Maxwell Render | Official public forum

Video for Max users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGwpvsUEcK4

Video for Maya users: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX4rSBBR8gU



Best,
Jason.

As I know, Substance is added with 3dsmax2011 subscription advantage pack.
I don't know why they said it's a new feature of 2012.

I found that a bit odd too -- but it may be they have added new/better integration.

Best,
Jason.

It looks pretty powerful and easy to use, but with the pricetag it comes with.. it quickly loses all attraction.

/ Magnus

You don't need to own Substance Designer to use Substances -- you can buy some ready-made online (individually or in packs) at Turbosquid: http://www.turbosquid.com/Substance

What they are showing in the videos is simply the (free) Substance Player integrated -- the player will allow end-users to tweak the procedural qualities of the Substances to suit whatever taste... each substance is capable of massive variation by moving a few sliders.

It looks like they are giving Max users a bit more power than the Maya users...

Best,
Jason.

I know the main application is not required to use these textures within Maya and 3dsmax.

The integration itself actually looks pretty good to be a Autodesk application. it's rare i know..
I saw on CGTalk there were some unhappy puppies with the new Maya 2012 release, longstanding bugs were still there and even more present now than in earlier releases.

/ Magnus

Gotcha -- well I can't speak to the cost of Maya or Max and their relative merits because I have no interest in using either. The starter set of 80 Substances is a rather large amount though and if you look at the cost of them individually it should make up some of the difference.

My intention is to use the free player to output maps for use in Maxwell -- but I cannot help but think of how sweet it would be to be tweaking out Substance based Maxwell materials in Fire

Best,
Jason

Yep, all 80 of them is quite the collection to have fun with.

IF Maxwell would support instant baking of them at rendertime then they would be useful, or even pre-baking which you can ofcourse do manually and then add each layer into your Maxwell materialeditor. Hmm.. interesting if that worked.

/ Magnus

Aji created a script that I think you might be interested in Magnus: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 49&t=36614

Best,
Jason.

I've been waiting for the new website design and they went "live" today -- http://www.allegorithmic.com/

There is also a newly expanded forum there which I plan to begin to use regularly -- this is open to all kinds of users (meaning Free Substance Player, Max, and Maya users as well).

Also more new videos for Max and Maya -- this time showing the Bitmap2Material Substance in action:

For Max: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmWFZiQUees

For Maya: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seh94Tp5PuM

Best,
Jason.

Also worth throwing out there since it does have some additional content of interest is the video tutorial section of the new website:

http://www.allegorithmic.com/community/learning

They've got a new "Creative Possibilities With Substance In Maya 2012" which may be of interest.

Best,
Jason.

So if I have Maya 2012, and Maxwell, and the free player, is there any reason to buy additional software from Allegorithmic? Or am I all set?

(assuming cost is not an issue)

No, the only reason to purchase additional software from them would be to create your own custom Substances -- but I think for the vast majority of users just using the 80 samples that come with Maya 2012 and maybe buying a few fill-in for specific things you might need from Turbosquid would serve for most workflows.

The Bitmap to Material filter is a special thing that comes as either part of Substance Designer or as a stand alone Substance you can buy for use in Maya, Max, etc.

Bear in mind when I get a bit of free time I will be releasing free Substances here as well... so by just keeping an eye peeled to the forums you will grow your library.

The type of user I can see getting good value out of purchasing Substance Designer is somebody who either creates Substances for teams to work with on large projects or for selling -- for me it made sense as a teaching aid and also because I tend to do Sci-Fi and Fantasy stuff where textures often have to be made in Photoshop or similar... for that type of texture creation Substance designer is a big step up from Photoshop in terms of flexibility.

Best,
Jason.

A great example of a model where a good Substance would make life much easier would be to get variation into the rust and dirt of each tread of NicoR44's Wall-E: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 48&t=31166

This could be a custom made Substance, but in reality you could easily find one that would work well on Turbosquid -- which would then also work for many other projects as well... here's a search to show what I mean: http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Index. ... _typeid=20

Best,
Jason.

I'm particularly interested in substances that are smart about where on the surface, based on shape analysis. the most wear will occur, or the most dirt will collect, or the most rivulets of water will create rust.

I can manually estimate and paint that stuff but from what I've seen Modo seems to have put some thought into that topic. And I guess ZBrush when used properly can paint or not paint based on occlusion or surface depth.