[stefan_kaplan]

Thank you for the update, JD!
The fire-based preview works like a charm. It's much faster, can be stopped during render and updates automatically - great!
The quality is a bit lower, which is more than compensated by the new features.

But I have a couple of questions / issues that are only present in OSX (?):
1. Where did the scenes go? I can only find preview scene 1
2. All buttons flicker when the cursor is hovering over them. It is, as if the buttons' "hit"-areas are checkered or something. It looks a little weak.
3. The first two colors applied to faces in a sketchup model swap names and color in the list at the top of the Materials Tab. They preview right, though.
4. Could you make the update-arrows turn while the preview updates? (like it did earlier). This would make it more obvious, that clicking it again will stop the preview-render. (This also applies to the windows-version)

(5) Earlier on, I posted a list of issues with the Materials Tab. Most of these issues still remain.
(5a) I still REALLY need a way to control amount of reflections in AGS-materials. This could work just the way it does in the Material Editor-Wizard.

I guess that's all for now.
I really look forward to the Fire-implementation

All the best.

/Stefan

[JDHill]

1) The preview scenes in the drop-down are always taken from your Maxwell /previews folder, so it sounds like the plugin can't find your Maxwell directory; a common problem when upgrading. Make sure the default application for MXS files is Maxwell Render or Studio, and that you don't have more than one copy of Maxwell on your system (not even in the trash -- you may want to reboot).

2) I have still never been able to observe this here, neither on my mini, nor on my macbook pro. I thought that the last time you reported it, it had to do with the fade-in/fade-out controls over the texture previews, but here you say 'all buttons'; could you clarify a little bit exactly what you mean? Because not seeing it here, I have to use my imagination and try to guess what's going on over there.

3) Also not able to observe this here yet. I did add code to alphabetize the material list, so there is some changed code. At any rate, on OSX, I have not been able to make the alphabetization work yet, but I am also not seeing this swapping either.

4) I'll see what I can do -- the communication between the ruby code and the web browser code works alot different now.

5,5a) Let me review that again. Most of the work in this version has been related to the Fire preview; I haven't done much else.

[stefan_kaplan]

1) Rebooting fixed the problem. Thanks.

2 and 3) CLICK HERE to see a screen-video of the problems mentioned. You must imagine when I click the mouse. Hope you get the picture.

4 and 5) Sounds great.

All the best.
/Stefan

[JDHill]

Thanks, the video helps alot.

2) The video shows it working exactly as intended. Buttons have borders and different mouse-over colors, and the controls over the texture preview fade in when your mouse is over them.

3) I completely see the problem, but it does not behave that way here. I'll try to reason it out theoretically anyway though.

[stefan_kaplan]

2) At 1:20 I hover the mouse over the "Scene 1" button, which flickers alot (like the rest of the buttons). I didn't say it wasn't working, but it just seems weak. In Windows there is no flickering/blinking appearing.

Regarding the texture preview: The controls fade in and out constantly. Is it really intended to fade away, when you click a number and try to enter a value? If so, you'll be unable to see what you're typing!
At 2:36 I'm typing "999" blindly. Four seconds later the handles reappear (you'll see the "999" for a moment), but what I entered has no effect.
And as soon as I select something else, the "999" is replaced with the previous value... It's not really working, or maybe I just didn't grasp it yet.
Could you make the controls only fade away, when the cursor is outside the texture preview? I think that would be much clearer.

One thing, that I didn't mention is what happens at 1:09. I go from painting faces in SketchUp to clicking the Update Preview-button, but it takes two clicks because the Maxwell Scene Manager window is not active.
So the first click activates the window and the second click starts updating the preview. Afterwards when moving the cursor to a SketchUp-face, it only takes one click to paint the face; the SketcUp-window is activated and the Paint-action is executed in this one click. Would it be possible to activate AND execute the action with one click in the Maxwell Scene Manager, when it's window is not active?

/Stefan

[JDHill]

Now I see what you mean with the flickering. Can you tell me this: if you make sketchup active, then hover your mouse over the 'stage 1' button while the scene manager is not active, do you see that it is no longer flickering? That's what I see here. I also see what you mean about the text fields in the texture preview, but I think my only option here is not to fade-in/fade-out at all; I do it because I did not like all the visual clutter, but obviously there are problems with it in the OSX web browser.

On the last point, about the scene manager window receiving focus, there's unfortunately nothing I can do about that -- activating/deactivating windows is SketchUp's territory. It's similar with the ENTER button not working for text entry under Windows; it is just some unknown quirk of Silverlight which results from however SketchUp is creating its web browser on Windows.

[stefan_kaplan]

You are completely right - when hovering over buttons in the inactive Scene Manager, they don't flicker (but they change color correctly - as if ready to be clicked).
But as soon as the Scene Manager Window is active, the buttons flicker when hovering over them...

[JDHill]

Thanks for confirming, I'll see what can be done. Browser differences have always created a special type of hell for web developers, and I will tell you that it does not help things to have the browser being created by some other application.

[JDHill]

Stefan -- in regards to your issues (2) and (3), please check again using the 2.5.11 build I just posted. I have disabled the hover-to-enable behavior of the texture control to make it workable on OSX (issue 2). I also found a technical issue which could occur when loading the material list, so let me know if it helps with your issue (3).

As far as the faint 'flickering' of buttons in general, the best I can determine at this point is that it is related to however SketchUp is creating its web browser; it only occurs there, and not in a regular Safari or Firefox browser. So I believe it's out of my control.

[stefan_kaplan]

Thank you, JD.

2.5.11 Solves almost all the issues!
- For the first time ever I experience the texture controls working (they never worked before on my versions of OSX or WIN)! Now it's possible to enter the amount of scaling and positioning. Great.
- Materials are no longer swapped around in OSX.
- Update-arrows turn now.
- As you say, buttons still flicker in OSX...

I like the "auto-name if necessary", but it would still be nice with a "name by file and scene" (and auto-name). Eg. "Fuelstation_From highway_0003.mxs"

I think I've mentioned this before, but I would like to be able to link Bump-texture to Application but at the same time have NO Diffuse-texture.
If I make a water-texture, I would like the surface to bump but I wouldn't need a diffuse-map on it.
In the Bump-slot: Besides the "Use Specific texture" and the "Link to color Texture", could there be a simple "Link to Application"?
So when turning off Diffuse-textures, the Bump would still refer to Application. This would solve the problem.

Another thing, that I've mentioned before: Please introduce a reflection parameter in the AGS material-type window!
(and a parameter for attenuation in WATER and GLASS material-type windows).

All the best
/Stefan

[JDHill]

Thanks Stefan, I was more focused on fixing bugs and glitches with this build, and so did not change any materials or implement the per-scene-naming idea.

On per-Scene naming, do you feel that per-scene naming needs to be optional? For a model with no Scenes, it would naturally get the document name, but otherwise, we could just make it so that it always exports with the SU Scene name. Reason being, I don't like adding more options than necessary, so let me know your thoughts; I think it would be fine just to always append the Scene name.

[stefan_kaplan]

I don't like adding more options than necessary

I completely agree with that.

Could it be made so simple, that when no name is entered in the "Name" slot, it would result in per-file-and-scene naming?
The "Mode" could be "Prompt If Output Exists" as default - AND the "Mode" options button (with the three current options) could be hidden in the "Minimal View" menu setting for a simpler appearance...

/Stefan

[JDHill]

Actually, at first it was only in the advanced view, but after using it a few times, it felt mainstream enough to warrant inclusion in the minimal view.

I see what you're saying about triggering the 'to Scene or not to Scene' behavior on whether or not the output Name is specified, but I think that (a) it would be pretty non-obvious that specifying an output name should cause the Scene name to stop being appended, and (b) I know that instantly we would have people who ask why they can't name their output explicitly *and* still have the Scene name appended. So still, the only way two ways I see it are:

1. add an 'append Scene name' toggle

- or -

2. always append the Scene name