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after a long period of inactivity, and having deleted all previous versions and stuff from the beta, I decided to start experimenting with MW again (on a G5). I d/l the RC5, and the latest FZ plugin. I install, but cannot find the plugin documentation. so I start with a box and a groundplane in FZ, change the plugin settings to what I think are acceptable settings, and hit Render Scene. a second later, an "output.mxs" file appears on the desktop, but that is all that happens. no preview window, nothing. if I remember well, in the first beta version I had to enter some things in the command line tool, but didn't find anything that told me to do so in this RC5 version. double clicking the output.mxs file makes nothing happen, although the file has the right icon.

questions:
where is the plugin doc?
what am i doing wrong to not get an output window? (that probably is explained in the doc ??)
What do I need to get a fast "hands on experience"?

tnx
wim

Mac or Win?

Ciao, Jo

(on a G5)

ciao
wim

I just upgrade the FormZ plugins to RC5 by replacing the old stuff in the exact place.

It goes like this:

FormZ/Plugins/MaxwellZ/

Attributes/Maxwell/Attributes.ENU.fzr, mxattributes.fzp

MaxwellZEnu.fzr
maxwellZ.fzp

You can check if the plugin has updated by creating a new Maxwell material and then seeing in the list "Mxm preset." I'm guessing that's from the material editor...

Monochrome,
do you mean I have to download "the old stuff" again, install it and then replace it by the new stuff?
besides, In the folder you describe I have these 2 files, plus 2 others:

maxwellattributtes.enu.fzr (indeed, atributtes with first 1 t and then 2t's)
mxattributes.fzp

also, I don't see a way to create a new maxwell material from within formz?

cheers
wim

The Rc5 FormZ plugin has the following items:

as far as I can judge, all the elements are in the correct places, but still no success. but apparently my maxwell.app is not running, as mentioned to me in another thread on the maxwell render forum. perhaps I have to sort that out first... if only I could have some suggestions on that ! I followed the manual, but I have the feeling something has been left out, and it is working with everyone else while they upgraded from the beta. not me, I started on a clean, reformatted harddisk with the latest MacOS.
I am (just a bit) desperate

wim

May as well forget it. Rc5 and FormZ are not working like they do in Beta... others are having similar problems.

Hello wimver,

We are investigating why mxcl does not start when you double click a mxs file. can you run Maxwell studio (mxst)?

Juan

Juan,

Apparently I don't have an mxcl application in the maxwell folder. there is a maxwell.app, and mxstudio.app.
I can start studio, import an mxs file generated by the formz plugin, and render it, but only within the preview windows. clicking the render button in the top menu bar activates nothing.
I downloaded rc5 and the latest fz plugin last week, and installed on a very clean (reformatted) system, the latest updated 10.4 MacOS. so maybe I am missing some important previous version files? should I install previous versions first?
where do I find info (manual) on the use of the formz plugin?

tnx
wim

wimver wrote: Apparently I don't have an mxcl application in the maxwell folder. there is a maxwell.app, and mxstudio.app.

what happens when you open maxwell.app? does it work?

Juan

juan wrote: what happens when you open maxwell.app? does it work?
Juan

the screen blinks a split second, then nothing happens. I will check out the log file in in a few hours, have to leave now for work.

tnx
wim

ok, here is what I found:

first, there was an old beta residing on one of my disks, which I overlooked,
and clicking the maxwell.app tried to launch that one.

logfile:
Info: path = /Users/wimver/Documents/data/3D tech/Maxwell/maxwell G5 beta 1.2.2/maxwell.app/Contents/MacOS/
License file is invalid!

I removed that version, and now still nothing happens, I get following logfile:

2006-02-17 11:34:46.153 open[600] No such file: /Users/wimver/Desktop/output

but both my output image path and my output mxs path are pointing to a custom directory, I don't know why he is looking to the desktop.

wim

wimver wrote: logfile:
Info: path = /Users/wimver/Documents/data/3D tech/Maxwell/maxwell G5 beta 1.2.2/maxwell.app/Contents/MacOS/
License file is invalid!

Ok, I am a bit confused, so are you using now the beta version?. Please check that you do not have both Beta and RC5 in the same system because there could be conflicts opening mxs files. It seems your only problem is the license. RC5 and beta have different license files, be sure you are using the right one. You should have received a license file for RC5 in a mail of our sales department. Please open a OSX terminal and tell us which message appears there when you double click a mxs file.

Regards,

Juan

no no,
I removed the beta as said in former post, but still nothing happens.

I did not install the beta at all, it was just a beta version which I must have downloaded with the intention to install, but never did.
I only installed RC5 and the newest Formz plugin, on a freshly formatted disk with latest OSX installed.

this is the message I get now:

2006-02-17 11:34:46.153 open[600] No such file: /Users/wimver/Desktop/output

wim