Maxwell Render

Hello all,

Although this is not strictly a Maxwell question, I would like your opnions on this.
I want to get a new Photoshop license (currently I'm working with PS Elements which is fine, but a bit limited) and I am considering CS5 or CS5 Extended.

As far as I know, the only advantage of CS5 Extended is that it can create/modify 3D objects.
And since I do all the modelling in Rhino and the rendering in Maxwell (I mostly do architectural visualisation, interior and exterior projects), I will probably not use this function? And since the (huge) difference in price, I would go for the regular version of CS5.

What are your experiences? I assume most people use Photoshop, but do you use the regular version or the extended one? And is there any need for a 3D Photoshop if you have a (better) modeller and renderer?

Thans for answering.

Joris

hehe.. I still use CS2...

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+1

So far, nobody uses Photoshop 3D ?
And if you're using CS2, you don't need the latest or extended version to use the Maxwell plugin?

Greets,

Jb

I too am on CS2 -- and no you cannot use the Maxwell plugin... honestly I haven't been terribly tempted to upgrade until CS5, and a large part of that is to have access to the plugin.

Best,
Jason.

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My Tutorial Video Series: Maxwell Render 2 - SketchUp to Maxwell Workflow - ZBrush 4 - Corel Painter 12 Advanced - Substance Designer 2.1

I have CS5 Standard. In contrast to CS4 Standard it works with the Maxwell for Photoshop-Plugin even in 32 Bit which is very nice.
For any texturing work I prefer the perfect Bridges Programs like Zbrush and especially 3D-Coat offer - but I also don't work in ArchViz.
From all I've seen 3D also in CS5 is still pretty clumsy. If you want to texture directly in 3D and use Rhino I'd rather purchase
PS-Standard and additionally buy 3DCoat, especially as a Live-Link to Rhino is already in the making. It makes moving over stuff from
Rhino for Texturing a matter of pushing one button.

Thanks for your comment Polyxo, I think that's what I needed to know (I was thinking the same after the videos of Photoshop 3D I've seen), the software you mentioned might be interesting and I will look it up.

Jb

I wonder if there's anyone out there who has used CS5 and would say that they'd easily go back to an earlier version.

In fairness, my company bumped me from cs4 to cs5 awhile back so the money didn't come from my pocket. That said, I'd find it hard to live without CS5's Content Aware Fill. It really works like magic about 90% of the time. It's much more than a clone tool or something similar which often either blurs out details or else leaves obvious seams where you use it. It's great for editing textures and removing seams.

Puppet warp is also a great tool, although less valuable than content aware fill. I've used it to make a winding sidewalk texture from a straight one several times as well as a few other things. It's much more powerful than the other photoshop warp tools.

As for the 3d tools, I'd love to find a use for it but just can't. I thought the extended version also had some significant extra HDRI capability but I don't see anything of note after a quick internet search.

-Brodie