Bo Atkinson Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Please anyone, how are the various Maxwell lights added to formZ? I add a new light in formZ, double click on it, see the Light Parameter dialog, but the Maxwell option is not in upper right hand box. All the Maxwell Youtubes are about light adjustments without the workflow of adding lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnalexander1571 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 Hi Bo, I have not had Maxwell in a few years now, but if my terrible memory is correct, and you may not believe this, but the model was to make geometry (read light bulb) and assign an emitter material. It was a totally different way of doing it. Maybe this isn't right. They would need a way to assign IES lights. Does someone still have Maxwell? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) Thanks John, I was looking forward to such lighting as an option... Edit follows: After writing this I went back to check again, and suddenly the "Maxwell" option appeared for me in the Light Parameters. (Like much of software, trials and unresponsiveness , initially, seems part of the process. Edited July 10, 2020 by Bo Atkinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 10, 2020 Author Share Posted July 10, 2020 (edited) Could someone please post a file with lights included, that are set to render with Maxwell, perhaps just a few cubes? This might give a starting place to see Maxwell lighting work, to see which sliders differ from their default setting, as my first trial was naturally very dark and hardly lit. (I never use RenderZone for the same reason and am hoping to use Maxwell more like a very souped up version of Shaded Work and am not interested in optical tech. Edited July 10, 2020 by Bo Atkinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnalexander1571 Posted July 10, 2020 Share Posted July 10, 2020 I'm glad the lights showed up. I do seem to recall needing to really use large values on lights in Maxwell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Hi Bo/John, There are different kinds of lights in Maxwell as per other packages. For outdoor sun/ambient lights there are Sky Dome, Physical Sky, IBL. You just need to tell FormZ in the Light parameters dialog which type the light is in the Type drop down menu. Other light types such as spots/cones created in your scene in Fz can be automatically converted by switching on "Export Point and Cone Lights" in the Maxwell Display Options under the Translation tab. But I like to create geometry for those and using an emitter material editable in Maxwell MXED. There you will find light types "Area, IES & Spot" where you can play with the settings. You need to go through the maxwell manual setup for this but it's fairly quick to set up and there's fantastic control using Maxwell Fire or MultiLight. I've attached a scene setup (simple interior screen for products or furniture). You only have to drop in you model, say a table for example. When creating the geometry (a simple square surface), make sure the normals are pointing in the direction you want it to shine. The size of the emitters affects the shadow softness. Des Studio.zip Bo Atkinson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted July 11, 2020 Share Posted July 11, 2020 Just to add to my last post; Keep all you settings for the camera and emitters to real world settings. For example in interiors, a typical camera setting would be say fstop 2.8, ISO 400 and exteriors fstop 10, ISO 100. By switching on the MultiLight option, you can have fun altering the individual lights on the fly after the render is complete so I typically supply at least a day time and night shot from the same render. If your render is too dark for interiors then add more lights or ramp them up or change the camera settings. I forgot to mention that there are also an Ambient field, and soft box light etc. as well to help with providing more light in an interior space. Basically the more lights the less noise. So I generally add "window emitters" to my openings pointing inwards on a layer. They are great to speed things up and add another element of control for interior renders. Des Bo Atkinson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 Thanks so much Des, I really appreciate a file to work with, which saves a lot of time! I did try using 35 mm cameras of the 60's vintage and never did well and for lack of temperature controls in the darkroom, in a rural setting. Fast forward today, autofocus and photoshop are more the WYSIWYG style I aim for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarttec Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 There is a course here on the Maxwell site you can with - it's on Maxwell 5 STUDIO That should cover what you need to be an expert and fill in a bit of time. Maxwell is also offering a good discount on new or upgraded versions this week. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarttec Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 19 minutes ago, Smarttec said: There is a course here on the Maxwell site you can with - it's on Maxwell 5 STUDIO That should cover what you need to be an expert and fill in a bit of time. Maxwell is also offering a good discount on new or upgraded versions this week. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 12, 2020 Author Share Posted July 12, 2020 Thanks Smarttech, Those videos are possibly most wanted in the market, but none of those videos focus on my little corner of specialization: Videos of applying these to formZ. Specifically, step by step, showing which menu items are clicked, how are lights created? I scanned trough most of the videos, based on the Youtube's preview window, which show many adjustments and effects, but where is the starting point demonstrated? Des kindly posted an example and one light was easily adjustable, but at some point I need to see how these are clicked into formZ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) Today, I found this vimeo lesson: The vimeo neglects how the interface was loaded, or how the model was loaded and the UI is illegible due to low screen resolution, as of the first minute... Next time I'll pick up from minute one again. Edited July 14, 2020 by Bo Atkinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Quote The vimeo neglects how the interface was loaded Hi Bo, Do you have Maxwell Render fully installed along with the MaxwellZ plugin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 Oops, this was the video with unknown UI but UI text is illegible... https://blog.maxwellrender.com/tips/converse-tutorial-with-maxwell-render-part-2-free-mxs/ Question, where is it found on a Mac? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 14, 2020 Author Share Posted July 14, 2020 (edited) Hi Des, Does this look right? In the App Folder it has a long list of files plus some folders (Lots of individual files omitted). Edited July 14, 2020 by Bo Atkinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Yes, the "mxed.app" is for the materials as in the video earlier. The "maxwell.app" is the actual renderer. There is a video shown earlier for Studio but you don't seem to have that installed. Also, you need to check your FormZ plugins folder for the MaxwellZ plugin. If you go to the FormZ Pro folder in Applications >Plugins, there should be the Maxwell folder with the plugin. Then you can access Maxwell straight from FormZ and will give access to lights, rendering options, Fire etc. All can be invoked from within Fz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Des Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Bo, you should have a look at Evan Troxel's excellent videos for Maxwell with FormZ, they are old but the process is exactly the same. Here's one: Emitter Lights in Maxwell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Atkinson Posted July 15, 2020 Author Share Posted July 15, 2020 (edited) Thanks again Des, as your link provides workable *METHODS*, by sampling work flows... Even after 6 years of app upgrades, Evan's vids still prove very useful. Good thing I kept Renderzone, even if barely used over the decades, by now, as now I've got available focus time, to catch just enough light physics for adding lights + Edited July 15, 2020 by Bo Atkinson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smarttec Posted July 22, 2020 Share Posted July 22, 2020 On 7/12/2020 at 1:02 PM, Smarttec said: There is a course here on the Maxwell site you can with - it's on Maxwell 5 STUDIO That should cover what you need to be an expert and fill in a bit of time. Maxwell is also offering a good discount on new or upgraded versions this week. Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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