[JTB]

I don't want to be misunderstood, I love the way Maxwell works and I use it for all my renderings...BUT!
I have the feeling that even though there is much power in this application, most users do nothing but the basics.

Forgive me if something of the things below already exists, I am not a CG expert.

For example... Multilight : We should be able to animate lights from our main app too, don't you agree? I think this is not possible, especially now that everything is MXM.

Material conversion. This is a must!!! We can't just throw away all our old scenes, also we can't spend hours for converting, this must be an easy task for NL I think. Imagine the 100s of € or $ we all have to spend for models like evermotion stuff or other pre-textured content like lowpolygon people and cars, axyz models etc.

NL has to decide what kind of software they are going to make. The pseydo-modeling and object manipulating features of studio can be easily replaced by a fully working plugin and the well known and powerful features of our modeling app. For example all projection and material assignment could be done from inside MAX or MAYA or...
Now that we have the standalone material editor I don't see any use of studio, which by the way is very slow. Also camera creation and movement is much better from inside MAX.
If showing textures in the viewports can be solved for MAX plugin, then I wouldn't use studio at all.

Speed is another thing but I prefer not to comment and wait for RS2.
I partially agree that speed is the price we pay for all this quality.
I got very ungry though when I saw this comparison of 1CPU and 9 CPU because I am not going to by 4 more 2-core PCs just for maxwell.

Anyway, I don't know if this should be sent to off-topic forum, the point is I wanted to write some thoughts. If you know a way to make the 2-3 things I describe here, please let me know.

[glebe digital]

For me, the Studio is THE way to go. I find it super quick to create/edit and get final renders in the bag. Converting old scene textures takes only a few clicks, it sounds like doing that through the plug-in is a real problem?

I think we all suffer from 'new software-itis' to some extent, we'd all rather use what we know than learn how to use completely new bits of kit and integrate them successfully.........I'm pretty lazy in that regard, but fully understanding/using Studio will reap benefits for you IMHO.

I'm so glad NL developed this in parallel with the plug-ins, without it I doubt I could have confidently added MWR to my workflow.

[Miles]

For me, Studio is the ONLY way to go

[samsam]

For me I will NEVER use Studio.

[dynaraton]

For me the power is (should be) in the plug-in's..

[tokiop]

surely NL must develop the plug-ins to the level of studio..

Users must not have to choose between maxwell modeler / animator / renderer, modo modeler / animator / renderer, Zbrush modeler / animator / renderer...

other companies understood it and optimise exporting/importing workflow. Users must have the choice, companies can't promote their product by preventing them to use the tools they want..

victor

[jdp]

I'd like to spend a few words in favour of studio. Right now studio is surely not as powerful as our own main application. The main advantage of studio evolving as a standalone application is that it makes easy for us to switch between different packages and platforms without loosing control over the rendering compart: basically it cuts down the learning curve of any new modeling sfw.

I like the idea to have a strong knowledge of the application with predictable results even if I will (eventually) change software and platform.

[JTB]

I'd like to spend a few words in favour of studio. Right now studio is surely not as powerful as our own main application. The main advantage of studio evolving as a standalone application is that it makes easy for us to switch between different packages and platforms without loosing control over the rendering compart: basically it cuts down the learning curve of any new modeling sfw.

I like the idea to have a strong knowledge of the application with predictable results even if I will (eventually) change software and platform.

This is a the only answer that can make my change my mind about MXST. Actually it is very difficult for me to change my 3d app so I didn't think of that. But you have to agree that right now we have almost zero possibilities to add to a scene or to change something.

[Rochr]

Personally, i´ll never use the studio.
If working with scenes containing a few thousand objects and polycounts that are very close to the borders of what a well equipped PC can handle, you simply don´t want/have time to spend days on converting them, neither double the polycount by triangulating everything. And with the inability to edit the objects once converted, Studio will simply never be a good enough substitute for your main 3D app.

NL would be better of separating the core from the rest and sell Maxwell as two separate products. A fully integrated plugin, and a Studio version.

If nothing else, it would be one less topic to bitch about...

[aitraaz]

Well, 'everything' seems like a bit of an exageration, i mean, it still has no mp3 player and doesn't support divX playblack...

[Hugh]

For me, as a user of Inventor & Autocad, if there was no studio I couldn't use mwr at all (apart from Matador, of course). There was once long ago promised a plug-in for Autocad but that hasn't been mentioned for well over a year now, so I'm past that.

Studio, I think, was a necessary evil to enable the functionality of the software for me and others like me who bought mwr on the strength of a scheduled plug-in that never materialized.

Having said that, studio does the job. Its not an ideal situation but it will suffice.

[Leonardo]

Because I use SktechUp and the plugin has always been very limited, I use studio for all my renderings.

Even if I didn't have maxwell, I would still need to export my skecthup model to render it in a different application...... So, for me studio is a great thing

[glypticmax]

I'm in the "Studio only" crowd for all the reasons mentioned.
Waiting to dive in until a month after V1 was released, I missed all the hub bub that preceeded it. So I knew the plug ins for my modeling apps were going to be essentially useless.
Now I can model in whatever I choose and always render in Studio.
I'm very happy with the results.

[Frances]

If I had been forced to move to Studio in order to get the results I wanted, I would have dropped M~R already. I purchased M~R because it had a well-developed plug-in for Max. Function and performance for the plug-ins should be equal to that of Studio. Learning an entirely new app is a waste of my time.

[glebe digital]

But you have to agree that right now we have almost zero possibilities to add to a scene or to change something.

This is simply not true. I have just spent all of today fixing/revising 6 high-poly models for a client which were done in LW-MWR last week, have edited the required content, added new data and retextured/rendered 6 new MWR shots, all in time for the 4pm deadline. It is a piece of p*ss.