[LarsSon]

Julian: great idea. Well it needs two passes two render, but
it should work anyway. I'm gona try that later... two weeks later?

Fran: There is totally too much to read in this thread, so one mistake is ok. Well i'll allow two mistakes for you, just for you.

Mike: Ok. Let's not talk about that new matte/shadow material NL is
developing. shhhh...


-LarsSon

[Fernando Tella]

At least they changed "december"

[Julian]

Hi LarsSon - I'm making a not-very-educated guess here but on further reflection I reckon that if its possible to create an alpha channel and a shadow pass, which it seems Maxwell can now do, there must be enough info within the render buffer to create the equivalent of a matte/shadow situation... but I guess the complication for Maxwell is this whole altering the lights within a finished render deal, which of course will directly affect the shadows on any sort of matte area - so a full matte/shadow implimentation will probably take a bit more figuring out than for your average renderer. No doubt it's in the pipeline - just don't hold your breath!

[boilerhead]

It says that Maxwell Render will be released SOON (what is considered soon)

....it means everything like previously also, they has be patient the big one, and we saw a few simple screenshots, this us forgetful should do.but it didnt works

[Romans]

YES, honest congratulations from here too. I was overwhelmed reading the announcement
Thank you everybody involved in the development of this promising program!!

.....Now the wait becomes quite harder..

Best whishes for the rest of the way ahead

Regards,

Roman

[Xlars]

Wonderful announcement .. and wow 20 pages og comments here (that I just read through). This looks very promising .. so many wonderful news and features.

One question that has been on my mind, and probably not something that can be easely answered .. since it may depend more or less on personal preferences etc. is the feeling of true photorealism.

What I think about is the so called "magic" of the beta-images .. that special feeling of asonishing photo-realism possible with the Maxwell beta without so much effort. I dont know what it is that makes the beta capable of this unique quality .. some of the statements in the announcements (and the title suggests that this magic is back now!? ... is that so?

Thanks for all your hard work on this coming release - looking very much forward to try it out !!!

[samsam]

First to say very pleased with the recent announcement of further progress with Maxwell.

My only concern now is that this forthcoming version of Maxwell (RC6/V1.0) is able to render beta122 quality images rather than RC5 quality images.

AFAIK no one from NL has ever publically acknowledged that the beta looks better but I'm hoping here that privately they have noted this and have taken steps to re-introduce the beta quality back into the final release.

Before anyone leaps to the defence of the RC5 renderer please have a look through NL's own Maxwell gallery - as far as I can see the vast majority of showcased images come from the beta.

[Maxer]

samsam, you’re absolutely correct about this, most if not all of the image I've seen from RC5 don't compare in the least to the beta. This may be because the material editor is so difficult to master that the materials used in the scenes come out looking wrong, but there is definitely a difference in quality. I doubt that anyone from NL will acknowledge this but it's very apparent that something is missing.

[samsam]

Yes Maxer, that is my hope - that they didn't change the core renderer but changed the material system and that as you say these RC materials look slightly wrong in most cases. (in relation to the beta)

Still the proof will be in the pudding. We will know for ourselves within a few days of getting our hands on the new release.

Here's hoping...

[rivoli]

as you can guess this makes it very difficult to properly adjust your UVWs. my hope is that maps will be visible in the next version.

actually textures are already visible in this version, you just have to enable "show map in viewport" as you usually do with max's native mats.

[ludenhud]

I have waited a little bit to post my opinion , just to make it easier to collect as many info as possible.

As you propably know i am not easy to please, and i am pleased only if things are going fine, and not just better than last time.

Unfortunatelly the worst i did read in this long thread is that "The next version will be V1". I guess this is a gravestone for those who bought maxwell a long time ago, and actually expected a rich featured product.

Many things will be missing from v1 (things promised and not just wished)
1)Displacement maps
2)Volumetric lighting
3)SubSurface scattering (?)
4)Procedural Materials
5)Programmable Materials (we were told C-like programmable materials)
6)Sun issues.....

I guess most of those would not be in any of 1.xx releases and we would be forced to pay for things that would have in v1.

What's more, my greatest concern is the following. PLEASE READ IT and think about it:
Releasing V1 would definatelly move a great deal of pressure from NL, not because the project is complete, but in marketing terms. I think that the result would be that 1.xx versions would come much later than you think, and certainly important features will come much later than they would come if V1 is not the next version.

I am sure you will start shouting at me AGAIN, but i am also sure that i am 100% correct once more.

Sorry for those excited by the announchement, but i prefer to see the missing pieces of the puzzle and not the pieces there.

Let’s have faith for the upcoming announcement
The race is not over yet

[macray]

I agree with our all friend buffos in one point: the disappointment after reading V1 will be the next.

But for different reasons: I like all the announcements and the progress you are doing. The news are great, so is your program - I can get a real looking image out of a model with a few clicks and amost without meddling around with light issues.
....And now you're saying that all the excitement and all the worrying is over? Now that I had one year to get used to wait for it and look forward to yet another release to test and play around with? I'm disappointed that at one point there will finally be a version that should work as supposed and there is no more trying and guessing, but really a FINAL version 1.0. I'm going to miss the good and bad speaks about the releases in the forum, even if it goes on here. No more pushing to release something or to get a statement...no more waiting...

It's somehow a good and somehow a bad feeling.

Yet - there are still a few days left to worry and be excited. So keep it on and finish it. We all will be happy. and sad.

[Fernando Tella]

Well, there are more announcements to come to tell us what more will be in; but probably they won't say anything about what's after v1.0 (and what will be charged or not) until it's strictly necessary.

[Kabe]

Yes Buffos, there's still a lot missing compared to what was sold to us.

However, those who feel lucky with the things they have will have a better
life than those who feel unlucky for what they miss. Because there
always is something missing.

Kabe

[LarsSon]

Kabe: i totally agree. ...and feel lucky.


-LarsSon