Open MXS, Open MXI, Save MXI, Resume MXI, Merge MXI, Load Image and Save Image icons. Render: Start the render process. This button changes to a Stop button when the
9.02 The Render Options Tab: setting up the render
The following options are specific to the core rendering engine:

9.02.01 Scene

The Maxwell Render approach to rendering is quite different from that of other rendering engines. Because of its physically correct behavior and spectral calculations of light, there is no concept of a finished render. The render will keep calculating until you stop it. There are two ways to stop a render in Maxwell Render: by setting a Sampling Level (SL: level of quality) or by setting a Render Time (in minutes). If you set both parameters, the render will stop when one of them is reached. This double approach gives you a lot of flexibility to control the quality. Setting the Sampling Level is useful to ensure that all the frames of your sequence will reach the same quality level, regardless of the time needed for each specific frame. I.e. set SL to 10 and Render Time to 10.000 to ensure that the first condition to be reached is SL. Setting the Render Time is useful if you want to get results within a specific time frame. I.e. set you SL to 30 and the Render Time to 5 (minutes) to make sure that your render will stop in 5 minutes. If you are not sure what SL or Render Time to put to reach the desired quality, just put in high numbers for both so that the image keeps rendering. You can then check every once in a while to see if you are pleased with the quality of the image and stop the render anytime. Scene File: Specify the location of the MXS file. Camera: Choose which camera in the MXS should be used for rendering. Time (min): Set the maximum render time (in minutes) for the render. The longer the time, the cleaner and more accurate your image will be. Sampling Level: Maximum sampling level required. The render will stop when this SL is reached. As with the render time parameter, a higher sampling level will give a cleaner and more accurate image. It is important to know that there is no standard SL value to get an acceptable quality level, because it depends entirely on the scene. Some scenes can be completely noise-free at SL=8 or even earlier, while others may need to get to SL=16 or higher. It is important to remark that the Sampling Level standards were re-written for Maxwell Render version 2, so it cannot be used as a quality comparing parameter for images created in version 1.x and version 2.x. In fact, the same Sampling Levels in Maxwell 2 show a much higher quality than those in Maxwell 1.x. Frames: Specify a range of MXS frames to be rendered. For example: 5,8,9 will render frames name0005.mxs, name0008.mxs and name0009.mxs. To render frames 1 through 10, type in 1-10.

10.04.02 Surface Properties
Roughness Roughness allows you to add tiny imperfections and miniscule details on a surface to make it reflect light in a more diffuse way. The roughness of a surface can range from 0 (perfectly smooth surface) to 100 (pure diffuse). A roughness value of 100 corresponds to a lambertian or perfectly diffuse model. It is important to remember that if you want to have very smooth, mirror-like surfaces or clear glass, the roughness should be set to a low value (i.e. 0 to 10). You can also set a black and white texture to control the roughness. Brighter values in the texture create a higher roughness (a more diffuse surface). When using a texture, the roughness number just applies to the maximum roughness needed. For example, if you use a black and white checker map as a roughness texture, and you set the roughness to 30, then the white parts of the texture will result in 30 roughness while the black parts

F.01 Circular angle map

When applied to the top of a cylinder for example, you will get the typical anisotropic reflections of a surface that has been polished with a spinning polisher:
recommended to use a Normal map if you want to give the impression of very strong bumps/ grooves on a surface, or even to create a brick wall. A bump map is usually enough for smaller bumps, but if you are trying to simulate bumps that are too large just raising the bump strength of a bump map, that may not be enough.
F.01 Normal mapping F.02 Image of a render with the circular angle map applied.

F.02 Bump mapping

Bump and Normal Mapping This parameter, much like the Roughness parameter, allows you to simulate grooves and imperfections on a surface, but at a much larger scale. For example, you can use a bump/ normal map to simulate wood grain. Keep in mind that Bump/ Normal mapping only simulates these grooves on the surface; it does not actually create the geometry in any way, like Displacement does. Specify a Bump texture and the Bump strength. Brighter values in the texture will create bumps on the surface and darker values will create indents. You can use a color map as a bump map but only the grayscale information of the map will be used. Bump mapping can be a sensitive parameter and standard values should be around 1 25. A bump map with more contrast will produce a stronger effect, so the required bump strength depends on the particular map and the look you are after. There is an additional option to specify a Normal map as a Bump texture. While a grayscale bump map can simulate only the up/ down direction of the grooves, a normal map has the additional advantage of specifying an angle, or the direction of the grooves. It is
A normal map is a RGB texture, not grayscale. Each channel specifies an angle and the strength for the bump. Most modeling applications have an option to create a normal map from a detailed model, and there are also applications that allow you to convert a grayscale bump map into a normal map. When loading a normal map in the texture picker, the options Flip X, Flip Y, and Wide specify how the normal map was created. The most common standard is Flip Y, so this is selected by default. Consult the application you use to create normal maps to find out which of these options it uses to generate the maps.

12.02 Objects List, Instances List and Objects Parameters

12.02.01 Objects List

The Objects List is a panel where the groups and objects in the scene are listed in an Internet Explorer-style interface.
Display Allows you to hide/show certain info utilities, like scene Info, Sky preview, Grid, Compass, Region and UV Sets. The Viewport Grid The grid visible in the 2D and 3D viewports gives you an indication of how big your objects are. It is recommended to use the grid to check if your objects are the size you intended. The 3D viewport has a grid size indicator at the bottom right of the viewport showing the current grid size. There are two ways to display the grid: adaptive and absolute. These

F.01 Objects List

The objects panel is organized into columns, from left to right: Hide/ Unhide, Lock/ Unlock, Object, Material, and Multimaterial. Each column can be re-sized by clicking on and dragging the column separations. The Hide/ Unhide and Lock/ Unlock icons at the top of the columns can be used to quickly hide/ unhide or lock/ unlock the items in your scene. The material column shows which material is applied to your object/ group and the Multimaterial column shows which objects have multiple materials applied to them. Right-click in the Objects List to view the available tools: Assign Material: Apply a material to a selection of one or more objects and/ or groups. Clone: Create clones of your current selection. Instance: Create instances of the current selection. Group: Create a group from a selection of objects. A pop-up will appear allowing you to name the group. Groups can be nested to create hierarchies. Simply drag and drop a group over another group or object. Ungroup: Ungroup the objects contained in one or more groups. Group Triangles: Create a triangle group from a selection of triangles. You can select triangles by clicking on an object and switching to triangle selection mode. The triangle group can be found in the Object parameters panel under the Triangle Groups tab. This feature is useful if you want to apply another material just to a portion of an object, in which case you drag/ drop the material over the triangle group listed in the Object parameters panel. New UV set: Select one or more objects and use this feature to create a new UV set for the object(s). Select all: All objects and groups will be selected. Deselect all: All objects and groups will be deselected. Merge objects: Select two or more objects and choose this command to merge them into one object. Remove: Delete one or more groups or objects. Note that objects in the group(s) will also be deleted. Rename: Rename an object or group. You can also press F2 to rename an object or group. Shading Modes: Set the shading mode in the viewport for the currently selected object(s). Items: The items menu contains several options:

The focal distance should be the distance from the camera to the object in order to get a perfectly focused image. The near and far planes define the DOF area. Inside the DOF area, all objects are in focus. The most important camera parameters to remember regarding the DOF are the f-Stop and Focal Length. The Focal Length of a lens refers to the distance between the lens and its focal point. The focal point is where the light will be focused, usually where the film is. The focal length of a lens determines the field of view (FOV), or how much you see of your scene, and also the DOF. A small focal length lens (15-24mm) is said to be a wide-angle lens because it captures a lot of the scene (it has a wide FOV), and its DOF is wide too: almost all the objects in the scene will be in focus. A large focal length lens (80-200mm) is said to be a telephoto lens. It acts like a binocular, zooming in to a particular area of your scene. It has a small FOV and the DOF will be very narrow too: only a small portion of your scene will be in focus. Which focal length to use is completely up to you and depends on your needs. An architectural scene may need a wide-angle setting to capture more of the scene
and make sure everything is in focus. A larger focal length can be suited for product photography or characters because a wide-angle lens tends to distort the objects that are close to the camera and you may want to avoid this in certain cases. The f-Stop indicates how opened or closed the diaphragm is. The diaphragm is a thin opaque structure with an opening (aperture) at its center. The diaphragm stops the passage of all light except for the light passing through the aperture. The diaphragm is placed in the light path of a lens, and the size of the aperture regulates the amount of light that passes through the lens. The smaller the f-Stop (1.8, 2.2, 2.8) the narrower the DOF, so only a small area of the image will be in focus.
12.04 Materials List, Material Editor and Material Browser
The Maxwell camera has a visual focus indicator that provides information about the focus conditions of the target. When the camera moves, the focus indicator changes according to the distance from the camera to the objects. The focus indicator is composed of two circles and a rectangular indicator in the center of the camera. When the target object (the central point of the circles) is exactly in focus, the rectangular indicator turns yellow, otherwise it remains black. A black rectangular indicator does not necessarily mean that the render will be out of focus, it also depends on the total DOF. To measure if the camera target is inside or outside the DOF distance, the circles use blue or red colors. When the circle turns red, it means that the specific target area is beyond the far plane. Conversely, when the circle is blue, the target area is located in front of the near plane. Areas in red and blue are in out of focus zones. Transparent areas are in focus. The yellow mark is the exact focal point. Shortcut: Press the I key to disable or enable this information in the display.

12.04.01 The Materials List
12.04.02 The Material Browser
This panel provides a way to browse the Maxwell materials available on your system. For every MXM file found in the material database, the material browser shows a small preview of the material. Within the Maxwell installation folder there is a material database that you can browse. If you have set a material folder in your Studio preferences (Edit> Preferences> Paths), the Material Browser will open in that folder.

F.02 The Material List

All the materials currently loaded in the scene are listed in the Materials List, including those that are not assigned to any object. If a material has already been previewed in the material editor, a smaller version of the preview thumbnail will appear next to it. If the material has never been previewed, an icon with a N/A text will appear next to it. Other than using the Materials List to list all the materials in the scene, it can be used to assign materials to objects. To assign a material to an object, just drag the material name over the object in the Objects List, over the object itself in the viewport, or over a selected triangle group in the viewport. You can access the contextual menu by right-clicking in the Materials List panel. Use this menu to easily create, import, clone, rename, or remove materials. You can also create emitters, select the object or triangle that has a material is assigned to it, add/ remove assigned triangles, or automatically reload a preview of the selected materials. There are also sorting order and icon size options.
F.03 The Material Browser
uu Tip: To keep your MXS files tidy and clean we recommend you to remove unused materials before rendering, using the Remove Unused option. This way Maxwell Render will not spend time looking for textures of unassigned materials.
Assigning/ adding materials from the browser is done by drag and drop, in one of three ways: a. Drag and drop a material from the Material Browser onto a selected object or group of triangles in the 3D/ 2D viewport. This action will add the material to the current scene and assign it to the object/ triangles. b. Drag and drop a material from the Material Browser onto the Materials List (from

13.01 Community and Learning
Maxwell Render Forum One of the most active and useful learning resources available for Maxwell Render is made up of the users themselves: the Maxwell Render forum.
If you have a question, a problem, need advice or are looking for comments on your renders, the Maxwell Render forum is the place to be. License holders can get VIP status to obtain full access to the forum and be able to write posts. They just need to register in the forum. Demo users can read the forum and do searches, but they wont be able to write posts. http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum THINK! This website has been created for Maxwell Render users to share their knowledge with others. THINK! offers tutorials, tips, videos, scene files, and documents and some materials have been translated to other languages. You can also search for courses or Maxwell Xperts in your area. If you are looking for a tutorial or other learning resources then just visit the THINK! website.
Maxwell Render Resources the Maxwell material repository The Maxwell Resources site, which incorporates the MXM gallery, offers thousands of free materials, skies and is an invaluable source of materials for your Maxwell scenes. It is also a great learning resource - just download a material and see how it was made. Maxwell Render users from all over the world upload new materials every day, and you are welcome to take part too.
http://resources.maxwellrender.com
http://think.maxwellrender.com/
13.02 Optimization methods and Tips
There are several things you can do to optimize a scene, mostly related to emitters: Make sure your emitting surfaces are as low-polygon as possible. Usually, a singlesided polygon will be sufficient. If possible, do not completely enclose your emitters inside a dielectric object. All light that is emitted through the dielectric object is considered caustic light and will take longer to render. Make sure your emitter is not intersecting other geometry. In most cases this will not be a problem but it may add to the render time and produce strange results in the lighting. Regular geometry can intersect other geometry.
uu Very important: Do not use very white or fully saturated materials in your scene. For example, a completely white (255, 255, 255) material will take a very long time to clear and will also make the contrast in the image disappear. Also avoid completely saturated colors such as pure red (255, 0, 0). Pure white or pure saturated materials do not exist in real life so it is better to decrease the saturation a bit. For a white wall, around RGB 220, 220, 220, which is the albedo of white paper, is sufficient.

You can also use this progressive approach to render your animation sequences on the Network System. To create a progressive rendering animation job, you simply have to add an Animation Job with the Network Wizard, setting the SL to the initial Sampling Level you want (lets say SL=10), and launch that job to the network. Once the first frame in the sequence reaches SL=1, you can add another Animation Job for this same sequence and same settings, but with a further Sampling Level (lets say SL=12). As the Wizard detects that there is almost one rendered MXI from that job (because youve waited until the first frame reached SL=1 and the first MXI is stored in the output location), it is detected as a resume job, and this second job will resume the initial sequence from the initial Sampling Level (in this example SL=10) to the next one. Add another job for resuming it to, lets say, SL=14 and another for SL=16 (you dont have to wait here anymore, as all the jobs will be detected as resume jobs due the first MXI that it is detecting). This way you can create a queue of jobs over the same sequence, that will produce a low Sampling Level version of the whole sequence (lets say at SL=10) in a few minutes to start the post-production with, and then the sequence will be resumed to a further SL (in this example to SL=12), after that resumed again to SL=14 and SL=16, providing a continuous improvement in the whole sequence while you are already working on the post-production process, and getting a continuous progressive improvement as the render keeps working on. As the render refinement happens simultaneously while you are post-producing with the initial SL version, the render time almost disappears, being overlapped during your postproduction process, and creating an ultra-efficient unprecedented workflow.
Progressive rendering on the Network
Maxwell Render 2.1 User Manual Chapter 16. Appendix III. Command Line Commands |
16 APPENDIXIII.COMMANDLINECOMMANDS AND EXIT CODES
F.01 Command line screenshot
The core rendering application can be launched either from the command line, from Studio or from the Maxwell Render plug-in from your 3D application. The rendering process can be also controlled using certain command line commands.

Function: int samplingLevel( void ); Description: Returns the maximum sampling level for the current scene. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: sampling level.
Function: void setSamplingLevel( int value ); Description: Sets the maximum sampling level for the current scene. Parameters: INT value: New sampling level value. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: string animationString( void ); Description: Returns the current frame list. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: String: frame list.

Function: int multilightType( void ); Description: Returns the active Multilight type. 0 = NO MULTILIGHT 1 = INTENSITY MULTILIGHT 2 = COLOR MULTILIGHT Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: multilightType.
Function: void setAnimationString( string frames ); Description: Sets the frame list. Parameters: String frames: New frame list. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: void setMultilightType( double type ); Description: Sets the active Multilight type. See multilightType for more info. Parameters: Double value: New Multilight type. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: bool multilightEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether Multilight is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if Multilight is enabled, False if it is disabled.
Function: bool resumeRenderEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether the resume render flag is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if resume render is enabled, False if it is disabled.
Function: void setMultilightEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets Multilight to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New Multilight state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: void setResumeRenderEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets resume render to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New resume render state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: int cpuID( void ); Description: Returns the CPU ID for the current scene. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: cpu ID
Function: void setCpuThreads( int value ); Description: Sets the CPU ID for the current scene. Parameters: INT value: New CPU ID. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: void setResY( int value ); Description: Sets the vertical resolution for the current scene. Parameters: INT value: New vertical resolution. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: int cpuThreads( void ); Description: Returns the CPU threads for the current scene. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: cpu threads
Function: bool lockAspectRatioEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether the lock aspect ratio flag is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if lock aspect ratio is enabled, False if it is disabled.

Function: void setZBufferChannelEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets the ZBuffer channel to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New ZBuffer channel state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: void setRoughnessChannelEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets the roughness channel to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New roughness channel state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: int zBufferMin( void ); Description: Returns the minimum Z depth value of the Z buffer channel. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: minimum Z value.
Function: bool fresnelChannelEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether the Fresnel channel is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if the Fresnel channel is enabled, False if it is disabled.
Function: void setZBufferMin( int value ); Description: Sets the minimum Z depth value of the Z buffer channel. Parameters: INT value: New minimum Z depth value. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: void setFresnelChannelEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets the Fresnel channel to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New Fresnel channel state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: int zBufferMax( void ); Description: Returns the maximum Z depth value of the Z buffer channel. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: INT: maximum Z value.
Function: void setFresnelChannelEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets the Fresnel channel to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New Fresnel channel state. Returned Value: Nothing.
Function: void setZBufferMax( int value ); Description: Sets the maximum Z depth value of the Z buffer channel. Parameters: INT value: New maximum Z depth value. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: bool diffusePassEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether the diffuse pass is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if the diffuse pass is enabled, False if it is disabled.
Function: bool roughnessChannelEnabled( void ); Description: Returns whether the roughness channel is enabled or disabled. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: Bool: True if the roughness channel is enabled, False if it is disabled.
Function: void setDiffusePassEnabled( bool state ); Description: Sets the diffuse pass to enabled or disabled. Parameters: Bool status: New diffuse pass state. Returned Value: Nothing
Function: int renderChannelType( void ); 0 = DIFFUSE + REFLECTIONS 1 = DIFFUSE 2 = REFLECTIONS Description: Returns the active render type. Parameters: Nothing Returned Value: int: Active render type. Function: void setRenderChannelType( int type ); Description: Sets the render channel type. Parameters: int type: New render type. Returned Value: Nothing
Event: renderWarning Description: Event emitted when Maxwell Render emits a warning message during the render.

17.03.03 Scene dependencies explample
// This script reads a scene and copies all its dependencies to another location
var mxsPath = C:\scene.mxs; Maxwell.openMxs( mxsPath ); var nDeps = Scene.getSceneDependenciesCount(); var deps = Scene.getSceneDependencies(); var i; var targetFolder = C:\input for( i = 0; i < nDeps; i++ ) { var currentDep = deps[i]; var target = targetFolder + \ + FileManager.getFileNameAndExtension( currentDep ); Maxwell.print( Copying dependency: + currentDep ); var ok = FileManager.copy( currentDep, target ); if( ok == 0 ) { Maxwell.print( Error copying dependency ); } } //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
17.03.04 Render events example
// This script shows how to register render events within a script
var mxsPath = C:\test_scene.mxs; var imagePath = C:\test_render.png; Maxwell.print( rendering Mxs file: + mxsPath ); Maxwell.openMxs( mxsPath ); Scene.setSamplingLevel( 5 ); Scene.setResX( 256 ); Scene.setResY( 256 ); Scene.setImagePath( imagePath ); RenderEvents[renderFinished()].connect(renderHasFinished); RenderEvents[samplingLevelChanged(double)].connect(slHasChanged); RenderEvents[renderError].connect(errorHappened); RenderEvents[renderWarning].connect(warningHappened); Maxwell.startRender(); function renderHasFinished() { Maxwell.print( Render finished!! ); } function slHasChanged(sl) { Maxwell.print( Script Info: SL Changed: + sl ); // Copy the current image with this SL to a different location var imagePathAtSL = FileManager.getFileFolder( imagePath ) + FileManager.getFileName( imagePath ) + _sl_ + sl +.png; FileManager.copy( imagePath, imagePathAtSL ); } function errorHappened(err)
{ Maxwell.print( Script Info: Render Error: + err ); } function warningHappened(warning) { Maxwell.print( Script Info: Render Warning: + warning ); } //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
17.03.05 Progressive render for Animations
// This script renders all the MXS files located in the input folder but instead of rendering them sequentially until each one reaches the final SL, it renders them incrementally. First it renders all the frames up to SL 4, producing a low SL version of the whole animation that you can use for starting post-production tasks, and then continues refining the whole animation to SL 6, 8, 10,. in steps of 2 Sampling Levels, until the indicated final SL. // It is useful for quickly previewing animations, and for overlapping the rendering process with the postproduction process, saving a huge amount of time in animation projects.

Attenuation distance: Attenuation is the reduction in amplitude and intensity of a signal. As light travels through a material, it loses energy. The Attenuation distance parameter in Maxwell Render allows you to specify how far light can move through an object before losing half its energy. For example, if you have a 2 cm thick glass window, and you set the Attenuation distance to 2 cm, the light shining through the glass on the other side will be half as bright. BSDF: BSDF, or Bidirectional Scattering Distribution Function, is a set of mathematical functions that describe how light interacts with a material. These functions can describe opaque, transparent and translucent materials and their surface properties such as roughness, color etc. Burn: An image is burned when its contrast is raised too much, and it results in the image containing uniform blobs of color, black, or white where there actually should be detail. In Maxwell Render, Burn is a tone-mapping parameter that controls how fast the image is over-exposed. Camera Frustum: Generally, the field of view of the camera. The Camera Frustum in Maxwell Render is indicated by a yellow frame. Anything inside this frame will be rendered. Channels: Rendering information can be stored separately in different images or channels, and this is usually done for compositing purposes. Maxwell Render can split the information obtained during the rendering process and produce independent Shadow channels, Alpha channels, Material Id channels, Object Id channels, Z-buffer channels, Motion Vector channels, Diffuse channels, and Reflection channel, as well as the complete composed image. Clip map: A texture with completely black or completely white pixels only. It can be used in Maxwell Render as a Layer weight to determine which parts of a material should be made visible (white areas) or invisible (black areas). Depth of Field: Depth of Field, or DOF, is the area in front and beyond the camera focal distance (the camera target) where the objects will appear in focus. The camera parameters that affect the DOF the most are the f-Stop and focal length settings. Other variables such as film width/ height and distance of the camera to the subject will also affect the DOF.

observers angle of view. In other words: the surfaces luminance is the same regardless of angle of view. Many rough surfaces, such as unfinished wood, exhibit Lambertian reflectance. In Maxwell Render, Lambertian behavior is seen when Roughness is set to 100. Latitude: Describes a location north or south of the equator. Technically, it is an angular measurement in degrees ranging from 0 degrees at the equator, to 90 degrees at the poles. Latitude can be combined with longitude to give a precise position on the Earths surface. Longitude: Describes a location east or west of a north-south line called the Prime Meridian. Longitude is given as an angular measurement ranging from 0 degrees at the Prime Meridian to +180 degrees eastward and -180 degrees westward. Longitude and latitude together can point to a specific location on the Earths surface. Lumens: Lumens (lm) is the SI unit for luminous flux. It is a common way to specify how much light is emitted. Light manufacturers usually supply this data. Luminous intensity: Luminous intensity is the power of light emitted in a certain direction, and it is specified in candela (cd). Maxwell.exe: Previously known as MXCL, it is the core rendering application. Whether you launch your render via the plug-in from your 3D platform or from Studio, Maxwell. exe is the application that performs the actual rendering. Maxwell.exe also provides tools for image editing, Multilight controls, scripting features, etc. Motion blur: The apparent streaking of rapidly moving objects in a still image or a sequence of images such as a movie. When a camera creates an image, that image does not represent a single instant of time, but a series of instants over a period of time. As objects in a scene move, an image of that scene must represent an integration of all positions of those objects, over the period of exposure determined by the shutter speed (or shutter angle in the case of an animation). In such an image, an object moving with respect to the camera will look blurred or smeared along the direction of the relative motion. Multilight: Multilight is a special feature of Maxwell Render that allows the user to change intensities of individual lights in the scene during and after the rendering process. This feature is the first of its kind in a commercial render engine and it is extremely
powerful allowing you to produce many different lighting combinations from just one render. MXCL: Refers to the Maxwell render engine, which is command line controllable. Users can connect to MXCL via one of the supported plug-ins or through Studio. MXED: Stands for Maxwell Material Editor. It is a standalone material editor within the Maxwell Render software, with powerful, layered, physical materials and a material browser. MXI: Stands for Maxwell Image. It is Maxwell Renders high dynamic image format which stores all the lighting calculations. This powerful image format allows for resume render and Multilight adjustments. MXI/HDR: (Maxwell Render parameter) This option allows us to light the scene with a HDR or MXI map. In this box there is an option for selecting the type of lighting for the channels that are disabled. With this option you can, for example, insert a background into your image if you apply the map in background textured. MXM: Stands for Maxwell Material. It is the Maxwell material format. MXS: Stands for Maxwell Scene. It is the Maxwell Render scene format. MXST: Stands for Maxwell Studio. It is an independent application within the core components of Maxwell Render. MXST allows users to import objects in different formats, create/ edit/ apply materials, and set up lights and textures. MXST can then send the scene to MXCL to be rendered. MXST is not a modelling application. Offset: An integer indicating the distance from the beginning of an object up until a given element or point, presumably within the same object. OpenGL: OpenGL stands for Open Graphics Library and is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that display 2D and 3D computer graphics. Graphics cards that take advantage of this library will speed up the display of 3D objects in the viewport. Physical sky: Simulates the physical sky in an image for any time of day, any day of the year.

Watts: The Watt is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one joule per second. Watts specifies how much electricity a light source consumes.
Maxwell Render 2.1 User Manual Credits |
Cartoon Network by Meindbender Markus Otto Vinamilk Balloons. VFX produced by Giantsteps for Douglas Avery Images page: 1 Benjamin Brosdau, Pure | www.purerender.com Images page: 4 The Scope Digital Studio | www.the-scope.net Images page: 5 Oliver Wende | info@sideshowmedia.de Images page: 7 Oliver Wende | info@sideshowmedia.de Images page: 10 Tom Rusteberg | Wanderplay Studio www.wanderplay.com Images page: 16 Markus Otto, Winzenrender | www.winzenrender.com Production Company Muddville Stack! Studios | www.stack-studios.com Images page: 17 Stack! Studios | www.stack-studios.com Images page: 21 Rudolf Herczog | www.rochr.com Images page: 25 Stack! Studios | www.stack-studios.com Images page: 31
The Scope Digital Studio | www.the-scope.net Images page: 36 Benjamin Brosdau, Pure | www.purerender.com Images page: 49 Kurt Singstad Images page: 80 Nubeo International Ltd Images page: 89 Andrea Rettori | a.rettori@tin.it Images page: 113 The Scope Digital Studio | www.the-scope.net Images page: 114 Cartoon Network by Meindbender Images page: 122 Deniz zemre Images page: 125 Design and renderings by dekode | www.decode.co.uk Images page: 129 Daniel Kerbler | splinewalker@gmail.com Images page: 153 Mihai Iliuta | www.iliuta.com Images page: 158
Copyright 2010 Next Limit SL Maxwell Render & RealFlow a registered trademark of Next Limit SL All trademarks included in this catalogue belong to their respective owners All images in this book have been reproduced with the knowledge and prior consent of the artists concerned and no responsibility is accepted by producer, publisher, or printer for any infringement of copyright or otherwise, arising from the contents of this publication. Every effort has been made to ensure that credits accurately comply with information supplied.