[Jonnydark]

I just downloaded the Maxwell Fire renderer for Sketchup and i can't believe how amazing my experiments are going!

I just have some basic questions:

How do you import those wicked materials from the site into sketchup? Is there a tutorial i should be looking at?

How do you render imported decals in Maxwell? When i have a faction logo on my space ship it doesn't show up in Maxwell fire.

Although, i was able to get normal sketchup textures to work. That was a little tricky but they look sick.

I can't believe i'm getting these kinds of results from a free 3d suit and a 95$ renderer. Our school computers have expensive licences and software and i can do better work faster with this!

I'M SO HAPPY!!

[JDHill]

How do you import those wicked materials from the site into sketchup?

Materials in the plugin are either in Embedded or MXM mode, and this is controlled using the "MXM" toggle-button found at the top-right corner of Scene Manager > Materials page. You can reference an MXM file by editing an existing SketchUp material and switching to MXM mode, or by using the Browse for an MXM File menu/toolbar command (discussed here). More information on this is available in the MXM Mode section, near the bottom of this page.

How do you render imported decals in Maxwell? When i have a faction logo on my space ship it doesn't show up in Maxwell fire.

It depends if you are referring to the use of SketchUp "Image" objects. If so, they need to be exploded into geometry for rendering; otherwise, check and make sure that your material is applied to the correct side of the face that you're rendering. Whereas SketchUp has front & back materials, Maxwell does not. Scene Manager > Output > Export > Face Materials controls how the plugin deals with resolving which material to use (see here for more on this).

[Jonnydark]

Thanks so much! That's really fast response!

Man i made the right choice!

[Jonnydark]

One other quick question... (Thank you for your help btw)


How do you make a lamp or another light in the scene?

Also, how can i make the entire space behind my object one flat colour so when i am in photoshop i can get rid of it (Like a green screen... but it need not be green)

[JDHill]

How do you make a lamp or another light in the scene?

In Maxwell, there are only two possible light sources: the environment, and geometry with emitter materials applied. The simplest emitter material is created by choosing the Emitter Character; see the description of Material Character, here. The most efficient emitter, in terms of render time, is a single triangle, but it is possible to use any geometry. Keep in mind that light will be emitted in the a face's normal direction -- the front of the face in SketchUp.

Also, how can i make the entire space behind my object one flat colour so when i am in photoshop i can get rid of it (Like a green screen... but it need not be green)

If you were using Maxwell Render Suite, you would just enable the Alpha Channel. Using the standalone plugin though, there is no automatic solution, and I suppose the closest you will get might be to use the Image Based Environment type, with the Background channel disabled, and the Reflection, Refraction, and Illumination channels set to use either Active Sky, or an HDRI. This will give you an image where objects are illuminated against a pure black background. Environment settings are discussed here.

[Jonnydark]

WOW! thank you so much for your fast reply!!

I will follow these leads as i learn more. thank you.


I am SUCH a fan boy now... I showed my room mate and he was blown away and wrote down "maxwell" and went and googled it. lol. He's like "I better get back into sketchup!"

[Jonnydark]

I feel stupid for having to ask for clarification...

But i don't know where to activate emitters. I've looked online all over the place.

I have my object with an emitter material.. I just don't know where you tell Maxwell to render it.

Thanks for your help.

Jonathan

[JDHill]

How many watts does the emitter have? The normal things to check would be:

• - is the scene modeled at a realistic size?
  - if so, is the emitter set to a sane wattage?
  - if so, is the camera exposure correct?

Applying a 10W emitter to geometry the size of a football field, it will be difficult to perceive any light output. Similarly, if the environment is enabled, it will be difficult to perceive any light output from a low-powered light. If that all checks out, double check that the object to which you have applied the emitter has its faces oriented in the correct direction. It may be best to get a feel for things first, by starting with a fresh, simple scene -- just a simple cube sitting on a plane, with a single emitter face above, shining down -- and playing with settings until you get the feel for it.

[Jonnydark]

I think my settings are pretty reasonable for the material

I just read in the documentation that there is this sub menu



And i don't know where that multilight option is in the menus.

Here are screen shots:

[JDHill]

That looks about right -- if you had a 12W (or ~20W, since you have increased the emitter's Efficacy) radiating from a surface of around 6 sq. ft, I would expect it might be about that bright. You will be able to prove that it is emitting by setting Environment Type to (none), and decreasing the camera's EV (Exposure Value) to something around 7. Or, you could leave the environment and camera alone, and increase the wattage a great deal, to see that the cube actually is emitting light. Were it not, it would not appear as this dull red color -- it would look black.

On the question about Multilight, that only appears if you are using the Render Suite plugin, since it has no applicability without Maxwell Render Suite. In that case, though, what it does is to allow you to change the output power of individual emitters during rendering, and even afterward (in that case, rendering happens outside SketchUp, using a separate file, in a separate rendering application).

[Jonnydark]

oh okay... i'll post how i do.

[Jonnydark]

Aha! I now have my own glowing companion cube.

[Jonnydark]

How do you light a bigger scene?

I'm doing a space ship hanger and i need lights inside... How would you make those ones work?

I tried the one i just made and it nary shows up!

[JDHill]

You should just make sure that you're using realistic scales and values for the situation. That means that the hangar is modeled at a realistic scale, emitters are given realistic values, and your exposure is set up similar to what it would be, were you using a real camera, in such a scenario. If you want to email (jeremy at nextlimit dotcom) or upload (e.g. using dropbox) a stripped-down version of your hangar, I can take a look, and make some recommendations.

[Jonnydark]

Hi!

I don't like drop box so i will try and email you the sketchup file.

Just to give you a sense of what you'll be looking at here is a render i took last night

Where do you figure out what scale your model is at?