[zparrish]

I typically embed a modified Simball scene into my available previews folder so that I can test my materials against the most scientifically accurate and deliberately calibrated scene that ships with Maxwell. Unfortunately, the new license model doesn't give me access to Maxwell Studio, so I am unable to modify the existing Simball scene so that it includes an appropriate "preview" material and is manageable by the Material Editor.

Does anyone have a modified, version 4 Simball scene for this purposes that they can share with me? When I uninstalled Maxwell version 3, it wiped out my original scene, so I can't restore what I had. To deal with local linked asset path issues, please have the scene and all of it's assets saved to:

C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell Render 4\preview

I already have the linked assets saved for this, I just need the modified MXS file to make it work. Thanks!

Thanks all!

[JDHill]

When I look at my Maxwell 3/library/Scenes/Simball/Simball.mxs file, it is already set up with the "preview" material assigned, and functions as-is in V4 MXED if I copy it to my Maxwell Render 4/preview directory (and copy its dependencies into a Maxwell Render 4/previews/textures directory). So please try that and let me know if it works for you, too.

[zparrish]

That did work actually! Thanks JD!

I ended up having to download the 3.2.1.5 executable from the betas and extract the scene though since when I uninstalled Maxwell v3 it wiped out my base library of v3 assets. I had an older version of that scene cached on my file server, but that one was giving me the message about a missing "preview" material.

Just out of curiosity, do you know why the Simball isn't included in the base installation of Maxwell v4? After reading the PDF instructions that ship with that scene, it's quite astonishing how much variation was intentionally embedded into it. That's why I use it for all my MXED testing and creation. I know it's a bit of a behemoth compared to the other preview scenes, but it's extremely comprehensive and I really like that! In 3ds Max, I typically have it use the Stage 2 preview so my host material editor doesn't choke my workflow.

At any rate, thanks again JD! Your help is always appreciated!

[luis.hijarrubia]

Simball was not on preview on V3 either, only on library. And it's on library on V4 too.

[zparrish]

Hey Luis,
I knew that "Simball.mxs" wasn't in the preview folder but resided in the "library" folder for v3. The problem is that my "Maxwell Render 4" Program Files directory has no "library" directory, nor does my "Maxwell for Max" directory. Also, neither of them had the Simball.mxs scene file in them anywhere after installation:

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell Render 4>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is ####-####

 Directory of C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell Render 4

11/10/2016  11:00 AM    <DIR>          .
11/10/2016  11:00 AM    <DIR>          ..
03/09/2016  12:24 PM           597,976 clAmdFft.Runtime.dll
10/04/2016  01:04 PM           366,016 cudart64_80.dll
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          extensions-x64-v120
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          extras-x64-v120
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          hdri
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          ies
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          imageformats
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          images
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          layouts
06/24/2016  06:10 AM         2,077,184 libeay32.dll
12/14/2015  04:05 PM            11,776 libEGL.dll
12/14/2015  04:04 PM         2,013,696 libGLESv2.dll
06/24/2016  06:10 AM           379,392 libssl32.dll
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         1,889,280 licenseactivator.exe
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          materials database
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         5,083,136 maxwell.exe
10/28/2016  06:32 AM        32,291,282 maxwell_license_manager_win64.exe
10/14/2016  07:05 AM        18,080,605 maxwell_onshape_connection_win64.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM        16,389,632 mxcommon-x64-v120.dll
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         3,641,344 mxed.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         1,503,744 mximerge.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         3,622,400 mxnetwork.exe
10/28/2016  05:35 AM         7,996,416 mx_shell.dll
03/09/2016  12:24 PM            54,784 OpenCL.dll
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          platforms
11/10/2016  11:13 AM    <DIR>          preview
10/28/2016  06:11 AM         1,974,784 pymaxwell.exe
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          python
11/21/2015  10:37 AM         2,964,480 python27.dll
12/14/2015  04:07 PM            25,088 Qt5Concurrent.dll
02/03/2016  11:59 AM         5,548,032 Qt5Core.dll
12/14/2015  04:11 PM         6,000,128 Qt5Gui.dll
12/14/2015  04:09 PM         1,068,544 Qt5Network.dll
12/14/2015  04:16 PM           322,560 Qt5OpenGL.dll
12/15/2015  12:20 AM         1,245,696 Qt5Script.dll
12/15/2015  12:21 AM           561,664 Qt5ScriptTools.dll
12/14/2015  04:16 PM         5,495,296 Qt5Widgets.dll
12/14/2015  04:07 PM           193,536 Qt5Xml.dll
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          scripts
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          sdk
10/31/2016  10:33 AM    <DIR>          shell
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          simulens maps
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          skies
06/24/2016  06:10 AM           379,392 ssleay32.dll
10/31/2016  10:32 AM    <DIR>          tp_network
11/10/2016  11:00 AM           172,186 uninstall.exe
03/09/2016  12:23 PM         7,194,312 vcredist_x64.exe

Code: Select all

C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell For Max>dir
 Volume in drive C has no label.
 Volume Serial Number is ####-####

 Directory of C:\Program Files\Next Limit\Maxwell For Max

11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          .
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          ..
03/09/2016  12:24 PM           597,976 clAmdFft.Runtime.dll
10/04/2016  01:04 PM           366,016 cudart64_80.dll
11/08/2016  04:19 PM    <DIR>          extensions-x64-v120
11/08/2016  04:19 PM    <DIR>          extras-x64-v120
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          hdri
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          ies
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          images
06/24/2016  06:10 AM         2,077,184 libeay32.dll
12/14/2015  04:05 PM            11,776 libEGL.dll
12/14/2015  04:04 PM         2,013,696 libGLESv2.dll
06/24/2016  06:10 AM           379,392 libssl32.dll
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         1,889,280 licenseactivator.exe
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          materials database
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         5,083,136 maxwell.exe
10/28/2016  06:32 AM        32,291,282 maxwell_license_manager_win64.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM        16,389,632 mxcommon-x64-v120.dll
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         3,641,344 mxed.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         1,503,744 mximerge.exe
10/28/2016  06:15 AM         3,622,400 mxnetwork.exe
03/09/2016  12:24 PM            54,784 OpenCL.dll
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          platforms
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          preview
12/14/2015  04:07 PM            25,088 Qt5Concurrent.dll
02/03/2016  11:59 AM         5,548,032 Qt5Core.dll
12/14/2015  04:11 PM         6,000,128 Qt5Gui.dll
12/14/2015  04:09 PM         1,068,544 Qt5Network.dll
12/14/2015  04:16 PM           322,560 Qt5OpenGL.dll
12/15/2015  12:20 AM         1,245,696 Qt5Script.dll
12/15/2015  12:21 AM           561,664 Qt5ScriptTools.dll
12/14/2015  04:16 PM         5,495,296 Qt5Widgets.dll
12/14/2015  04:07 PM           193,536 Qt5Xml.dll
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          rlm
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          scripts
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          simulens maps
11/08/2016  04:20 PM    <DIR>          skies
06/24/2016  06:10 AM           379,392 ssleay32.dll
11/08/2016  04:19 PM            53,086 uninstall.exe

If that is different than what's on your system, try installing "maxwell_render_4.0.0.8_win64.exe" on a machine that didn't already have Maxwell on it or had Maxwell previously uninstalled. You could even take a peek directly into the ".exe" file's contents with a program like 7-zip using the Windows Explorer "Open Archive" option. The resulting directory tree is also missing the "library" directory.

[luis.hijarrubia]

I think the library is from Studio, so it's not coming with plugins. Will check if we can do something about this.