[rivoli]

well, since maxwell is standalone you can look at any image here or in the official gallery. the results will be the same regardless what 3d package sends out data to create a mxs.
anyway, i'd suggest you to have a look at the solidworks section to find out how the plugin actually works. from what i got there are quite a few limitations at the moment (something to do with cameras in solidworks 2005 among the others).

[rivoli]

do you import your Solidworks drawing/wireframes into MR?!

yes, that's basically what the plugin/connection does.

Does this then allow you to move the camera around anywhere in the scene, unlike with Solidworks where all you can do is zoom and rotate an object for capture?

i'm not sure about this cos i don't use sw, but from what i read in a couple of betty's posts this is one of the main problems at the moment since the camera has to be set outside maxwell. maybe when maxwell will have its own GUI you 'll be able to do that.

Do you then select the materials in MR?

not yet. you will when the GUI is ready.

And are there stock scenes in MR in which you could place you designed product and quickly render without having to first create a room?

nope, unless someone is willing to create a data base for this kind of things.

edit:
here's the thread i was talking about:
http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1700

by the way, this is problably the wrong section to post this kind of questions, actually it is meant as a users gallery.

[rivoli]

quick answer: graphic user interface. when maxwell goes beta it'll have a material editor and stuff like that.

edit:
graphical user interface actually. a graphic interface would problably be unbearable to use and could have lots of side effects (some might like it though).

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[juan]

Hi Bazza,
The maxwell plugin for solidworks is in the very first steps of development, but you can use it perfectly, like in other plataforms. This is our first plugin for a CAD plataform (there will be others soon) and we have some issues that differs from typical 3D soft like max or maya. For example in solidworks you usually see an orthogonal projection (the eye point is in the infinite or far.. ) but in maxwell the camera is placed in a physical finite point. So maxwell do not render exactly what you can see in the view port of solidworks. there are other special issues with the camera, but all of them will be fixed in the next weeks. Also, Solidworks 2006 will provide a real camera like other 3D soft, I have the new api and maxwell plugin for solidworks 2006 is going to be great. Anyway I show you a pic, so you can see how maxwell is integrated in solidworks environment. My apologizes because the render is not good, It's just a test for myself, I spend too much time programming... I can´t do long test...