[jfrancis]

If I use the same file multiple times in a Maya scene, but each time I use it it has its own 'file' node, does Maya (Maxwell?) consider that one usage or multiple usages as far as RAM goes?

[ababak]

This is not related to Maxwell plugin. The file node is not only a file name, but also a texture placement information (such as tiling, wrapping, mirror), image controls (invert, brightness, contrast, RGB max, etc), UV channel selection.

You may use a Hypershade editor to link one file node to several inputs if you don't need to change any parameters I mentioned earlier. As for me, this just helps to organise a scene and makes replacing a texture a bit shorter operation. I doubt that extra file nodes should take much RAM so in most cases I just don't bother.

[jfrancis]

Thanks