Maxwell 1.0 Official Feature List!

[Devin Johnston]

Dear Friends,

 

Just one week left for the release and today is another big day.

Here's the Features List of Maxwell Render 1.0

Thank you for your support, enjoy!

 

Best regards,

Tom

A-Team Laboratories®

 

 

MAXWELL RENDER 1.0 FEATURES

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMPONENTS

 

MXST: MAXWELL STUDIO

.Sophisticated Maxwell Scene Editor

 

MXED: MATERIAL EDITOR

.Standalone Material Editor with Material Browser for plugins

 

MXCL: MAXWELL RENDERCORE

.Photo Camera

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SHADER FEATURES

 

SINGLE-SHADER MATERIAL SYSTEM

 

LAYER BLENDING

.Basic Layer Blending (Normal, Additive)

.Weightmapping

 

FRESNEL REFLECTIONS

 

ADVANCED ABSORPTION

.w/ Attenuation

 

SPECTRAL DISPERSION

 

ADVANCED TRANSMITTANCE

.Mapped (Smooth-Color)

.Clipped (Explicit-B/W)

 

ADVANCED ANISOTROPY

 

BUMP MAPPING

 

NORMAL MAPPING

 

SUB-SURFACE SCATTERING

 

COATING LAYERS

.Thin Film Interference

.Thicknessmapping

 

IOR/COMPLEX IOR SUPPORT

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ILLUMINATION FEATURES

 

ADVANCED ILLUMINATION SYSTEM

.Color+Luminance Emitters

.Temperature Emitters (Kelvin)

.MXI/HDR Emitters

.Luminaries Presets

.Watts/Efficacy Control

.Lumens/Candela Control

 

COMPOSITE EMITTERS

.Emitter over materials (Emitters + Basic Layers)

 

EMIXER: EMITTER MIXER PANEL (multilights)

.Realtime interactive emitters with keyframe animated intensities

 

PHYSICAL SKY+SUNLIGHT

 

SKYDOME

 

MXI/HDR ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM

.Multi-channel control (Background, Reflection, Refraction, Illumination)

.Screen-mapping for background

.Activating channels for skydome/physical sky

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAMERA OPTICS FEATURES

 

POLYGONAL/CIRCULAR DIAPHRAGM

 

SHUTTER SPEED

 

FOCAL LENGTH

 

FSTOP

 

DOF: DEPTH OF FIELD

 

3D MOTION BLUR

 

[sURPRISE]

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RENDERING FEATURES

 

HIDDEN OBJECTS

.Objects Hidden to Camera (incl. hidden emitters)

 

MERGE MULTIPLE MXI

 

RESUME MXI FOREVER*

 

HARDDISK RENDERING*

 

SELECTIVE ENGINES

.rs0 (Preview)

.rs1 (Production)

 

SIMPLE/ADVANCED TONEMAPPING

.ISO, Burn, Gamma

 

RENDER CHANNELS

.Alpha, Object ID, Material ID, zBuffer

 

RENDER LAYERS

.Direct, Indirect, Reflective/Refractive Caustics

 

HDR32 RENDER OUTPUT (HDR, TIFF)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STUDIO FEATURES

 

FLEXIBLE DRAG'N'SHAPE GUI

 

CUSTOMIZE AND SAVE LAYOUTS

 

REALTIME OpenGL SKY/SKYDOME PREVIEW

 

REALTIME OpenGL ENVIRONMENT PREVIEW

 

REALTIME OpenGL DOF INDICATOR

 

REALTIME COMPASS/SUN POSITION

 

MATERIAL BROWSER

 

MATERIAL EDITOR

.Invert textures

.Texture Selector

 

CAMERA AUTOFOCUS

 

ORTHOGRAPHIC RENDERING

 

FILMGATE FOR CAMERA

 

UV PROJECTORS

 

MULTILEVEL EDITING

.Group, Object.Polygon selection

.Select objects by name

.Select objects by material

.Remove unused materials

 

UNDO

 

SELECTIVE RENDER ENGINES (RS0,RS1)

 

BOUNCE CONTROL FOR PREVIEW ENGINE

 

GOOGLE™EARTH KML MARKUP SUPPORT

 

COMMAND-LINE PARAMETERS SUPPORT

 

SUPPORTED 3D FILE FORMATS

mxs, obj, stl, lwo, nff, xc2, dxf, 3ds, xml, fbx

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NETWORKING FEATURES

 

AUTODETECT RENDER-NODES

 

NORMAL / COOPERATIVE MODES

 

BATCH RENDERING / RENDER QUEUE

 

PRIORITY CONTROL

 

FULL MONITORING

.State, Frames, SL, Target SL, Time, Resolution

 

HYBRID NETWORK SUPPORT

.Win, OSX, Linux

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AVAILABLE PLATFORMS

.Win, OSX, Linux*

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PLUGINS

.3dsmax

.Maya

.Cinema4D

.Lightwave

.SolidWorks

.Rhino

.FormZ

.SketchUp

.Archicad*

NOTE: For all other applications (Autocad, Microstation, Blender, Carrara etc.)

it's possible to bring geometry into Studio with the supported file formats.

(obj, stl, lwo, nff, xc2, dxf, 3ds, xml, fbx)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FIXED DEADLOCKS

.No more blur behind glass

.Clipmaps are now working

.Objects inside transmissives are now possible

.Hidden emitters are now possible

.[sURPRISE]

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(*) comes with 1.x Add-Ons for free

Items marked as [sURPRISE] will be unveiled on Thursday and Friday.

[Adehus]

No harddisk rendering in 1.0 (assuming I'm reading Tom's gibberish correctly)... hope you don't have to do any hi-res renderings!

[Devin Johnston]

Mike just posted on that, he said that the memory footprint of Maxwell is apparently smaller and does allow you to do high rez images. I asked him what was enough memory but he hasn’t replied yet.

 

-EDIT-

Juan says that with 2GB of ram you should be able to render out images that are 4000x3000, if you can get windows to recognize 3GB you can render out larger. He says that the HD option will be in the first 1.x release.

[CHE]

I wonder how long we will have to wait for the so call 1.x Add-Ons...

At least we have an offcial feature list.

 

I want to thank Maxter for keeping up the unofficial list until now. Would it be possible to post both lists together to better understand what's missing?

 

Hopefully V1 would be worth the waiting...

[AdamT]

More interesting would be a list of features promised along the way that aren't in 1.0. Off the top of my head I can think of sun>glass, substantial speed improvement, particle support, displacement, 2-point perspective....

[jackb602]

I get the feeling from this list that they will expect us to pay again for the privilege of rendering sun through glass, if they ever figure it out.

[Devin Johnston]

I agree, several of the A-Teamers have been very outspoken about free upgrades to 1.x features. I'm very afraid there going to try and say that RS2 is sooooo much more advanced than RS1 that they can't justify giving it away.

[AdamT]

Yep, I'd be quite surprised if RS2 comes as part of a 1.x update. Even if it's not available until 2.0, it should be free to anyone who preordered.

[DennisHolland]

I'm very afraid there going to try and say that RS2 is sooooo much more advanced than RS1 that they can't justify giving it away

I don't think that is going to happen Devin. I know the journey had a lot of bumps, the engine won't be a superfast formula1 renderer and there are a lot of bugs to get rid off for sure. But I don't think they speak of a bonus right now, and suddenly call it back because of an overkill of features and therefore ask money for it after pumpin' up the hype of MR. I even don''t think that was the purpose from start, up to this release.

 

But still, I don't see myself doing a production for print at 4000x3000px in a day per image. Let's wait and see with what they come, I don't expect a single surprise but a rocksteady tool to produce quality renderings....

 

Regards,

Dennis

[Devin Johnston]

I really hope your right but if I've learned one thing it's not to believe everything NL says. At this point I'm just glad we've finally got a full list of features and well have our hands on the real thing in a week!

[DennisHolland]

Me too Devin. It only is a less exiting moment, the release, since the bummer was gigantic with the first RC1. That was a painfull mistake of NextLimit.

 

I hope that the plug has enough features to deal with my stuff within' Max. The choice for a studio, running parallel with any 3D app. is very annoying when you're in the flow of creation. Convert, export, step out and work in a totally different environment is not very pleasant.

 

I can allways stick with my Beta, I really enjoy the last Beta. It's fast (for MR standards) clean and trustworthy (for MR standards) and can work blindfolded with 'her'

 

Take it easy, regards.

Dennis

[buffos]

The Official features list is simply a BIG JOKE!!!!

 

Most of promised features are not included.

And what is more frightening is that * at the bottom.

It lists two features as a free upgrade.

 

What does that mean? That all other features not included will be paid upgrades? All those promised features, will be delivered for a paid upgrade?

 

 

The product as is , is simply pathetic.

Featurewise (excluding some very nice features) it has too few features compared to competitive product (call me Vray).

[u.biq]

The Official features list is simply a BIG JOKE!!!!

Most of promised features are not included.

Which are ?

Featurewise (excluding some very nice features) it has too few features compared to competitive product (call me Vray).

What very important feature has Vray that won't have Maxwell?

[buffos]

the answer is simply.

There is (or was, i dont know if it was smartly erased) a very long summary of what was promised for v1. The list is very long. But i would put here some of them.

 

1) Displacement maps

2) IES for lights

3) Volumetrics

4) Programmable materials (the told us that they would be C-like scriptable materials)

5) Procedurals. (but this is actually a subclass of the above)

6...7.... check the right page in the forum (i guess you are not banned )

In my point of view, programmable materials are the most important of those (along with displacement map) for architectural renderings.

 

Ofcourse i would not fill in the obvious, the sunlight issue should be SOLVED.

You know an answer like, "if you leave it long enough..." this means that it does asymptotically converge, but if you know simple maths, this means you will never see it.....

For studio renderings maxwell may be nice. For architectural one, its simply a big dissapointment.

[u.biq]

You're quite right, buffos

just have to say that, as an archvizer, I'm a bit concernerd by the sun+glass problem, but for the others features, well, we can often have easy workaround.

 

Let's wait the 1.xxx releases. Hope it will be rocksolid.

 

The only reason I use Vray for everyday prod is speed. But as soon as you push the params, you almost reach maxwellian rendering times

[buffos]

if you have sunlight, maxwell will NEVER be noisefree.

If you have to see the glass from outside, then things are even worse...

 

There are not workarounds for everything unfortunately.

How about realistic grass and fur? Creating more geometry is not a solution.

And as you know grass is fundamental in archivis. A great rendering can be spoiled just because the grass is awful.

[u.biq]

if you have sunlight, maxwell will NEVER be noisefree.

If you have to see the glass from outside, then things are even worse...

They just announced a workaround, a "special glass" shader

 

A great rendering can be spoiled just because the grass is awful.

O yeah...but as good as vray displacement may be, when it comes to close up, mmm, well, not so good.

[Maximus3D]

How about that hehe, now you archi guys'n'girls finally got a working glass. Atleast that gotta be good news, right ?

 

/ Max

[buffos]

i did comment on that on the features list topic.

 

In brief, i said, that when you post a workaround, you should also say the limitations and not wait for the users to find out themselfs.

 

I also said, that the material tom says, can be made in rc5 too.

Maybe not so automatic but it can be done. Increase attenuation on any material and put a coating. Choose a weight map.. and you are done.

You just wont have any refraction.

 

So nothing magic about AGS.

They actually do imply by saying that AGS is a custom made material.

They just made it for us.

 

The most important part is limitations....I am pretty sure, that they cannot recreate the corridor scene they had for advertising the RC1 back in october with this material.

[AdamT]

I also said, that the material tom says, can be made in rc5 too.

Maybe not so automatic but it can be done. Increase attenuation on any material and put a coating. Choose a weight map.. and you are done.

Are you sure about that? Example?

[buffos]

What do you mean example? You want a rendering.

Well i havent opened MW for 3 months now.

 

I try to forget that nightmare....

 

I could be wrong. I am not sure about that.

But who can believe NL

[AdamT]

What do you mean example? You want a rendering.

Well i havent opened MW for 3 months now.

I try to forget that nightmare....

I could be wrong. I am not sure about that.

But who can believe NL

Certainly not me, but they have posted examples.

[buffos]

Yes they did post working cases.

Do you remember the october RC1 corridor scene. I guess it was a working scene. But i guess you could not recreate it

[Devin Johnston]

Well you've got to admit that even though the AGS material isn't perfect it's a hell of a lot more than we had yesterday! I for one am glad that there at least trying to meet our needs, and by giving us this AGS material they've acknowledged that the Arch Viz community is a very important group for them. I do agree buffos that there are some serious shortfalls in V1, displacement was one that I think we desperately need, hopefully these will come soon in the form of an upgrade.

[buffos]

i think until we are told WHICH FEATURES will be provided in 1.xx FREE OF CHARGE , i have the right to suspect that NL is going to cheat once more and ask for money for features promised.

 

If you notice they do underline that -hd will be provided free of charge in 1.xx. The phrasing implies that other 1.xx upgrades wont be free. I hope i am wrong, but i can expect monsters from NL.