work with SU and MXM textures. If i apply a texture to a face in SU I have no visual way to adjust the size of the texture and it looks totally wrong when it renders (wrong scale, stretched and so on).. I thought it was because I created the MXM files wrongly but I tried to apply the MXM files included in MR and the result is the same.

So my question, how can I work with professional textures in SU instead of just rendering the SU textures?

I hope you can help me