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Hello
in the material editor we can't add layers or modify texture or convert to advanced

seghier wrote:Nice work Carbon
i test the latest updtae and it is very nice
i didn't test all the features :
- when i render a scene it show me that i must save the scene ; is it possible to render without save the scene ?
- i can't export particle bin file in external folder but blender particles worked fine

hi,
1) why you need it? because some osx specific things i'd better to leave it as it is..
2) ok, i think you mixed a few things together and maybe it's my fault (otherwise you would appended some error report). with external is meant some bin you have previously created somewhere else. and you choose to use blender particles, you have option to embed particle data into mxs or not, and if not, bin will be created. will look at the buttons and maybe there is a way to make that clear.
3) full material editor is a 'todo'

Hi Carbon,
nice work indeed! Do you also plan on exposing mxm and environment properties as Nodes? Looking
at Bmaxwell the material properties pages may get pretty long with multiple layer materials. Also using
colour correction on input images would be a great addition.

I have recently tried your Addon with imported meshes (originally created in a CAD program) and had problem
with Normals I could not solve. Both Blender Internal and Cycles show no defects but the export to Maxwell is off.
I could send you a sample file if you want to have a look.

Polyxo wrote:Hi Carbon,
nice work indeed! Do you also plan on exposing mxm and environment properties as Nodes? Looking
at Bmaxwell the material properties pages may get pretty long with multiple layer materials. Also using
colour correction on input images would be a great addition.

i don't think nodes are possible for current maxwell material system..
about color, i guess they just need to be gamma un/corrected..

Polyxo wrote:I have recently tried your Addon with imported meshes (originally created in a CAD program) and had problem
with Normals I could not solve. Both Blender Internal and Cycles show no defects but the export to Maxwell is off.
I could send you a sample file if you want to have a look.

this would interest me, if it is using custom normals, i think i haven't counted with that.. if you could share some part where it is clearly visible..

thanks
j.

carbon wrote: i don't think nodes are possible for current maxwell material system..

Is that really so? That's what Maxwell looks like in Softimage for instance.
Obviously this doesn't mean the same thing is possible in Blender but their nodal system is pretty impressive
and the NL guys sure would help if someone wants to do this right. Other 3rd party renderers, such as
Luxrender and Vray can use Blenders Node system too.


http://support.nextlimit.com/display/mx ... +materials

carbon wrote:about color, i guess they just need to be gamma un/corrected..

Yeah, I meant all the flexibility Blenders Nodes has to offer in terms of tweaking image input.

@Normals error: I'll send you a sample via PM.

Thanks Carbon
really nice work; i hope nexlimit give you special version to integrate fire in blender
and i hope you will add support for openvdb when it will available in blender

Polyxo wrote:

carbon wrote: i don't think nodes are possible for current maxwell material system..

Is that really so? That's what Maxwell looks like in Softimage for instance.
Obviously this doesn't mean the same thing is possible in Blender but their nodal system is pretty impressive
and the NL guys sure would help if someone wants to do this right. Other 3rd party renderers, such as
Luxrender and Vray can use Blenders Node system too.

http://support.nextlimit.com/display/mx ... +materials

carbon wrote:about color, i guess they just need to be gamma un/corrected..

Yeah, I meant all the flexibility Blenders Nodes has to offer in terms of tweaking image input.

@Normals error: I'll send you a sample via PM.

alright, that's valid point, but i guess i'll stick with traditional approach with layered material editor. one of base concepts when i begun writing this is to keep it as similar to Studio as possible, so i don't have to search for things i'd like to operate on. also i am not a big fan of nodifying everything for the sake of nodifying it. but it's just my opinion..

btw, apart from texture editing, this nodes looks less efficient then layers. you add node (aka layer) and then you have to connect it with something, that's some extra work. there is not much else you can do. only add value node for each bsdf input (which would be quite an overkill since nearly all its values are simple floats). so you end with node mess full of basic values connected to one big bsdf. but correct me if i am wrong..

Polyxo wrote:

carbon wrote: @Normals error: I'll send you a sample via PM.

oh, and thanks for the file..
marked sharp edges causing it. add Edge Split modifier and will be ok.

edit: added on todo list, together with custom normals

Well your opinion obviously is the only one which matters here :0)
You're the one who codes this plugin for his own purposes and who's generous enough to share.

Concerning Nodes I after years of refusal would say that I have reached a point where I would consider
them more flexible and faster than using Layers. Nodification (also in Blender) may go hand in hand
with a conventional setup, the stack could get reflected in the properties editor (as also the case with cycles).
Even mild usage of Nodes would unlock a lot of stuff you clearly won't be able to do purely with a layer based
implementation in Blender. Such a case was map reuse in layered networks with options to introduce global changes
(to the map) and such which only apply to a specific mapping channel. One should also point out that well functioning
node networks may get encapsulated so that one ends up with a clean appearance – but one still may enter the network
if one feels inclined to drill down.
I quite personally with such a Plugin would like things to be blenderesk as possible – but you seem to prefer sticking closer
to the way things are set up in Studio :0)

Thanks for looking at the mesh sample.
I didn't think of edges getting interpreted as hard (there's no concept of hard edges in the source app).

hello, i haven't posted updates for a while, so here are all missing (for people not reading blenderartist)
the most recent one might be interesting..

• 0.3.7 custom material editor, custom material import/export
• 0.3.6 added: export particle uvs, camera lock exposure, choosing external materials with mxed in browser mode, choose scene for auto preview in mxed, fixed: import mxs: object transformation
• 0.3.5 particle object/group instances, quick setting object properties/object id to multiple objects, blocked emitters, many fixes (reading/drawing material previews, missing cloner objects, hair uvs, ...)
• 0.3.4 hair with children particles root uvs (requires blender 2.76), wire export faster and with smaller files, fixes here and there
• 0.3.3 simplified installation procedure on Mac OS X, pymaxwell is now imported directly from /Applications/Maxwell 3, also fixed some bugs..
• 0.3.2 Maxwell 3.2 update, includes majority of new features: material priority, saving to psd, reflection and refraction channels, reflectance channel, scatter and grass updates. also wireframe and auto-subdivision export is restored, added basic progress reporting, hair uvs, hair extension material and many more small fixes and tweaks
• 0.3.1 last version working with Maxwell 3.1 (with a few bugs): ddbad692a25c6e6e72d11092d8f063f6ed1d048e
• 0.3.0 refactored exporter part, added: hair uvs, curves instancing, material global properties, fixed: object transformations when opened and saved in Studio
• 0.2.4 added: automatic subdivision modifiers export to speed things up
• 0.2.3 added: mxs export menu operator, quad export when using subdivision modifier, 2.75 compatibility
• 0.2.2 added: mxs import (objects, emitters, cameras and sun selectively), save extension materials to mxm, embed particles in mxs (saving of external .bin files is now optional)
• 0.2.1 added: extension materials creation and editing inside blender

cheers
j.

ps. name was changed a while ago, so the repository url: https://github.com/uhlik/blendmaxwell

Not sure why you can not get fire working when it has been done with the B-Maxwell add-on. Have you asked Nextlimit for what you need to achieve this? I am going to start evaluating your add-on. I use windows. I like that fact you are readily available and eager to communicate with us and advance your add-on. If I find the add-on able to be used in my professional pipe line, I will be willing to donate as well.

Big things for me are object distribution using Blenders hair particle system, rendering linked objects, fast geometry expert for extremely heavy scenes, being able to set up/ render custom alphas from inside blender and Fire.

I am looking forward to trying it out. I will keep you posted.

Thanks,

Aaron

@carbon,
Are there chances that you add MXS references wire or dot preview to vieport?

@Carbon:

I didn't use Maxwell since the 1.7, and never could try it in Blender.
I just downloaded MR demo and your addon, and frankly... you did an AWESOME job

Wow, this is great. Finally I can start using Blender again!
Looking forward to more updates.

From Github:

0.4.0 heavy refactoring, added mxs reference viewport preview
0.3.9 colors exported in 32 bits and as shown in blender (gamma correction), added grass modifier presets, added displacement in extension materials, added stereo cameras (maxwell 3.2), added realflow particles bin export operator (file > export menu), updated material presets (maxwell 3.2.1.0), fixed cleaning of mesh datablocks created during export, fixed exporting of fake user materials, fixed export of particles on meshes without polygons (and a lot of small fixes and ui tweaks)
0.3.8 custom alphas for objects and materials, many ui improvements, particle object/group instances now exports correctly when base objects are hidden, addon preferences for automatic type selection for new material, environment and particles, changed preset location, setting camera to ortho now changes viewport to ortho