Rhino 6 and newer - MXM Gallery Panel

Owned by Next Limit
Last updated: 12 Apr, 2023
4 min read
MXM Gallery Panel on Windows
MXM Gallery Panel on MacOS

This new MXM Gallery Panel will provide a faster and better way of browsing the online materials gallery.

 

How to open it

You can toggle the panel from the fourth button of the Materials toolbar:

Or using the command Maxwell_ToggleMXMGallery

Also, you will find it in the side panel gear icon menu named as Maxwell MXM Gallery (in this case, it will open docked in the side panel).

In the case of MacOS, all the options above will open the panel docked, which may not be the most convenient option (we couldn’t find a way of opening it as floating by code). If you prefer to open it as a floating panel you should go to the Window menu > Floating Panels > Show Maxwell MXM Gallery Panel

Getting the MXM Gallery as a floating panel on MacOS

User interface

 

The new interface opens much faster than the previous one. If you don’t see any thumbnails, try making a search or just resize the window or the thumbnail size using the slider at the top-right corner of the search result area.

On the right side you will find two tabs:

  • The Search tab will make it easier for you to find a particular material by using the Name field or using the different keywords inside the application, color, finish, type or material pack categories. You can use the Clear button to remove all the keywords marked up to that moment and start a different search. The search result will update automatically on the left side as you change things on the right side.

  • As soon as you select a material on the left side, its information will be shown on the right side in the Info tab.

Once you have found the material or materials you want, you can select one or more of them and use one of the big buttons below to add the materials to the Rhino scene. One will import them as custom (or embedded) and the other one as referenced.

If you use the Ctrl key, you can select several materials at the same time and they will all be added to the Rhino scene when you hit one of the buttons at the bottom of the panel.

 

Where are the materials downloaded?

This is controlled from the Document Properties panel > Maxwell Render on Windows or from Rhino Settings > Maxwell Render section on MacOS

MXM Gallery section in the Document Properties panel on Windows
MXM Gallery section in the Rhino Settings panel > Maxwell Render section on MacOS

 

By default, the option to “Download to Out Folder” will be marked, so the materials will be downloaded and extracted in the same folder where your renders will be saved. This “Out Folder” can be set in the Rendering panel > Output tab.

If you have not set any path there, the materials will be stored next to the Rhino scene file and if it has not been saved, they will go to the default folder:

  • On Windows: C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Maxwell\Maxwell for Rhino\Default MXS Output

  • On MacOS: /Users/<username>/Maxwell/Maxwell for Rhino/Default MXS Output

If you wish to have a unique place to save all the materials you have downloaded, you can set an “Alternative folder”. This way, all the materials will always be stored in the same place.

You can additionally activate the “To sub-folder” checkbox so each material is stored inside its own folder. This is quite convenient so the textures are more organized and are not overwritten by other material’s textures in the case they have the same name.