Softimage - using Maxwell FIRE

Owned by Mihai Iliuta (Unlicensed)
17 Aug, 2012
2 min read

Maxwell FIRE can be accessed directly in Softimage allowing you to quickly preview your scene and edit materials/lighting with near instant feedback. It can be accessed either via a SI viewport or as a floating window.

Maxwell FIRE in SI viewport

To turn any SI viewport into a Maxwell FIRE window go to the Viewport dropdown and choose Custom Display Host>Maxwell FIRE. After the Maxwell Fire view has loaded, you have several options to control FIRE at the bottom of the Viewport dropdown menu. The active camera will be used as the render view.

Turn on Maxwell FIRE in the viewport - and then access its controls from the bottom of the Viewport dropdown menu

 

Maxwell FIRE in standalone window

The separate FIRE window can be practical if you want to resize it easily and also move it to a secondary monitor for example. Go to Render>Render>Maxwell FIRE to open the standalone window. The active camera will be used as render view by default.

There are also a few other options available at the top of the standalone FIRE window, such as choosing which camera in the scene should be used.

 

Maxwell FIRE options

  • Sampling Level / Time parameters: you can set the SL or the time and Maxwell FIRE will stop when one of the two settings is reached, whichever is reached first. Time is specified in minutes.

Maxwell FIRE script commands

The following script commands are available to add to your own Toolbars:

  • Application.MaxwellFIREOptionsCmd
    • Accepts values for SL, Threads, Time. Example: MaxwellFIREOptionsCmd("7","0","5")
  • Application.MaxwellFIREStartCmd
  • Application.MaxwellFIREStopCmd
  • Application.MaxwellFIRERestartCmd
  • Application.MaxwellFIREQualityCmd
    • Possible values: Low, Medium, High, Best. Example: MaxwellFIREQuality("Medium")
  • Application.MaxwellFIRECameraCmd
    • Accepts the camera name to be used by FIRE

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