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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.

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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?

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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 by Bo Atkinson
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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 by Bo Atkinson
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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

SampleFront_Perspective_Ash.thumb.jpg.8825da6e743fc0f2a008bddfb635d773.jpg

Studio.zip

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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

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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.

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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

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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

 

 

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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.

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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 by Bo Atkinson
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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.

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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 by Bo Atkinson
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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

 

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