[lchest]

When I try to render a scene from Max8 (on WinXP SP2 32bit), it switches to Mxcl application and then it crashes after voxelisation is complete. I get the message "Runtime Error! This application (mxcl.exe) has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. please contact the applications support team for more information". Anybody else seen this?

[j_man]

Hi,

you're probably running out of memory. What size are you rendering and anrre you using multi-light?

TRry rendering the image smaller and not using ML

Josh.

[lchest]

Thanks. I was trying to render at 1500x1000 on a machine with 3Gb of ram (using 1.1). I reduced the frame size to about 600 and it then launched the renderer ok (but it failed cos of a missing bitmap). The scene is pretty simple - an interior auditorium. I removed the seating (because it has the most polys) just to give Maxwell a better chance of working and because I knew working with lots of polys in Studio seems to be a nightmare. How can I send a bigger frame size ? Also, what if you want to use the ML feature ?
I am generally having these problems:-
-exporting from 3dsMax to mxcl causes runtime crash error.
-opening material editor that has maxwell materials in it can sometimes cause max to crash.
-when I import textures from the provided library, they appear in the mateial editor preview. However, when I make a new material it does not appear in the material editor preview. Also, how come when I make a change to one of the provided materials and hit 'refresh' the result looks really noise compared to the original?
-Studio cannot handle selection of large sets of objects (scene with 7528 objects crashes Maxwell if you try to select them all at once) Even selecting just a handful of objects causes Studio to become too painfully slow to do anything.
-shaded view slows down Studio to the point that selecting even a single object becomes insanely slow. Also, all menus become super slow to appear. Very sticky and almost impossible to work in Studio because of this slowness of the menus.
- Max plugin will not save mxm.
- "launch render after saving mxs" does not work.

[j_man]

eek! so many questions!

Firstly let me state I don't use studio, I render straight from Max.

Thanks. I was trying to render at 1500x1000 on a machine with 3Gb of ram (using 1.1). I reduced the frame size to about 600 and it then launched the renderer ok (but it failed cos of a missing bitmap). The scene is pretty simple - an interior auditorium. I removed the seating (because it has the most polys) just to give Maxwell a better chance of working and because I knew working with lots of polys in Studio seems to be a nightmare. How can I send a bigger frame size ? Also, what if you want to use the ML feature ?

ok, 1500x1000 isn't big. You sohuld be able to render over 3000px wide without ML, especially since you seem to have a decent computer. Maxwell can handle large amounts of geometry. I render with 2M+ poly's without blinking. ML uses much more memory, and you will only be able to render low res

I am generally having these problems:-
-exporting from 3dsMax to mxcl causes runtime crash error.

shouldn't happen, maybe there is some invalid geometry. render groups of objects until you can find out which object is causing the crash.

-opening material editor that has maxwell materials in it can sometimes cause max to crash.

The ME can make max crash you open it when there are MXM's with missing maps. a bug. Use the Maxwell ME to fix MXM so they're not missing any maps

-when I import textures from the provided library, they appear in the mateial editor preview. However, when I make a new material it does not appear in the material editor preview. Also, how come when I make a change to one of the provided materials and hit 'refresh' the result looks really noise compared to the original?

Right click on the MaxwellME preview window to shange the sampling level of the preview. You should get preview in max but sometims they're a little temperamental. Save the MXM and re-open it, and press the refresh preview button (dam preview!) anyway, it's not so important.

-Studio cannot handle selection of large sets of objects (scene with 7528 objects crashes Maxwell if you try to select them all at once) Even selecting just a handful of objects causes Studio to become too painfully slow to do anything.

No 3D program likes lots of objects (although 7K isn't a lot). Join them together by material if you have finished modifying them and everything will work better.

-shaded view slows down Studio to the point that selecting even a single object becomes insanely slow. Also, all menus become super slow to appear. Very sticky and almost impossible to work in Studio because of this slowness of the menus.

sounds terrible! I use Max.

- Max plugin will not save mxm.
- "launch render after saving mxs" does not work.

You're probably missing proper max UVW mapping. This is the main cause of this. Make sure you have the maxwell report render window open. If the MXM isn't saved properly, then 'launch render' wont happen. If your MXM isn't exported then there is something missing in your scene setup. I'm banking on UVW's.

I hope this is useful!

J.

[lchest]

Very useful - thanks ! I have had Maxwell for almost a year and never dared to use it based on all the reports. I now have a project which I am doing in Vray as usual to be safe (1.5 yay!) but I am sneaking in an hour or two here and there to try it with Maxwell. No real success yet.
I'd really like to use only Max and not Studio, but from what I can tell there are limitations. For instance, I gather that you need Studio to make your emitters invisible ?
Thats a real bummer that you cannot use ML at higher resolutions - makes it useless for all my work ! shame as it could be a great feature.

BTW - do you do anything to your geometry before rendering ? Like, do you have to collapse everything to mesh ? Does all geometry have to have UVW mapping ?

In Max I can quite happily handle millions of polygons for everyday working, but Studio runs like a snail even with a few thousand !

[j_man]

Very useful - thanks ! I have had Maxwell for almost a year and never dared to use it based on all the reports.

wow I can't believe you bought it and never took it out of the box (so to speak)! I always open and play with everything I get.

I now have a project which I am doing in Vray as usual to be safe (1.5 yay!) but I am sneaking in an hour or two here and there to try it with Maxwell. No real success yet.

I've been doing this too, a kind of back-up in case maxwell wont render, and I'm finding it much quicker to set-up maxwell scenes than VRay, plus once everything is done I just adjust and improve the materials / emitters and click render without messing around with max

I'd really like to use only Max and not Studio, but from what I can tell there are limitations. For instance, I gather that you need Studio to make your emitters invisible ?

I don't use studio except to make material previews for the MXM site. Invisible emitters are possible in max, download my hidden emitter material here:

http://mxmgallery.maxwellrender.com/vot ... Script=185

If however you want the emitter hidden but still casting shadows, turn of the 'visible to camera' checkbox under the object properties in max and use a normal emitter.

Thats a real bummer that you cannot use ML at higher resolutions - makes it useless for all my work ! shame as it could be a great feature.

BTW - do you do anything to your geometry before rendering ? Like, do you have to collapse everything to mesh ? Does all geometry have to have UVW mapping ?

In Max I can quite happily handle millions of polygons for everyday working, but Studio runs like a snail even with a few thousand !

UVW maps are the biggest hassle. it seems sometimes you need them even when there isn't a map applied to the material! Hopefully the -ML and -HD issue will be fixed in the next version, and then everyone will be happy (as if!)

ciao,

J.

[lchest]

Thanks J_man. Much appreciated !

[j_man]

no problemo!

J¬

[lchest]

GoodGod. Ive tried and tried and I cannot get a successful render from maxwell. I cannot even save an mxm file. It crashes a lot - and you have to redo your materials every time it crashes since when you reopen the file it just crashes every time you open the material editor. When are they going to release a new Max plugin that is more reliable !