[fv]

Ok, JD, I will try to help you with some comments on a new plugin.
I use SU Maxwell on a weekly basis, all paid work in a hectic architecture office.

0.
There are many good things in the plugin now. Camera shift, good export of geometry, mirrored geometry, components as instances, proxy components, really fast export (under OSX with version 2.2) and the abilty to further edit and build a scene in Studio which is faster than SU.
Models can be huge in Studio by importing more geometry than SU could ever handle.

1.
As something you could fix quickly is the problem with a bug with autoMXM switched on under OSX. I think the search path code is messed up in the new plugin. Version 2.2 works fine. This is I think a typical OSX versus PC world thing. As it is with version 2.4 you could say the new plugin does not work with any normal sized file, lets say over 2 MB with about a dozen textures.

This a comment of Vodkamartini who wrote the MXM reporter plugin on the Sketchucation forum about a simular problem I think.
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtop ... a&start=15
"Sheesh, it really seems like two different people made the pc/osx versions of the maxwell exporter & plugin. I don't understand why there are so many inconsistencies. Ah well."

2.
I would make sure the new plugin is as simple as possible and looks like SU in icons and colors. Look for instance at the wonderful plugins made by http://www.1001bit.com/. They are very intuitive and we are very happy with those. Compare the unfriendly MXM material panel which is not very informative on what you have to set and how it works.

3.
Materials should be edited in MXED not in SU, so there is not need for a material editor in SU. This is because Maxwell has a wonderful free materials library on the web. autoMXM should work better though. You should be able to list and edit names in a table a bit like MXM reporter. As it is now there are several ways to set a material, confusing really. A MXMmaterial panel, the SU material panel and autoMXM. In SU there is no visual on what is set. Only in Studio you can sort of see what has happened on export. I am looking for a simple table, not rendered materials or anything else. In achitecture you work with a lot of the same materials like glass, concrete, wood etc. I wish I could just see a list with SU-materials and assign the approriate MXM materials to them. I like the fact that the assigned mappings in SU are now rather well converted to Studio and the render.
3.
Camara positions and perspectives should be consitent in Studio and SU without having to switch to a specific Maxwell render area. Render region would also be great in SU. It would be great if 2point perspective would determine the camera shift. In other words "what you see in SU is what you render in Maxwell". At the moment you have to switch on "show render area" . Switching it of does not work properly and in the "show render area" mode you don't want to keep working. The "show render area" mode also export images by SU that has a gray banding problem.
4.
I would like a SU component to be converted to a specified Maxwell instance or geometry on export. Imagine you have 50 simple SU trees converted to detailed and textured Maxwell models on export. Then we could use 3D Maxwell models we find or share on the web. SU models are often too simple even the more detailled ones. So using proxy symbols is too limited although already a good feature.

Ok, I stop here hoping others will add their ideas as well.
I think its important to understand SU is mostly an archictural modeler used by people who like the ease of use and visual feedback that SU provides. The plugin must appeal to this market. Architects model en render projects often in less than a week. Tweeking materials and models for months is not an option. The faster you can set up textures and assign them and make quick preview renders the better.
Tx for posting an update on NL's plan's for SU.

[JDHill]

Thanks Francois, for this very thoughtful and useful post.

[Richard]

I think Francois has hit most of the issues on the head in his post though I do have some further comments on a few of his points!

1. Material selection panel - Personally I find vodkamartini's MXM reporter plugin a godsent for linking and confirming SU/MXM assignments, however in a scene with many materials in can become rather unwieldly! If there was a way that the panel could open in a condensed version showing just the typical single material similar to the current material panel - hence making it easier for the assignment of only the current (paint bucket tool) selection with the button option to expand to the reporter style list view! This would be cool!

Edit: The ability to reset any assignment so that no MXM is linked!!!

2. The material panel in 2.2 had the issue of not working correctly and not sure this has been fixed in 2.4? When the panel was opened fresh it would report the link of the material selection however selecting another material with the paint bucket tool would report a null assignment. The panel would only operate correctly if the closed before the selection then opened again after the bucket selection.

3. I'm not sure I agree with Francois in regards to the show render area being altered as this feature can be SU scene (page) dependant and not sure how else this could be remedied without the user adjusting window size relative to each resolution proportions which I don't think is a viable workaround! However the option in the MR camera settings to inherit the current window proportions would be a good inclusion, I would suggest that then (and in all cases) the option to lock / unlock proportions is definitely needed - so as for example the x variable of the resolution is adjusted the y variable expands with it in locked mode.

4. Francois’s suggestion of MR inheriting SU’s two point perspective settings for the shift lens settings is a fine recommendation indeed!!! Currently shifting is just a trial and error operation and generally more error!!

5. I think the camera setting for an SU scene (page) should be copied when a new scene is created and maintained until the user updates the new scene. Currently all camera settings are returned to default on the creation of a new scene (page).

6. The option as Francois suggests to exref (substitute) a higher poly MXS model for a low poly SU proxy is something that Pavol believed would be possible. This option would be an absolute killer given the issue of poly limitations of SU and suddenly the best scene complier linked with the best renderer a far far superior product for arch scenes!

7. Currently sun setting from SU>MR are seemingly an hour out (not tested accurately) this could account for daylight savings I guess. Though even in the default boulder Colorado location when exported to MR the sun location is incorrect. Furthermore when the exported MXS is opened in studio the sun location is completely lost – this one I really don’t understand???

8. The inclusion of a mesh subdivider (aka skindigo exporter) for subdividing faces when using displacement would also be a VERY handy tool inclusion.

9. Edit added - the ability to export with a linked emixer file!

10. Edit added - the ability to export direct to a pack and go file!

I’ll think of more and post soon! Thanks JD for chimming in!

[fv]

I would also suggest beta testing the new plugin with some experienced SU -Maxwell users that are known to handle large models, on a PC and a Mac.

Skindigo has done a lot very well. I like the way SU materials are in a pulldown menue and altered to export as a Skindigo material.

I imagine a pulldown menu with SU materials on right and on the left a pull down with user-assigned mxed materials, preferally in some kind of hiarchy of groups. The assigned materials should show up in an editable list. None assigned materials will just export as SU materials as they do now.
This way the texture assignment work could be done extremely fast and independent of how you choose to name your SU material. This means you could also quickly render a model that has no Maxwell set up. You then simply run through the list and asign materials without even having to bother the model itself dragging and dropping materials or opening SU materials. Opening and editing SU materials and their names is slow in larger models especially under OSX.

Ok, tx Richard for joining this effort. Actually I think this should be a new topic on the forum.
I hope JD will get this project done, I am afraid its not a simple plan..

[stefan_kaplan]

Thank you, JDHill! This is great news!

I agree that this discussion should be started as a new thread, but I'll throw in a couple of ideas anyway:
From the SketchUp-plugin it would be great:
1. to control Simulens (scattering and devignetting), the new Multilight feature "Color + Intensity" and the new render channels: Roughness and Fresnel.
2. a "Scale Scene" option, just like in Studio (Edit>Scale Scene). This would make it possible to imitate very low f-stop values eg. in city models.
3. to hide groups and components (and not only plain geometry as it is now) from camera, reflections and GI.
4. that the menus in the Maxwell Plugin could be more informative and that they could function without the OK-button with the ability to change when selecting different objects without closing the window and opening it again.

/Stefan

[JDHill]

Thanks again all, I'll try to take these things into account.

[fv]

I am working on a new project with v2 and plugin 2.4.
I export now using 2.4 and its ok, not much slower than with 2.2 since the file is small I expect. Compared to exporting without autoMXM on I would say its still very noticibly slower, as much that it should be no problem to reproduce this at NL.

Also I see that I need to switch on "transformations" for proper export. I get weird results without transformations on. I forgot what transformations do on export.

For the rest I am fine. As the model grows I will post here the results. It might be that I have to install plugin 2.2 again when that happens.

[chriskel]

I use SU+Maxwell A LOT, basically switching between these two is what I'm doing all day in the office.
I got very used to the export plugin which worked out okay and skipped using Studio almost altogether.
REALLY looking forward to see a new plugin - or at least a patch now.
Meanwhile I have to switch to Studio everytime I'm using a HDRI Sky, which is always. (the plugin HDRIBrowser just doesn't work on my computers, as I said before).
I was excited about MW v 2.0 in the beginning - but this really gets me down now- no change in the plugin, just a brand new malfunction.
If you could fix this it would make my day.

[JDHill]

I am not able to duplicate your HDRI-browsing error, chriskel. That being the case, my best guess would be that you have parts of different versions of the plugin in your SU plugins folder - that could cause things to get hooked up wrong, so that nothing would happen when you clicked the button. Could you let me know which OS you're running on?