User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#310639
Version 2.0.23
  • added support for dragging images from outside 3dsmax or dragging standard bitmap nodes over the maxwell bitmap nodes (request)
  • added the SSS and Metal wizards (request)
  • updated the car paint wizard to match MXED
  • added support for editing embedded materials with MXED (request)
  • lowered the minimum preview render time to 10 seconds (request). However, the engine doesn't support the lower limit yet, so it won't work until the next Maxwell update.
  • changed the default for IBL screen mapping to off
  • the preview image is read/written when importing/exporting a material as MXM
  • when importing a MXM, the plug-in looks for missing textures in the Maxwell material database directory and in the Max user-defined paths (report)
  • fixed: monochromatic colors (grays) caused problems in the car paint, satin and velvet wizards (report)
  • fixed: start-up crash when the viewport was using OpenGL or DirectX 10 (report)
  • fixed: range for IBL offsets (report)
  • fixed: clearing the layer opacity texture didn't work (report)
  • fixed: red exclamation sign (modified marker) on the preview image of newly created materials
  • fixed: the shutter angle camera parameter remained disabled when the rotary shutter option was checked (report)
  • fixed: if the plug-in can't find a texture when it's importing a MXM, it should leave the path as it was in the file (report)
  • fixed: some HDR files were displayed incorrectly when the environment preview was activated
Known issues (which will be fixed in future updates):
  • Transparency is not supported for the viewport preview of Maxwell materials.
  • The state of the BSDFs is not taken into account by the preview code; disabled BSDFs are still drawn.
  • Diffuse lighting in the high quality viewport is wrong. This is most noticeable with bright environments like the physical sky.
  • Layers with no BSDFs draw garbage in the viewport.
  • The high quality viewport preview uses the reflectance 0 - 90 ramp from Maxwell 1.7, so it doesn't match what 2.0 is producing.
  • In the high quality viewport, bright spots from the environment (e.g. the sun) appear square with sharp edges in glossy reflections instead of round and fuzzy.
  • Switching from Maxwell to another renderer can crash Max. As a workaround, try switching first from Maxwell to Scanline, and then to the desired renderer (if it's not Scanline, obviously).
Features currently in development:
  • Bitmap preview window with interactive feedback for color correction, like MXED has.
  • Lightweight instances (proxies) to allow placing a large number of instances without impacting viewport performance.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#315381
Version 2.0.24
  • added a texture preview window (request)
  • added support for visualizing IES emitter patterns in the viewport (Max 9 and up)
  • added support for the "use alpha" texture flag (request)
  • layers containing only an en emitter (no BSDFs) use the emitter color in the viewport
  • added attenuation unit support for BSDFs (request)
  • when a texture has "show map in viewport" checked, it uses the correct UV channel. Note that it is not possible to correctly display materials using multiple UV channels in blended mode in the viewport. (report)
  • the UV channel control in the Maxwell bitmap starts at 1 instead of 0, to match the conventions used in Max
  • fixed: crash when switching to mental ray
  • fixed: crash when replacing a Maxwell material with a different kind of material (report 1, report 2)
  • fixed: the backface culling setting was ignored for objects with Maxwell materials applied (report)
  • fixed: crash when trying to render a scene containing a referenced material with a missing MXM
  • fixed: non-renderable curves were rendered (report)
  • fixed: IBL lighting and reflections were too bright in the high quality viewport
  • fixed: layers with no (enabled) BSDFs drew garbage in the viewport
  • fixed: diffuse lighting was completely wrong in the high quality viewport (direction, shape etc.)
Known issues (which will be fixed in future updates):
  • Transparency is not supported for the viewport preview of Maxwell materials.
  • Diffuse lighting in the high quality viewport is too bright under some circumstances.
  • The high quality viewport preview uses the reflectance 0 - 90 ramp from Maxwell 1.7, so it doesn't match what 2.0 is producing.
  • In the high quality viewport, bright spots from the environment (e.g. the sun) appear square with sharp edges in glossy reflections instead of round and fuzzy.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#317618
Version 2.0.26
  • added a new Maxwell proxy object which can be used to instance meshes. The viewport representation of this new object uses a controllable percentage of the vertices from the instanced mesh, so using a large number of instances doesn't slow down the viewport as it did when using the built-in Max instances. Maxwell proxies can be created by right-clicking on an object and choosing the corresponding item, or from the Maxwell section of the Create panel.
  • added pack'n'go, which is accessible as an option in the export MXS dialog and as the MAXScript function "maxwellPacknGo".
  • material export gives the user the option to also copy the dependencies of the material next to the MXM file
  • when using referenced materials, the plug-in looks for missing MXM files in the same way it looks for textures, IOR files etc.
  • the "maxwellMaterialExport" MAXScript command works with 1.x materials too
  • added support for merging two layered materials. The feature is accessible through the right-click menu of the material tree, or from MAXScript as "maxwellMergeMaterials src dest pos" (pos is 1 if the layers from "src" should be placed on top of the layers from "dest" or 0 if they should go at the bottom).
  • added duplicate item, import, export and merge actions in the right-click menu of the material tree
  • fixed: the texture interpolation option was incorrectly set after dragging a texture file or a Max bitmap on an attribute of the layered material
  • fixed: trying to make Maxwell the active renderer with MAXScript resulted in an error message
  • fixed: turning on motion blur caused instances to disappear. The plug-in now forces Max instances to real geometry when motion blur is enabled. (report)
  • fixed: mesh objects belonging to the RealFlow plug-in were not exported correctly to Maxwell when using File -> Export.
  • fixed: when using File -> Export to export an animation sequence, the last frame wasn't written.
Note: the recommended way of using proxy objects is to create one Maxwell proxy for the mesh, then make regular Max instances of the proxy. This way, the viewport representation will only be stored in memory once and you will be able to control the LOD for all the instances at the same time.

Known issues (which will be fixed in future updates):
  • Transparency is not supported for the viewport preview of Maxwell materials.
  • Diffuse lighting in the high quality viewport is too bright under some circumstances.
  • The high quality viewport preview uses the reflectance 0 - 90 ramp from Maxwell 1.7, so it doesn't match what 2.0 is producing.
  • In the high quality viewport, bright spots from the environment (e.g. the sun) appear square with sharp edges in glossy reflections instead of round and fuzzy.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#321332
Version 2.0.27
  • updated the AGS wizard to match MXED
  • Maxwell nodes (layers, emitters, BSDFs etc.) can be created from MAXScript
  • "Use Max Instancing" is off by default
  • added a button in the render globals panel which exports the scene and submits it to the Maxwell network system
  • IES viewport preview works when Max is set to use DX10
  • fixed: opening the global render options several times could cause the Simulens rollup to be duplicated
  • fixed: RFRK objects were mirrored in the viewport compared to the render
  • fixed: devignetting wasn't exported correctly
  • fixed: coatings weren't loaded correctly when importing a MXM file
  • fixed: displacement didn't render if the first layer of the material was disabled
  • fixed: the viewport LOD control for the proxy object was broken
  • fixed: crash when copying a proxy object
  • fixed: viewport refresh problem when moving proxy objects
  • fixed: depth pass minimum and maximum values were swapped when the render globals panel was closed
  • fixed: proxy objects couldn't be created from the right click menu when Max was set to use DX10
  • fixed: crash when using RFRK objects in Max 2010 64-bit
  • fixed: File -> Export complained about no perspective viewport being found when Max was set to use DX10
  • fixed: the viewport representation for IES emitters didn't inherit rotation from the object it was assigned to
Known issues (which will be fixed in future updates):
  • Transparency is not supported for the viewport preview of Maxwell materials.
  • Diffuse lighting in the high quality viewport is too bright under some circumstances.
  • The high quality viewport preview uses the reflectance 0 - 90 ramp from Maxwell 1.7, so it doesn't match what 2.0 is producing.
  • In the high quality viewport, bright spots from the environment (e.g. the sun) appear square with sharp edges in glossy reflections instead of round and fuzzy.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#323423
Version 2.0.30
  • added support for Max 2011
  • added support for enabling and disabling displacements, emitters and coatings
  • changed SimuLens ranges to match Studio
  • fixed: MAXScript error when trying to render scenes opened while the plug-in was active on a machine which doesn't have the plug-in
  • fixed: the RFRK object wasn't updating in the viewport when the axis parameter was changed
Known issues (which will be fixed in future updates):
  • Diffuse lighting in the high quality viewport is too bright under some circumstances.
  • The high quality viewport preview uses the reflectance 0 - 90 ramp from Maxwell 1.7, so it doesn't match what 2.0 is producing.
  • In the high quality viewport, bright spots from the environment (e.g. the sun) appear square with sharp edges in glossy reflections instead of round and fuzzy.
Note about viewport transparency: We have implemented support for this, but it doesn't work properly due to a limitation in Max, so it's disabled in this build. We are looking for workarounds.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#329010
Version 2.1.1
  • added support for previewing transparent materials in the viewport (when maxwell hardware shading is enabled)
  • added support for specifying the padding and name format when using a sequence of images with a Maxwell bitmap node
  • the warning window can be minimized and shows up in the center of the screen
  • added support for two-color sky dome
  • added support for the new 2.1 render flags
  • fixed: the file browser for emitter MXI textures defaulted to the wrong file mask
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#334340
Version 2.5.3
  • implemented interactive preview rendering (FIRE)
  • disabled maps are not imported anymore when importing a MXM
  • updated the list of recognized output image formats to match all the formats that Maxwell can write to
  • added a global displacement scale value
  • added a checkbox which toggles between random color and specified color for the material and object ID channels
  • fixed: global attenuation scale was not working
  • fixed: the default value for normal map flip Y should be true
  • fixed: single-channel textures could not be shown in the viewport
  • fixed: the plug-in didn't load in VIZ
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#336166
Version 2.5.5
  • added SSS presets to the material wizard
  • material previews are rendered internally, without starting a separate Maxwell process, and can use the RS0 engine
  • added a plug-in option to refresh material previews automatically when the material changes
  • added an option to re-export the geometry for FIRE at every object change, instead of just the position
  • added a reexport button to the FIRE window
  • motion data is exported when the motion vector channel is enabled, even if motion blur is off
  • added a production/draft toggle in the global render options
  • fixed: RFRK meshes didn't render in FIRE
  • fixed: the FIRE window stopped updating if it was cloned
  • fixed: emitters were broken in FIRE if MultiLight was on in the global render options
  • fixed: emitter MXI files weren't loaded when importing a MXM file
  • fixed: crash when opening render options and a daylight system exists in the scene
  • fixed: the gizmo for the Maxwell RFRK object was wrong
  • fixed: crash when adjusting the camera settings
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#336732
Version 2.5.6
  • reverted the arrangement of the FIRE window menu items to the way it was in 2.5.3
  • fixed: changing a material could trigger an unnecessary revoxelization in FIRE under some circumstances
  • fixed: material previews and FIRE renders were darker than the production render
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#338216
Version 2.5.8
  • added support for the target distance camera parameter
  • activating the motion vector channel no longer exports motion data if motion blur is off; motion blur must be turned on explicitly and Maxwell will do the right thing depending on whether or not the motion vector channel is active too
  • fixed: FIRE crashed if displacement was used
  • fixed: object ID and material ID colors could change between frames of the same animation under some circumstances
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#341699
Version 2.5.10
  • Added support for Max 2012
  • Fixed: unusable layered material UI when setting the Windows font size to 125%
Note: by default, textured materials won't display correctly in the Max 2012 viewport. Displaying individual textures by checking "show in viewport" inside the bitmap UI works, but displaying the entire material, with all the layers blended, doesn't. This is because Max 2012 uses a new viewport driver and we haven't made the plug-in display code compatible with it yet. To get the old behavior back you have to switch Max to the DirectX 9 display driver.
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#348694
Version 2.6.12
  • new motion blur system
  • new referenced MXS object
  • emitter, camera and environment changes from Multilight can be brought back to the scene
  • new displacement settings
  • new render options: sharpness, HDTV color space, positions and normals render channels, HDR layer state, sun settings
  • new Maxwell light object
  • added support for the following hair systems: Max hair, Ornatrix, Hairtrix
  • PFlow particle systems can be rendered as procedural spheres or instances
  • legacy particle systems (blizzard, spray, snow etc.) are rendered as procedural spheres
  • new BIN mesh loader object which renders meshes generated by RealFlow
  • the output image format and bit depth can be specified individually for each render channel
  • new IES intensity parameter
  • added the option to embed referenced MXM materials in the exported MXS file, or to keep the file reference
  • added support for displaying textures in the Nitrous viewport for referenced materials
  • fixed: the alpha channel of the rendered image couldn't be read back into Max in some cases
  • fixed: washed out images in the render view when gamma correction is enabled in the Max settings
  • fixed: crash which sometimes occurred when trying to open a scene with missing textures
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#349876
Version 2.6.14
  • re-added support for max instances
  • fixed: texture-based emission was broken in the Maxwell light primitive
  • fixed: HDTV color space name
  • fixed: emitter disk properly reflects the number of vertices set in UI
  • fixed: cloning a Maxwell light generated a default spot light in viewport, instead of the type selected
  • fixed: Maxwell lights always displayed a spotlight in the viewport after loading a scene
  • fixed: material changes caused a revoxelization in FIRE
  • fixed: exporting a single frame as a MXS reference will not append the frame number to the file name
  • fixed: proxies and MXS references were not visible in the viewport when hardware shading was turned on
  • fixed: materials couldn't be edited with MXED when the Windows user name contained a dot
  • fixed: wrong positions for objects with non-zero pivots and world space modifiers applied
  • fixed: loading a scene with a BIN mesh object will reset LOD to default
  • fixed: changing emitter material parameters in Maxwell lights no longer causes FIRE to revoxelize
  • fixed: the plug-in no longer tries to read back Multilight changes if ML is off
User avatar
By Mihnea Balta
#352136
Version 2.6.18
  • added support for the Reaflow extensions: BIN mesher and BIN particles
  • added support for multi-step camera motion blur
  • added support for silent installs (pass /S on the installer command line)
  • custom Maxwell objects (MXS references, proxies etc.) are compatible with the Nitrous viewport
  • fixed: slowdown when exporting many instances
  • fixed: under some circumstances, PFlow systems were exported as a single mesh instead of using instances
  • fixed: crash when rendering a proxy that has no source object
  • fixed: the rendered image was offset by 1 pixel horizontally in the Max framebuffer
  • fixed: ActiveShade crashed when used in viewport
  • fixed: wrong output image format when exporting from the File menu
  • fixed: wrong state management for the IES controls in Maxwell lights
  • fixed: once the LOD of a MXS reference was set to 0, it stayed invisible even after the LOD was increased again
  • fixed: wrong bounding box for proxies after the objects they reference was removed
IMPORTANT: this build is incompatible with Maxwell 2.6.0, and the previous builds are incompatible with the newly released Maxwell 2.6.10. Due to some changes in the extensions (hair, particles etc.) mixing incompatible plug-in and Maxwell versions will cause Max to crash on startup. Please make sure you upgrade both the plug-in and Maxwell to the latest version.
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