[juan]

Hi Andy,

Internally MaxwellZ plugin gets the triangles of the formz objects always in the same way. For Maxwell there is no difference whether the object is revolved, or whether the object it tesselated in one way or other... those are internal formZ process that must not affect the way formZ gives triangles to maxwell. Internally in FormZ it seems there is a difference between different types ob objects. The geometry of the vertex is properly given to maxwellZ (there is no geometric distorsion). But the order is not always the same, so it is difficult for Maxwell manage it, and the order is essential to calculate the direction of the normal vectors. Anyway thanks a lot for your report, we have a good connection with Autodesys and sure we fix it very soon.

Cheers,

Juan

[juan]

Hi Juan-
The triangulation does seem to help with the normals issues, though, doesn't it?

Andy, the order of the vertex in each triangle is important to get the normals properly. If maxwell gets the sorted vertex always in order 1-2-3 and suddenly one object gives the vertex in 3-2-1 orther there could be an issue with normals. THis is not important with diffuse materials but it is is essential for others. I will continue investigating this issues.

Juan

[juan]

Hi Andy,

I had seen it already in the FormZ forum. It is really weird, because in the maxwell side the code is absolutely the same in the tessellation area, the differences between mac and pc plugin are in bitmaps and interface... but not here. can you send me the model to maxwelltech@nextlimit.com ? We will do our best to find what its happening here.

Regards,

Juan

[Matthew Schrock]

Juan,

Thanks for your quick response to this problem - I tested the updated plugin and it appears to fix the problems with non-diffuse materials. Here is a test that uses Plastic, Metal and Dielectric materials:




It does appear that the problem with the reflection maps in the OS X plugin has not been fixed.

Thank you again for your work on MaxwellZ.

[rmulley]

ya da man jaun!
fixed alot of problems I was having with smooth resolves.
Can I ask what it was that caused the problem or will you just baffle me with geek talk ?

[juan]

ya da man jaun!
fixed alot of problems I was having with smooth resolves.
Can I ask what it was that caused the problem or will you just baffle me with geek talk ?

It was a problem with a math function inside the triangle mesh creation.
This is a standard function that usually works fine in all the compilers for mac and pc, but it returns wrong values in the last version of codewarrior 9 (the one used to code FormZ plugins). Due to this, some normal vectors with smooth angle were been corrupted. It appears to work, but the values are not accurate and we have changed it so everything works fine now. This is the typical case of spending hours looking for the problem and then you fix it in a few seconds.

Juan

[rmulley]

aaahhh the life of a programmer! the fun never ends i am sure.

good work....looking forward to 1.0