Why do I get the message "Maxwell needs a camera view"
When I hit the "Render" button, Maxwell shows a dialog which says that it needs a camera view.
This occurs when your "current" view is not a camera view when you select the "render" button.
Although you may have already created 1 or more camera views you should ensure that your "current" selected view (in the SolidWorks viewing area) is a camera view and all will be fine.
Adjusting the mesh
I can see the facets in my model when I render. What can I do ?
Try adjusting the Image Quality setting in Solidworks.
Use the menu item Tools ... Options...
Switch to the Document Properties tab
and choose the ImageQuality setting from the left-hand pane.
Adjust the "Shaded and draft quality HLR/HLV resolution" slider toward the High setting for a finer mesh.
Low
High
Batch Rendering
I would like to run MXCL on a number of MXS files unattended. What is the best way to do this?
I often generate a number of Maxwell Scene files (MXS) for later processing. Although it may be possible to set up network rendering to process these files, I find it easier to write a DOS batch file and run this often overnight or at the weekend on a machine which can be dedicated for that purpose..
MXCL is a command line program and the parameters are documented in associated documentation from Next Limit.
You can create a text file containing lines such as:
mxcl -mxs:lab1.mxs -output:lab1.jpg -sampling:30 -time:60 -nowait
mxcl -mxs:lab2.mxs -output:lab2.jpg -sampling:30 -time:60 -nowait
mxcl -mxs:lab3.mxs -output:lab3.jpg -sampling:30 -time:60 -nowait
mxcl -mxs:lab4.mxs -output:lab4.jpg -sampling:30 -time:60 -nowait
Save this as a DOS batch (.bat) file and run it on the required machine (which, of course, has Maxwell installed on it).
The -nowait option should be used to ensure that MXCL doesn't pause after processing 1 MXS file before starting the next one.
To monitor progress you can include the option -display. This will run MXCL with a display window. Without this option, there is no way to determine what sampling level has been reached while a job is running.
What is 3D Content Central ?
3D Content Central is a resource for locating models of 3D components that can be used in your designs.
The website (www.3dcontentcentral.com) contains links to websites of manufacturing suppliers that have electronic models of their products available for viewing and downloading. It also has electronic models supplied by public users for viewing and downloading by other users.
It's free but requires registration before you get access to the user model
sharing library and supplier certified models.
How long will it take to reach a known sampling level (SL) ?
Specify a "high" rendering time and the desired sampling level before starting MXCL to do the render.
Note the "Time Left" text box will show the estimated time to reach the required Sampling Level rather than the original time you specified (as long as the time you specified is greater than the actual time needed).
How do I rotate the HDRI/MXI image I'm using as a background ?
You can select an image to use as a background from the Background controls in the Addins Sky Page.
To rotate the image specify offsets in the range 0 -> 1 (i.e. values less than 1) For example, a value of 0.5 rotates the image by 180 degrees.
(You can also use the same technique when modifying the parameters in the background offset fields in Studio (MXST) )
Assigning materials to Surface Bodies
There appears to be a problem which prevents users selecting Surface Bodies when the Maxwell Property Manager (PM) page is opened on the Materials Tab. I'm sure this is a bug which will be addressed in a later release, but in the meantime you can use the following approach to assign materials to surface bodies.
- Create the material you want to assign to the surface body.
- Exit the Maxwell PM
- Select the required Surface Body
- Launch the Maxwell PM and open the Material Tab
- Pick the material from the list
- Pick the material assignment button
and the material is assigned to the surface body.
I only want to create a Maxwell Scene (mxs) file
When the Maxwell addin is loaded, there is an additional option added to the SolidWorks File...Save As... menu that allows you to create a Maxwell Scene file without launching Studio or producing the render.
Set the scene parameters using the Maxwell Property Manager pages as normal, then select this option Maxwell scene (*.mxs) from the list in the Save As... menu to generate the required scene file.