Maxwell Announcement

[Devin Johnston]

This looks very promising to me, well have to see.

 

http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13002

 

Bye-Bye Beta

 

Dear Maxwell Friends -

 

An important milestone in the development of Maxwell Render has been reached. Although RC5 brought with it more physically-accurate light propogation, improved caustic performance, vastly superior and more flexible materials and a host of other improvements, those of us who regularly use MXI/HDR lighting, Sub-surface Scattering, and who prefer a simpler material presets model have needed to remain using the beloved Beta version.

 

Well, those days are over!

 

Every last feature we've come to know and love in Beta is now fully implemented in the latest Maxwell - and far more robust than ever before. For the development team, it wasn't enough to simply re-enable existing features; everything is faster, more flexible, and more powerful. Add to that several new tools to improve your workflow and performance enhancements across the board, and you've got the most powerful Maxwell yet. Here is just a glimpse of what lies ahead, as we say goodbye to Beta, and look forward to Maxwell Render 1.0.

 

 

MXED - The Standalone Material Editor

 

The next generation in Maxwell/host integration is here: Just imagine taking the material editor in Studio out and running it as its own program and you've got the idea. You just build your material, save it, and load the .mxm in your host application. Whereas before, Studio was a necessary bridge to the new materials, now you can choose to work in whatever app you wish with seamless integration. For me, it's been great to return to Maya for all my Maxwell work!

 

 

MXED (Standalone Material Editor) workflow with Maya

 

 

 

 

Material Wizard - RC Power; Beta simplicity!

 

The new Material Wizard - a function of the Material Editor - allows you to define simple materials just the way you did in beta. You can choose from your familiar material categories: Diffuse, Plastic, Metal, Dielectric and Emitter; the wizard will do the rest. Perfect for quick material setups; build your own library of instant-access favorites.

 

 

 

Multi-Light Illumination Control

 

This is the realtime interactive lighting feature demonstrated recently, and I think it's the number-one feature you're most going to wonder how you ever lived without. Imagine rendering a building in the daytime; move a slider and it's a night shot; move another slider and bring the interior lights up. You can preview these new versions before saving, directly from the .mxi, both during and after the render, in realtime! It's insanely powerful. Product designers are going to love it, too as you can set-up multiple lighting rigs, and choose your look after the fact. And the rendertime hit for all this extra flexibility and power? Zero.

 

 

This quick kitchen multi-light setup rendered in one pass, but allows for various lighting studies in realtime.

 

 

A single image generates all these variations in seconds, in realtime, saving hours of setup time, testing, and renders.

 

 

 

Remember this? Click HERE for a multi-light demo of this nostalgia favorite in action or HERE for a screen movie of the setup!

 

 

 

 

 

HDR/MXI Lighting

 

Speaking of lights, image-based lighting is back, and more powerful than ever: Light your scene with an HDR/MXI environment sphere with separate channels for Background, Reflection, Refraction, and Illumination: load a single map for all the channels, or different maps for each if you like! And how about this: load HDR channels as spherical projections, but map the background image as a screen projection, for simple composite shots. Or hide the background entirely, if you want. For your emitters, take advantage of the power of MXI lighting textures for even more creative flexibility.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Objects Hidden to Camera

 

Maxwell simulates reality better than any other engine... but sometimes it's nice to bend Mother Nature's rules just a bit. With Hidden to Camera, you can see the effects of an object - reflection, caustics, or shadows, etc., without the object being directly visible in the scene. Works for emitters, too. A hugely-requested feature. You asked, you got it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting Presets

 

A completely re-vamped illumination system means real-world values generate real-world results. You can choose from a list of pre-built light objects(!), properly scaled, with actual intensities pre-set, for immediate use in your scene! In addition to the preset illumination values, you also have explicit control over every quality of the light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complex IOR/SSS/Dispersion

 

Complex IOR materials, for super-accurate rendering results are back, faster and more accurate than ever before. Add to that sub-surface scattering (SSS) and dispersion and a universe of material possibilities is yours.

 

 

A suite of Complex IOR materials

 

 

 

 

 

Anisotropy

 

Fully-mappable anisotropy is now supported, with individual control over amount, and angle. Brushed-Aluminum heaven.

 

 

 

 

And HERE'S a short clip of anisotropy in action.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cooperative/Network Rendering

 

Distribute your renders quickly amongst all the machines on your network for ultra-fast cooperative rendering of a single image, or as multiple frames for an animation. A simple and intuitive interface makes setup easy, and combining cooperatively rendered frames takes only seconds.

 

 

 

These are just a few of the many improvements already made to Maxwell including engine optimizations for much improved performance in noise reduction, indirect lighting, and many, many others. In the coming weeks, members of A-Team will be generating more images to show you these features at work, along with screenshots of the interfaces, etc. Watch this space for more announcements soon!

 

_Mike

[bricklyne]

The proofs in the pudding. I'll hold my comments and applause until I actually see the implementation. These guys, after all, have a well documented history of promising the moon and the sky (remember the whitepaper?), but delivering a turkey.

 

If they're really serious about returning to the simplicity of the beta workflow, where most of the functions were driven by the plugin intergration with the host application rather then the Studio, (which I hate) then that's a good sign.

 

However, it's instructive that this announcement still mentions nothing about progress with the Sun/glass issue (major issue for us Archvizers), clipmaps, or render speed improvements (sans cooperative rendering). Don't forget that as much as most of these new announced features great, they were not nearly as requested as issues I just mentioned. so we'll see....

[Guest imanobody]

I only got one thing to say:

BETA/RC1 comparision

 

 

 

BTW, those renderings are nothing to call home about.

[Devin Johnston]

There is another thread going where Mike and Tom are answering questions, I've only read a few pages of it but they are claming that speed continues to improve and sunlight through glass will always be a problem with the current engine, the RS2 engine will have no problems with it. This doesn't help however since no one knows how long we will have to wait for the RS2 engine, but from what I've heard it sounds like NL is going to continue to work on the problem to try and find a work around.

[Ernest Burden III]

As I understand it, rs2 is the 'keeper', and MWR1.0 is based on rs1.

 

Is work on-going for rs2? If so, that slows down 1.0 since it won't be in there. If no, well... better get comfortable, it'll be a while. Think about it--at some point (July, October, November or December?) Victor decided to switch engines, and they haven't gotten the project done yet. Its been some months, many perhaps. So that's where the other engine has to start, then be developed, integrated, tested, etc.

 

Also missing from todays announcement is a clue as to when the users will get to put the new build to the test--who knows.

[Devin Johnston]

I hope that the RS1 & 2 engines can somehow be integrated together so that the time to develop and test the RS2 engine is significantly cut down. In the end although RS1 is somewhat crippled it's still better than nothing and it can be used to produce professional work although with exterior renderings especially some kind of work around will have to be developed.

[olbo]

...

Also missing from todays announcement is a clue as to when the users will get to put the new build to the test--who knows.

 

Toms answer to the question when and what RC/build/release ... blabla ...

 

Next release will be 1.0

 

Well, ... you should get your refund as fast as possible. Maybe it is to

late if you'll get your "box". So it looks like no more "testing" for the

users ... you just have to use 1.0 *LOL* *SCNR*

 

edit: original thread

 

 

take care

Oleg

[Fran]

My humble opinion is that the decent thing for Next Limit to do is make sure that those who have pre-paid for Maxwell will receive this RS2 wonder engine for no additional charge. If I hear that RS2 will require a paid upgrade, I'm liable to have a stroke.

[Devin Johnston]

I think a free upgrade is implied since not all the features originally promised in the RS1 engine will be implemented. I think even the fanboys would have a big problem with this if NL wanted money from them for RS2. Also remember that Victor stated there would be some kind of compensation for the RC debacle.

[Ernest Burden III]

Also remember that Victor stated there would be some kind of compensation for the RC debacle.

 

That's why I'm pissed--no box, and no coffee mug, either.

[Devin Johnston]

Ernest, does this announcement change anything for you?

[_PopArt]

It is a non good intentioned trick, though. 1.0 will not solve most of the problems people wanted solved (but they got evrything else under the sun though), 1.0 will absolve NL of all of its obligations to its customers. Free upgrade to 2.0, or whatever point they give the new engine? Sounds like double speak:confused:

[Devin Johnston]

Tom just confirmed for everyone that Maxwell 1.0 will be the next release, there will be no RC6. Now whether or not it will be out within the next few weeks is another question that they don't seem to want to answer.

[AdamT]

Tom just confirmed for everyone that Maxwell 1.0 will be the next release, there will be no RC6. Now whether or not it will be out within the next few weeks is another question that they don't seem to want to answer.

Right, and of course that's the crucial question. My guess is that it's at least a couple of months away.

 

And I know, as sure as I know the sun will rise tomorrow, that Victor won't make good on his promise of a v1.0 roadmap "soon".

[Devin Johnston]

I agree Adam, there is no way there ready for a 1.0 release and Victor won't give any indication as to what the final list of features will be for Maxwell. It sucks but we’re just going to have to wait.

[Ernest Burden III]

Ernest, does this announcement change anything for you?

 

No, it doesn't. It's still about character and ethics.

 

The software won't work right, either, so there's that. It's the simple rs1 that doesn't do sun+glass right thing. The program isn't going to be what was promised when I purchased it, and even if they push out a v1.0 soon, there's no telling how long until it gets to where it should have been. No promise about whether it would be free, either.

 

So when Victor said something like RC5 would be the 'end of the road', I guess he wasn't kidding. It looks like NL will dump this thing on the customers as a v1.0 without any broader testing than the A-Team (a group trimmed down to eliminate anyone not drinking and dispensing NL KoolAde). I realize that v1.0s are often a bit thin and shakey, but who has any confidence in NL to be able to handle the inevitable issues?

 

If they send me a box with a manual and a CD in it, it will make the concept of cancelling my pre-order moot (I emailed NL and sked for a return of my pre-order funds since we're still in the 'pre-order' period). It's as much protest as anything, so I shouldn't pour too much effort into it.

[Adehus]

I agree Adam, there is no way there ready for a 1.0 release and Victor won't give any indication as to what the final list of features will be for Maxwell. It sucks but we’re just going to have to wait.

 

Semi-related thought spurred by your post- why does a company as corrupt as NL receive no negative press in the industry? All kinds of companies from all different industries get raked over the coals for relatively minor stuff (ipod scratches too easily- release the hounds!) and yet these jackasses get a free pass for getting away with constant lies and more without any comment outside of forums.

 

Hell, maybe I should start a company, and sell licenses based upon sporadic update shots and press releases. I can think of at least one CG site that would publish them, no questions asked.

[Ernest Burden III]

why does a company as corrupt as NL receive no negative press in the industry?

Because the press prefers to deal with release software. Maxwell does not yet exist. There's nothing to talk about.

[dave davidson]

although some of the things look good, i will only cheer when its loaded and working as shown on my machine, (i too rem the white paper and how the rcs couldnt do any)

i knew that the next version would be V1 which imho is a baaaaaaaaaaaaad idea as adam said in the thread there should be a rc6 so they can make sure it works before claiming it to be V1

ive always said i would give them enough time and im still willing to wait, this is a personal thing to me ofcourse, but i would rather wait and have a fully working version 1 rather than having to work around issues in the rushed lets deliver version 1. i dont want to spend any more money on it and offering v2 as a freebe is not only logical its a joke as v2 will be the RC so ofcourse it should be free.

i personally have a bitter taste in my mouth now when all i see is totally positive posts cause of the censorship. esp when every thing that has been said and done in the past.

rant over

ps i still have faith but wish they wouldnt rush out a version for other reasons than sending out a version that is fully featured and fully working ( i expect bugs in any version 1 of any software, but you know what i mean)

[Devin Johnston]

I don't think there going to rush out a V1.0 simply because of all the flack they got when they did it with RC 1. I think they will probably be over cautious now to the point where they make us wait longer than we should.

[nhayes]

My humble opinion is that the decent thing for Next Limit to do is make sure that those who have pre-paid for Maxwell will receive this RS2 wonder engine for no additional charge. If I hear that RS2 will require a paid upgrade, I'm liable to have a stroke.

 

I'm sure this will be the case. we must remember that we've all had a try of a very early RS2 in the early RC's... just a shame the physicalsky/sun was not working. After reading subsequest posts on the NL forum a while back it emerged that we would get RS1+ by version 1 and that RS2 would likely be in a 1.x upgrade (which we have been told in the past would be free). A while back Mike Verta stated that the RS2 is currently only faster for complex scences versus RS1 so NL would likely give us the choice at rendertime as to which engine to select. Overall the impression has always been that NL would give us RS2 now if it was upto scratch... supported by the fact that they attempted to get it to us with the early RC's. As ever, fingers crossed.

 

-n

[AdamT]

i personally have a bitter taste in my mouth now when all i see is totally positive posts cause of the censorship. esp when every thing that has been said and done in the past.

Agreed. I'm seriously thinking about unbanning myself. While it was a nice protest (you started), in the end it's just giving NL exactly what they want--a forum consisting entirely of fanboys.

[Ernest Burden III]

Agreed. I'm seriously thinking about unbanning myself. While it was a nice protest (you started), in the end it's just giving NL exactly what they want--a forum consisting entirely of fanboys.

 

And what will that get them? You and I could not make a difference posting reasonable dissent. It's a fairyland over there. At least you can still un-cloak and post a zinger now and again. If you post as a regular again Tom-sorry-ass-mofo will just ban you from the playground.

 

Be like DeNiro in Brazil.

[AdamT]

Agreed. Obviously it's not going to change NL's behavior, but at least it might put would-be Maxwell owners on notice that NL may not be The Great and Powerful Oz.

 

I'm sure I'll get banned eventually, but that's life.

[dave davidson]

nooooooooooo dont blame me for walking away ;/

im still there, just not posting (at the moment) i will return once we are back on track and there is less censorship, deleting, banning. i loved the flow of the forum until things went belly up.