[w i l l]

jjs - Thanks, I did my Spam tin in Studio not the Maya plugin - I used Solidworks to set up the materials. I haven't used Maya much, i'm just interested in using it for animation and for when I can't get the mapping right in Studio.

Superbad - I don't know, but I do know that you can re-import a changed model into Studio and it updates with the materials.

[superbad]

.
Superbad - Are you sure about the re-importing of parts - is this an SW2007 thing, as I am sure I have re-imported changed geometry in the past and it keeps the materials as set in Studio on the old geometry. I will check this again.

It works for the first part in an assembly, then crashes when it gets get to the second. It has always been that way for me, with every model, on 2006 and 2007, RC5, 1.0 and 1.1.

[w i l l]

Yeah it does crash a lot for me as well but I usually manage to do it in the end. I don't think i've tried any massive assemblies though and I wouldn't want to attempt it either. You have to be very careful about getting things right in the plugin first before opening the mxs in Studio.

[superbad]

These aren't massive assemblies really- about 50 parts. I don't do anything in the plugin- lack of texturing makes it pretty worthless for what I do.

[w i l l]

How do you texture in Studio? - that must be a nightmare picking triangles.

[superbad]

I almost never pick triangles, just objects. 95% of what I do in Maxwell is wood furniture made up from rectangular parts. If I need to do a veneer inlay or something I create it as a thin body in SW.

[Mike Scola]

I second that. SW allows you to create multi body parts. The bodies come into studio as seperate components, so if you know that your going to apply multiple materials, you can model your part accordingly. I've had some success at grouping those multiple bodies once I'm in studio and then applying the materials. It makes it easier to select things.

It would be appreciated if we got a preview of what's coming in the new plugin.

[b-kandor]

This is how I work as well, group by name works well in large assemblies. Recently I rendered an assembly with over 2500 components and I had the list sorted in minutes in studio. I never touch the plugin in sw anymore, I just use 'saveas' mxs without ever opening the plugin. If we could control mapping in sw that would be another story.

Kandor

[superbad]

Something I found out recently is that Maya imports Solidworks parts and assemblies without needing to convert. I didn't expect that. The Maya plugin is good too.

I just downloaded the free version of Maya. Sweet Jesus, what a nightmare. The interface is straight out of 1990- I feel like I should be feeding it punchcards and saving to big magnetic tape reels. The plugin might be good (though I can't even tell if it's installed), but the main app sure does suck. It also looks like when you re-import a SW model it just loads duplicates of everything, rather than replacing the existing geometry, so it's the same pain in the ass duplication of effort as Studio in that respect. I'm afraid this is not going to be an option for me.

Please make the new SW plugin a good one! I'll be happy if it just allows me to replace existing geometry without crashing. One little bug fix is all I want for 2007.

[Eric Lagman]

I just downloaded the free version of Maya. Sweet Jesus, what a nightmare. The interface is straight out of 1990- I feel like I should be feeding it punchcards and saving to big magnetic tape reels.

I know what you mean. I looked into Maya and 3d studio max about two years back and it blew my mind how horrible the UI was. I couldn't believe this was used by professionals. It made me cry just looking at it. Buttons and icons scattered about in no particular order. It was a damn disaster.

I finally tried out cinema 4d, and it was without a doubt the easiest to use of the big 3d apps. Its just too bad that that plugin is lagging compared to the ones that are more mainstream with horrible interfaces.

Ever since I started using maxwell it always seems like there is some wierd obstacle in the way of workflow. SW cant handle textures. Ok I go to cinema. Now I have to use a 3rd party software to export my model ie polytrans or moi. Wait its plugin stinks because material tag system is not integrated well. Ok I go to studio. Wait I can't do animation or map a texture the way I wan't.

One day the workflow will be smooth. Until then I dream of staying in one application and having all my modelling and rendering needs met. Studio works good for me 90% of the time for still images. Until I want to do an animation of my design one day Sorry for the rant. I have nothing to be angry about really. Maxwell puts out fantastic results time and time again on projects I have worked on.

[w i l l]

Yeah I hate the look of Maya Superbad. Also, I couldn't have put it better myself Eric... its so annoying that we are restricted... like with your Bombay Sapphire glass... all you needed was use UV unwrapping or better mapping, but we can't do that. Hence me trying to experiment with Maya (plus animation).

For some reason Maya just decided to stop importing Solidworks parts and assemblies even thought the option is there... i didn't change anything, I now just get an error. I now have to use IGES and some faces are missing on parts.

I'm still learning though. I've been doing Maya tutorials and started using it for modelling to try and get my head around it. Solidworks need to sort out txture mapping or whatever would allow Maxwell to use textures in the plugin. If they don't do it soon i'm going to give them a loan for it.

I sort of live in fear of when someone asks me to do a render that involves complex mapping and i'll have to tell them that I can't do it (even though I theoretically know how to do it, i just have the problem of integrating 2 software applications).

[superbad]

I totally agree with you guys. It's frustrating to be so close to having a nice, easy to use product. What can you do? This is the only way I can get the results I'm getting.

I will say if we are waiting for Solidworks to improve the texturing, we will be waiting forever. Solidworks has zero incentive to do that. Photoworks has its own texturing system, and integrating that into the main application would only help their competitors.

[rockguy]

Hi guys,

I'm working on completing interviews with SolidWorks and Next Limit for a couple of blog articles I'll be posting in the SolidWorks World time frame.

Since SolidWorks gave Maxwell an exclusive page at their website (right next to the PhotoWorks page) I've been curious as to what's going to happen in the future.

The Next Limit article explores the current and future relationship between SolidWorks and Maxwell.

The SolidWorks article will explore the current and future relationship between SolidWorks and Maxwell as well as what the future holds for PhotoWorks users.

I've also been lead to believe we are going to hear some great announcements pertaining to SolidWorks and rendering at or around SolidWorks World.

Check my blog during SolidWorks World for the arcticles and any announcements that may be made.

http://designsmarter.typepad.com/rob_rodriguez/

My fingers are crossed in hopes some of these issues will go away.

[superbad]

Interesting, I hadn't noticed that. Well, I'm a little more hopeful then. Of course, the page they currently have up says:

"Apply Maxwell materials directly to parts and assembly components inside SolidWorks - no exporting to files to another system."

Sigh. There's nothing like telling half the truth.

[Mihai]

Until then I dream of staying in one application and having all my modelling and rendering needs met.

Well............good luck with that

I'm just saying, keep a realistic view of what is possible. Especially if you model in a CAD application. They aren't designed with animation or texturing in mind, so if you want to do animations especially, you will have to look at another application for that, whatever renderer you use.

It's a big mess of file types and "standards" and it's going to remain that way for quite a while.