[JDHill]

Hello all,

Here is a preview of the next minor update -- nothing very ground-breaking, but a few decent adds:

---------------------------------------------------

• Maxwell for Rhino
  Version 2.0.6 Release Notes
  
  
  Version 2.0.6 of the Maxwell for Rhino plugin is a minor bug-fix update which introduces a few new features.
  
  
  Changes
  
  • added support for per-output-file auto-naming
  • added a new viewport compass display (see the Environments toolbar)
  • added new ‘remove from layer(s)’ commands
  • texture editor now shows texture aspect ratio in Real Scale mode
  • minor changes made to accommodate Maxwell 2.0.3.0 release
  
  Fixes
  
  • the x64 installer was not working correctly with more recent Rhino V5 x64 WIP releases
  • the x86 installer was not correctly locating Rhino V5 x86 WIP installations
  • instances could be misplaced when blocks were mirrored
  • imaging control was calculating brightness before inversion

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And here are the links:

[removed]

Please do not share these links, since I am hosting them myself until an official release.

Also, please feel free to post in this thread if you run into any issues -- while this should be ready to go, I am shifting over to a more McNeel-style setup for releases, where I will make updates available to existing users before releasing them on a broader basis. That gives you the option of having earlier access to newer features and fixes, while at the same time letting new builds get a much wider scrutiny before their official release. I tend to see that as a win-win, since it lets you choose whether you value the benefits of early-adoption, or whether you prefer to wait until releases go public.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts about this strategy -- if it turns out not to be a good idea, we can always go back.

Cheers,

JD

[kami]

hi JD

thx for the update and for the new features.
I love the new compass (but would have supposed to find it near the "scene rotation", beside the "show sun in viewport").
the file nameing is also a great improvement, especially the "append camera name". I got one additional wish: would it be possible to get a timestamp (20100403) before the file name? just a suggestion ... I know that it could make everything more confusing. but maybe sometimes maxwell will end up using %placeholders% in file names like on the folder ...?

cheers,
kami

[polynurb]

great to see you could even fix the instance problem!

thnx!

daniel

[JDHill]

I did test with the scene you sent me -- the one with the hundreds of people. Let me know your opinion about how it works now, which is different than before: the block definitions are now exported how they exist in the document, meaning, that you will find the source meshes at 0,0,0, with all of the hide-to-xyz switches enabled to keep them from appearing in the render. This seems to be the only way I can universally ensure that instances appear at their correct locations.

[Josephus Holt]

thx for the viewport compass and the RS texture aspect and for the imaging control fix

[Polyxo]

Hi Jeremy:
some quick observations from installing 2.0.6 on XP32 and Win7 64:

XP32:
The Plugin did not load automatically, had to use PluginManager.
The Sun Widget/Compass (cool!) dissapear when Display is set to Rendered/Shadows

Win7 64:
Installation (most recent) issue fixed, However -no automatic Plugin-Loading after Install.

Then I reloaded a Rhino file file I edited directly before installing the new Plugin-Version, it hadn't been moved in the meantime.

The file lost its all its materials - at least it seemed so: After the next reboot they reappeared...

All Camera-Parameters were reset to default.

I lost the current Physical Sky Preset (the actual Preset was still there but the default NY Central-Park Preset was set current.

Additional Output Channels which were previously chosen were now unchecked.

I don't see the Compass Widget in any Viewmode here.

Generally I still see several bad issues (also with M~R) 2.03) with Normal maps from different sources (Zbrush/3DCoat).
As I believe that this more a Core-Renderer-problem I will post them in the bugs-forum for the Engine itself.

So much for now,

Thanks and Cheers, Holger

[JDHill]

Thanks Holger, I'll respond in-line below...

Hi Jeremy:
some quick observations from installing 2.0.6 on XP32 and Win7 64:

XP32:
The Plugin did not load automatically, had to use PluginManager.

This is working fine here -- could you indicate exactly which version of Rhino are you referring to.

The Sun Widget/Compass (cool!) dissapear when Display is set to Rendered/Shadows

Yes, I see this too, but I assume it's due to temporary issues with that display mode in V5.

Win7 64:
Installation (most recent) issue fixed, However -no automatic Plugin-Loading after Install.

Similar to above -- it works fine here.

Then I reloaded a Rhino file file I edited directly before installing the new Plugin-Version, it hadn't been moved in the meantime.

The file lost its all its materials - at least it seemed so: After the next reboot they reappeared...

I have not seen this -- if you are somehow able to repeat it, that would be great.

All Camera-Parameters were reset to default.

Similar to the last point, I have not seen this.

I lost the current Physical Sky Preset (the actual Preset was still there but the default NY Central-Park Preset was set current.

Sounds related to the last point -- the preset name is not stored, it is inferred from the current lat/lon, so if lat/lon is not read correctly, then it the preset-name look up will fail as well.

Additional Output Channels which were previously chosen were now unchecked.

Also sounds related to the last two points -- the key would be in finding out how to repeat the data-loss behavior.

I don't see the Compass Widget in any Viewmode here.

It works fine in everything but RenderedShadows here. I have tried playing with per-pixel-lighting, etc., with no effect.

Generally I still see several bad issues (also with M~R) 2.03) with Normal maps from different sources (Zbrush/3DCoat).
As I believe that this more a Core-Renderer-problem I will post them in the bugs-forum for the Engine itself.

This issue, if it is the same one you sent me a model to test with (the one with the three antenna-headed creatures), should be fixed. If you have another model where it is causing a problem, it would be good if you could send it to me.

So much for now,

Thanks and Cheers, Holger

Overall, if I had to guess, I would say there's something out of order with your Rhino V5 and/or plugin installations. Some of that might be expected, due to the changing nature of V5; for example, I notice that they have entirely moved the install location during the incremental update process, and it's now in a place other than when I originally installed it (it's now in my program files folder, when it was on a completely different drive originally).

I have no idea what types of problems might result from changes like that, but I'd suggest doing a clean uninstall of the plugin from Add/Remove Programs, confirming that all of the bits and pieces of the plugin have been uninstalled by checking the location you originally installed it to, rebooting, then installing 2.0.6 clean again. I say that, because it seems that depending on where a plugin was located, it may have been copied to a different directory during a Rhino V5 update -- that could completely mess up my installer's ability to clean up after itself.

[Polyxo]

XP32:
The Plugin did not load automatically, had to use PluginManager.
This is working fine here -- could you indicate exactly which version of Rhino are you referring to.

Sorry - Version 5 March 23 - the last WiP.

Overall, if I had to guess, I would say there's something out of order with your Rhino V5 and/or plugin installations. Some of that might be expected, due to the changing nature of V5; for example, I notice that they have entirely moved the install location during the incremental update process, and it's now in a place other than when I originally installed it (it's now in my program files folder, when it was on a completely different drive originally).

Both Rhino (Programs) and Maxwell for Rhino (Programs x86) reside inside their proposed by Installer directories.
The entire OS installation is about 3 weeks old. However - I believe I indeed did not uninstall 2.05 before installing 2.0.6 over.

[kami]

I can't duplicated it. tried win64 with rhino5x64 and it worked fine (wip 2010-03-30).
i didn't uninstall the last plugin, and the new plugin alerted me, that I might have to refresh my toolbars (which is correct)
compass working fine as well ...

[osuire]

Hi Jeremy !

Many thanks for this update !
Install was smooth, plug-in automatically recognized by Rhino, etc...
The compass is very useful, and I like the sun widget as well.
Just one little wish on top of that : I 'd like to be able to snap on the "sun ray" to create a segment that I can use to optimize the shapes of louvres or shades.
I had this wish for the Rhino light widgets as well.

For example, this would be helpful for all the architects who don't just "pretend" to design bio-climatic houses, but actually design them according to real life sun angles.

Cheers,

--
Olivier

[JDHill]

The 'sun' indicator, like the rest of the compass, is only drawn in the viewport and does not exist as geometry in the document. I could pretty easily add a command to 'freeze' the current sun vector as a physical curve. Also, you can already do that fairly easily: enable the Show Sun in Viewport option and draw a line from the origin to the directional 'sun' light.

[osuire]

The 'sun' indicator, like the rest of the compass, is only drawn in the viewport and does not exist as geometry in the document. I could pretty easily add a command to 'freeze' the current sun vector as a physical curve. Also, you can already do that fairly easily: enable the Show Sun in Viewport option and draw a line from the origin to the directional 'sun' light.

Is this why the compas and sun indicator are clipped by the actual geometry ?


Regarding the "show sun" option, it is now redundent with the new sun indicator.
My wish is that the "Show sun" option was removed, and replaced by a "Show compass + Sun indicator" toggle... but with the ability to extract the sun vector....an no clipping....and double dose of chocolate topping.



--
Olivier

[JDHill]

The compass is drawn as though it were in the scene; I can play around with a different strategy, but I found it a bit visually unsettling to have it superimposed over 3D objects. Are you aware that you can resize it to be more appropriate for your scene by right-clicking the its toolbar button and picking a radius?

On removing the viewport sun option, remember that Rhino 4 is still the production version of Rhino -- we're sort of in the twilight zone with respect to V5 stuff right now; some plugin features which are still necessary in V4 are being obviated by new V5 functionality, so there is going to be some redundancy if you're using the WIP.

[bjorn.syse]

Hi!

Looking good, these new renaming features. The synchronize thing was a clever trick!

Thanks

- Björn

[kami]

I just love the new sun/compass indicator!
Would it be worth thinking of making it moveable? Just thinking out loudly, not that I would ever need it, I'm totally satisfied
but I noticed, that it influences the behavior of the "drape" command, which is a bit weird.