Maxwell Render

Once again I'm stuck with exporting from SketchUp. I made an addition to a previous project file that just the other day exported without any problem. However after my addition the export fails with the following error:

Exporting: /Volumes/Documents/Work/Project 3/Modell 2009-02-22.mxs.log
Maxwell: Method Textures:, Message: Export failed - internal error. Exporting one-by-one

And when I remove the addition the problem unfortunately remains, so now I am prevented from exporting it. I have been using plug-in version 2.1b for quite some time and I also tried to install the version 2.2 but the problem is still present.

The addition was made as a separate SketchUp dokument and imported as a component. When I try to export the separate SketchUp dokument containing only the addition it also fails with the same error. However when I remove one part that contains a suspect material it exports as it should. I will try to export the additional part spearately and try to add it separately in MXST however i must be able to place it exactly which might be a problem.

I could also add that the export takes place regardless of the error and results in an MSX-file. However when I try to open that in MXST it crashes during opening.

Pelias, I could send you the files (both the main and the addition) but I would like to send it to you in a private manner.

I would appreciate a quick response since I have a client that is waiting for an image. The plugin must allow a user to fix a problem like this and as far as I know I have tried everything.

Sincerely,

Johan Israelsson

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bleak.se

I don't think I can fix your problem but maybe some ideas to help troubleshoot and narrow down the problem.

After you took the seemingly corrupted SU component out did you Purge before trying to export again? Maybe there was still a "corrupted" texture or something in there that was trying to export.

Since you had the initial problem have you been able to export anything from any file? Maybe the problem isn't with the file itself but with the whole interaction between SU -> Maxwell.

Only other thing I can recommend would be the tedious task of going through and deleting and purging chunks of the corrupt model and exporting to try and narrow down where the problem is within the model.

Hope you're able to find a fix.

-Brodie

Thank you for your reply.

Yes I did purge components, materials and layers. I tried a previous version of the file before the addition but now this didn't work either. So you are probably right that its is a general problem with the SketchUp-Maxwell connection. I also have a theory that it might have to do with the file being an older file that contains older materials and older plugin-settings. Maxwell Render doesn't have a very good track record with regard to backward compatibility.

But I managed to export the addition by itself and merge it in MXST (however that was a separate adventure as MXST is really crash prone especially when using HDRIs). But I have managed to complete the render finally.

Because of my really bad experience with the SketchUp to Maxwell workflow I have taken steps to avoid having to rely on the SketchUp plugin by purchasing a license of Cinema 4D which I use to compile my scene parts still modelled in SketchUp. I have used that workflow for one project now and my experience is initially very good.

Regards,

Johan I

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bleak.se

First this is not a reason for failing export. This message means that SU projects uses textures created on Windows (typically this is the case when you integrate components from other sources) and unfortunately SU is not able to handle this situation on its own. In this case the export of textures (internal one using SU own methods) fails - in order to solve this the plugin will export textures one-by-one and thus solve the problem. So the line just means there was a problem with textures but it is solved by a workaround implemented in plugin (unfortunately SU developers still didn't fix this problem).

If the export fails than there is a different problem - I've send you my email via PM, I will look at your project as soon as I get it.

Pavol

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Pavol Elias
Next Limit Team

Thank you for your reply Pelias. That puts an entirely different light on the matter for me.

The export did result in an MXS but that file caused MXST to crash every time tried to open it in MXST. Which wasn't my problem before the addition.

But then when exporting the addition separately and then trying to merge them in MXST also caused MXST to crash as I briefly mentioned in my last post. But I finally manage to merge them without a crash by opening the original scene in MXST and change the evironment type from Image to Physical sky, then the merging was successful.

That leads me to conclude that you are indeed right in that it probably wasn't an error with the SketchUp to Maxwell export plugin but rather what caused my exported file (with the addition) to crash MXST was the fact that Image based environment was turned on. The exported MXS-file is quite large since I am using several copies of an Xfrog tree and it was made before the plugin supported instances so every tree is a complete copy. (I have had a lot of problems with MXST in combination with HDRIs (and probably limited free memory (I do have 4GB though but those darn Xfrog trees take a lot of memory)).) I haven't been able to export a version with instances previously and then haven't bothered investigating with it since it's an old project. Previously I also had the problem with going from Windows to Mac with existing scenes (the issue you are refering to).

Now I just hope that these older projects don't resurface anymore so that these problems will eventually go away.

If you're still interested I can send you the files as you asked in the PM however I would really think that the problem is not with the plugin but as I said rather with a combination of MXST shakiness and limited memory.

Regards,

Johan I

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bleak.se