[JDHill]

Hi All,

Just a few installation notes, as the plugin uses a couple of runtimes that you may not have previously installed:

- Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0
- Microsoft Visual C++ 8.0 SP1 Runtime

Depending on which of the Rhino SDKs a plugin uses, one or both of these will be required, even though Rhino itself does not require their installation. The Maxwell plugin requires them both. So, it's kind of a first-come first-install scenario. In addition, there may be other pre-requisites that need to be verified, depending on things like running on an early SP of win2k, etc...

Now, the good news: you don't really need to worry about how this stuff works. When you unzip the downloaded plugin, you'll find 3 items inside:



- vcredist_x86 contains the Visual C++ 8.0 runtime, which will be installed automatically, if necessary.
- components.msi is the actual plugin installer package, but you will not directly run this file.
- setup.exe is a small program that will perform the actual installation, after it verifies that the machine is ready.

So, just click on setup.exe [note: Rhino should not be running while installing the plugin] , and follow the instructions it gives. If you've not installed the .Net Framework 2.0 before, setup.exe will guide you through an automatic download/install.

If your machine indeed requires these things to be installed, keep in mind that it is a one-time procedure. Updates won't require this kind of thing, nor will installation of subsequent Rhino plugins that rely on them. Rhino could install these prerequisites itself, but McNeel doesn't know if a user will actually ever use a plugin that requires them, so they don't inconvenience you with this procedure prematurely.

Cheers, and happy installs.

JD

[JDHill]

If you experience issues installing or running the plugin, please check the following possibilities:

a) run the installer from the Desktop:

• - unzip folders, temp folders, and encrypted folders are not acceptable locations to run software installers from
  - these types of locations do not generally have sufficient permission to allow installation

b) make sure the VC++ runtime has been installed (should happen automatically when executing 'setup.exe', but in some cases, it appears this is not happening):

• - close Rhino
  - open the 'vcredist_x86' folder in the installation package, and run 'vcredist_x86.exe'
  - restart Rhino, see if the issue is corrected

c) if Maxwell will not load (showing the Material Editor, etc. results in 'unknown command' printed to the command-line):

• - go to Rhino main menu > File > Properties > Plug-ins > Install, and select the file:
  
  [Program Files][the path you chose during install]\Maxwell.Rhino.dll
  
  - click Ok to install the plugin
  - click Ok to exit the properties window
  - following a short pause, as the plugin is loaded, you should see text on the Rhino command-line indicating that the Maxwell plugin has been loaded

If none of these suggestions help, please contact me with any details you may have regarding the problem, at the email address listed in my forum profile.

JD