[michaelplogue]

Couple issues I've noticed right off the bat with the latest plugin.

1. Using HDR's - the Screen Mapped button functions are reversed.

2. When Using HDR's as background (not screen mapped) they appear to be scaled wrong (zoomed in). It's as if the "infinite sphere" that the hdr is mapped to is very close to the camera.

3. Even though you may have the camera locked for the rendering window, if you have another viewport selected (say Top view for example), you get an error.

[MetinSeven_com]

Yes, I noticed the environment mapping issues as well: the reversed screen function as well as the zoom-in problem. I also noticed that toggling on/off the screen mode doesn't affect the lighting and reflections, but that seems logical, as screen mode is actually a non-realistic environment mode. I only wonder why that option is present in the reflection, refraction and lighting sections as well.

[jespi]

Since the installation of the latest Max plug-in for Maxwell my spinner precision is repeatedly set to 10 decimals in the Max preferences, while it has always been set to the default 3 decimals. I've changed it back to 3 decimals a few times by now. This problem didn't occur before installing the latest 3ds Max plug-in for Maxwell.

same here metin. Another problem is camera clipplane ,since the last plugin when i create a camera, it has created with near clipplane to 100 cm.

[MetinSeven_com]

Good to know I'm not the only one with this problem Jespi.

Do the NL programmers check this thread as the official 3ds Max plug-in bug report or should we post our findings at one of the bug report sections?

[corneliu]

Thanks a lot for all your posts.
All are read and will be answered and solved.

[MetinSeven_com]

Cool, thanks Corneliu! It's great to have someone from NL regularly answering to our forum posts again, like in the early alpha days.

[Mihnea Balta]

First of all, I would like to ask people who post in this thread to try and see if the question they have hasn't been answered earlier. There are some duplicate questions, I'll answer them again but please try to avoid them in the future so we can spare some time and keep this thread as informative as possible. :)

Values such as 'roughness' or 'bump' are translated with different values from the original mxm files. This happens with the import MXM option.

This will be fixed in the next update.

Now we are using the Max standard camera - but the sooo needed camera correction modifier does not work right now in the render

Which modifier?

Please provide support for Multimaterial and the new arch+design mental ray shaders (translation to .mxm and/or in the render process).

Multimaterials work. There are plans to translate the architectural shaders, but it will take some time so we'll start on that after we're finished with the major features.

What is about the focus options from studio? It is possible to implement them? That would be fine!

This is also on the "todo" list.

Maximum intensity of luminance is restriced again within 100,000

We'll take care of this.

negative bump value impossible.

Fixed for the next update.

Where do i import the KML files from Google earth now!????....

You can't, we haven't had time to (re)implement that. We're going to add it later.

If Maxwell is set to be the default renderer, the "Renderer" tab does not show up in the "render scene" dialogue, when you start up max...minor point i know, but still.

This is going to be fixed in the next update.

Another thing - I can't find the right place to set export paths for alpha/object/material channels...could someone point me in the right direction?

Support for extra render channels is not implemented yet, but they too are scheduled for the next update. However, Maxwell doesn't support setting the output path for individual channels, it simply prepends "z_", "alpha_" etc. to the name of the color image. We could try and support Render Elements and then Max would take care of saving everything in the right place, but then Max would freeze while mxcl is rendering the image. We're still considering which way to go.

The effort is commendable but I have an issue with animations. When you say to render a series of frames it tries to render all 6 frames at the same time instead of rendering them in order.

Animation export is not supported yet, but as we said earlier, we hope to introduce it in an update later this week.

Since the installation of the latest Max plug-in for Maxwell my spinner precision is repeatedly set to 10 decimals in the Max preferences

We tried this on all the versions of Max we support and couldn't replicate the problem. Can you provide more details, like Max and OS versions, if the problem happens after uninstalling the plug-in etc.?

- location and day / time from previous files are not loaded correctly (in app. with plugin)

Environment parameters are not loaded at all when importing an old scene. We'll add this back in when we have time.

- maxwell cameras from previous plugin are not shown in the viewports with new plugin

There are no more Maxwell cameras, they are converted to normal Max cameras when you open an old scene. However, as previously noted, you have to save and reopen the scene for them to show up correctly (this is a Max bug, there's nothing we can do about it).

- field of view of maxwell cameras is not correctly translated

Maxwell will render what you see through the resolution gate (the yellow box if you turn on "show safe frame"). Check out Mike Verta's videos, he explains this stuff and it applies to Max as well.

- export to mxs: only active view is exported (old plugin: ALL cameras were exported!!!)

We can re-add this, but why do you need it?

- export to mxs: for every object (or nearly every) a material will be created!

There was a bug in the first release of the new plug-in that created one material per object when importing an old scene. This bug is fixed now, you will only get it if you have an old scene imported and saved with the first release.

- the memory allocation for maxscript (preference settings) has to be enlarged manually for big scenes with many objects and materials (if you want to load a file created with previous plugin): 128 MB is working (instead of 7,5 MB default).

This is one of the many beautiful things about Maxscript. It happens because of the caustics properties on objects. However, those properties will go away since they don't work properly in the renderer now anyway, and there are no plans to introduce them in the future.

- scenes (Max) will be bigger (size) with new plugin

They store more data now.

- loading and saving scenes in Max with new plugin last much more time

We'll try to see why this is and we'll improve the time if possible.

Using HDR's - the Screen Mapped button functions are reversed.

Fixed for the next update.

When Using HDR's as background (not screen mapped) they appear to be scaled wrong (zoomed in). It's as if the "infinite sphere" that the hdr is mapped to is very close to the camera.

We'll look into this.

Even though you may have the camera locked for the rendering window, if you have another viewport selected (say Top view for example), you get an error.

Fixed for the next update.

Another problem is camera clipplane ,since the last plugin when i create a camera, it has created with near clipplane to 100 cm.

I can't replicate this, does it happen all the time? Does it happen if you uninstall the plug-in?

[Mihnea Balta]

This comes a little late, but this is the change list for the version that was released last Thursday. If some requests aren't on the list it means there wasn't enough time to implement them in 2 days, but we're working on them. :)

Code: Select all

Version 1.0.0.73 (revision 87)
-------------------------------

New features:
  - much improved material preview. The previews are now rendered at the resolution requested by the Material editor or floating preview window (they used to be fixed at 64x64).
  - added options to control the quality of preview renders (Customize -> Preferences -> Maxwell tab)
  - new materials display a "no preview" image in the Material editor instead of a completely black swatch
  - copying a material from one Material editor slot to another also copies the preview image
  - importing an .mxm brings the preview image in the Material editor, if a preview is stored in the file
  - low priority is on by default in the render globals
  - implemented material-wide UV scale
  - importing an .mxm file also changes the name of the material in Max. Due to a bug in Max, the new name is not updated in the material editor, but if you switch to another slot and back you'll see the new name. Due to another bug in Max, the name is not made unique, so you can end up with several materials called the same when using this (you can also end up in a similar situation by simply typing in the same name for more than one material).
  - preview resolution scale works now
  - the color of Maxwell materials is displayed in the viewport
  - changed the translation for Blinn and Phong shaders so that the approximation works better when opacity is used. Now opacity is also connected as the weight of the lambertian layer, so an opacity of 0 completely disables the rough layer, resulting in a clean-looking glass material.
  - normal map flip flags are now supported (but there is a bug that replicates the value of "flip x" into "flip y" when importing a material from a .mxm file)
  - the rendered image is brought into the virtual frame buffer
  - added an auto update feature. The plug-in will automatically check for newer versions at start-up. You can disable the automatic checks by going to Customize -> Preferences -> Maxwell.
  - renamed "sky box" to "sky dome" and "advanced tone mapping" to "auto range", in order to match Studio terminology

Bugs fixed:
  - fixed crash when creating a particle emitter
  - fixed memory leak in the material preview code
  - .r2 files can now be selected when browsing for IOR data
  - fixed the value ranges for camera shutter speed, Abbe number, attenuation distance and coating thickness
  - mapped network drives now show up when browsing for a folder in the material browser
  - when importing old scenes, the plug-in was creating one new material for each object in the scene (as opposed to one material for each old material)
  - material names were not preserved when converting old scenes
  - removed an error message when the renderer (mxcl) does not produce an output image

[andretto]

good work guys, both on the coding and the communication side

thanks a lot,
andrea

[misterasset]

Thanks for keeping us up to date. I think my question was one that was pointed out as being a duplicate, but I read the whole thing and could have sworn I didn't see it answered already. Sorry about that.

[AtlJimK]

-- Error occurred during fileIn in StringStream:"include "maxwell_camprop.ms"
addCamParams $'CAM_NAME'"
-- Syntax error: at end of script, expected end of literal
-- In line: addCamParams $'CAM_NAME'

Anyone else getting this error?

[michaelplogue]

By the way, I do want to say that it's great that we can now use HDR files directly without having to convert them first. Also being able to select the same file for all options with just a check box makes things very easy. Really improves the work flow.

One thing I have noticed (with the earlier and existing plugins) is that I really have to crank up the levels of the HDR in order for them to provide sufficient lighting (or background image) - some times up to a factor of 12. Is this normal? It seems like there might be some illumination/intensity data being lost during the translation. I not really sure, since I've never used HDR's in other rendering engines.

[Romans]

Hello Mihnea,

thank you very much for your detailed answers!

- camera correction modifier in 3ds Max: provides a Shift-Lens-"function" for cameras: 2-point-architectural perspectives (vertical lines / edges remain vertical)....very important for arch-viz renderings....please make it possible

- translated maxwell cameras: the lenses (28 mm for example) are incorrect after translation ("field of view")

- export to .mxs: please re-add the export for all (include) all cameras of the scene........I think it is much easier to place cameras in 3ds Max than in studio....its a workflow thingy...


- export to mxs: for every object (or nearly every) a material will be created!: yes this still happens with the latest update (07.12.2006)! - not in 3ds Max!, but in Maxwell Studio.

Thank you too for the new communication effort!!

Regards, Roman

[jespi]

First of all thanks a lot for your replys and constants news, i´m really happy with the new pugin and the support.

Another problem is camera clipplane ,since the last plugin when i create a camera, it has created with near clipplane to 100 cm.

I can't replicate this, does it happen all the time? Does it happen if you uninstall the plug-in?[/quote]
Sorry you are true, this is a default setting in 3dsmax 8(because if i unninstall the plugin the problem persits )but i didn´t nottice before.

Best regards

jespizua

[Bogdan Coroi]

-- Error occurred during fileIn in StringStream:"include "maxwell_camprop.ms"
addCamParams $'CAM_NAME'"
-- Syntax error: at end of script, expected end of literal
-- In line: addCamParams $'CAM_NAME'

When do you get this error?