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The Maxwell for SketchUp plugin has been designed to work in as simple a manner as possible. Wherever appropriate, unnecessary items have been optimized away, leaving what is intended to be a very simple and straightforward, yet complete, interface to Maxwell Render from within SketchUp. After reading this overview, you may wish to continue on to the Quick Start.
The list of main items used to build Maxwell scenes and render them is very short; in fact, there are only fiveare these:
1. The Maxwell Menu & Toolbar
The plugin adds a new Maxwell menu to SketchUp's Plugins menu, as well as a new Maxwell toolbar. Most of the provided commands are common to both the menu and the toolbar The Standalone plugin's toolbar looks like this:
The Render Suite plugin adds commands related to the export and rendering of MXS files in Maxwell Render and Maxwell Studio:
From left to right, the commands are as follows:
| Command | SA | RS | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
Rendering & Export | |||
| Render | Exports the scene to an MXS file and renders it using Maxwell Render. | ||
| Export to Studio | Exports the scene to an MXS file and opens it for editing in Maxwell Studio. | ||
| Network Render | Exports the scene to an MXS file and renders it using the Maxwell Network Rendering system. | ||
| Maxwell Fire | Opens or closes the Maxwell Fire window. | ||
| Export MXS | Exports the model to an MXS file. | ||
MXM Functions | |||
| Browse for an MXM file | Allows you to browse for an MXM file from the local disk. If Maxwell Render Suite is installed, Maxwell MXED will be used for browsing; select the desired MXM file by double-clicking on it in the browser. Otherwise, a standard file browser dialog will be shown. | ||
| Browse the MXM Gallery | Allows you to browse for an MXM file from the Maxwell Render MXM Gallery. If Maxwell Render Suite is installed, Maxwell MXED will be used in MXM Gallery browsing mode. Otherwise, the plugin will attempt to navigate to the online MXM Gallery website in your default browser. | ||
| MXM Status Report | Shows a list of all materials and the status of their MXM paths. | ||
Scene & Camera | |||
| Scene Manager | Shows the plugin's Scene Manager window. | ||
| Object Properties | Shows the plugin's Object Properties window. | ||
| Select Tool | Provides an eye-dropper for selecting the materials of entities in the model. | ||
| Set DOF, Z-Clip, or Z-Buffer | Prompts for two points in the scene and once chosen, adjusts either the camera's DOF (Depth of Field), Z-Clip Planes, or Z-Buffer distances. | ||
| Set Focal Distance | Prompts for a single point which, once chosen, is used to set the focal distance of the camera. | ||
| Maxwell Grass | Shows the plugin's Maxwell Grass window. | ||
| Maxwell Sea | Shows the plugin's Maxwell Sea window. | ||
| Maxwell Volumetric | Shows the plugin's Maxwell Volumetric window. | ||
| Insert MXS Reference | Prompts you to choose a Maxwell MXS file, which will then be inserted into the model as an MXS Reference. | ||
Help & Info | |||
| Plugin Manual | Opens the plugin's PDF manual. | ||
| Maxwell Manual | Opens the Maxwell Render manual. If Maxwell Render Suite is not installed, attempts to show online help. | ||
| About | Opens the plugin's About box, which contains information about the currently-installed plugin. | ||
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The Maxwell Scene Manager window is the single central point of access to all Maxwell-related scene parameters.
These parameters are divided into four main categories, Materials, Camera, Environment, and Output, each of which is contained in a tab in the Scene Manager.
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