System requirements
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- SketchUp and SketchUp Pro, version 6+
- 32- and 64-bit Windows XP or greater
- Mac OSX 10.6+, on Intel processors
- Microsoft Silverlight 5.0
RS
The Render Suite plugin is designed for use with:
- Maxwell Render Suite 2.7.620
- SketchUp Pro, version 6+
- 32- and 64-bit Windows XP or greater
- Mac OSX 10.6+, on Intel processors
- Microsoft Silverlight 3.0 or 4.0
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Installation (SA)
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Separate installers are provided for the various combinations of SketchUp version (6-8 for the Render Suite plugin, 8-only for the Standalone plugin) and operating system (Windows/Mac OSX).
On Windows
As downloaded, the plugin consists of a .zip file. Installation is accomplished using the following steps:
- 1. Unzip the downloaded .zip in a location where you possess rights to install software.
- 2. Navigate to the setup subfolder, right-click on setup.exe, and choose Run as administrator.
Follow the steps in the installer wizard, ensuring that the correct SketchUp installation directory is set as the installer's target path (this should be auto-detected for SketchUp 7+, but may need to be corrected for SketchUp 6). Once the installer has completed, the plugin should be installed and ready to use, though you may still need to install Microsoft Silverlight 4.0 to support the plugin's user-interface, as discussed in the Microsoft Silverlight section below.
On Mac OSX
As downloaded, the plugin consists of a .zip file. Installation is accomplished by the following steps:
- 1. Unzip the downloaded .zip in a location where you possess rights to install software
- 2. Double-click the package it contains, then follow the instructions to install the plugin.
The installer expects to find SketchUp located in its standard location; if you have installed SketchUp in a non-standard location, see the Troubleshooting section below. Once the installer has completed, the plugin should be installed and ready to use, though you may still need to install Microsoft Silverlight 4.0 to support the plugin's user-interface, as discussed below in the Microsoft Silverlight section.
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The Standalone plugin is also made available as a single, universal download, in .zip format. Installation in this case is performed by simply copying one file and one folder using Windows Explorer or Mac OSX Finder.
Installation may be performed as many times as desired, as may be the case when there are multiple versions of SketchUp installed on the machine. This method of deployment may be described as low-impact, in that it does not alter the state of the machine (i.e. registry, etc.). Uninstallation is accomplished by simply reversing the installation; in other words, by deleting the plugin’s files using Windows Explorer or OSX Finder.
On Windows
- 1. Unzip the downloaded .zip file to your Desktop.
- 2. Locate the Google SketchUp Plugins folder. You will find this inside the folder where you installed SketchUp, typically:
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Installation steps for the Standalone plugin depend on the SketchUp version and OS.
SketchUp 8 & 2013 (Windows)
- Unzip the download on your Desktop.
- Inside, navigate to the setup folder.
- Right-click setup.exe and choose Run as Administrator.
- For more info, see the included readme.txt.
SketchUp 8 & 2013 (Mac OSX)
- Unzip the download on your Desktop.
- Mount the contained DMG by double-clicking it.
- Drag maxwell and maxwell.rb onto the Plugins alias.
- For more info, see the included readme.txt.
SketchUp 6 & 7 (Windows & Mac OSX)
- Unzip the download on your Desktop.
- Inside, navigate to the plugin folder.
- Copy maxwell and maxwell.rb to the SketchUp plugins folder:
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On Windows, the SketchUp plugins folder is typically located at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp |
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[6/7]\Plugins |
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- 3. Copy maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder from the unzipped plugin folder into the SketchUp Plugins folder:
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On Mac OSX, the SketchUp plugins folder is typically located at: /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp [6/7]/SketchUp/plugins
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- If you are on Windows, Run vcredist/vcredist_x86.exe.
- For more info, see the included readme.txt.
Installation (RS)
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Individual Render Suite plugin installers are provided for each specific version of SketchUp and operating system.
Windows
- Download and unzip the plugin .zip file on your Desktop.
- Navigate to the setup folder.
- Right-click setup.exe, and choose Run as
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- Administrator.
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Mac OSX
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(SketchUp 6-8)
- Download and unzip the plugin .zip file
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- on your Desktop.
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Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/plugins
- 3. Copy maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder from the plugin folder in the unzipped download into the SketchUp Plugins folder:
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- Double-click on the .mpkg installer and follow the instructions.
Mac OSX (SketchUp 2013)
- Download and unzip the plugin .zip file on your Desktop.
- Double-click on the .dmg file.
- Drag the plugin files into the indicated folders.
Updating to a new version of the plugin
From time to time, updates to the plugin are released. The process for updating your installation depends upon which version of the plugin you are using.
Render Suite
All Render Suite plugins use OS- and SketchUp-version-specific installers. Upgrading from one version to the next simply consists of visiting the Next Limit Customer Portal, downloading the appropriate package, unzipping it, and running the installer, as described above, under Standard Installation. The installer will update your installation automatically.
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SA
Standalone plugin updates are available from the same download page where the plugin was originally obtained. As described above, there are two classes of install for the Standalone plugin: OS-specific, for SketchUp 8 users, and universal .zip distribution, for any OS or version of SketchUp.
If you are using SketchUp 8, and have previously used the OS-specific SketchUp 8 plugin installer, simply download the new version, unzip it, and run the installer program as described above, under Standard Installation. The installer will update your installation automatically. If you have previously used the manual .zip-based distribution, you should first delete maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder that you previously installed in your SketchUp Plugins folder.
If you are not using SketchUp 8, or if you prefer the .zip-based manual installation, you should download that version from the download page (it is labeled "SketchUp other version"). Installation is the same as described above, under Installation Using the Universal .zip-based Standalone Plugin Distribution, except that before installing, you should first delete maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder that you previously installed in your SketchUp Plugins folder.
Microsoft Silverlight
The plugin's user interface is built using Microsoft Silverlight and requires Silverlight 3.0 or 4.0. If you do not have Silverlight or greater installed, you will be asked to download and install it the first time you open either the Scene Manager or Maxwell Fire window:
To download and install Microsoft Silverlight, simply click the Get Silverlight button. Once Silverlight has been installed, it will be necessary, on Windows, to close and re-open the Scene Manager window, and on OSX, to close and re-open SketchUp. This is the case because Silverlight is a web browser plugin, and the web browser being provided by SketchUp must be re-started after the installation.
Notes on Silverlight 5.0 and Mac OSX
On 9 December 2011, Microsoft released Silverlight 5.0, and we have found that due to a SketchUp incompatibility, the plugin's user interface will fail to load completely when this version of Silverlight is installed. As a result, in order to run the plugin on Mac OSX, it will be necessary to make sure you are not running this new version of Microsoft Silverlight. Here are instructions on how to ensure that your machine is running Silverlight 4.0:
- 1. Open OSX Finder and navigate to Macintosh HD/Library/Internet Plug-Ins.
- 2. If Silverlight.plugin is present, trash it.
- 3. Empty the Trash.
- 4. Reboot the machine.
- 5. Open Safari.
- 6. Download and install Microsoft Silverlight 4.0, from here.
Microsoft uses browser detection to decide which installer to send you, so as noted above, make sure to use Safari when performing the download. Note that these instructions may also be useful in the case that any unexpected error occurs when you attempt to open the plugin’s Scene Manager or Maxwell Fire windows, even when you have not installed Microsoft Silverlight 5.0; we have seen cases, mostly on Mac OSX, where Silverlight had become corrupted on the machine, which were fixed by reinstalling, using the above stepsFor installer-based packages, simply run the new installer to update. For the manual installation used with SketchUp 6 & 7, update is performed the same as the initial install, just make sure to delete the existing plugin files from SketchUp's Plugins folder, before copying the new ones, in order to avoid possibly having files from two plugin versions.
RS
All Render Suite plugins use OS and SketchUp version-specific installers. Upgrading from one version to the next simply consists of visiting the Next Limit Customer Portal, downloading the appropriate package, unzipping it, and running the installer, as described above . The installer will update your installation automatically.
Notes on Plugin Files
As described in the above installation instructions, the plugin consists of two main parts: a SketchUp Ruby Extension, consisting of a maxwell.rb file and maxwell folder, and, for the Render Suite plugin, a SketchUp 3D Exporter plugin, named Skp2Mxs.dll on Windows and Skp2Mxs.plugin on Mac OSX. The applicability and standard location of these files is as follows:
| Item | SA | RS | Location on Windows (typical) | Location on Mac OSX (typical) |
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| maxwell.rb | C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins | /Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/plugins | ||
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| Skp2Mxs.dll | C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Exporters | |||
| Skp2Mxs.plugin | /Applications/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp.App/Contents/PlugIns |
Relocating the Plugin Outside of SketchUp's Plugins Folder
Optionally, you may elect to move maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder to any location you wish.
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If the plugin menu and/or toolbars do not show up in SketchUp after installing, the first thing to do is to go to SketchUp’s Preferences > Extensions panel and make sure the Maxwell for SketchUp extension is enabled.
Windows
The plugin’s installer is not capable of uninstalling some very old versions of Maxwell’s SketchUp plugin. If you have any doubt about whether one of these might be installed, use Windows Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs in XP) to verify that you do not find any entries named similar to MaxwellExport (Version 2.x).
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The installer expects to find SketchUp in its standard location. When this is the case, the installation will be accomplished automatically, as described above. If, however, you have installed SketchUp in a non-standard location, it will be necessary to extract the contents of this package (right-click, Show Package Contents) and install the plugin’s components manually. If this is necessary, extract and place the Skp2Mxs.plugin file into the folder on your machine which corresponds with (this item only applies to the Render Suite plugin):
/Applications/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp.app/Contents/PlugIns
Then, extract and place the file maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder into the folder on your machine which corresponds with (this item applies to both the Render Suite and Standalone plugins):
/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/plugins
If previous versions of the Maxwell plugin are present (i.e. SkpToMxs.plugin, MaxwellExport.rb, and the Maxwell folder), it will be necessary to delete them manually before installing new plugin files.
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As mentioned above, SketchUp is not currently compatible with Silverlight 5.0 on OSX. Though the directions above outline Microsoft's instructions for uninstalling Silverlight, these do not always work completely. In some cases, after following the instructions for uninstalling Silverlight 5.0, attempts to install Silverlight 4.0 will result in installer errors indicating that a newer version of Silverlight is already installed. In these cases, it would be recommended to follow these steps:
- 1. Open OSX Finder and navigate to Macintosh HD/Library/Internet Plug-Ins.
- 2. If Silverlight.plugin is present, trash it.
- 3. Empty the Trash.
- 4. reboot the machine.
- 5. Open Safari.
- 6. Download and install Microsoft Silverlight 4.0, from here.
Note well: when downloading and installing Silverlight 4.0 from the link, make sure to do so using Safari, since it may not work correctly when using another browser. If you are still unable to run the Silverlight 4.0 installer, it may help to open Terminal and carefully execute the following commands:
rm -rf /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/Silverlight.plugin
rm -rf /Library/Receipts/Silverlight*.pkg
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Microsoft/Silverlight
Note that this is a strictly at-your-own-risk procedure, not officially supported by Next Limit, Microsoft, or Apple, but it may help. After doing so, try rebooting and running the Silverlight 4.0 installer again.
Uninstallation Anchor uninstallation uninstallation
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Uninstalling the plugin is accomplished differently, depending on OS, and the plugin distribution used.
On Windows
For the standard installer-based distribution, uninstallation is accomplished using the Programs and Features window in Windows Control Panel, or by running the installer again, and choosing the Remove option. For the universal .zip-based pluginSketchUp 6 & 7, uninstallation is simply the reverse of installation: delete maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder from your SketchUp Plugins folder, located here:
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On Mac OSX
Here, uninstallation is the same regardless of the installer used; it involves deleting maxwell.rb and the maxwell folder from your SketchUp Plugins folder, located here:
Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Google SketchUp 8/SketchUp/plugins
. If you are using the Render Suite plugin, you should also delete the plugin's exporter, which resides directly inside of SketchUp.app:
- 1. In Finder, open Macintosh HD /Applications/Google SketchUp 8.
- 2. Right-click SketchUp.app and choose Show Package Contents.
- 3. Delete SketchUp.app/Contents/Plugins/Skp2Mxs.plugin.
After deleting these files and folders, empty the Trash, and reboot the machine.
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