Version 4.2.6.4 - 07 Oct 2019
ADDITIONS:
New Custom Alpha panel and functionality which allows managing the assignment to objects (for the moment, it doesn’t work for materials)
New Custom Alpha section in Object’s properties area.
New Custom Alpha option in Extra Sampling mask type parameter.
New buttons to open Custom Alphas panel from Maxwell’s Object Properties and from Maxwell Render Settings > Output tab > Channels > Custom Alpha
New About box in Maxwell menu
CHANGES:
"Use Rhino Sun" has been renamed to "Sync with Rhino Sun" (it reflects the behavior better).
"Sync with Rhino Sun" is now at the top of the Maxwell Sun settings.
In "Sync with Rhino Sun" mode the Maxwell Sun Type and the Rhino sun states are always in synchrony. Changing Maxwell sun type can change the state of the Rhino Sun / or changing the state of the Rhino Sun can change the Maxwell Sun Type.
Version 4.2.6.3 - 18 Sep 2019
IMPROVEMENTS:
Mesh objects are now exported into layer groups (to Studio).
Conversion from Rhino 5:
Rhino Gamma is set to default 2.2 (instead of previous 1.0)
Rhino 5 environment
Rhino 5 render settings (but not the channel settings)
Rhino 5 Maxwell Object parameters
Rhino 5 Camera parameters (known issue with Named Views)
ADDITIONS:
New command Maxwell_PickCameraFocalDistance (in V6 this command sets the focus to the intersected surface or Mesh point and it is interactive in FIRE views)
New button for Maxwell_PickCameraFocalDistance on the Maxwell camera panel.
Camera Focus mode (Target/Manual/Auto) and Manual Focus Distance parameters.
Extra controls (FOV/Azimuth/Angle) for FishEye, Spherical and Cylindrical lenses.
Custom Alpha option for Extra Sampling (custom alpha options are still not complete).
Automatic light export for Rhino lights: point, spot, linear, rectangular (directional lights are not exported).
Maxwell specific parameters in Rhino lights in the Maxwell Object Property tab: IES and Projector light types (only for spotlights) and emission multiplier.
Maxwell light parameter "Rotation around dir." for IES and projector types to add an extra control over the orientation of the projected image or IES pattern around the axis of the light (it seems normal Rhino spotlights don't have it).
Global render switch for "Displacement"
Global render switch for "Dispersion"
Animation export mode. In case the actual Rhino renderer is Maxwell and user runs the "Record Animation" command the plugin exports the frames in animation mode. (After all the frames have been exported the user can control how animation runs in the new "Maxwell Animation Controls" dialog). Limitation: in the case of sun study Maxwell always uses the Rhino sun data even if the Maxwell Environment was set for a specific location and date.
The plugin opens Overwrite warning dialog in case the output mxs file already exists.
FIXES:
Color type Maxwell controls were initially white sometimes - instead of the actual color.
Maxwell camera didn't match Rhino Parallel view (in rare cases).
lowPriority flag had no effect for the Maxwell Render priority.
The plugin read back wrong Maxwell Sun date/time settings in rare cases.
Version 4.2.6.2 - 16 Jul 2019
IMPROVEMENTS:
Moving meshes under FIRE can be faster now.
Dialog with text message helps to identify Maxwell initialization failures.
FIXES:
Plugin could not read the license if it contains non-ASCII characters.
(Win7 and Win8.1 only) Plugin made Rhino crash at program start.
Views with similar names could confuse the Maxwell exporter.
Moving object in FIRE mode which had Maxwell Spotlight Emitter material could crash Rhino when using Fire.
Version 4.2.6.1 - 28 Jun 2019
IMPROVEMENTS:
The Font for Maxwell controls has been changed to match better the default Rhino UI and also because it has better readability.
If the current environment is a Rhino environment, it is also exported to Maxwell. It translates the color but if a texture exists it is translated as IBL.
Rhino sun change updates the displayed Maxwell Environment (under the Rhino Render view too).
Rhino sun automatically converted even if the actual Environment is not Maxwell Environment.
Render Wallpaper environment mode is exported to Maxwell as IBL environment with a planar background (in Maxwell it is always stretched to fit the render frame).
In the case of a FIRE error or warning, the viewport status shows that we have Error/Warning message from FIRE. By clicking on it a message dialog appears with the FIRE message.
In case of a FIRE error the displayed FIRE screen is black.
Better warning or error messages.
"Maxwell Referenced" material has its own type icon.
The create NEW mxm material button opens now the newly created material automatically in Mxed.
FIXES:
In Maxwell Render meshes were in wrong positions.
Maxwell export with a named view(s) could crash Rhino.
Maxwell Environment Sun date/time (with some localized formats) could crash Rhino.
Maxwell placed the objects in the wrong position during dynamic transforms (depends on scene base scale).
Rhino materials were not exported (in non-English Rhino versions).
Typo "Pin Holde" -> "Pin Hole".
Rhino viewports were full black after Maxwell Fire was used and after that, a new scene (or other scenes) was opened.
CHANGES:
Rhino sun Enabled status is used if Maxwell Environment uses Rhino sun.
The "Maxwell Material" name has changed to "Maxwell Referenced".
In the case a Rhino environment is used (not Maxwell) and there is a background image, the plugin converts it to IBL and uses the image for all the IBL channels.
KNOWN ISSUES:
The plugin is still crashing Rhino on Windows 7 or 8.1 because of a problem with Microsoft Redistributable files. We'll try to workaround this in the next version.
Version 4.2.6.0 - 18 Jun 2019
What you can and cannot expect in this version
You will be able to set all the general settings (previous output tab) in Rhino’s Rendering tab. Here you will be able to set Maxwell as render engine, set engine and render settings, Multilight, Extra Sampling, Denoiser, Output options, Channels (without custom alpha), Globals, Tone Mapping, Simulens and Overlay Text options.
In Rhino’s Environment tab you will be able to create as many Maxwell Environments as you want. All the environment options are implemented and Rhino options like Solid color or Gradient are translated to Maxwell if used and you will be able to preview Maxwell Environment in the viewport if it is set to Rendered, Raytraced or Maxwell FIRE modes. Rhino’s sun can also be used to set the time and date as well as location; if so, you will also be able to preview the sun in Rendered and Raytraced modes; if you don’t use Rhino’s sun you will only be able to preview the sun in FIRE.
You can currently launch FIRE only in a viewport like any other visualization mode, although you can have it in a floating Rhino’s viewport. The bottom bar at the Fire window is active and you can start/stop, change quality settings and SL from there.
At Rhino’s Materials tab you can add Rhino materials (which will be translated to Maxwell at render time) as well as referenced Maxwell materials. Currently, there’s no integrated material editor yet, but you can access MXED from within Rhino to edit the materials. The materials will show their preview in the list and the geometry in the viewport will show the main texture of the material projected onto it if the viewport is set to Rendered, Raytraced (Cycles) or Maxwell FIRE modes. Regarding Rhino materials, all of them are translated as well as Rhino procedural textures.
At Rhino’s Properties tab you can check both camera’s and object’s properties depending on if there’s none or any object selected. The camera properties section is complete except for the parameters of the special lenses (which have not yet been added): fisheye, spherical, cylindrical or stereo ones.
Additional settings like search paths, mxm gallery download folder or Fire settings can be tuned in Rhino’s Document Properties window
What you won’t find yet in the plugin: extensions, like grass, scatter, sea or volumetrics. Custom alphas have not yet been implemented, as well as the material assistants or an integrated material editor. Some secondary features like blocked emitters, material override, etc. are still pending. Also, Fire still feels a bit sluggish, but we will try to find the cause for that.