Maxwell Render

Is it me or has Maxwell just died on it's ass ?

I can't use Studio because I can't import anything and I can't use the FormZ plugin because I can't get textures to work and I'm getting nasty black spots on some renderings. There hasn't been an update since god knows when.

Have I wasted $500 or what, because I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a sucker!

God only knows how people are getting renders done, but even these latest used with RC5 are.....well, mediocre at best.

Why are you not able to import into studio? I am getting pretty good results so far... and the texturing is superior to what I can do in renderzone, although I will be happy with some improvements, like the famous sunlight through glass issue.
I even got paid for my first commercial job done with MW last week!

have you tried to do "select all", then copy, paste everything on a new document and press "render" from the mw menu? that clears out some unnecessary garbage sometimes, it worked for me in the past even in renderzone when I got in trouble.

wim

i feel as well

That seems to be a never finishing story, and and we are all on always and eternally invited in the valley of this to wander frustrated Maxwell user.

"ich bin absolute abgegessen." (german)

I want to see an update or the final version, that is everything.
that all simply unbelievable and unimaginable.

a not usable studio not even with a simple "undo" function and
and a primitive cinema 4d plug in "looks like shareware"


i am sorry but one cannot work seriously with it or?

_________________
Mac Pro 2 x 2 QuadCore 2.26GHz ( "Nehalem" ) /12 GB Ram /ATI Radeon 4870.
/Software :Newtek Lightwave 10/ Pixologic ZBrush 4/ Luxology Modo 501 & Imagesynth 2/ Uisoftware "Artmatic Pro 4.8" & Artmatic Voyager

Suckers! That's what we are. Forever, buyer beware.

Wimver, are you using the PC or Mac version ?
because I am on Macs and find it just useless......there is a real lack of any kind of support for us Mac users. Probably the worst piece of software I've ever paid for!

One tip to avoid further frustration.

Just don't try it any longer for now. Render with what you have used and learned in the past and go back to good old manual work (psd, ai postproduction). Avoids a lot of sleepless nights and angry feelings. Who cares about photorealistic rendering anyway? (me, but...)

We all bought a beta version, which is our fault and actually not NL's. We should have known better, that you should never pay for a beta. They just thought, well let's try it, maybe there are some idiots out there, who would pay for being a betatester. And in fact there were too many...

I really hate NL's attitude, but now we have to wait, or go to court, or do it the old way (which most of us might have been done most of our lives anyway). Nothing will change the lousy quality of Maxwell (or should we call it Notwell) at the moment.

Yes, you are right, we bought the promise of 1.0. But the time we bought it, it was at beta stage, which is always a risk, as it is not the full version yet.

What pisses me off is the fact, that I was so stupid to buy this one despite better knowlege (but this is a personal opinion, you can have yours).

Other software offers either a free beta version or just an anouncement about the beta stage (like what formZ always does). But I agree with you, that NL chose a way close to fraud.

I had not bought version for beta they, I bought RC 1 and something, this now is called for me?

I was sufficiently stupid to buy only at the 4.febuar 2006
also trifft das auch auf mich zu ?

_________________
Mac Pro 2 x 2 QuadCore 2.26GHz ( "Nehalem" ) /12 GB Ram /ATI Radeon 4870.
/Software :Newtek Lightwave 10/ Pixologic ZBrush 4/ Luxology Modo 501 & Imagesynth 2/ Uisoftware "Artmatic Pro 4.8" & Artmatic Voyager

I am using the mac (G5) version, and personally it is the best thing that happened to me, my architectural renders have much more spirit than what I ever could obtain with renderzone.
and it can only get better...

the only thing that bothers me is the maxwell attitude, they are zero informative. I would be very happy with an announcement that says something like "hey guys, we just finished the sun-through-glass problem, but there still are some minor issues, so it is better not to release it yet. for the rest we now work on the SSS, and on realistic sky, the plan is to have it finished by end of march but it depends on how well the tests run in real life situations, on the different platforms, so bare with us. next friday evening we will give you an update on our progress. regards, Victor"

I still have the feeling I got what I paid for, an unfinished version for half the price, just as advertised. they did not promise a final date, it was not in the contract. so there is no reason to complain so far. and the reason they keep quiet is because there are too many big mouths around here who threaten with law suits and the like, yelling that they feel cheated. they should learn that diplomacy gets you a lot further than childish behaviour. just my thoughts.

cheers
wim

Wimver,

I'm running the G5 version too, but for the life or me I can't get textures to work. What is your process when it comes to applying texture maps ?

As for NL making people feel cheated....if I remember rightly they did say on their website (correct me if I'm wrong) around the time I pruchased that they expected 1.0 to be available in November......it's now March and we are still, I would say, very far from a final version. Maybe not fraud, but a terrible way to treat your customers.

And, to add insult to injury, there hasn't been any new annoucements since February 18th!......hence the title of this thread, is work still continuing or have they just given up now ? No new announcements/info in nearly a month is a blatant disregard to your customers.

rmulley,

I have an average of 15 textures per job. I assign a MW attribute to any of the different plain colored objects (first do one per color, then assign this object as source, then apply source attributes to selection (after select by color). then I export the mxs.

then I apply textures in studio in the documented way. if I have to change an object in FZ, I delete it in the mxs file in studio, export a new file from FZ with only that object (or objects) which I have given the same MW attribute, and import them in the previous mxs file. if necessary, reposition the texture in studio. done.
works fine here.

wim

It does work.
However if any objects have uv mapped texture reflectance goes black.
Also occasionally projection mapped objects render black after save + relaunch of studio. I had one project where after each successive save an additional object rendered black....'till eventually all objects were black. It can be fixed by editing the projection parameters. But this is not practical with scenes with a large number of objects, just an irritating waste of time. This issue is not just with formZ but with the Lightwave plugin & objects imported straight to studio.

_________________
Form•Z
Lightwave + Modo
EIAS
Concepts Unlimited

Running on a rather old & noisy Mac

Please don't say it works then. It is a tideous process and quite a gamble. There is no recognizable pattern, why things work and why they don't in the mac version. I could render textures in formz with rough bump on, while I couldn't as a plain object. With other objects it doesn't work neither way. I also tried all options and texture map formats etc., but there is no consistency to how the program behaves. Every time it is a big gamble and that makes it NOT WORKABLE. It seems like Notwell (formerly known as Maxwell) is written in some Banana Republic...