SketchUp Menu and Toolbar

The plugin adds a new Maxwell menu to SketchUp's Plugins menu, and also a new Maxwell toolbar, with commands which duplicate most of those found in the menu. These commands depend on which license is found; the Standalone (SA) license provides commands necessary to set up and render within SketchUp, using the Maxwell FIRE window:

The Render Suite (RS) license adds commands which are related to writing, editing, and rendering MXS files:

Rendering & Export

Command	SA	RS	Function
Render			Exports the scene to an MXS file and renders it using Maxwell Render.
Export to Studio			Exports the scene to an MXS file and opens it for editing in Maxwell Studio.
Network Render			Exports the scene to an MXS file and renders it using the Maxwell Network Rendering system.
Maxwell Fire			Opens or closes the Maxwell Fire window.
Export MXS			Exports the model to an MXS file.

As a matter of course, rendering always involves exporting data from the SketchUp model into the Maxwell format. Depending on which of the above commands is used, an MXS file may be written to the location specified in the Output page, and subsequently, opened in Maxwell Render, Maxwell Studio, or the Maxwell Network Rendering system, as requested.

When the scene is to be rendered in Maxwell Fire, the exported data will be loaded into memory for rendering. It is possible afterward, to write an MXS file directly from this data, rather than performing a completely new export from the SketchUp model. This may not always be desired, though, and this is the purpose of the MXS Cache Policy option.

MXM Functions

The MXM browsing functions are basically shortcuts for the following steps:

1. Creating a new SketchUp material
2. Editing that material in the Scene manager
3. Switching the material to use MXM Mode
4. Linking the material to the chosen MXM file

These steps are what occurs when an MXM file is chosen, either from the local disk, or the Maxwell MXM Gallery.

Browse for an MXM File

This command starts Maxwell MXED in MXM-browsing mode. To choose an MXM file, double-click its thumbnail in the MXED view panel. When this is done, MXED will close, and the plugin will import the selected MXM file into the scene; a new SketchUp material will be created, and its Maxwell attributes will be set up to reference the chosen MXM file.

If Maxwell MXED is not installed (it is only included with a Maxwell Render Suite RS license), a standard file browser will be used instead.

Browse the MXM Gallery

Similar to the Browse for an MXM file command, but uses MXED in its MXM Gallery Browser mode, allowing you to search for and download an MXM file from Maxwell's online MXM repository, the MXM Gallery. When you have located the MXM you would like to download, simply click the ‘Import’ button in the search window to import the selected MXM file into the Scene. The file will be downloaded and unzipped to one of three places:

1. If the current document has not been saved, the MXM and related files will be saved to the path specified in Maxwell MXED Preferences > Materials > MXM Gallery > Alternative Folder.
2. If no alternative folder has been specified in Maxwell MXED, they will be saved to [Documents]/Maxwell/mxmgallery.
3. If the current document has been saved, the MXM and related files will be saved to the standard textures folder, which will be created according to the same rules specified in the Pack & Go topic.

During this process, all files referenced by the newly-downloaded MXM will be copied to the destination directory, with the paths inside of the MXM file being altered to point to the new file locations, since many MXMs from the MXM Gallery contain paths which will not exist on your machine.

If Maxwell MXED is not found, it is because you don't have the RS license, so the plugin will attempt to navigate to the Maxwell MXM Gallery website in your default browser. After downloading the desired MXM file, you can import it using the Browse for an MXM File command.

MXM Status Report

Shows a listing of all materials in the scene, along with the status of their MXM links:

MXM files and their directories are shown as hyperlinks; clicking them will open MXM files for editing in Maxwell MXED (provided that you have the RS version), or open their location in Windows Explorer or OSX Finder. MXM files which cannot be found are indicated as such.

Scene & Camera Tools

The Scene Manager is the main user interface of the plugin, containing tab pages for editing Maxwell Materials, Cameras, Environment settings, Output settings, and global plugin Options. The Object Properties window is used to manage various rendering properties on a per-object basis. The Maxwell Grass, Sea, and Volumetric windows allow for setting up their respective render-time effects.

Select Tool

This command toggles on/off the plugin's Select Tool, which is used to sample materials from entities, and to add or remove them from the current selection set. When the tool is active, it uses the following modifier keys:

• SHIFT: add or remove the picked Group or Component from the selection.
• CTRL /Option (Win/OSX): add or remove the picked Face from the selection.
• ALT /Command (Win/OSX): set the material of the picked Group or Component as current.
• no modifier: set the material of the picked face as current.

Normally, it is necessary to use SketchUp's Paint Bucket tool to accomplish these things; however, it is not possible to use the Paint Bucket without also opening the SketchUp materials window, so you may oftentimes find this plugin tool to be preferable.

Set DOF, Z-Clip, or Z-Buffer

This command prompts for two input points. Depending on keyboard modifiers, these points will be used to set one of the following:

• SHIFT: set the current camera's Z-Clip planes.
• CTRL /Option(Win/OSX): set the Z-Buffer min/max distances.
• no modifier: set the DOF (Depth Of Field) of the current camera, while maintaining its current exposure.

Set Focal Distance

The focal distance of the SketchUp camera moves along with the camera as it is zoomed in and out; this causes objects which are in focus with the camera at one position to come out of focus as the camera is moved to a different position. It is often necessary, therefore, to re-adjust the camera's focal distance, and this is quickly done using the Set Focal Distance tool: just click this button and choose some point in the model.

Note that this Focal Distance is only used when the camera is using Manual focus mode.

Help & Info

Licensing

These commands only appear in the menu, and only in the Standalone plugin.

Command	SA	RS	Function
Upgrade Info			If it is possible to upgrade the currently-installed plugin, clicking the Upgrade Info menu item will show the appropriate web page in your default browser.
License Activator			Opens the Maxwell Render License Activator window. This command only appears in the Standalone plugin, when running without a license.