[JDHill]

Maxwell for SketchUp
Version 2.6.3 Release Notes

Progress in this build is not ground-breaking, but there are some interesting points.

Changes

• Instances with emitters are exported as meshes automatically.
• Emitters are now supported on entities which have been mirrored.
• Updated PDF manual to reflect changes in 2.6.x plugin builds.
• Pretesselated displacement has been removed; use MXM files.
• Added output name macros (%skp, %scene, %time, %date, etc).

Fixes

• A crash could occur when switching from displacement to bump.
• License activator now supports machines with multiple MAC addresses.
• IBL channels other than Background were showing Screen Map button.
• The IBL Copy channel function was not working properly in some cases.
• Non-existent output directory was silently switched to use SKP directory.

Notes

Please try to see if you can break the mirrored-emitter feature; I believe it should "just work" in all cases, but am not yet 100% sure. Pretesselated displacement may appear again later on, but for now, the problems and confusion it causes outweigh its potential benefits, especially in 32-bit SketchUp -- if you really want to use it, for the time being, you will need to do so via MXM files. Also, it is written above that the manual has been updated, but I forgot to document the new output name macros. Here is how they work: in Scene Manager > Output > Name, you can use any of the following macros:

Code: Select all

%skp:   current SKP file name
%scene: current SketchUp Scene name
%date:  date in YYYYmmdd format
%time:  time in HHMMSS format

%Y:     year   (e.g. 2012)
%m:     month  (01-12)
%b:     month  (Jan)
%B:     month  (January)
%d:     day    (01-31)

%H:     hour   (00-23)
%M:     minute (00-59)
%S:     second (00-59)

They will be replaced by the indicated values, such that entering %skp-%scene might result in an output name like Untitled-Top.mxs.

Downloads

As usual, I am hosting this preview build on my own server, so please do not share these links elsewhere:

• (version superseded)

If you discover any issues with this build, please report them in this thread.

[stefan_kaplan]

• Instances with emitters are exported as meshes automatically.
• Emitters are now supported on entities which have been mirrored.
• Updated PDF manual to reflect changes in 2.6.x plugin builds.
• Pretesselated displacement has been removed; use MXM files.
• Added output name macros (%skp, %scene, %time, %date, etc).

Beautiful changes, JD
Completely intuitive use of emitters. Can't wait to try it out!
And the request for naming by scenes goes way back.

/Stefan

Ps. I haven't forgotten about the "Wall" scene preview! I completely agree with your comments about the emitter settings with reflections and refractions (hadn't thought of that!) and the fact that Tom's setup is thoroughly tested. I'm not skilled enough to optimize the scene with support for multiple projectors (?) etc. Only detail I would love to change is making the yellow light of Tom's more white... I know it's not your task at all, but maybe I can entice you to make this one correction whenever you might find the time?

[stefan_kaplan]

BTW the Output Name Macros would be great to list in the small dot with "Info" to the right of the Name-line. A quick way of remembering the combinations...

[JDHill]

Yes, that little Info button has been waiting to be useful for a long time, hasn't he. And on the wall.mxs preview, I haven't forgotten about it, though I did forget to include it in this build -- when I get a minute, I'll see about making the changes you suggest.

[monochrome]

I'm having severe problems with models built and rendered using 2.5.

Setting cannot be changed (sun, no sun, embedded alpha, material over-ride, devingnetting, etc.)
The model has to be copied to a fresh file, but sometimes the problem re-appears.

Any suggestions?

[JDHill]

No, nothing I can think of, so please send me (jeremy at nextlimit dotcom) one of these models so I can try to reproduce it here.

[monochrome]

I think I isolated the bug - it occurs when you specify an output folder in Output tab.

[JDHill]

Sorry, but I'm still not able to observe any problem. Could you be more specific regarding what you mean by saying that settings cannot be changed? Do you mean that the user-interface locks up, or that you can change the settings, but they do not translate into Fire, or into the MXS file when exported to Studio? Or something else?

[monochrome]

Sorry...

I'm specifying an output path on our office server, with auto-rename. When that's enabled in 2.6.3, selected options such as Embedded Alpha, Sun, or Multilight aren't enabled in Maxwell Render.

When I use the default output path, everything works fine. Have you been able to reproduce this behavior?

[JDHill]

Thanks, I do find that there is a problem with auto-naming vs. network paths, but it does not explain the behavior you describe. What it does is to prevent auto-naming from working after the first renaming, e.g. if the first auto-named file is untitled_0004.mxs, then untitled_0004.mxs will be exported from then on, until SketchUp is restarted (it is a path-caching problem).

On your issue though, which I have not reproduced, a test scenario which succeeds is this:

1. using Export to Studio, I am writing MXS files to my macbook, from my Windows machine.
2. on the first export, I disable the sun; once opened in Studio, I confirm that the sun is disabled.
3. on the next export, I enable the sun; once opened in Studio, I confirm that the sun is enabled.

Do these steps succeed or fail for you? With and without auto-naming enabled? In a failing case, are any messages printed in the Ruby console, if you have enabled Scene Manager > Options > Diagnostics > Ruby Echo?