Materials
There are two approaches to working with Maxwell materials in form•Z:
- Translate Shaded: Use form•Z Shaded materials and let the plugin automatically translate them into Maxwell materials. This approach is very fast, and perfect for production projects where meeting a tight deadline is more important than perfectly accurate materials. See Using Translate Shaded.
- Referenced MXM: Use Maxwell Materials (MXM files) directly. This approach allows you to leverage the full power and realism of Maxwell materials. Each form•Z material can be set up to reference a unique MXM file. See Using Referenced MXMs.
Both approaches may be freely combined in a project. In a scene with many materials, it is usually easiest to let the plugin automatically translate most of the materials and use referenced MXMs only in cases where material accuracy is critical. All options are located in the Maxwell tab of Material Parameters.
Material Preview
To create a Maxwell preview of any material, make sure the Maxwell representation is selected in the list. Then, select a sample object (6” sphere, 6” cylinder, 6” cube, or 6” plane), and click the Preview button. A Maxwell render will be launched in the background, which will update the preview. The update process can be stopped at any time by clicking anywhere in the preview window, or by editing a control.
The material preview target time, SL, and lighting can be adjusted in Maxwell > Project Settings.