SolidWorks - Menu and Toolbar

The plugin adds a new Maxwell item to the SolidWorks main menu:

It also adds a new Maxwell toolbar, which may be enabled by right-clicking in a toolbar area and enabling the Maxwell item.

The provided commands, which are available from either the menu or the toolbar, are separated into several groups:

Plugin Windows

The first group of commands are used to show/hide or dock/undock (from the SolidWorks Task Pane) the various plugin windows.

Command	Function
Scene Manager	Un-dock or dock the Maxwell Scene Manager window.
Database Manager	Un-dock or dock the Maxwell Database Manager window.
Material Editor	Toggle visibility of the Material Editor.
Log Viewer	Toggle visibility of the Log Viewer.

Camera Tools

The plugin provides both an LCD-style camera readout, which is a floating window containing various camera controls, and a heads-up-display, which is drawn over the active SolidWorks viewport, and indicates the current values of various camera parameters.

Command	Function
Camera LCD Panel	Toggle visibility of the Camera LCD panel.
Camera Heads-Up Display	Toggle the Camera heads-up display.

MXS Export & Rendering

The commands in this group are used to export the model to Maxwell's format, either purely in memory in the case of Maxwell Fire, or to an MXS file, in order that the model might be edited in Maxwell Studio, or rendered in Maxwell Render.

Command	Function
Render Scene	Export the model to an MXS file, and render that file in Maxwell Render.
Render Region	Select a region to render in Region mode, export the model to an MXS file, and render that file in Maxwell Render.
Render Blow-up	Select a region to render in Blow-up mode, export the model to an MXS file, and render that file in Maxwell Render.
Export to MXST	Export the model to an MXS file, and open that file in Maxwell Studio.
Export MXS File	Export the model to an MXS file.
Maxwell Fire	Un-dock or dock the Maxwell Fire window in the SolidWorks Task Pane.

Scene Data Management

If desired, you can use the commands in this group to save the current state of the Maxwell Scene (i.e. all parameters contained in the Scene Manager) to a file, or to read a previously-saved state from disk.

Command	Function
Export Scene Data	Save all Scene Manager parameters to an .sxl file for sharing or for later use.
Import Scene Data	Prompts for the location of an .sxl file to import.

Animation Tools

There are two methods of working with animation in the plugin: automatic and manual.

Automatic Animation

Each of the following commands brings up an interactive dialog box which is used to animate the SolidWorks camera, or execute a Motion Study. To use them, click the desired command and follow the instructions you find in the dialog which is shown.

Command	Function
Zoom Animation	Bring up the plugin’s Zoom animation dialog.
Turntable Animation	Bring up the plugin’s Turntable animation dialog.
Motion Study Animation	Bring up the plugin’s Motion Study animation dialog.

Manual Animation

Normally, MXS export is a one-shot operation: the model is exported to MXS, and the resulting MXS file is then rendered in Maxwell Render. However, using the tools in this group, it is possible to perform several exports in a row, and then to render them all as a sequence when you are finished. This is done using a frame counter variable which is reset whenever Begin Animation is called, and incremented each time an MXS is written after that call.

Command	Function
Begin Animation	Sets up the animation loop, creates animation-output folders, and resets the frame counter. Until the animation loop is ended or cancelled, MXS output will be redirected to the animation folders, and Maxwell Render will not be started.
End Animation	Ends the current animation loop (if there is one), and renders any queued frames in Maxwell Render.
Cancel Animation	Cancels the animation loop, if there is one in effect

Help & Info

This group contains commands for showing plugin or Maxwell Render help, and the plugin's About box.

Command	Function
Maxwell Help	Show either the plugin or the Maxwell Render PDF manual.
About	Show the plugin's About box, which contains information about the currently-running version.