[Nicolas Rivera]

Hi every body.
If any of you is using sketchup and has this problem figured out, please help me.

I keep trying to do work with maxwell, but every time i pick up the software it leaves me with a bad mouth taste. I apply any texture to a face and as long as it has a difuse material its ok, but when i add a bump texture of any kind it does hiddes the base testures and only shows the bump, this is the same with plastic and every material.

Juan, as you are the one poting the update of SU pluging, do you have any vomments on this, are you having the same problems???

Realmente amigos de Next Limit, ya me colmo la paciencia este programa otravez, quiero he intento trabajar con maxwell, pero siempre sale algo mal, me frustra el sentirme que no puedo hace un render bueno con maxwell, pero no soy yo el del problema, de eso estoy seguro.

Les pido por favor una ayuda con este tema, ya que sketchup es lo que estoy usando mas seguido, ya no uso cinema y archicad, pues tengo la version 8.1 y ustedes no soportan esta version, asi que ya estoy algo jodido con esto.

Casi no etngo problemas al solo usar el material difuase, pero si ya aplico materiales mas complicados con bumps, todo se hecha a perder

Help.

Gracias.

[Richard]

Nicolas, Mate if you are working through the plugin for texture positioning I'd suggest you just apply one map, apply no settings to this and then export and take care of everything in studio!

If you are already doing this in studio click the little eye icon on the material editor (top right corner) and check the map you want to view in the preview window!

Or I could have said by trial and error! Ha!

By the way I'm jus about to walk from that aweful taste of such crap renders from v1. I'm finding it just takes too long to check the results from the material editing and although I'm getting some understanding I'm worried that if I invest all this time trying to work it out then to find I walk away for a week and all will be forgotten given the complexities!

Richard

[Nicolas Rivera]

Thank you Richard, i was avoiding studio. But yes i will have to do that in studio.

Materials rock and suck.....

I wish some one in next limit does find that maxwell is dying on its own wonders, why in the name of God couldn't they just make simple materials with simple settings, but no.... they had to load the system with a lot of acronyms that i cant understand and settings that only they and the A-team undestand.

[Richard]

Mate I'm with you although now I've played with studio a bit I find it just an over worked version of Artlantis and thus not to be feared so much.

Just remember to apply a base map in SU to provide a projection and scale for your mxm to stick to or you will end up in the land of projectors and mate trust me you don't want to go there as getting correct texture directions or placement just cost you hours.

Mind you once I have got the material editor sussed I'll probably look mor at exporting straight from the pluging using linked MXM's. Now just to build those. Which I must say you will have to do through the material editor as it will I doubt ever be easy through the plugin!!!!!

[messire]

personnaly i avoid studio as much as possible because it is against my workflow: i am using sketchup as a conception tool, which means i am rendering during the modelization process, which can take weeks, and i cannot wait for the 3D to be ready before sending it to studio!
If i used studio in my workflow, i would have to reassign materials there each time i modify the 3D.
I am now working on assigning mxm materials inside sketchup to architectural components ( wood beams, panels, tiles, plaster, etc), that i am then using without having to think of the render. It is soo nice to just be able to set an mxm once, then insert components that already have the good textures in MR. All i have to do is work on the lighting! ( of course it takes ages to set the mxm textures with different scales etc... especially when you cannot predict the SU scale it will have...).
Only downside of the method is you have no preview of the mxm in SU, which, I guess, would have to be dealt by SU developpers...but again, the component stored with the right texture does the trick. Even if i do not render in MR.

My 2 cts!

[Nicolas Rivera]

www.pushpullbar.com, one of the best sites ever for architects.

[Richard]

personnaly i avoid studio as much as possible because it is against my workflow: i am using sketchup as a conception tool, which means i am rendering during the modelization process, which can take weeks, and i cannot wait for the 3D to be ready before sending it to studio!
If i used studio in my workflow, i would have to reassign materials there each time i modify the 3D.
I am now working on assigning mxm materials inside sketchup to architectural components ( wood beams, panels, tiles, plaster, etc), that i am then using without having to think of the render. It is soo nice to just be able to set an mxm once, then insert components that already have the good textures in MR. All i have to do is work on the lighting! ( of course it takes ages to set the mxm textures with different scales etc... especially when you cannot predict the SU scale it will have...).
Only downside of the method is you have no preview of the mxm in SU, which, I guess, would have to be dealt by SU developpers...but again, the component stored with the right texture does the trick. Even if i do not render in MR.

My 2 cts!

Mate I'd check out a tip I posted on the PPB something like "SU > Maxwell easy!". Good tip on using shortcuts for applying MXM using windows explorer so you can see the mxm thumbs, cool!

By the way if in your SU model to the surface you paint one of the mats used in the MXM and scale it correctly the MXM scale will stick to that. I have found that if you apply a texture to the SU model it locks the MXM scale and adjusting the tile frequency on the texture picker of the material editor doesn't work. I think because the projector if locked? Not sure how this then allows additional texture layers to composite good textures though!!!!!!!

[andrekrige]

HI Richard

Will appreciate your link to 'SU > Maxwell easy!' I have now idea what PPB stands for :oops:

Andre

[andrekrige]

Thanks Ypnos!

[messire]

I have also noticed that the scale of the texture is following the setting in SU, even if the mxm texture is set differently ( which is a good relief!) so
I am simply using a alias folder in maxwell, so he finally gets the texture from SU, instead of duplicating each texture.
works great, and is also a great workflow efficiency!

Actually what would be awsome would be to be able to link a SU texture to a mxm file. It would make it so simple to then apply a SU texture, knowing it is always linked to an assigned mxm file. I think it would be a easy option for the MR plug in developpers too to add this possibility!

N

[Richard]

I have also noticed that the scale of the texture is following the setting in SU, even if the mxm texture is set differently ( which is a good relief!) so
I am simply using a alias folder in maxwell, so he finally gets the texture from SU, instead of duplicating each texture.
works great, and is also a great workflow efficiency!

Actually what would be awsome would be to be able to link a SU texture to a mxm file. It would make it so simple to then apply a SU texture, knowing it is always linked to an assigned mxm file. I think it would be a easy option for the MR plug in developpers too to add this possibility!

N

I must say mate I'm finding material application in studio so easy - jst drag and drop. If you open studio and use it for nothing other than this save and then double click the file to render your output is just too easy.

The hassle I find with applying materials in SU is that the model blows out in size one and then you have all the hassles of model structure that adds issues that just aren't there in Studio.

I envisage a work flow direct from SU is ideal but will I feel will never be as easy as drag and drop as in studio.

By the way regarding texture scaling in SU / MR export I've found it necessary to apply a texture to any surface that will eventually receive a shader with a texture map, and this needs to be applied at the base level geometry (not the group) for the MXM to scale to. Otherwise in Studio achieving the correct scale fro the shader is hampered by the need to set a projector to correctly scale the texture map and this then throws all texture direction out the window.

[messire]

mate?
you talk like the turtle in Nemo I guess it's an aussie turtle so makes sense ..

Agree with you on the easy drag and drop stuff, but since i'm stuck with an forever evolving model , i cannot export, assign materials, then render... this is why i 'm doing this hassling work of applying mxm textures on components, saving them, then using them directly afterwards in the projects... its a looooong process, but then you don't even have to think about applying textures!

N.

[Richard]

Dude have you tried the options for importing new geometry to maxwell?