Maxwell Render - The Light Simulator

[Anonymous]

If you are interested in a new rendering engine for ArchiCAD, check out Maxwell Render.

Gallery at:
http://www.maxwellrender.com/

If you want THAT TYPE OF REALISM in your images, you need to take the jump into the Maxwell universe.

You might be thinking it is difficult. I used to think that way. Guess what? It isn't all that difficult. Within just a few hours I have been able to come to grips with the interface, navigation and material editor.

"But isn't it Slooooooooow?", you quip... No. In many ways it is actually fast. The reason it is so fast is because it is predictable. You don't need to think about Global Strength, Occlusion, Shadow Sampling settings, etc, etc.

It is extremely architectural, place your crosshairs on the hires Earth globe, think google earth, now position your project with north arrow - specify the year, month and time of day. Check Physical Sky and you have just successfully finished the lighting of an exterior.

It has a function that takes just 1 or 2 minutes to generate a fuzzy preview. Very fast and useful.

Here is the clincher, you can also do much of it from within ArchiCAD 10. Yup, NextLimit is working hard to create the connections (plug-ins) between ArchiCAD 10 and Maxwell. PC will come first (as usual Mac comes next) What's exciting about the Mac development is Universal App - Mactel support. Have you heard about the Quad Core Intel chips coming out soon? Imagine a MacPro with dual Quads. All of them working on your images at once. The future is looking kinda bright.

I will post within this thread more info as it become available to me, and I will give you a peek at some of the programs more useful features.

[Anonymous]

Just an update to what i have been working on in my spare time. Some more detailing to come.
S.L. =12.00
Render Time = Toooo Long

[Anonymous]

Another View

[Anonymous]

I May not be an experienced renderer and to be honest i ve tried artlantis studio a week ago and the results i have are in my opinion better than the ones i see.I really dont know if it worths trying harder on all the other software but my first tries on C4D and maxwell were dissapointing.I ve seen amazing renderings from maxwell and cinema 4 d but how long will it take me to go to that point of photorealism?Does it worth it?I ve learned artlantis up to the point were im happy with the results in a few days.

[Anonymous]

Heres my first attempt with Maxwell Render.

SL - 9
Time - 1h 35min

Intel P4 3.0 - 1.0gig ram - nVidia 6600GT

[Anonymous]

I know its nearly mid-winter, but doesn't it get any brighter than that in Christchurch?

[Anonymous]

Agreed,
Your monitor must be quite, umm BRIGHT, maybe...

Hey, I'm trying to compile a series of stills output from maxwell as a lighting study. Anyone know a good (free) video editing app. for PC that can use the .png files maxwell outputs, or will I have to convert every frame to say .jpg... ?

[Anonymous]

sunlight hurts my eyes...

I agree its a little dark, I was aiming for sunset when the sun gone just below horizon and trying to light the house up with exterior lights. Image also feels a little cold.

[Anonymous]

Understand.
& as Dwight says, you need for your image to convey a story. That 'coming home to a warmly lit snug homely house' feel is what I guess you're going for, so give a little yellowing evening light (automatic in Maxwell) & bump up the lights (use multilight & play with the settings in MXI after it's rendered. & it will benefit straight away...

[Anonymous]

I struggleing a little to get my head round how maxwell works. I assume its better to export from archicad and play round with settings in maxwell studio then render straight from archicad.

[Anonymous]

Me too..
Watch the video tutorials on Maxwells web page & you'll see how someone else uses the features. Very helpful...
Yep, that's the way I'm working it, materials roughly worked in AC, then exporting to MxStudio & tweaking materials in there. I know it's possible to do all Mx materials within Archicad, but I find it more intuitive to work them up in Mx. Still yet to set in stone a definite routine, but getting my head around it...