[JTB]

Please don't turn this post into a fight and please don't mention other engines compared to Maxwell...
I find Maxwell to be one of the best tools I have ever used so far...

What I want to do here is make a list of what Maxwell was, what Maxwell is and what Maxwell will be... In other words, what we had, what we were promised to have, what we have now and what we will have from NL... I will try to make a list of the major categories.....

1. RENDERING ENGINE.... We had a very nice beta engine which changed to some RCs which didn't work well and now we have a fully working release but with some problems with dielectric materials. NL promised to give us the next generation of Maxwell RS2 with many enchancements.

2. PLUGINS... Well, MAX plugin is OK, Maya afaik is very nice, C4d guys keep complaining... We were promised to have ACAD and REVIT plugin but knowing how ADSK works, I can't blame NL for this.

3. ENVIRONMENT...We had a very nice physical sky model which changed recently and I don't understand why. We had (alpha) some kind of volumetric light and fog capabilities but now we cannot have anything similar. NL has already declared that the sky model is being rewritten so we have to wait.

4. ADVANCED FEATURES.... We have motion blur again and resume rendering after a long period... Thanks NL for these tools, they are top priority for some of us. The new simulens feature seems to work very nice. Multilight is a killer!!!. We all wait for displacement and the samples we have seen look perfect! With 1.5 release, hi-res rendering has very much improved....

5. MATERIALS.... No need to say that for the average user (like me) materials are great, but we still don't have the top material editor and there are some problems... For example the lack of image stored in MXM file so that we can see it with the explorer when viewing in thumbnail mode.

Please feel free to add what you don't find here...

[JCAddy]

I don't remember then promising a Revit plugin, besides who cares? Revit blows

[JCAddy]

PS I'm just giving you a hard time on the Revit topic as usual JTB

[sandykoufax]

Motion blur is diabled in 3dsMax plugin.

[Bubbaloo]

I haven't been here long. So I can't say what was "promised" before. About a year ago I saw some unbelieveable renders of a disgusting burnt zombie dude (huh Tim) and I knew I had to try it. Although my skill level is not there yet, I am still enjoying experimenting with new ideas. It's the best renderer of still renderings for realism. Perfect for what I do.
As for the future, who knows? I hope the Next Limit team keeps pushing the creative envelope!

[JTB]

PS I'm just giving you a hard time on the Revit topic as usual JTB

You're right, even if we get a Maxwell plugin for Revit, we can't do much because Revit lacks import/export options. No 3ds, no OBJ, no nothing. So, how would I be able to take advantage of millions of models from the Web?

Motion blur is diabled in 3dsMax plugin

Right, my mistake.

It's the best renderer of still renderings for realism. Perfect for what I do.

So, what you would see as an improvement, it would be better and faster animation right?

[Leonardo]

don't forget the bump maps... in Alpha they looked like displacement!!! In beta they were okay, and now... it's like non existent!

[JTB]

don't forget the bump maps... in Alpha they looked like displacement!!! In beta they were okay, and now... it's like non existent!

Thank you Leonardo, a very good point! We really need to have better bump maps, can't use displacement for everything!

[Thomas An.]

don't forget the bump maps... in Alpha they looked like displacement!!! In beta they were okay, and now... it's like non existent!

Can you guys show some side by side comparisons of bump maps from the alpha and the same from the 1.5 (using identical scene and lighting) ?

[Leonardo]

yes, but read my sig. first

I was looking for the pics in the maxwell gallery that were done in alpha showing the power of bump maping.. but they are gone!!

[Leonardo]

I wish I had a better example... or comparation but:




alpha... and no, I didn't have to set the bumps to 100% nor I had to do 1,000 tests bluring the img or normal maping....

[Leonardo]

What would I win if I could prove that Maxwell Alpha had superior bump mapping than Maxwell 1.5.1?

Would NL acknowledge it... so people can stop looking at me as if I was crazy?

[Thomas An.]

ok, but a single image is not sufficient to make your claim. Could you do the exact same scene in 1.5 using the exact same maps ? and then put the result side by side? Better yet, could you do a simpler scene ? (only a plane and sunlight on both alpha and 1.5 and put them side by side) to illustrate bump differences ?

I mean you do not have to, but if you ever want to be heard, then you guys should think in making a little more complete bug reports.

[Fernando Tella]

I think that having to blur the bump maps to make them work is not ok, right? Usually, in other programs, the more contrasted the bump map, the stronger it looks.

[NicoR44]

Hey guys

Just to show a nice current version bump mat, no blur used