All versions of 3dsMax starting with 7.0 are supported.
> GEOMETRY EXPORT
All of the 3dsMax geometry types are supported
Hair and fur converted to polygons are supported
The "visible to camera" object property is supported,
i.e. objects marked as invisible to camera are still visible in
reflections.
Maxwell-specific geometry attributes show up in a "Maxwell"
rollup when objects are selected.
> SUPPORT FOR THE MAX STANDARD MATERIAL
The Standard material is translated into a
Maxwell approximation using various templates.
The shader type selects which template to use:
- "Blinn" and "Phong"
use a plastic-looking template.
The material has 2 BSDF layers: lambertian and glossy. The lambertian
layer is always the same: roughness 100, weight 100, Nd 3. The
glossy layer is influenced by some of the 3dsMax shader parameters:
glossiness controls its roughness and specular level controls
its weight
- "Metal" and "Strauss"
are translated into a metal-looking material.
The template has 2 BSDF layers: rough and shiny. As with the metal
template, the rough layer is fixed: roughness 90, weight 20, Nd
3. The shiny layer is controlled by some of the 3dsMax shader
parameters: glossiness gives it roughness and "Specular Level"
/ "Metalness" gives it weight.
- "Anisotropic" results in a material
with a single BSDF layer. The "anisotropy", "orientation"
and "glossiness" attributes are used
The following mapping options are supported:
- Tiling
- Offset
- Invert
- Use of real-world scale
Bitmap paths are resolved in the same way 3dsMax does, i.e. if
the path stored in the .max file does not exist, the plug-in searches
for the image in alternative locations.
Maxwell-specific attributes are added to Standard materials when
they are applied into the scene:
- Light dispersion controls
- Index of refraction (Nd)
> MAXWELL WORKS WITH NORMAL 3DSMAX CAMERAS
Custom attributes augment the 3dsMax camera model
to account for Maxwell's more complex camera:
- F-Stop
- Shutter speed
- Film ISO
- Manual focus distance
- Diaphragm settings
Perspective/User views are supported.
Rotary shutter simulation for movie camera motion blur is supported.
The plug-in replaces the camera shutter speed with a value derived
from the rotary shutter angle and then adjusts the ISO film speed
to arrive back to the same exposure as with the initial shutter
speed / ISO settings. This is far more intuitive for users than
to let them compute the shutter speed from the shutter angle and
then adjust the film speed to weird values.
> CUSTOM MATERIAL EXPOSES THE FULL POWER OF MAXWELL'S
MATERIAL MODEL INSIDE 3DSMAX
Users can edit Maxwell materials in the same
way they do in Maxwell's Material Editor (mxed)
Materials can be imported from/ exported to .mxm files.
A wizard provides a quick way to set up common material types.
Users can browse material libraries (collections of mxm files)
directly from 3dsMax.
A large number of light emitter pre-sets are available to choose
from in the interface.
Normal 3dsMax bitmaps can be connected on the texturable attributes
Maxwell materials can be previewed with the default scanline
render (quick, approximated) or with Maxwell (accurate)
Texture repeat scale controls allow all the texmaps bound to
a material to be scaled at the same time
> MISCELLANEOUS
All of the global render settings specific to
Maxwell are grouped under a Render Settings tab. The irrelevant
tabs (Raytracer, Advanced Lighting etc.) are hidden when Maxwell
is the current rendering engine.
