In the context (i.e. right-click) menu for SketchUp entities, you will find a Maxwell item:
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Note that this is similar to the way material assignment works in SketchUp.
Export Selection
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The commands in this menu roughly correspond to the Render, Export to Studio, and Export MXS commands found in the plugin menu and toolbar.
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When these commands are invoked, you will be prompted to provide a Filename Modifier; this is a name which will be appended to the normal MXS output name, as calculated according to the standard output naming rules. For example, if the standard output name would be output.mxs, and a Filename Modifier of selection is chosen, the MXS file will be written as output - selection.mxs. This makes it easier keep things organized if you choose to import exported selections into Maxwell Studio.
Render Selection (SA)
In the Standalone plugin, the above-mentioned Export Selection menu is replaced by a Render Selection command:
This command opens the Maxwell Fire window if necessary, and renders the current selection.
Hide From
This menu applies to groups and components.
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The remaining parameters correspond to the matching Maxwell Hide from [x] flags in the MXS file. Their functions should be fairly self-explanatory; for more details, see the Special Object Properties page. If set to Inherit, and no parent is found, these parameters will use their default: Disabled.
Separate by
This menu applies to groups and components, and is not shown in the Standalone plugin, since there is no reason to do so.
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| Separation Type | Function |
|---|---|
| Inherit | Attempts to use the Separate by value of the entity's parent. If no parent is found, the default, None, is used. |
| None | This is the default; when an entity uses this mode, all of the faces it contains will be exported as a single mesh. If it contains faces with differing materials, they will be assigned using triangle selections. If the entity has multiple materials, one or more of which is emissive, then it will be switched to use the Separate by Material mode, since Maxwell does not support emitter materials on multi-material objects. |
| Face | When an entity uses this mode, each of its faces will be exported as an individual mesh. |
| Material | When an entity uses this mode, its faces will be separated by material, with one mesh for each material appearing in the MXS file. |
UV Coordinates
By default, the plugin uses any UV coordinates which may be supplied by SketchUp. In some cases though, there are either no UV coordinates to export, or the ones which exists are of a sub-standard quality. Use the commands in this menu to override the UV coordinates provided by SketchUp with new ones, generated by the plugin at export time.
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| UV Type | Function |
|---|---|
| Inherit | Attempts to use the UV Coordinates value of the entity's parent. If no parent is found, the default, Default SketchUp, is used. |
| Default SketchUp | This is the default; it disables UV override for the selected entities. It is also used for any entity which lacks UV coordinates, in which case it uses the same strategy as the Camera UV override. |
| Ignore Distortion | This uses the same strategy as Default SketchUp, but prevents distorted versions of applied textures from being exported as unique textures. This can be useful in some cases where texture distortion is very slight; for example, given a tree model with hundreds of leaves, where the texture of each leaf is distorted by a very small amount, using this option will ensure that only one leaf material & texture is exported, rather than hundreds. This can significantly reduce the time and memory required to export and render such a model. |
| Cubic | This option maps the selected entities using a cubic mapping, the size of which is determined using Set Projection Size. The position of the mapping cube is centered on the cumulative bounding box of the entities to which it is applied. |
| Planar | This option maps the selected entities using a planar mapping, projected from above. The size of the UV space generated is determined using Set Projection Size. Its position is centered on the cumulative bounding box of the entities to which it is applied. |
| Spherical | This option maps the selected entities using a spherical mapping, and is centered on the cumulative bounding box of the entities to which it is applied. Logically speaking, a spherical mapping does not have any size, so Set Projection Size has no effect on this mapping. |
| Camera | This option is a planar projection which is aligned perpendicular to the camera's view direction. The size of the UV space generated is determined using Set Projection Size. |
Set Projection Size...
Sets the size of UV space, in meters, which will be generate generated for this entity. The default value is 1.0.
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