SketchUp - Output

Name

The name entered here will be used to name the various output files generated by Maxwell: the output MXS, MXI, and image files. If no Name is specified, then the name of the current SketchUp document will be used. If the SketchUp document has not yet been saved, the output will be named Untitled. Additionally, several macros may be used to dynamically build the output name:

• %skp > The SKP file name, e.g. Untitled

• %scene > The SketchUp Scene name, e.g. Top

• %date > The SketchUp Scene name, e.g. Top

• %time > Time in HHMMSS format, e.g. 132238

• %Y > Year, in 4-digits, e.g. 2012

• %m > Month, from 01 to 12

• %b > Month name, abbreviated, e.g. Jan

• %B > Month name, e.g. January

• %d > Day, from 01 to 31

• %H > Hour, from 00 to 23

• %M > Minute, from 00 to 59

• %S > Second, from 00 to 59

So for example, setting the output name to %skp-%scene might result in an output name of Untitled-Top.mxs.The format of the output image is determined by the value selected in the drop-down on the right.

Folder

The output will be written into the folder specified here. If no folder is specified, the output will be written at the same location as the current SketchUp document. If the SketchUp document has not yet been saved, the output will be saved in the [user's documents]/Maxwell/output folder, located in the current user's Documents directory or in [user’s Home]/Maxwell/output on MacOS.

The SketchUp plugin API provides no folder browser. This means that in order to select a folder here, you must actually choose a file inside the desired folder – the plugin will take the chosen file path, extract the folder part, and use that. On Windows, the plugin does provide a folder browser here, when the Options > User Interface > File Browsers option is set to Custom.

Mode

The Mode parameter controls the plugin's behavior in exporting MXS files when the target file already exists. By default, the plugin will prompt you to indicate whether or not you wish to overwrite the existing file. Optionally, by setting the Mode parameter appropriately, you can choose to always overwrite, and thereby avoid the overwrite prompt, or to have the plugin scan the target folder and generate a new, unique output name. When this last option is chosen, an incrementing four-digit number will be appended to the specified Name, i.e. Untitled.mxs will become Untitled_0001.mxs, Untitled_0002.mxs, and so on.

Pack & Go

When this option is enabled, the plugin will copy all files referenced by the output MXS into a textures directory, located in the output folder. Additionally, all file paths contained in the MXS file will be transformed into relative paths, in order that an MXS file may more easily be moved from machine to machine.

Use Instances

When this option is enabled, the plugin will attempt to replace any possible Components and Groups with Maxwell Instances in the output. This can result in drastically reduced memory requirements, as well as greatly improved export performance. This option is always enabled in the Standalone plugin, since there exists no reason to disable it.

Face Materials

Where SketchUp supports different front and back materials for faces, Maxwell does not. Therefore, as the model is being exported, the plugin first attempts to find a face's front material and to then build a Maxwell material for the face using this SketchUp material. If the face has no front material, the plugin will check to see if it has a back material, and if it does, then that material will be used.

Setting this option to Use Front Only will cause the plugin to disregard back materials entirely.

Hidden Layers

 By default, the plugin will not render geometry located on layers which are hidden in SketchUp. Setting Hidden Layers to Render disables this check, such that all geometry contained in the scene will be exported, regardless of the visibility state of its layer. This can be useful in cases where high-resolution geometry has been placed on a hidden layer for the express purpose of keeping SketchUp more responsive.

Auto MXM

 When this option is enabled, the plugin will attempt to match SketchUp material names with the names of MXM files found in any of the Search Paths specified in the Options panel (standard Maxwell installation directories will also be searched). When a match is found, the MXM file will be used in the MXS.

Proxies

When this option is enabled, the plugin will attempt to replace Component Definitions with the suffix _proxy in their name with definitions whose names match, but without the _proxy suffix. This allows for export-time replacement of low-poly geometry with hidden high-poly geometry

For example, assume that a Component is shown in the viewport, and the Definition for this Component is named 'airplane_proxy'. During export, the plugin will search for a different Definition in the document named 'airplane'. If such a definition is found, then any occurrence of 'airplane_proxy' will be replaced with the geometry contained in the 'airplane' Definition during export.

Stop Time

This value controls the amount of time, in minutes, that Maxwell Render will continue calculating the output image. Generally, for single frames, this should be left at a very high value, with Maxwell being stopped manually only when the image has reached the desired level of quality.

Sampling Level

This value controls the Sampling Level at which Maxwell Render will stop the calculation. Generally, this should be left at a high value to prevent Maxwell stopping before the image is finished. For unattended batch rendering, however, it is useful to set this to the lowest acceptable value for the scene in question. This will provide a time-independent method for rendering multiple frames to a common quality level.

Threads

This value controls the number of Threads that Maxwell Render will use. While named Threads, this usually means how many CPU cores will be used by Maxwell Render. When Threads is set to 0, Maxwell will auto-detect and leverage all available resources.

Priority

Lets you choose the priority of the render process. Change it to “Normal” if some other process impedes Maxwell from rendering at full speed. It is set by default to “Low”.

Engine

It lets you choose between Production (default CPU engine for Maxwell), Draft (default CPU engine for Fire) or GPU. If you choose GPU, a new gear button will show letting you select which GPUs you want to use for rendering (if there are more than one). For more information about the GPU engine, please, check this page: GPU engine.

Multilight

This drop-down controls whether Maxwell's Multilight feature will be enabled during rendering. There are two Multilight modes available: Intensity and Color + Intensity. Note that the use of Multilight will greatly increase the memory required to render the scene, since separate output buffers must be maintained for each emitter contained in the scene. The Color + Intensity option multiplies this requirement even further.

Command Line

Anything entered here will be added to the command-line used to start Maxwell Render. By default, it contains the -d flag, which causes Maxwell Render to start in GUI mode, and the -p:low flag, which causes it to run in low-priority mode. There are many other command-line flags available, and you can get the current list by opening a command prompt, navigating to the Maxwell directory, and typing maxwell /?.