ARCHICAD - Version History

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.5 - 03 Feb 2025

COMPATIBILITY:

• Added support for Archicad 28. Please, notice on MacOS, the Archicad version for Intel processors has to be used, even on computers with Apple Silicon processors.

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.4 - 23 Nov 2023

COMPATIBILITY:

• Added support for Archicad 27. Please, notice on MacOS, the Archicad version for Intel processors has to be used, even on computers with Apple Silicon processors.

CHANGES:

• A new Maxwell Animation panel is shown after exporting the animation frames, offering the option to render them in Maxwell Render (in sequence), using the Maxwell Network System (creating an animation job) or using the Maxwell Cloud.

• The Maxwell Animation options of time and SL limits have been removed from the Preferences panel.

• FIRE is now refreshing the point of view when orbiting only when the mouse button is released instead of trying intermediate refreshes as it was causing the orbiting movement to get stuck.

• The Maxwell Grass tab was moved to the first place in the Surfaces dialogue so it is easier to close it and leave space for the main Maxwell material tab.

FIXES:

• FIRE GPU mode was running in CPU mode.

• Maxwell Material parameter changes were not saved with the Archicad material.

• Now the plugin installer fixes the issue with the libeay32.dll library file and automatically replaces it during the installation.

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.3 - 14 Nov 2022

COMPATIBILITY:

• Added support for Archicad 26. Please, notice on MacOS, the Archicad version for Intel processors has to be used, even on computers with Apple Silicon processors.

FIXES:

• In the case Maxwell FIRE or Maxwell Render was not used before in the active session, Maxwell Material preview didn’t start because of a licensing problem.

KNOW ISSUE:

• (Archicad 26 only) In the case inside the Surfaces dialog the Maxwell Grass tab is closed, the interface can flicker several times when changing from one material to another because Archicad opens/closes the Maxwell Grass section at every material change. WORKAROUND: We can avoid this problem by disabling the “Use scroll effects for dialog box panel opening” in the Options menu > Work Environment > Dialog Boxes and Palettes…

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.2 - 15 Dic 2021

COMPATIBILITY:

• Support for Archicad 25 Update 2 (build 4013).

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.1 - 06 Jul 2021

COMPATIBILITY:

• Added support for Archicad 25

• Removed support for Archicad 19 and 20

• Built for Maxwell Render 5.2.1.49

FIXES:

• Clicking on the Material ID or Object ID color boxes (in the Surfaces panel and the Maxwell Pallette) didn’t open the Color Selector dialog (AC24 only).

• Exporting to MXS file via “Save As…” Archicad File menu occasionally skipped some elements when exporting the scene.

• The color parameters (for example Object Id or Constant Dome color) were clamped to a maximum value of 254 (so full white was not possible).

CHANGES:

• Maxwell Render denoiser "Feature Influence" parameter default value is now 0.25 so it better preserves texture detail.

Maxwell Archicad v5.2.0 - 09 Mar 2021

COMPATIBILITY:

• Built for Maxwell Render 5.2.0.45

IMPROVEMENTS:

• New Denoiser implementation in Maxwell Render. Only one pass is needed, the denoiser information is now stored in the mxi file as another channel, better memory management for the denoising process, and more consistency in general.

• New Denoiser options in the PhotoRendering Settings > Denoiser / Extra Sampling tab:

  • New Tiling option with maximum tile size option.

  • New fine-tuning options: Color Influence 1 and 2, Feature Influence, Final Pass, Filter Radius and Firefly Remover options. Check this link for more information: Denoiser documentation page.

• New Denoiser channel added in the PhotoRendering Settings > Channels / Layers section as now the Denoiser is treated as another channel. This channel activation is synced with the Denoiser enabler in its section.

• Smarter material assignment for the lamps. The plugin now generates unique materials for lamps that differ in intensity and/or Multilight group and/or IES file.

• Now you can change the properties of several selected objects at the same time from the palette (for example, assign the same Multilight group several lights at the same time).

FIXES:

• Maxwell palette fields didn’t refresh correctly when the Surface Materials tab was open.

• (MacOS only) Multilight group names didn’t export correctly.

• (MacOS only) Custom Alphas functionality didn’t work properly.

• The Maxwell palette didn’t show the Object Properties sections in the case more than one object was selected.

• (Archicad 24 only) The Maxwell palette didn’t show the materials of the selected item under the Surface Materials section.

• The Denoiser “Auto Configure” mode was always exported in “Fast” mode.

CHANGES:

• The Denoiser “Start with SL” maximum value has been changed to 50 (from 10).

• The Denoiser “Start with SL” default value has been changed to 8 (it was 4).

• Render output depth of 24 bits has been removed from PhotoRendering Settings > General Settings > Output > Depth as Maxwell was not supporting it.

Version 5.1.2 - 22 Oct 2020

IMPROVEMENTS:

• (AC22 and above) FIRE window button and display sizes are scaled according to Archicad display settings.

• (OSX Retina display only) FIRE window uses the full resolution of the retina display (cleaner buttons/texts).

• Maxwell Library Objects (Referenced MXS, extensions, etc.) have a new display mode "Vertices (No BB)". This is basically the same as "Vertices" mode but it doesn't show the bounding box around the vertices.

FIXES:

• Maxwell Referenced MXS and Maxwell Extension type library objects sometimes didn't handle the library string parameter well (some particular file paths could cause this error); this produced that the Referenced MXS didn’t show the referenced objects in the viewport.

• (AC24 only) ARCHICAD crashed when the user opened FIRE settings from the FIRE window.

• (OSX only) The buttons text, messages, etc. inside the FIRE window were not readable in some cases with more than one display.

• In rare cases, scaled models were exported with wrong scale values to Maxwell.

• The vertex normals of the exported objects can be wrong in the case export mode is using "3D Window".

• (AC24 only) The numeric controls of the Surfaces dialog (inside the Maxwell tab) and the PhotoRendering Settings panel (inside Maxwell tabs) didn't store the new values when typed (only the spinner controls worked).

• It was not possible to re-scale the "Maxwell Referenced MXS" library object on the floor view.

• "Maxwell Referenced MXS" library object didn't update properly after path change.

• The displayed values for "A" and "B" dimensions of the "Maxwell Referenced MXS" library object were wrong.

CHANGES:

• Maxwell Default Material is ON by default, and its value is set to the Maxwell Material Database default.mxm file (if exists on the user computer). 

Version 5.1.1 - 16 Jul 2020

COMPATIBILITY:

• Added support for ARCHICAD 24

• Built for Maxwell Render 5.1.1.33

ADDITIONS:

• A new group of texture search folders has been added to the preferences; it is called  “Stored on the local computer”; these 5 paths will be saved in the preferences of the plugin on that machine (they won’t be saved in the project file). This helps in order to make Maxwell look for the textures on a local repository when moving the scene to a different machine or operating system.

IMPROVEMENTS:

• The Maxwell library objects now have new high-resolution icons inside the ARCHICAD Object settings dialog.

• The Maxwell palette’s main buttons now show more specific tooltips.

FIXES:

• (OSX only) MiniLib editor pop-up disappeared when the user tried to change the value.

CHANGES:

• The original folders of the Plugin preference "Texture Folders" tab are now inside the UI group "Stored in Project file"; these paths will be saved in the project file.

Version 5.1.0 - 13 May 2020

COMPATIBILITY:

• Built for Maxwell Render 5.1.0.29

IMPROVEMENTS:

• The Environment Settings panel is more compact now.

CHANGES:

• Maxwell Render settings "Globals" and "Scene conversion" options are now on a new roll-down panel.

FIXED:

• ARCHICAD doesn't store Maxwell material parameter changes in case ARCHICAD Surface Painter is ON.

Version 5.0.0 - 06 Feb 2020

ADDITIONS:

• Added a button and menu option for Maxwell Cloud

• Added a button to control the used GPUs for the GPU render engine.

• Added a Multilight group parameter to Archicad light object parameters

• Added a Multilight group parameter to Archicad materials when the Maxwell material mode is Emitter.

CHANGES:

• Help now opens the Maxwell V5 plugin documentation.

FIXES:

• Now the plugin checks if there is a new version available

• Archicad sometimes crashed when quitting if Fire was running on OSX.

Version 4.2.7 - 03 Oct 2019

VERSION SUPPORT CHANGES:

• Added support for ARCHICAD 23

• Removed support for ARCHICAD 16, 17 and 18

CHANGES:

• Maxwell Material parameters have been reorganized to have cleaner, simpler and more compact look.

• The material parameter "use MXM" was removed, now you can find the MXM material mode inside the list of Material Modes.

• Emission Material parameter "Use Emission Color" was removed, now there is a new "Emission Color" parameter where you can choose from the "AC Emission Color" and "Temperature" modes.

• Some of the Maxwell Render Settings have been reorganized:

  • Tab "Output" has been renamed to "Post-Process".

  • Image/mxi format and autosave controls have been moved to the General Settings.

  • "Simulens" is now inside the "Post-Process" tab.

  • Denoiser and the new controls for Extra Sampling are under a new tab.

  • Removed Control for the export Scene Name "Auto" switch. (If there is no name, it is exported in auto mode)

ADDITIONS:

• Added material flag Shadow to easily tag a material as a shadow catcher in the shadows channel.

• Added material flag Matte to easily tag a material as a matte material (it makes it show the background of the scene).

• Added controls for Extra Sampling (Render Settings Dialog).

• FIRE follows changes triggered by the Opening tool.

FIXES:

• Material with Emitter mode + IES/EULUMDAT froze ARCHICAD in the case the ies/eulumdat file doesn't exist.

• The render camera didn't follow correctly the ARCHICAD camera (in some cases).
  NOTE (in the case Maxwell Resolution is by Render Size): by setting the "Apply Render Safe Frame" to ON (This check box is among the ARCHICAD PhotoRendering Settings > Size tab), ARCHICAD shows the safe frame that the exported Maxwell camera uses.

• Maxwell Referenced MXS didn't show the geometry in the viewport in ARCHICAD 20 or newer (in the case file name or folder name in the path starts with the 't' character).

Version 4.2.5 - 26 Feb 2019

Changes:

• Added two new ColorSpaces: ACES and HDTV (Rec.709).

• Added two new parameters at Maxwell for ARCHICAD Preferences Dialog > General Tab > Animation: Render Time in Anim and SL in Anim. In earlier versions, these parameters came up in a dialog before the animation render started, but that caused ARCHICAD crash under OSX, so now these are editable from the Preferences dialog.

• The MXM Web Gallery downloads the files into a fixed Gallery folder. This folder is by default in Documents/Maxwell/ac2mxs/WebGallery folder, but the user can set a custom directory for the Gallery downloads inside Preferences.

• Added new Preference parameter "Use custom folder for MXM Gallery downloads". This was added to the Preferences dialog "Texture Folders" tab.

Fixes:

• MXM Web Browser didn't place the imported mxm file into the download directory.

• MXM browser didn't show the folder icons.

• FIRE window crashed under Mac OS Mojave.

• Maxwell Material preview didn't show the texture in "Use mxm" mode if ARCHICAD texture was not set for the material.

• Channel Render mode "Reflections + Refractions" was exported as "Diffuse + Reflections".

Version support changes:

• We dropped support for ARCHICAD versions 16, 17, and 18 in MacOS. In the case of Windows we managed to support these versions, so we still support from ARCHICAD 16 to 22.

Version 4.2.3 - 01 Oct 2018

Fixes:

• ARCHICAD crashed when the user changes the Referenced MXS display mode.

• Library object of Maxwell Extensions could crash ARCHICAD.

Version 4.2.2 - 18 Jul 2018

Changes:

• Add support for ARCHICAD 22

Version 4.2.1 - 21 Feb 2018

Changes:

• Built with Maxwell SDK 4.2.0.3.

Version 4.2.0 - 09 Feb 2018

Changes:

• Improved. FIRE voxelization time can be much shorter now, which improves the FIRE workflow.

• Improved. Light export reads now the AC Lights intensity parameter.

• Improved. Light export reads now the C4D Lights intensity parameter (in case of C4D lights).

• Improved. (C4D Lights) in case the API doesn't give valid light color value, exporter reads it directly from the library parameters.

• Improved. C4D IES Light is exported as IES light to Maxwell.

• Improved. The plugin uses a different method to check the compatibility of its GDL addon module, so the module version file is not needed anymore. It should simplify the process.

• Added Maxwell Render priority parameter (PhotoRendering Settings > General Settings).

• Added Render Region type and size options (PhotoRendering Settings > Maxwell Camera).

• Changed Shift Lens Offset range changed from -100.0%-100.0% to -1000.0%-1000.0%

• Improved render safe frame.

• Added Custom Alphas output channel controls to "Render Settings > Channel/Layers".

• Added "Open Custom Alpha Editor" button to "Render Settings > Channel/Layers".

• Added Custom Alphas editor (similar to Studio Custom Alphas editor).

• Added "Create Custom Alphas" button to Maxwell Object Properties.

• Added "Open Custom Alpha Editor" button to Maxwell Object Properties.

• Added "Create Custom Alphas" button to "Surface Settings > Maxwell Materials Settings".

• Added (but disabled) new plugin Preferences tab "GPUs" - Here user can control which GPUs are used by the Maxwell Render engine. Will be enabled when the feature is ready for Maxwell.

• Added new Triangle ID channel output controls to the Maxwell Render Settings "Channels Layers" tab.

• Added Triangle ID output channel controls (Render Settings > Channel/Layers).

• Improved MXM material browser remembers the folder the last mxm material was picked from.

• Added Pack and Go menu.

• Added Pack and Go button.

• Changed Plugin Palette Maxwell Studio and Maxwell Network buttons have been merged into one button.

• Improved Mini Lib Editor - Quick change pop-up is adjusted to stay fully inside the screen rectangle.

• Added new library parameter "Show Base 2D" - now it is possible to hide the base rectangle in floor view (warning: selection of the object can be more difficult).

• Added new display modes bounding box full, placeholder text.

• Added new library parameter placeholder text.

Fixes:

• There were some problems with poly percentage library setting.

• (AC21) mxm browser crashed sometimes.

• Sometimes Sun North value parameter was 0 after exporting to Studio.

Version 4.1.4 - 09 Jan 2018

Fixes:

• Several stability issues.

Version 4.1.3 - 27 Jul 2017

Changes:

• Built With Maxwell SDK 4.1.1.1

• Default Grass Type was changed to "Flat"

Version 4.1.2 - 29 Jun 2017

Changes:

• The plugin can not install its GDL add-on in case the ARCHICAD Add-Ons folder is write protected. If it happens it opens a message dialog informing the user to copy the GDL add-on files manually.

• Added library parameter; "Display Percentage 2D" has been added to Maxwell Referenced MXS and Extension library objects. So it is possible to reduce the number of displayed lines on the Floor Views too.

Fixes:

• (AC 21) Maxwell Material Preview doesn't fit into the ARCHICAD material preview window.

• Conversion of Diffuse type materials was wrong (roughness is 0 instead fo 100)

• Some random crash during export.

Version 4.1.1 - 19 Jun 2017

Changes:

• With Maxwell SDK 4.1.0.4

Fixes:

• After plugin files were deleted ARCHICAD shows only empty geometry in place of the Maxwell Lib objects. (From now it shows a GDL add-on was not loaded message.)

Version 4.1.0 - 08 Jun 2017

Changes:

• Built with Maxwell SDK 4.1.0.3

• Change plugin to use central Maxwell installation.

• Render parameter "Quality" has been renamed to "Engine", engine parameter names are: CPU Production, CPU Draft, GPU

• Maxwell Palette is Dockable

• (only for version AC20 and later) Open/Closing tabs on the Maxwell palette happens without animation (= faster UI handling)

• CPU Threads can have minus value (minus value means the maximum number of CPUs minus this number).

• Info text "All" or "All-..." was added after the CPU Threads control (to show the actual behavior).

• Maxwell Library object - the internal handling of Maxwell Library objects (Maxwell Extensions and Maxwell Referenced MXS) has been redesigned. From the user perspective, the main benefits are speed and memory space.

  • SPEED - changing rotation or other library parameters can be faster with x5-x15

  • SPEED - adding new library object to scene can be faster with x3

  • MEMORY - it is not needed to store geometry data of Maxwell Library objects inside the pln file, so it can be much lighter without these.

• Maxwell Library object - Removed 3D rotation tool display in 2D (it was more disturbing than useful).

• Maxwell Library object - Rotation Tool - interactive mode is much faster, more interactive now.

• Maxwell Library object - default display percentage is set to 1.0 (for a faster display, it is OK now to view it without reduction).

• Maxwell Library object - beside the poly number percentage reduction, there is now a polygon reduction mode for AC display.

• Maxwell Library object - object has X,Y,Z Scale values.

• Maxwell Library object - A,B ZZYZX parameters show the real size of the object (changing A, B or ZZYZX changes the respective X,Y,Z Scale values).

• Maxwell Library object - proper Display of objects in the AC Library Object Editor.

• Maxwell Library object - new 2D display for the floor plan views.

Added:

• Support for ARCHICAD 21

• New Denoiser controls (added to Maxwell Render Settings -> "General Settings" tab)

• New Dockable/ not Dockable status button was added to the palette up/right corner.

KNOWN ISSUE AC18 or below:

• Changing A B ZZYZX or the new Scale values inside AC Library Object Editor can cause scaling problems.

Version 4.0.3 - 29 Dec 2016

Changes:

• Built With Maxwell SDK 4.0.0.12

Fixes:

• FIRE doesn't run the scene where an object has grass assigned to it, but not on all faces.

• Textures with unistring file names are exported with wrong characters in file name.

Version 4.0.2 - 28 Nov 2016

Changes:

• Built With Maxwell SDK 4.0.0.11

Version 4.0.1 - 02 Nov 2016

Changes:

• Improved Better support for non-English characters

• Removed Legacy button has been removed from the plugin panel

• Improved New plugin Update window with better display of version Changes

• Added Last Skipped plugin version number is now editable at Plugin Preferences > General

• Added New "Check for Update" button to Plugin Preferences > General

• Changed Clicking on the render preview window inside PhotoRendering Settings starts Maxwell Render (instead of starting Maxwell FIRE as it was before)

Fixes:

• Fixed Fly-Through or Sun Study animation rendering (in case Maxwell Renderer is the active rendering engine) can crash ARCHICAD

• Fixed Maxwell Extension Library items don't show preset types and some UI elements (UI groups)

• Fixed Plugin can't find Maxwell Material preview scenes

• Fixed Plugin searches for Update even if auto update is turned off

• Fixed Closing FIRE window while the FIRE log Window is open, can unstabilize the program.

• Fixed (OSX) FIRE window is always on the top, even in case ARCHICAD is not the active application.

Version 3.2.3 - August 01, 2016

Changes:

• Changed: the ":" character was replaced with ")" character in the camera names (for cameras exported from Camera paths).

• Improved: in the Path Fix dialog the Apply button is enabled only in case there are available user changes...

• Changed: The old method for adding MXS Referenced item to the ARCHICAD project is obsolete now, its button from the Maxwell panel has been removed. Please use the new method (via library object Embedded Library > Maxwell Library)

• Improved: The display percentage value of Maxwell Lib objects is now limited to range 0-1 (to prevent setting it to outside of range values)

• Changed: Simulens Frequency control is now placed under the Simulens Diffraction control.

• Built with Maxwell SDK version 3.2.1.3

• Added: Support for ARCHICAD 20

• Added: (Minimum requirement: AC version 18) New Automated option to display mxm texture files under ARCHICAD.
  (Inside the ARCHICAD "Surface Settings" dialog under "Maxwell Material Settings" tab click on ">>> Texture To AC"

• Improved: faster export of Curtain Walls (Rebuild of lib can be needed)

• Improved: Maxwell Extension object libary - Better stability and new Faces display mode

• Improved: Referenced mxs library - New faces display mode

Fixes:

• FIXED: Maxwell Extension Library objects - Pop-Up list type parameters doesn't show the list choices

• FIXED: (WIN) ARCHICAD can not quit until the opened Maxwell Studio or Maxwell Render is not closed.

• FIXED: (OSX) Sometimes ARCHICAD can not quit correctly after the Surface Settings dialog (with Maxwell material parameters) was opened.

• FIXED: (OSX) After re-opening the Surface Settings dialog, the Maxwell Material preview doesn't refresh.

• FIXED: Changing Maxwell parameter of objects is not always undo-able

• FIXED: Extension fileType opener handles extension types better (for example AssetReference)

Version 3.2.0 - October 05, 2015

Changes:

• Added: Reflectance channel option

• Changed: default channel format has been changed to exr32

• Added: opens Maxwell Fundamentals Video page before exporting to Studio or Maxwell Render

• Added: can save render output image in PSD format (8,16 and 32 bit)

• Improved: "Maxwell Render Settings > Channels Layers > Render parameter" has new options: "All, Diffuse, Reflection, Refraction, Diffuse + Reflection, Diffuse + Refraction"

• Added: New material parameter "Nested Priority"

Version 3.1.3 - July 08, 2015

Changes:

• Added: ARCHICAD 19 support

• Added: new Lamp export parameter "Unique Material". This flag can be extremely useful if you want to use MultiLight. In case this flag is off, lights with similar light types will use the same material.

Version 3.1.0 - Jan 28, 2015

Changes:

• Added: Render Output parameters: "Temperature" and "Tint"

• Improved: new preferences option to check file references at file open (or don't - it can make file open faster).

• Changed: built with Maxwell SDK 3.1 (needs Maxwell 3.1)

• Changed: mini lib parameter min/max limits removed (it was not always correct)

• Changed: spot light are exported with the new Maxwell spot light mode.

• Added: new Mini Lib Editor display parameter "Param name". It it is on Mini Lib editor will show the param names instead of the user names of the params.

• Added: FIRE preferences parameters "Floating Features"

• Changed: render setting parameter "Time" default value has been changed to 5 mins.

• Changed: render setting parameter "Sampling Level" default value has been changed to 12.

• Improved: added new camera parameter "Response"

• Improved: easier to adjust camera exposure with the available presets or choose "Locked" mode to change ISO, shutter and fStop without changing the overall exposure.

• Improved: (Installer) in most cases the installer program finds the valid ARCHICAD Add-on folder automatically.

• Improved: Mini Lib Editor - length, angle and real value display follows the ARCHICAD system unit display.

• Improved: Camera "Focus dis." and Z-Clip range parameters + Channel parameter "Min. Dist" have been changed to length type, so ARCHICAD displays these parameters according to the AC system unit mode.

• Added: new License Status button on the plugin panel (at the bottom left corner). Clicking on this button you can change the status of your license - (activate or release).

• Changed: Plugin doesn't check plugin license status at ARCHICAD start, but only if it needs it (for example exporting mxs or starting FIRE). So until Maxwell is not used it doesn't occupy the floating license.

• Added: Info box for Render Settings panel

• Added: new Maxwell camera parameter "Axo dist.". (In case there are strange surface holes in AXO view, changing this parameter can help.)

• Improved: Main plugin panel was rewritten. Now it is possible to open/close sub-tabs (Object settings, Mini Lib Editor, Referenced MXS list)

  • + lists (library parameters, Referenced MXS parts) are resizable.

  • + after undo-redo plugin panels display is updated.

  • + object properties have sliders

  • + object properties have been reorganized

  • + added material panel - to show the materials of the selected objects

• Improved: (AC18) Render Settings are stored by saved views (it is possible to set different Maxwell render settings for the different AC views)

• Added: (AC18) Support for saved photoRendering settings

• Added: (AC18) Clicking on the render preview opens up the FIRE window

• Support for ARCHICAD18

• Changed: Plugin preferences dialog tab "Export" has been renamed to General

• Added: Plugin version checking at ARCHICAD program start. The plugin informs the user about new version.

• Added: New plugin Preferences dialog > General parameter "Check for Plugin updates at program start"

• Improved: mxs overwrite warning dialog shows the mxs file name

• Added: New Maxwell Render setting parameter "Auto" (before the Scene Name parameter). In Auto mode the plugin automatically generates the scene name from the ARCHICAD file name.

Fixes:

• FIXED: ortho view - strange roll angle in Studio