[svandru]

I have an Apple MacBook Pro with Windows XP Pro installed in Bootcamp. It was recently running Windows XP Home in Bootcamp, and I'm pretty sure I had the Maxwell for Rhino plugin working. I have not had any trouble running it on my desktop PC.

XP crashed terminally. I reinstalled a fresh version of XP Pro SP2, Rhino 4 SR3 and Maxwell Render 1.6.1 Win32 Update. Finally, I installed Maxwell for Rhino Plugin 1.6.8.

The plugin seemed to install fine, but when I make Maxwell the current renderer, I get the Rhino error dialog "Could not load type 'MaxwellGetCameraPoint' from assembly 'MaxwellPlugin, Verion=1.6.8.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'." I've reinstalled Rhino, Maxwell, and the plugin several times in different orders to no avail. I checked the FAQ and all the plugin files are where they are suposed to be. I manually set the environment variable MAXWELL_ROOT=c:\program files\graphics\Maxwell, and I manually reinstalled the Visual C++ files that came with the plugin.

Penguin is the only non-default plugin I have installed.

Maxwell Studio and the material editor seem to be working fine, though I only have experience using the plugin features.

Any idea what my problem might be?

[JDHill]

Hi svandru,

You should only get an error like that if you have .dlls from different versions present. I would:

- uninstall the plugin using Add/Remove Programs
- confirm that [Program Files]\Rhinoceros 4.0\Plug-ins\Maxwell is deleted
- confirm there are no Maxwell-related .dll files in [Program Files]\Rhinoceros 4.0\System
- reinstall

There is a remote possibility that the .zip you downloaded was corrupted too, so it wouldn't hurt to download a fresh one and use that for the reinstall.

Let me know if this helps,

JD

[svandru]

After three weeks trying, I've given up. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling Maxwell, Rhino, and the plugin over and over. I never could get it to work on my laptop.

[JDHill]

Since you waited until now to reply, does this mean that you have tried the brand-new 1.7 plugin as well? The way it is built and installed is completely different than that of previous versions.

[svandru]

No, I haven't tried the 1.7. I've been on travel and haven't had Internet connectivity. Since I got back yesterday I've been trying to download 1.7, but it is only downloading at 20KB/s. When it finishes, I'll give it a try.

[svandru]

Now I have installed Maxwell 1.7 and the 1.7 plugin for Rhino. I still get the exact same message:-(

I would REALLY like to get the Maxwell plugin to work on my laptop because this is the machine I use whenever I am awy from the office.

I have Rhino 4.0 SR3 (22 Feb 08)
I have Maxwell Render 1.7.0 and plugin for Rhino 4.1.7.0 (x86)

I'm afraid some path isn't being read properly, or non-existent default paths are being used.

Rhino is in c:\program files\graphics\rhino
Maxwell is in c:\program files\graphics\maxwell
Windows in is c:\windows.0
User is c:\documents and settings\stan.macwin
All users is c:\documents and settings\all users.windows.0
My environment path ends with c:\program files\graphics\maxwell;
finally, MAXWELL_ROOT=c:program files\graphics\maxwell

I followed your directions here and elsewhere on how to remove the plugin and reinstall it. I really don't know what else I can do, but your help would be greatly appreciated.

[JDHill]

It's not really an answer, but those paths look pretty funky for a Windows installation. Either way, the plugin should not care what paths you use. Out of curiosity, what was the path you chose in the 1.7 plugin's installer?

The message you posted comes from the .Net Framework not being able to locate part of the plugin, though I would hope the item it can't find with 1.7 installed would be 'Maxwell.Rhino' and not 'MaxwellPlugin'. You said you are seeing the 'exact' same message - can you please confirm what it says? Also, if you:

- start Rhino
- type TestDotNetMessages at the command line and hit Enter
- close Rhino
- restart Rhino

Are there any interesting messages printed in the Rhino command line?

[svandru]

The funky paths are due to a windows reinstall. I am an organized person, and I hate that Microsoft changes its own file paths without warning!

I installed Maxwell for Rhino 4 Plugin in its default directory which was 'C:\Program Files\Graphics\Rhino\Plug-ins\Maxwell\dll'

You are right, the popup message is slightly different with 1.7:
Could not load type 'MaxwellGetCameraPoint' from assembly'Maxwell.Rhino, Version=1.7.0.0. Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0c67436bca449732'.

After following your instructions for TestDotNetMessages, this is what I get after restarting Rhino and trying to make Maxwell Render the default Renderer:

RhinoScript loaded.
Loading Rhino Render, version 1.00, Feb 22 2008, 14:19:14
Command: _SetCurrentRenderPlugin
Plug-in name or ID ( Rhinoceros ): 491ac9cc-69c8-4369-ab68-019a44f49ddc
Rhino.NET plug-in: C:\Program Files\Graphics\Rhino\Plug-ins\Maxwell\dll\Maxwell.Rhino.dll
- referenced assembly count: 11
- mscorlib
- Microsoft.VisualBasic
- Rhino_DotNet
- Maxwell.UI
- System.Windows.Forms
- Maxwell
- System.Drawing
- Maxwell.Common
- Maxwell.Script
- System
- System.Xml
- plug-in passes RhinoDot_NET.DLL reference version check
- loading assembly using Reflection::Assembly::LoadFrom
- attempting to find definition of MRhinoPlugInAttributes subclass
Could not load type 'MaxwellGetCameraPoint' from assembly 'Maxwell.Rhino, Version=1.7.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0c67436bca449732'.Unable to make "Maxwell for Rhino 4" the current render plug-in

[JDHill]

Thanks, that helps a little. So, at this point I can say:

- you experienced this error with two completely different plugins - technically, 1.7 is not even close to the same as 1.6.8
- I have not had this reported before, ever
- the error technically means that the .Net Framework cannot find what it's looking for

This may be due to how Rhino is asking for the plugin to be loaded, or it may be an issue with the .Net Framework itself. As it is nearly certain that this is due to an issue with your OS/.Net, all I can recommend at this point is:

- uninstall the plugin
- uninstall Rhino
- delete the Rhino 4 directory from Program Files
- reboot
- download a fresh copy of the .Net Framework 2.0
- uninstall .Net Framework 2.0
- reboot
- reinstall .Net Framework 2.0
- reboot
- reinstall Rhino, install SR3
- reinstall the plugin

I hope this will get things sorted out for you.

JD

[svandru]

Once you pointed out that it was a DotNet error, I downloaded DotNet 2.0 SP1 and installed it. I didn't uninstall anything, just applied the service pack. Guess what...

IT WORKS NOW!!!

The service patch should have been there, but since I reinstalled Windows, I guess I missed the service pack. Thanks for you patient help.

[JDHill]

Great. I don't suspect that it specifically depends on the service pack, which is mostly security-related stuff, but the install-routine probably fixed some things up in the environment.

Just let me know if you run into any more problems.

Cheers,

JD