• R&D updates: Maxwell Render
• Latest News
• Sneak Peek: Maxwell Render plug-in for Lightwave
• Next Limit meet&greet :: Oscar Monzon
• Skill up! :: Maxwell Render tip
• Images of the moment

• The next version: a taste of things to come.


• Core enhancements: key parts of the engine have been rewritten, resulting in many fantastic improvements, bringing the quality of your renders to a completely new level. Memory handling has been greatly enhanced. This version uses much less memory than version 1.1, making it possible to render at very high resolutions (for example at 8000 x 6000 with less than 2 GB of Ram) without losing quality. High-res images are just a mouse-click away now.
  
  

  	Image courtesy of Mike Verta Click here to download the high resolution version. (16000x10669 px) Click on the image to see a bigger preview.

  
  
  As a consequence of the core enhancements, memory-intensive tasks such as glare, Multilight with a lot of emitters, large geometries and a lot of heavy textures are improved. Additionally, MXI files can always be re-rendered and the size of the MXI files is around 3.5 times smaller in the new version. The core enhancements also allow for a 32 bits output: it is now possible to set the output image format to HDR directly inside Maxwell Render. As already announced in previous newsletters, we have further improved the network system, making it more stable and faster, with the possibility to see a coop preview image and to select machines by name or IP. There will also be a Linux version, an optimized Maxwell Studio and an improved Maxwell Material Editor. Most of the plug-ins have been further improved and we will continue with these improvements in the coming months. For a preview of the upcoming Lightwave plug-in, see below. Yet still, these are just a few highlights of what the new version has to offer….We have many more surprises lined up for you, so stay tuned!

• The MXM Gallery treasure hunt for the “Jewels and Precious Stones” contest has come to an end, and sure did we get rich! We found heaps of silver and gold, beautiful sapphires, emeralds and topaz, piles of pearls and other riches that Captain Jack Sparrow can only dream of. So, all aboard! Let’s announce the winners:
  

  The first prize, that stunning Apple TV, goes to Hdesbois for his stunning, multi-functional material “gemstone_rainbow”!

  The second prize, a Maxwell Render t-shirt in a Maxwell Render box, goes to F_Tella for his enriching, original material “Treasure chest coin”! 

  The third prize, a Maxwell Render t-shirt in a Maxwell Render box, goes to Motopiku for his super-realistic material “Ambra_Baltic”!

  Gemstone Rainbow By Hdesbois		Treasure Chest Coin By F_Tella		Ambra Baltic By Motopiku

  Congratulations winners! The rest of you will have to walk to plank….
  Thanks everyone for your fantastic uploads and good luck with the next contest!

• The April Maxwell Render material contest is coming up and this month the MXM 2007 Spring-Summer clothing collection brings you the latest fashion heights. Bring your stylish materials, rich fabrics and fabulous combinations to the MXM catwalk, and wow us with your own stunning new look. Who knows…. Kate Moss might be wearing your designs soon!
  The winner will get some action with the oh-so-fashionable Nintendo Wii!
  
  
  The Wii is fun for everyone: from die-hard gamers to old-fashioned grandmas. Keep an eye on http://mxmgallery.maxwellrender.com for more info. Don’t forget to upload your entry before the end of April. Thanks for participating and good luck!!!
  

• It is not too late to take advantage of the Maxwell Render for Rhino 4.0 offer. Get Rhino 4.0 and Maxwell Render for $1.395 or get the Rhino 4.0 upgrade and Maxwell Render for as little as $695! Contact your Rhino reseller or visit www.maxwellrender.com for more information.
  
  

• Win an Apple MacBook Pro and copies of Maxwell Render with the Maxwell Render contest in 3D World issue 90! All you have to do is select a photo and make a render of the same image, trying to match it as closely as possible. You can render a total of three different versions of your image, one trying to match the photo, and the others showcasing different lighting, using Maxwell’s Multilight. Entries will be judged on the level of photorealism and likeness to the original picture, originality and appeal, and skill with and use of Maxwell Render’s features, especially Multilight. Send your entries to 3dw.competition@futurenet.co.uk before June 30, 2007. For more info, get your copy of 3D World issue 90 from your nearest bookshop. Good luck!
  
  

  	Apple MacBook Pro rendered with Maxwell Render by Matthew Winter. www.lightboxnyc.com

• The training sections for both the Maxwell Render and RealFlow websites are now online. Next Limit is offering a new Training Partners Program with indirect training through third-party academies, institutions and teachers. Learning institutions can get their Maxwell Render and/or RealFlow courses officially certified by Next Limit, and benefit from promotional opportunities.
  Students will be able to find out which academies offer courses in their area and what the courses are like, and they will be able to contact the academies directly for further details. If you are interested in having your Maxwell Render or RealFlow courses certified, please visit www.maxwellrender.com/training/info.html or www.nextlimit.com/realflow/training_info.htm for further information.

• Japanese reseller Ultimate Graphics is running a Maxwell Render campaign. For more details, see http://www.ultimategraphics.co.jp

• Check out SWAY Studio’s latest project for Cinnamon Toast Crunch at www.realflow.com and find out how they created a photorealistic cereal commercial using RealFlow.
  
  

• EVOQE, the creators of solidThinking, and Next Limit Technologies have agreed a special bundle between the four solidThinking products and Maxwell Render. You can now purchase bundles of solidThinking + Maxwell Render at greatly reduced prices with savings starting from €595/ $595! The bundle offers will be available until May 31, 2007 only from EVOQE and solidThinking resellers.

• Italian Maxwell Render reseller Maxwell Render dot it (www.maxwellrender.it) is creating Maxwell Magazine issue two. This time the magazine counts even more pages than the first issue, containing special articles on the Maxwell Material Editor, Cooperative and Resume Render and an interview with Gianni Melis. The magazine will be out on Monday the 16th of April!
  
  
  

Hello Lightwavers!
The new Lightwave plug-in is being tested this very moment, but we would like to give you a first insight into what’s new, and what you might expect. Enjoy!

The Lightwave plug-in and interface have been completely rewritten, allowing for a more user-friendly, vastly improved workflow and much better integration.

• Feature: The Maxwell Approximation

  - The Lightwave material (surface) is translated to a Maxwell Render approximation in the best and most accurate way possible.
  - The approximated material has two layers, a diffuse layer and a shiny layer.
  
  The following attributes are used:
  
  - Color : set as the color of the diffuse layer.
  - Diffuse : set as the weight of the diffuse layer.
  - Reflectivity : set as both the weight and color of the shiny layer.
  - Glossiness : inverted and set as the roughness of the shiny layer.
  - Transparency : connected to the transmittance on both layers.
  - Bump : connected to the bump map on both layers.

• Feature: The Maxwell Shader

  - Add the shader to a Lightwave surface, click twice, and tadaaa!.

  The UI reproduces the material panel from Maxwell Studio. Click on  and the usual Lightwave texture panel opens. All UV modes are supported. We can now also animate these parameters with the envelopes button .

• Feature: The Maxwell Camera Properties

  - No explanation needed!



• Feature: The Render Options Panel
  
  
  
• Installation:

  The installation of the new Lightwave plug-in is a real breeze, and Maxwell Render buttons are automatically added to the Lightwave interface. Currently, there are three buttons:
  
  - “Render”: exports the scene and starts MXCL
  - “Maxwell Attribs.”: allows you to set Maxwell-specific attributes on objects where these are needed. Only camera objects need Maxwell-specific attributes at the moment.
  - “Render Options”: opens the global render options UI

  When you load your scene, the plug-in automatically triangulates meshes if needed. Meshes with large amount of polygons are no longer a problem.

  There is a "Maxwell scene" entry in the File -> Export menu that allows you to export the current scene to a MXS file without starting MXCL.

  Testing of the new Lightwave plug-in will continue. Keep an eye on www.maxwellrender.com for updates.

Name.......... Oscar Monzon
Age............. 36
From........... Madrid, Spain

Education: "I studied Sociology and did a degree in Marketing after that. I also took a Masters’ Degree in New Technologies. I worked nine years as a director in an advertising company and I have been working at Next Limit for four years now.”

Work: “I am one of the marketing managers at Next Limit. I manage our marketing team, handle different situations relevant to marketing, and I go to many events, trying to ‘work the field’.”

Best aspect: “I love to work with enthusiastic people and take advantage of the different opportunities that arise, in the best way possible. I’m a very curious and creative person. I have also loved 3D from the very beginning.”

Worst aspect: “The necessity to be online and ready 24 hours a day, handling many different problems, having to cut myself into 10 pieces to be able to be in 10 different places at the same time. It sometimes makes it hard to handle my own life.”

Funny fact : “I love to play football or basketball with my workmates, which we did several times in the past. However, my team never wins, so next time I would like to make a goal, for a change.”

Free time: “I love skiing and I enjoy spending time with my dog. I also like to play sports and online games with my old college friends. I just love Battlefield 2, it rocks! And I can’t wait for the release of the second part of Far Cry.”

Future: “We have many, many opportunities on our horizon. We are already much stronger than in the past and I am certain we will keep growing bigger and bigger, providing solutions, opportunities and illusions to anyone willing to listen.”

Oops! No tip this time. If you have a special Maxwell Render tip you would like to share with our community, or if you are struggling with a specific subject or problem you would like to learn more about, please send an email to newsletter@nextlimit.com and we might put it in one of our future newsletter.

With so many great images around these days, we decided to showcase two instead of just one. Enjoy!.

Image details: "This is a medical auto-injector device I have been working on in SolidWorks. The image was exported to Maxwell Studio using the SolidWorks plug-in and rendered with Maxwell Render 1.1 on a P4 3.4ghz with 2 GB of Ram."

Artist details: "I am 30 years old and live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I work as an industrial designer for a consulting firm called Kablooe Design (pronounced like the comic book explosion sound) and I work on a wide range of projects from medical equipment, industrial equipment all the way to consumer products (www.kablooe.com)."

About Maxwell Render: “I think Maxwell Render is one of the most powerful tools on the market to truly visualize a design and communicate it to customers. There is no guesswork as to what a certain surface finish, material, or lighting effect will look like. We use it on almost every project since the alpha days because you can set up a scene in very little time and you get what you expect. I could tweak other render packages for hours, even days, and still get unsatisfying results. I always felt like I was settling for what the software gave me for output. With Maxwell there is no settling. I get exactly what I am looking for and more with minimal set up time”