Rhino 6 and newer - Maxwell Object Properties
The Properties panel includes a special section for the Maxwell features of the different objects. It will show the Maxwell options available for the objects selected. If nothing is selected, this panel will show the Maxwell properties for the active camera (these are described here: Maxwell Camera Properties .
First, you will find the visibility flags and some other common attributes of all the objects:
Parameter | Functionality |
|---|---|
Hide | Hides the object in the render. It won’t be computed at all and it won’t contribute to the light solution in any way. |
The object won’t be directly visible in the camera, but it will be computed and it will contribute to the light solution, producing shadows and blocking the light. The object will be visible in the reflections and through the refractions of other objects. | |
The object won’t block other objects shadows in the Shadow channel. For this to work, it is important that the object is not a shadow catcher (its material doesn’t have the shadow option active). Check this link for more information. | |
The object will be visible for the camera, but it won’t cast shadows or generate caustics. The look of the object will be normal and, if it’s transparent, it will refract the objects behind it correctly, however, the light will go through it like if there were no object. This can be a quick solution for water surfaces or glass objects were caustics or shadows are not important. | |
Hide from Refl./Refr. (Reflections and Refractions) | The object will be visible to the camera but won’t be seen in the reflections of other objects or through refractive ones. It will contribute to the light solution. |
The object won’t be affected by the Z-clip planes of the camera and will remain uncut. | |
Opacity (%) | This parameter will lower the opacity of the object globally. This is a vanishing effect more than proper transparency. |
Recalculate normals | Normally, the plugin will keep the smoothing of the objects untouched as it is received from Rhino. Activating this option will force the smoothing of the object to be recalculated at render time based on the angle of the different faces' normal. |
This is the color of the object in the Object ID channel. | |
Backface Material | Normally, the material applied to an object is visible on both sides of the triangles that make the geometry. With this option, you can apply a different material to the backfaces of a particular object. Please, notice the emitters will only emit light from the front face. |
These options replace the object with one of the boolean objects that cut the geometry in the scene at render time. The light solution is not affected, but the geometry that is cut away is hidden to the camera, so you can see through it. This is similar to the Rhino clipping planes. The Box type is the most useful for rhino. Here is a video showing how you can use it inside Rhino. Check here for more information. |
Custom alphas box
From this panel, you check if the selected object is assigned to one or more custom alpha channels. The list will show its current assignments. You will find a similar panel in the Global Properties of each material to assign the materials to other custom alpha channels.
In order to obtain the custom alpha channel, you have to activate the Custom Alpha channel in the Output tab of the Rendering panel so all the alpha channels are rendered. You will find more information about the Custom Alpha channel on this page: Custom Alpha channel
Using the + button, you can assign the object to one of the existing channels or create a new one that will contain that object.
You can use the - button to remove the object from a particular channel (you have to select the channel first).
The E button will open the Maxwell Custom Alpha editor panel so you can create new channels and assign objects or materials to them with more freedom.
Extensions box
You can use this panel to assign the extensions that work as modifiers to the selected object. These are the Maxwell Grass, the Maxwell Scatter and the Subdivision Modifier.
As before, with the + button you can assign new or existing extensions to the selected object and with the - button you can remove the assignment.
The E button will open the extensions panel so you can edit the properties of each extension in detail.
To know more about the Maxwell extensions, please, visit this page: Maxwell Extensions
Referenced MXS
If the selected object is a referenced MXS object, you will find here some extra options for it:
In the File box, you can change the mxs file linked in the referenced MXS object.
Using the Object ID dropdown menu, you can choose between these options:
Container ID: all the objects in the reference will feature one unique color in the Object ID channel which is set in the Maxwell Object Properties panel (a bit above).
Content ID: the objects in the reference will take the object ID color from the original file (so each object will have a different color).
Recolor: all the objects in the reference will feature a different color and these will be different from the original file.
You can change its “Display Mode Type” from Bounding Box (a unique bounding box), to Object Bounding Boxes (one bounding box per object in the mxs file) or Faces (shows the full geometry included in the mxs file):
This is the look of a referenced MXS in the three display mode types as seen in Wireframe, Shaded and Rendered viewport modes
Extension objects
Some other special objects such as the Extension objects (Maxwell Sea and Maxwell Volumetrics) can show their properties here too. Please check this page of the documentation for more information: Extension objects.
Rhino blocks and instances
It’s important to know that when you use Rhino blocks, they are translated into Maxwell instances at render time. The benefit of the instances is that each of them only counts as one object in terms of memory used, so it will be very convenient to use them in case you are going to repeat several high-poly objects in your scene, such as trees, groups of furniture, or any other detailed meshes.