User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373049
We could use MXS references files in ArchiCAD but is a chance to use Instances also?
I have to make some kind of little forest...
By Marton Day8
#373052
What do you mean exactly?

Randomly placed trees on a plane (for example) or something else?


Márton
User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373053
Randomly - it means scattering announced for v.3? Wait for this im/patiently :-).
I could place it now manually but I want to save my computer power/ram. So I think about Instances described here: http://support.nextlimit.com/display/ma ... /Instances
rather than MXS reference (http://support.nextlimit.com/display/ma ... +MXS+files).
MXS reference files are described as exporting time and file size saver only.
Excuse my ignorance here, I am thinking about reducing rendering time for rather large scene.
By AlexP
#373069
mxs references with instance option are faster then geometry instances because there is no need to export geometry during scene export - mxs references load alot faster then any geometry export I've seen (I think maya plugin has fastest geometry export). I don't know if in archicad mxs references are instances but in rhino they are as default. I'm sure marton will answer this.
Also until v3 mxs or geometry instances will slow down render (more slowdown with more instances visible) but will save ram.
User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373070
Thanks for this info. Would be nice to know if ArchiCAD MXS references are instances by default. There is no information about this in plugin
or help. I am working on terrain where I need to put ~500 trees and cars.

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By Marton Day8
#373096
I have added a preference option to plugin version 2.7.5. With a switch control you can change how the export behaves for referenced mxs objects.

Just open the plugin preferences dialog and under the Reference MXS group....

Márton
User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373097
Oh, yeah :-) Don't know why I've missed this option in plugin palette...
Thanks for help.
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User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373380
More job done. ...and (for the first time) I see that I am in little trouble :-)
I use trees in my scene as mxs reference. It is really great solution, works really nice — exporting it to Maxwell Render is extremely fast.
But there are few moments where I am not sure how my job ends:
1. Limits. Are there any limits for mxs references inside ArchiCAD? Using ~ 100 trees ArchiCAD crashes occasionally during export via plugin.
2. Elevation. Reference randomly change vertical (z) insertion point. Funny. When reexporting scene to Maxwell everything works fine.
3. Ghosts. Reference changed to ghosts after Resuming render in Maxwell (so it is outside ArchiCAD). Seems that every MXS reference was switched to Hide in camera mode
except 1st instance.
4. Preview. Are there any chance to see preview for MXS reference? Now we have only boxes displayed in 3D, would be very nice to see something very very simplified to place object correctly.

1.

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By Marton Day8
#373390
Hello Rafal,

1) There shouldn't be any limit. Could you check if it is really connected to the number of the trees? (Does it still happen after you delete half of the trees?)
2) What do you mean by randomly change? Every time you start FIRE it is in a different position?
3) Please post it on the main forum too.
4) I hope so. I probably won't be able to solve it for V3 start, but I hope I will have more time later.

Márton
User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373415
Hi Márton,
1) Yes. When I delete some instances it started work properly. It is still WIP and generally it works well, maybe 1 from 10 preview render cause some problems. Good to know that there is no limit :-)
2) It happened to me 3 or 4 times in this project. It is not nice when after 30 min export to Maxwell you see that some elements are levitating.
3) OK.
4) Great :) Really appreciate your work.

Rafał
By Marton Day8
#373416
2) 30min export to Maxwell???? That is very long time..... which export option do you use? (Independent or 3D window?)
And as you sad it is totally random? Do you have (maybe) a small scene where I could test it?


Márton
User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373773
Marton Day8 wrote:2) 30min export to Maxwell???? That is very long time..... which export option do you use? (Independent or 3D window?)
And as you sad it is totally random? Do you have (maybe) a small scene where I could test it?


Márton
Ok. Today I've checked it. 30 minutes was my personal impression :-) it takes "only" ~19 min. :-)
1st round - it is time when ArchiCAD works with export
2nd round - time when Maxwell start working, I've stopped it when rendering appear

Happens only few times that my tree is moved along z axis. It is under control now.
This scene is rather (probably very) big unfortunately with plenty modules inside. After work will be done maybe I'll send you all file to check it.

Exporting time :roll: :
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User avatar
By Rafal SLEK
#373781
3D Window:

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