[Cosmasad]

Goodmorning everyone.

I am going through the Manuals and online Video tutorials and I don't quite understand the difference between Studio and the Core Application (Maxwell.exe). I am a novice here so I am just getting off the ground. Working through the Rhino plugin seems to be the right place to start (assigning materials, emitters etc.) then when I start the rendering process, it launches the core application. I am wondering when would I ever need to use Studio? There is so much information out there but this isn't clear. Any assistance with this would be appreciated.

Thank you all.

Cosmas Demetriou

[JDHill]

maxwell.exe is the actual production render engine. Fire-enabled plugins and Studio also contain rendering functionality, but your real rendering will be done with maxwell.exe, either by using it directly (i.e. via its UI), by command-line, or by way of Maxwell's network-rendering system.

Studio is primarily an MXS-editing application. It allows people who use applications which have no plugin to use Maxwell. For example, there is no plugin for AutoCAD; through Studio, an AutoCAD user is still able to use Maxwell, due to Studio's DXF-import functionality. In other cases, the host app may have a Maxwell plugin, but may also have subpar functionality in one area or another. In yet other cases, an office may use several different host applications; they can use Studio to consolidate their scene-building workflow.

Just for instance, in version 3, Rhino's texture-mapping functionality consisted entirely of the ability to set tile, offset, and to flip or swap U and V directions. So here, Studio's texture mapping functionality far excelled Rhino's, and even though there was a Rhino plugin, Studio was a basic necessity for any Rhino user who needed to do any serious texture mapping.