Maxwell Render

There is a post in the forum main section that asks how to optimize the textures and materials...
I thought it would be interesting to know how everyone is doing it and what are good points or flaws in their systems...
Since we are working with Sketchup too, we need to organize both libraries and its a bit complicated indeed, especially when networks are involved...

Here is what I do:

-mxm are located in the material database of maxwell
- textures are in same folder, in a texture folder... i also made a subfolder within this texture folder which holds the downloaded textures from downloaded mxm or added textures.
- created a SU texture folder in the same material mainfolder. In this folder i keep exact copy of the texture folder, but i remove bumps, and displacements etc maps... i only keep reflectance / main images. THEN, i resize all new images in there so their max size is 200 kb for use by Sketchup ( heavier size make sketchup VERY slow to manipulate the material menu)
- In sketchup folder, i keep materials ( .skm) where they are supposed to be.

Procedure of creating a material from lets say a downloaded mxm on the website.

1 - copy the zip file into the material database folder, in a temporary folder, then unzip.
2 - put the mxm into its mxm folder, put jpgs etc in texture folder ( more precisely in the subfolder i made for those downloaded materials)
3 - copy the reflectance / main image in the SU textures folder nearby ( not in SU program folder) and resize it to under 200 kb ( acdsee makes it possible to do this in batch with many files..just do resize by x % until the file is under 200kb.
4 - open mxm material panel and relink the eventual missing images to the mxm, save it
5 - In SU: create new material, search for the reduced image size, make sure the texture is at the right size by applying it to a test face, and save as xxx.skm into the SU materials library.

Backup ( for new installation, etc, since i do not want the risk to loose everything)..:
I simply backup SU material folder, and MR material database, and overwrite any newly installed stuff, or do it folder by folder in case there is new mxm in future versions...

Cons: long process, risks are high of forgetting something...
Pros: works

What i would like to achieve but cannot figure out... would love to have help here:
Have all those textures and mxm's and skm on the network so the other PC with a license can use it and we can do network rendering or be sure to both have the same library without wondering what texture has been added etc.... Is it possible for MR and SU to work with networked folder?
( assuming i have a fast enough server to make it work ( now its too slow anyway)
Have an automated way of importing mxm's into SU...aka fetch all or designated mxms, use an automated resize tool to get in SU only the main image in reduced size and save the .skm.

How do you do this all? would be interested to know if i am loosing way too much time with my method!

thnx
nils

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Same problem here. It needs for me also a lot time to manage this.

It would be great, just import a mxm in sketchup and a texture for SketchUp would created automatic.

The second problem i have: The path's are different on a mac then to a pc.
relative path's would be nice.

And I also have problems with the auto mxm. It don't works out of sketchUp. Perhaps i made something wrong.

Has there been any development on this? Specifically on the relative path forefront. I'm in the process of establishing a texture database with both .skm and .mxm in the same directory and would love to have a relative path so that it is cross platform and cross computer.

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Student of Architecture
Intern Arhcitect

Regarding the shared paths, this can be fairly easy depending on your setup. I'll explain my setup which uses a NAS but could work equally well by just using a folder that's shared over your network.

I have a 1TB NAS (which is mirrored so it has an additional 1TB drive inside that has the same data for if/when one dies). I place all of the files I work from on that shared drive and on each of my computers I give it the same name (in my case I named it Z: ). I don't use the hard drive for any files other than the ones that come with the install.

Therefore, when I download an mxm, for example, it will have the same path on all of my drives (eg. Z:\Maxwell Materials\mxm files\Liquid\Water\Rough Sea.mxm).

This allows me to work equally well between my two work computers as well as be able to network render with a server machine downstairs, without having to transfer all of the textures to that machine.

Furthermore, I've got a separate portable hard drive which I backup any necessary folders to. At home I've labeled that portable drive Z: as well which, again gives me the same path even at home.

-Brodie

Thanks Brodie!

I think that's what I've decided to do... now I just have to get the external. I'm debating on getting either an 8-16GB flash drive so that I can go from work and home with the files without too much hassle. Would a full fledged 2.5" portable be a better solution? So far all of my materials are on a Dropbox account which is about 2GB and is beginning to feel small for my needs, I just don't know if I'll need 320 or 500gb for storing textures.

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Student of Architecture
Intern Arhcitect

Well, depends a lot on your uses I guess. I've got a 320GB Passport, but it's got more than just materials on there. I have all of the final version of my work files, a 2d library, a 3d library, some personal stuff, the download files for some of my favorite programs in case I need them, that sort of thing. The biggest chunk of space, though is my Arroway texture library which, alone, takes up about 52 gb.

Basically I'd just say, get something big enough for your current material library, along with maybe 25% extra for room to grow. Additionally, I'd consider some extra space to store a couple of your current project files on there as well at the very least. If an 8-16 gig flash drive does it for you then go with that for now. They're cheap and portable enough that if you have to upgrade later, it's no biggie, and you'll find some use for it still no doubt. Just be careful that whatever you have on there is also backed up somewhere else in case it's lost or breaks on you.

BTW, dropbox is awesome! One trick I'd suggest is using it to sync some of your essential programs functions between your computers. I can go into more detail if you want but I've got my SU plugins folder synced so that if I add a plugin at work it automagically gets synced up at home (that is to say, my plugins folder is located in my dropbox folder, but it takes some white magic to get SU to see the alternate location). I've also got my photoshop plugins there as well and my firefox profile on there.

-Brodie

Yes, all of my SU plugins and any components I download or create are on my Dropbox. When I setup a render to go overnight at work, my output path is to my Dropbox which refreshes at home whenever it updates its SL. That way I know at 10PM or so how well its doing and can plan accordingly on how early I need to get up the next day.

_________________
Student of Architecture
Intern Arhcitect

My workflow exactly! I used to use Logmein.com to log in and check on my stuff from home but that would take like 5-10 minutes by the time I get everything open up and the video quality isn't as good as just opening it up on your own computer.

-Brodie