ArchiCAD plugin - Version History

Owned by
marton (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 03 Dec, 2013 by
Mihai Iliuta (Unlicensed)
Version comment
5 min read

Version 2.7.5

Changes

  • Compatibility with ArchiCAD 17
  • Added: New switch control "Export multi-references as Instance". If it is ON and you have more objects from the same reference MXS placed in the scene, second, third, etc. reference objects will be exported as Instances (consumes less memory).
  • Added: New switch control "Skip Zone elements" inside the "PhotoRendering Settings" dialog "Scene Conversion" settings.
  • Added: New Emitter Types ("Lumen", "Lux", "Candela", "Luminance")

Fixes

  • FIXED: Mirrored MXS reference objects are exported in wrong orientation.

Version 2.7.4

Changes

  • Changed: In case Maxwell sun is turned off (Environment panel) sun Power and Temperature controls are still visible and editable.
  • Added: Load/Save buttons to read write Sky presets. (Plugin currently doesn't load sun location/time values from the sky preset file.)
  • Added: Preset loader dialog can show the thumbnails of the sky presets.
  • Changed: Mesh "Smooth Angle" and material "Clamp Reflectance" parameters have been moved to the "PhotoRendering Settings" dialog Maxwell "General Settings" panel. These settings have visible result on the exported scenes, so it is more logical to store these there.
  • Added: New "Radiance multiplier" setting in the "PhotoRendering Settings" dialog Maxwell "General Settings" panel. It is a global emission multiplier for auto-converted ArchiCAD materials.
  • Added: New material parameter "Hide Geometry" (only for emitter type materials). To make it easy to create invisible emitter. (You have to restart FIRE to see the result.)
  • Added: New material parameter "Embed in the scene" - normally plugin saves the referenced mxm file into the scene file, but it is possible now to keep it referenced only.
  • Changed: Automatic material conversion - the method how the plugin handles the emitter component has been updated, no it follows better the emission power what you see on the internal AC render.
  • Added: Plugin exports the light components of Lamp type objects.
  • Added: New light parameter "Export Light" setting in the "PhotoRendering Settings" dialog Maxwell "General Settings" panel. You can globally turn on/off light export.
  • Improved: FIRE performance and stability
  • Added: New camera parameters "autofocus" and "focusDist" in the "PhotoRendering Settings" dialog "Camera" panel.
  • Added: Automatic path checking and easy (semi-automatic) path replacement in case plugin can't find mxm material, mxs reference, and other plugin related files.
  • Improved: Legacy options - it is more automatic now (no need to set Maxwell Render as default render engine), and imports back all the mxm paths from the old plugin data (not just the materials which are visible in the 3D window).
  • Added: New input file name field in the Maxwell "Material Browser" dialog
  • Added: You can set Maxwell item parameters for ArchiCAD objects (Maxwell hidden flags + Light options) (Known issue: undo doesn't work for the object parameter changes in case user is inside the 3D window.)

Fixes

  • FIXED: Plugin doesn't export some texture images in case texture export directory still doesn't exist.
  • FIXED: Sometimes FIRE doesn't refresh or doesn't add new geometry.
  • FIXED: (Windows only) possible crash at FIRE restart.
  • FIXED: Switching from emitter material to non-emitter material causes wrong pixels in the Maxwell material preview window.
  • FIXED: Possible freeze/crash in FIRE mode.
  • FIXED: (OSX only) possible texture export problem in case of non-common characters.
  • FIXED: Animation export problem: Maxwell can't save mxi and image output files after frame 0009. (Only if the last character of the exported file name is a number.)

Version 2.7.3

Changes

  • New export mode "3D Window" (this is now the default). The original export mode (export mode used in 2.7.2) is called "Independent". You can change between the two modes in the plugin Preferences dialog.
  • In "3D Window" mode plugin exports the geometries exactly as those are in the ArchiCAD 3D window.
      Advantages of "3D Window" mode:
       - export can be faster (it depends on the scene - for example export of scenes with many solid operations are much faster)
        - ArchiCAD 3D Cutting Planes and Marque mode works as expected
        - UV of exported geometry is always good - Sometimes "Independent" mode exports GDL geometries with wrong UV coordinates
      Disadvantage of "3D window" mode:
        - export can be slower (it depends on the scene)
        - to export geometries plugin has to open the ArchiCAD 3D window
        - FIRE refreshes geometries only if AC 3D window is active
  • Camera roll angle problem fixed (in case ArchiCAD 3D window active)
  • UI improvement: path, offset, scale, etc. ui controllers are disabled in Image Based environment mode in case type is not "HDR Image"
  • In case there are many Referenced MXS objects in the scene with the same reference file, plugin exports the second, third, etc. reference objects as instances of the first one. (As a result Maxwell Render needs much less memory to render the scene.)
  • "Add MXS Item" uses geometry snap in the 3D window (in ArchiCAD 16)
  • Reference MXS object (created by animation export) references only to the name of the first frame not the whole path - So it doesn't confuses animation render in case the frames are copied to a different directory.
  • "Use first frame as Proxy" preference parameter has been renamed to "Use first frame as Reference MXS"
  • New preference parameter "Copy textures to export directory". If it is ON plugin collects all the exported textures to the export folder.
  • Name of the exported objects contain the ArchiCAD item guid value, which guarantees unique name. As a result export of scenes with huge number of elements can be much-much faster.

Fixes

  • FIXED: Plugin exports every Curtain Wall object twice - it can cause wrong render effects.
  • FIXED: After transformation of a Referenced MXS object the object disappears from the FIRE screen.
  • FIXED: Exporter exports wrong materials (materials with strange name, not used by objects).
  • FIXED: Exported Reference MXS object doesn't follow the storey level setting.
  • FIXED: In Sun Study animation exports mode exported sun coordinates are wrong.
  • FIXED: Stop button doesn't work on the export process dialog.
  • FIXED: FIRE updates in paused state.
  • FIXED: up/down ui slider doesn't work for single click events.
  • FIXED: Sun date minute parameter exported always as 0 regardless of the real minute value.

Version 2.7.2 - Technology Preview

Changes

  • Updated help
  • Compiled with the latest Maxwell SDK
  • Export follows ArchiCAD sun position not only by location but also by the sun azimuth/altitude values (just like the AC 3D window).
  • Material and FIRE preview follows the changes on texture alpha flags (bump and transparency).
  • ArchiCAD 16 compatibility
  • Proxy Manager has been renamed to Referenced MXS Manager + some of the button names have been changed...
  • Real type edit fields are displayed with higher precision in the render settings window
  • Improved: FIRE updates after new Proxy Object has been added to the scene.
  • Improved: MXS Proxy objects are exported with correct rotation, scale values (with respect to geometry scale setting).
  • ADDED: import mxm paths stored by the old plugin (version 2.6.1 or earlier) to the scene (Search for the small ">>" button at the bottom-right corner of the Maxwell palette.)
  • Plugin doesn't write license warning for Maxwell Learning Edition users
  • ADDED: New mxm material param "Texture size by AC" - Yes|No|Proportional. If it is in "Yes" or "Proportional" mode plugin overwrites the texture parameters of the imported mxm file to match the texture coordinates of the AC material.

Fixes

  • FIXED (not completely): Exported camera roll value doesn't match ArchiCAD 3D view roll value
  • FIXED: Sun position is not in synchron with ArchiCAD sun.
  • FIXED: Grass or Emitter doesn't work porperly with multi-material objects.
  • FIXED (OSX): Material editor not always shows material preview in Maxwell Render Engine mode.
  • FIXED: Material loses its Maxwell parameters after rename
  • FIXED (OSX): Memory Leakage
  • FIXED (OSX): crashes in FIRE or Material Preview mode.
  • FIXED (Hopefully): Lot of work on the OpenGL code part has been done to improve stability under OSX
  • FIXED: Camera is exported with wrong Focus Distance value in case export was started from PhotoRender,Fly-Through or Sun Study commands.