What do I need to know to use the plugin?
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 main items used to build Maxwell scenes and render them are 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. 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:
2. The Scene Manager Window
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.
3. The Maxwell Fire Window
In the Standalone plugin, all rendering is done using the Maxwell Fire window:
By default (see Start Maxwell Fire in Plugin Options) the SketchUp model will automatically be transferred (a.k.a. exported) into Maxwell’s format, and the rendering will be started:
When the rendering is finished, the image may be saved by clicking the Save Image button. Though this is also the case in the Render Suite plugin, it is usually the case that Maxwell Fire serves as more of a scene-setup tool, with final rendering being done using Maxwell Render itself.
4. The Maxwell Context Menu
In the context (i.e. right-click) menu for SketchUp entities, you will find a Maxwell item:
The commands here allow you to enable the various Maxwell Hide-from flags on a SketchUp entity, to decide how the faces it contains will be separated, and to decide whether or not to you would like to override SketchUp's UVs for the entity. Additionally, there are commands for exporting or rendering just the selected entity.
5. Included Assets
All versions of the plugin are provided with a set of assets, which may be found in the plugin's res directory, which is located inside of the plugin's maxwell folder. These assets are organized into several sub-directories:
Folder | Contents |
---|---|
mxm | Contains a rudimentary collection of pre-made .mxm files, along with associated texture files, located in a textures subdirectory. Maxwell MXM files may be used in plugin materials by using the material's MXM Mode. |
ies | This folder contains the same collection of .ies & .ldt files that ship with Maxwell Render Suite. IES & LDT files may be used in the creation of Maxwell emitter materials, by choosing the IES File material Character. |
ior | Contains the same collection of .ior files that ship with Maxwell Render Suite. IOR files may be used in the creation of Maxwell materials, by choosing the Complex IOR material Character. |
sky | Contains various Maxwell .sky files, which may be imported in the Scene Manager's Environment page. |
simulens | Contains various maps which are designed for use with Maxwell's SimuLens feature. |
preview | Contains Maxwell MXS files which are used by the plugin material editor to provide its list of material Preview Scenes. This folder is only used if no Maxwell Render Suite installation is detected on the machine, otherwise the preview folder found in your Maxwell folder will be used. |