[archigrafix]

Till now I was working with the SA version. Now switching to RS so I get a question about the connexion with the Fire and the Render interface:

How can I override the resolution (1920px) from sketchup. Is it possible to work at higher resolution in Fire? And how about sending to Render? I mean in the SU plugin I see no place to increase the resolution before sending to Render?

[JDHill]

It depends on the version of Maxwell Render Suite you have installed. We just recently realized that there is a problem with licensing when using the new Maxwell Learning Edition: since the RS plugin uses the standard Maxwell Render Suite's license.txt, it will run in demo mode with the Learning Edition, since that uses its own new type of license file. In the next update, the RS plugin will be made aware of the new Maxwell Learning Edition license.

Therefore, for now, Fire in the plugin, when using Maxwell Learning Edition, will be restricted to the unlicensed resolution of 800 px. However, exports will still use the actual resolution defined in Scene Manager > Camera > Resolution. That is where you set up the resolution of the camera; it can either infer resolution from the SketchUp view dimensions, or use an explicitly-set custom resolution.

[archigrafix]

Thanx JD
I never used leaning Edition but Sketchup plugin in Stanalone version (licenced).
I thought going to RS (vresion 2.70) I would be able to go further than 1920px? (I know I can do it in maxwell studio but I'd like to do it directly from Sketchup--> render or Sketchup--> Fire

[JDHill]

It depends on if you have a Maxwell Render Suite license ($995/895€), or a standalone Maxwell for SketchUp license ($95/75€). The RS plugin does not work with the standalone Maxwell for SketchUp license; it will run in demo mode, unless a valid Maxwell Render Suite license (license.txt, found in Documents/Maxwell directory) is found.

In no case will Maxwell Fire render at a resolution larger than 1920 px. To render larger than that, it is necessary to a) have a Maxwell Render Suite license, and b) render using Maxwell Render, not Maxwell Fire. Assuming both a & b, you would set your camera to use the desired resolution in Scene Manager > Camera, and then use the RS plugin's Render, Export to Studio, or Network Render commands (in menu & toolbar).

Does this help to clear things up? I write it because I am not really sure about which license(s) you have.

[archigrafix]

Now it works I can upgrade the resoulution within sketchup before sending the render job to Maxwell Render. thanx JD
however in that process (from SU to MX Render) the sky doent appear in the background. When in Fire (inside skectchup) the sky is here but not in MX Render? I cant figrure why?

[JDHill]

What do the environment parameters look like if you inspect the scene in Maxwell Studio? Though it should not happen, something like this could be due to a missing HDR file, or similar -- it is not possible to say for sure without more information about the situation.

[archigrafix]

No it is just a sky environnement.
However I get another saved HDR environnement in the same file...

[JDHill]

In the plugin, the actual implementation of the Sky Dome environment type depends on the Sky Dome > Color setting. If you choose Custom, then it uses Maxwell's Sky Dome, with the Horizon and Zenith colors you specify. If you use Application, then it actually uses IBL, where the Background channel uses Active Sky (which is set to use the Horizon and Zenith colors from your SketchUp style), and the other channels use a pure white hdr file (8x8_white.hdr), in order to acheive a color sky with neutral illumination. As you can see by playing with the Horizon and Zenith colors in the Custom mode, using normal Sky Dome can easily give a heavy color cast to the whole scene.

So I assume from your last post that you are using Sky Dome with Color set to Application. I do not, however, understand what you mean by saying that the sky "is here" in the plugin, but not in Maxwell Render. So please describe more precisely what you are seeing, or send me a file (jeremy at nextlimit dotcom) I can use to observe it myself.

[archigrafix]

oh it is very simple JD. In maxwell render background is totaly black. In fire I get a nice physical sky background

[JDHill]

Have you enabled Scene Manager > Options > Channels > Alpha?

[archigrafix]

yes

[JDHill]

In that case, as described here (near the end of the page), this is the intended behavior:

A note on black backgrounds when rendering with Alpha channel

Maxwell Render will automatically render a black background if you've specified to also output the alpha channel. This is to ensure that the object can be cut out properly using the alpha channel and the "Remove black matte" option in Photoshop (found under Layer>Matting). A similar option exists in other image editors.