Next Limit released MAXWELL RENDER 1.7. Maxwell Render 1.7 offers several new and vastly improved features.

If you a customer of Next Limit check your inbox to find the URL to download the update.

What is new in MAXWELL Render 1.7

• New physical sky system
  The Physical Sky system in Maxwell Render 1.7 uses an entirely new approach and has been greatly enhanced adding more parameters to control the look of the sky and the resulting light in the scene, ranging from common Earth values to exaggerated fantasy skies. Users can create presets of sky settings to quickly load a new sky, or share their presets with other users. It’s also possible to save the current sky as an HDR map.This new sky system renders faster than the previous one – in certain scenes the difference can be dramatic. The concept of “Aerosols” – particles found in the air that interact with light and influence how lights scatters and reacts in the atmosphere – plays an important role. Aerosols have a big impact on the coloration of the sky and scene illumination.
• 1.7 Material Editor enhanced
  • Material Preview: the material preview now shows incremental updates and you can stop the preview rendering at any time by double clicking on the preview.
  • Material Swatches: here you can store material “swatches” or previews. A material state can be stored as a preview and the user can easily browse between the saved previews, allowing for faster material editing and experimentation.
  • Texture Editor: the Texture Editor in 1.7 offers various new image controls: Saturation; Brightness; Contrast; and Clamp min/max. These new controls allow users to work much more efficiently with textures. There is no need to use an external image editing application to make small changes to a texture, and the same texture can be used for colour, bump, roughness and weight map.
  • Wizards: this is a step-by-step guide to creating several types of common materials such as shiny wooden floors, plastics, clipmapped materials for leafs, SSS materials, etc. The Wizard will ask you for textures, bumps, reflectance maps and material values such as roughness and colour.The “Common” wizard can be used to create Diffuse, Emitter, Metal, Dielectric or Plastic materials

• New SSS Component
  Sub-Surface Scattering (SSS) simulates the effect of light entering a translucent object and scattering inside it. Some of this light is absorbed and some is also scattered back to the surface. It is a crucial component that allows you to accurately simulate many kinds of materials including plastics, marble, milk, skin etc. The SSS component has been entirely rewritten for Maxwell Render 1.7, following an entirely new approach compared to the old system or any other SSS system currently available.The SSS component in Maxwell Render effectively replaces the BSDF material properties such as  eflectance/transmittance becausethe surface reflection color and amount depends on what happens inside the volume, just like in real life. There is no separation between “surface” material and “volume” material. The surface properties (roughness, bump etc.) remain the same as for the BSDF component. What this means in practice is that with the SSS component, you can get a full range of materials from regular clear glass, to almost solid-looking materials. This is one of the biggest strengths of Maxwell Render’s SSS system. The SSS material supports full GI and if the material is clear enough it will create caustic light patterns and also be influenced by caustic light cast from surrounding objects.

  You can weight an SSS with a BSDF, or several SSS components, but only one SSS or BSDF per material layer is allowed. You can quickly switch between using a BSDF or SSS component by right-clicking in the Material Layers list or by using the Edit menu and choosing “Turn to BSDF” or “Turn to SSS’. The Nd and surface properties you used in the previous component will be transferred to the new compone

• 1.7 Maxwell Studio improvements
  • Texture Handling and Memory Optimizations: texture handling, scene loading times and overall memory usage have all been improved. With scenes that use many large textures, objects and materials, the loading time is around 10 times faster. Only the textures that are active in the OpenGL viewport are now loaded into memory, saving RAM and allowing users to work faster with materials.
  • Realtime OpenGL Preview of Physical Sky: with the vastly improved Physical Sky system in Maxwell Render 1.7, the OpenGL preview in the viewports has also been improved, allowing you to change any of the Sky parameters and camera settings and seeing an accurate realtime preview in the viewports.
  • Color Picker: the color chips on the left side can be used to store commonly used colors. Drag& drop a color from the large color chips at the bottom of the Color Picker to one of the color chips on the left to store a color.
    The two large color chips at the bottom of the color picker allow you to compare the previously selected color with a new one.The top color chip updates to show the currently selected color in the colored wheel. The bottom color chip shows what color was selected when opening the Color Picker.
  • Isolate Selection: select this option from the right click menu in the object list panel, or in a viewport, to display only the currently selected objects in the viewport. This is useful if you have a cluttered scene and wish to view only the currently selected objects.
  • UV Operator: this option lets you apply the same transformations to all the selected UVs at the same time. You can, for example, scale all the selected UV sets by 10%. The Operator is found under the UV parameters section in the Object Parameters panel.
  • Material Browser: improved for version 1.7; it has a more common functionality with the Windows Explorer, having a folder view on the left side and the contents of the folder displayed on the right side.
  • 3D/ Ortho View Dropdown: You can switch a camera to be a perspective (3D) camera or an orthographic camera (2D). This is useful if you wish to render an orthographic view while still having access to common camera parameters such as resolution and ISO. Please note that focal length is not available when the camera is in orthographic mode.

• SimuLens
  SimuLens parameters: the SimuLens parameters have been added to the interface of Maxwell Studio and the plug-ins, and they are now also available through the command line. These changes allow for SimuLens to be used for animations.
• MXiMerge Tool
  The installation package includes a new tool called MxiMerge. This is a small command line application useful to merge MXI files into one folder. It can also be used to read information about an MXI file (resolution, sampling level, etc) and for converting MXI files into other image formats. To learn more about how to use this tool just open a command line/terminal window and type: (for Windows) MxiMerge.exe –help; (for Mac OSX and Linux) mximerge –help.
• MAXWELL Plugins
  All Plugins (3ds Max, Archicad 11, Cinema 4D, form-Z, Lightwave 3D, Maya, Rhinoceros, SolidWorks,  and Softimage | XSI) have been updated

• Modelin
  • General Modeling
  • Organic Modeling
• Surfacing/Texturing
  • Tools
  • Mapping
  • Surface Editor
  • Node Editor
• Animation
  • Animation Tools
  • General Animation
  • Animating Cameras and Lights
  • Vehicle Animation
  • Character Animation
  • Particles
  • Dynamics
• Lighting
  
• Rendering and Compositing
  

Modeling

Modeling Tools

Introduction to Action Center Control:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Translate Plus:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Interactive Paste Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Move Plus:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rove Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rotate About Normal Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rotate to Object Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rotate to Ground Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Segment Scale:
Click Here to view
- Segment Scale introduction and examples
- Location of Tool Color preferences setting

Introduction to Set Map Value:
Click Here to view

Booleans vs Speed Booleans:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Create Skin tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Morph Polygons Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Bend Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Toggle Backdrop On/Off:
Click Here to view
Note: The Toggle Backdrop video also shows how to add this feature to the interface and setup a shortcut key to help save time when using it.

Introduction to the Router Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Motion Path Extrude Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Platonic Solid Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Gemstone Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Drill Tools: Drill & Solid Drill:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Drag and Snap Drag Tools:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Center, Center 1D and Center Sel 1D functions :
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Lathe Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Jump Points Command:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rotate 90 to the Right Command:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Center View on Cursor Command:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Point Center and Find Center Commands:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Angle Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Measure Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Sketch Color:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Pivot Tool and Center Pivot Command:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Bevel Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Hide options:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Rail Bevel Tool:
Click Here to view

General Modeling

Modeling a Tennis Ball:
Click Here to view

Creating seams in a football model (Multiple tools and techniques covered):
Click Here to view

Using Endomorphs in the Modeling process:
Click Here to view

Modeling a bowl of cereal with a little help from HardFX:*
Click Here to view

Hard Surface Modeling

2 Methods for creating a PaperClip:
Click Here to view

Creating a model with threads using subpatches and all quads:
Click Here to view

Be sure to check out JeffrySG’s killer technique here as well:
http://www.newtek.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77441

Creating a curved metal weaved mesh:
Click Here to view

Modeling a Texas star:
Click Here to view

Solution for creating ‘X’ and ‘T’ pipe joints in SubD :
Click Here to view

Creating Cathedral Ceilings:
Click Here to view

Organic Modeling

Introduction to Endomorphs, Morph Mixer and Open GL Sliders:*
Click Here to view
The first portion of the video shows how to create endomorphs in a character model. The rest of the video shows how to use endomorphs for character animation in Layout.

Using curves to create skelegons with the use of Convert Skelegons:*
Click Here to view
The first portion of the video shows how to create skelegons in Modeler using spline draw; the last portion shows how to convert the skelegons to bones in Layout.

Surfacing/Texturing

Tools

Introduction to Color Selection:
Click Here to view
Note: Includes the LightWave Color Picker. Works the same way in Modeler and Layout, although Layout is the only application shown.

Mapping

1 Weight Map, 1 Surface = Multi-Surfaces:
Right-Click Here and Save to view

Introduction to Texture Guide:
Right-Click Here and Save to view

Introduction to Color Vertex Maps:
Right-Click Here and Save to view

Introduction to texturing with image maps:
Click Here to view

Using a Clip map with Shadow Maps:
Click Here to view

Using Weightmaps and Adaptive Pixel Subdivision to control the level of detail at render time:
Click Here to view

How to Apply procedural textures with a UV map:
Click Here to view
Shows methods to apply procedurals with a UV Map in both Surface Editor and Node Editor.

Surface Editor

Introduction to the Special Buffers options in the Surface Editor:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Halftone Shader:
Click Here to view

Node Editor

Creating Texture Displacement and more in the Node Editor:
Click Here to view

Multiple Bumps on one Surface in the Node Editor:
Click Here to view

Using Multiple Weight Maps on 1 Surface:
Click Here to view

Setting up a Distance to Object Gradient in the Node Editor:
Click Here to view

Node Editor: Creating Stitches with Procedural Textures:
Click Here to view

Creating Spiderman-type suit webbing:
Click Here to view

Creating a Radar Motion Trail:
Click Here to view

Creating a glass surface using the Dielectric Material Node:
Click Here to view
Animation

Animation Tools

Introduction to Serpent:
Click Here to view
Covers Lazy Points, Inertia, Serpent, Cloth FX, HardLink< MetaLink and more!

Introduction to Cyclist:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Move Path and Path Tool:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Effector custom object:
Click Here to view
Note: Be sure to watch the Effector video “Using Effector to displace a tube”.

Introduction to the Textured Motion, Motion Modifier:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Lead the Follower Motion Modifier:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Proxy Pick:*
Click Here to view

General Animation

Creating a rope and pulley animation:
Kickn’ it Old School!
Click Here to view

Creating a “Slinky-Style” spring animation:
This one has all kinds of goodies inside.
Click Here to view

Techniques for animating a spiral motion:
Click Here to view

Creating Multiple Pivot Points for one Object:
Click Here to view

Setting up an animation rig for window blinds:
Click Here to view

Animating carpet rolling and unrolling:
Click Here to view

Animating a Page turning:
Click Here to view

Setting up an animation of multiple pins driven by a displacement map:
Click Here to view
Now go off and do something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0u0AG_floQ

Using Effector to displace a tube:
Right-Click Here and Save to view

Animating a shaded object converting to a wireframe object:
Click Here to view

Rigging and animating an accordion style hinge:
Click Here to view

Localized morphing of an object based on the distance of another object:
Click Here to view
Be sure to also check out the video “Localized Morphing Used on a Face Rig” under the Character Animation section.

Localized morphing of an object based on the distance of another object using Normal Displacement:
Click Here to view

Animating Cameras and Lights

Creating a hand-held camera motion:
Click Here to view

Creating a light flicker using Noisy Channel:
Click Here to view

Animating a Muzzle Flash synced to an audio file:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Sun Spot:*
Click Here to view

Vehicle Animation

Animating Tank Treads:
Click Here to view
Note: The treads animate smoothly, though the framerate of the capture software looks otherwise. Give the setup a try and you will see how well it truly works.

Animating a train or roller coaster on a curved track:
Click Here to view

Relativity: Dr. Wheel Rotator:
Click Here to view

Animating an Escalator:
Click Here to view

Character Animation

How to setup a cartoon oval eye for animation:
Right-Click Here and Save to view

Localized morphing used on a face rig:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Endomorphs, Morph Mixer and Open GL Sliders:*
Click Here to view
The first portion of the video shows how to create endomorphs in a character model. The rest of the video shows how to use endomorphs for character animation in Layout.

Using curves to create skelegons with the use of Convert Skelegons:*
Click Here to view
The first portion of the video shows how to create skelegons in Modeler using spline draw; the last portion shows how to convert the skelegons to bones in Layout.

Introduction to Proxy Pick:
Click Here to view

Particles

Animating a bouncing ball using a particle emitter:
Click Here to view

Creating rain splashing on the ground using particle emitters:
Click Here to view

Creating a bottle rocket type animation with particle emitters:
Click Here to view

Creating water flowing through a piping structure:
Click Here to view

Dynamics

Using Cloth FX to Tear/Rip Material:
Click Here to view

Creating Foot prints in the ground using Cloth FX:
Click Here to view

Winding a flag around a pole using Soft FX and then the same thing with Cloth FX:
Click Here to view

Buttons on a Shirt that uses Cloth FX:
Click Here to view

Introduction to HardFx and Object Dissolve:
Click Here to view

Animating a hose that is connected to an object on each end:
Click Here to view

Using FXLinker to Mimic Modeler’s Point Clone Plus feature in Layout:
Click Here to view

Modeling a bowl of cereal with a little help from HardFX:*
Click Here to view

Creating a flag blowing in the wind:
Click Here to view

Lighting

How to set up the Spinning Light Trick and an introduction to Luxigons:
Click Here to view
The Spinning Light Trick was first developed by Dave Jerrard if I remember correctly. That guy has created more cool techniques then anyone I know!

Enjoy the video!

Introduction to Negative Lights:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Sun Spot:*
Click Here to view

Rendering and Compositing

Introduction to Compositing inside of LightWave:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Render Buffer View:
Click Here to view

Introduction to Render Buffer Export:
Click Here to view

Manually creating a depth pass:
Click Here to view

Introduction to the Photoshop PSD Export Image Filter:
Click Here to view

Creating trussing and framework with ease:
Kickn’ it New School!
Click Here to view

Some sites for you to enjoy this weekend:

Some reels to watch to learn on who you could do certain effects yourself.

• buzz Image Group INC.
  
• The Third Floor shots from Eragon, Rise of the Silver Surfer, Revenge of the Sith, Cloverfield, Beowulf and others.
• Hydraulx’s 2007 reel includes before and after shots from 300
• Newtek customer profile video showcasing the use of Lightwave by Eden FX and Zoic for the TV show, 24.
• Imageworks has posted a Spider-Man 3 ‘birth of Sandman’ making of clip
• Step by Step: Night at the Museum
• Rainmaker’s visual effects showreel from The Da Vinci Code and Firewall and other projects
• Imageworks on Ghost Rider

Try a new way to find Images or picture: oSkope oSkope is a visual browser that lets you search and organize in an intuitive way.

Videos to watch this weekend:

• “Animals at Play”- A polar bear playing with sled dogs
• Imprint – PIKAPIKA Workshop
• Funkphonic – Rick Tank – 3D Animation

Kray is a global illumination renderer plugin for Lightwave

New beta features include:

• rewriten scene import module
• faster scene loading
• better memory management
• improved compatibility with LW (texturing)
• improved final gathering blur (speed)
• nodes support (early version)
• separate channels output (reflection,refraction,texture,irradiance,other)
• many,many bugs fixed