Maxwell Render plug-in for MicroStation -
Contents
1. VA TR DV am 4 MAXWELL RENDER Maxwell Render plugin for Microstation Plugin Manual NEXT LIMIT TECHNOLOGIES Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 2 Table of Contents Krom vvs 3 IE CVD EEE EE EN AEE NN JONES SN GJ NL SEE 4 Configuration NrabEvsv2v42s SA 5 RO WARGO A IN 5 MicroStation STII ra AS EA A Ea Add 6 Pen Bibel J CA A SG 23 O Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 3 Introduction Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation performs direct geometry and materials export from MicroStation to Maxwell Render MXS scene and optionally to MXM material files This plug in simply called the Plugin in this document replaces the legacy export tool found in previous editions of MicroStation Translating MicroStation materials into Maxwell Render format is not an exact science because several material properties are either unique to either engine or have incompatible dependencies The Plugin attempts to make informed guesses about corresponding material properties when translating MicroStation materials to Maxwell Render format but at some point it reaches the practical limit of how far this guess work can be effective therefore the user is advised to further refine the exported materials in either Maxwell Studio or the Maxwell Render Material Editor To this end we have provided an MXM Cache which is activated by enabling the Cache Materia2. Enabled Sky F r Disabled Channels None Background 3 EO Screen Mapped Image File Intensity 10 000 Scale 1 000 1 000 Offset 7 270 000 0 000 Clear All Channels Copy Curent Channel to All Channels MXM Cache Material Associations Close Maxwell Render s equivalent to the HDRI Sky Type is Image Based Lighting IBL and these images need to be in the Latitude Longitude format the width should be twice the height Maxwell Render supports four independent channels where you can use IBL Background Reflection Refraction amp Illumination Each of these channels can be independently Enabled or Disabled and if any one of them is disabled you have the option for that channel to default to one of the other Active Sky Types such as None Physical or Sky Dome There are some differences to be aware of in the way that MicroStation and Maxwell Render interpret HDRI environmental lighting O MicroStation mirrors the HDRI before applying it to a virtual sphere surrounding your geometry whilst Maxwell Render does not O An HDRI can be rotated about the Z axis to suit the user s needs but the two systems rotate the image in opposite directions This means that where MicroStation uses an Offset angle of 0 the equivalent Offset angle in Maxwell Render would be 270 O To match MicroStation s HDRI brightness you will need to set the exported Intensity value to somewhere between 10 amp 100 Next Lim
3. Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 10 Studio to see these cached textures For MS_MAXWELLMXM MXM configuration variable you will have to add MXM Textures to you Studio Texture Path Preferences Post Process Close When enabled close this dialog box after the MXS file export Post Export Action Decide what should happen after the MXS file export Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 11 Camera Tab Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Render 2 Environment Camera Default View Active 7 Convert Saved Views To Cameras gt Optics Shutter Speed 1 8 250 00 F Stop 5 70 Sensor Resolution pix 1280 Filmback mm Fixel Aspect Film 150 Aperture Blades Angle MXM Cache Camera Default View Decide which MS View should be used to determine Level visibility if you haven t previously chosen to export Undisplayed Levels and Active View camera Aspect Ratio Convert Saved Views To Cameras When enabled Saved Views will be converted to cameras and exported Saved View Aspect Ratio Options Determine the size of exported Saved Views in relation to size of the Active View camera where A R As pect Ratio You may constrain by largest value width or height as defined in the Sensor section below Next Limit Technologies Max
4. bjects like Smart Solids will be instanced as well Allow Multiple BSDF When enabled all non transparent materials will be created with multiple BSDFs When disabled all materi als will contain a single BSDF Materials Create Projector Data Decide whether and under which circumstances the exporter should create UV info Ignore Material Associations When enabled the exporter will ignore any exsiting MS to MXM material mappings Compact Material Names When enabled materials will have the shortest possible unique names When disabled names will include file DGN model material and palette names Use Default Material Association When enabled all MS materials will be mapped to the Default MXM as defined in the Material Associations mapping Cache Materials mxm When enabled all MXMs used in the MXS export will also be saved to a Cache folder and reused for subse quent exports that require that MXM and see that Cache folder Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 9 As mentioned in the introduction this is a very important feature as it automates the re use of MXMs without the need to use the Material Associations option delivered in the original Plugin Once an MXM is ina Cache folder it will be used by any subsequent exports that use that Cache folder without any further input required by you To use this feature enable the Cache Materials mxm option in the G
5. eneral Plugin tab Once enabled the Plugin will look for the MS_MAXWELLMXM configuration variable see the Configuration Variables chapter which defines the location of your Cache Folder and will look for or place the MXMs as defined in the exported material names derived from MicroStation material names or MicroStation Level names if no MicroStation material was assigned to the object For example a MicroStation Material called Polished Stainless Steel will result in the search for or creation of a MXM called Polished Stainless Steel mxm For the MS MAXWELLMXM you may use either Absolute or Relative path An Absolute path might be useful at the Site or Project level where you wish to point to a pre existing MXM Cache which contains the materials developed for your office or project You might use Relative pathing for sketch studies where you need the abilty to use your own materials Here are some examples MS MAXWELLMXM MXM will create an MXM folder in the same folder where your MXS is saved If you are doing a series of sketches in P SKS User this variable will create P SKS User MXM and any MXS in P SKS User will see and use and or create and use the MXMs within that folder MS_MAXWELLMXM MXM will create an MXM folder in the folder above the folder where your MXS is saved If you are doing a series of sketch folders in P SKS this variable will create P SKS MXM and any MXS in P SKS will see and
6. extures Postprocess Cose Post Export Action MAM Cache Export Stroke Tolerance meters Stroke tolerance for curved surfaces Light Size meters Maxwell Render emitter diameter If zero it will default to the bounding box enclosing the MicroStation light geometry Object Rotations When enabled object rotations in Euler angles will be computed where possible O Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 8 Combine Meshes When enabled all facets of a single object will be merged into one mesh Convert Undisplayed Levels When enabled all DGN levels will be processed regardless of their visibility in view s Lights Hidden From Camera When enabled emitter geometry will be hidden from camera Object Reference Hierarchy When enabled objects will be grouped by file of origin Enable Protection When enabled stops the File Export Selected command in Studio from saving to OBJ format Use Instances When enabled objects sharing the same DGN level color element typology and geometric form will be grouped as instances note nested cells are not correctly handled in initial release max aber field Maximum scale aberration Instanced objects can be scaled This coefficient tells how much error is allowed when comparing scaling factors to actual geometry extents Lower this number to enforce greater precision Include Unnamed Cells When enabled unnamed o
7. he Must be terminated with a foreslash MAXWELL2 MATERIALS DATABASE Defined by Maxwell Render Standard MXM materials repository MAXWELL2 ROOT Defined by Maxwell Render Root directory for Maxwell Render executables Known problems Object Instances when this option is enabled instancing of nested shared cells is not correctly handled This will be resolved in upcoming update O Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 6 MicroStation Key ins MAXWELL SETTINGS Open Plugin s main dialog box MAXWELL DEFAULTSETTINGS Reset all Plugin s options to default values MAXWELL EXPORT Export currently active DGN Model directly to MXS file bypassing Plugin s settings dialog box EXPORT MAXWELL The same as MAXWELL EXPORT Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 7 Plugin Tabs General Tab Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 ort Exp Stroke Tolerance meters 0 00000 Light Size meters 0 00100 Object Rotations E Combine Meshes C Convert Undisplayed Levels Lights Hidden From Camera Object Reference Hierarchy E Enable Protection E Object Instances max aber 0 1 Include Unnamed Cells Allow Multiple BSDF Materials Create Projector Data E Ignore Material Associations Compact Material Names C Use Default Material Association E Cache Materials mxm E Create Export Log Cache T
8. ing fantastic design ideas and lots of testing Stefano Tonelli South Africa for his deep knowledge of Maxwell Render intricacies in MicroStation context his help with creating this documentation and lots of testing And many other who contributed from both Bentley Systems and Next Limit Technologies Thank you guys it is a true pleasure to work with you Chris Zakrewsky Stockholm SWEDEN Next Limit Technologies
9. it Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 22 The following buttons can be accessed from any Tab Export Start the export process MXM Cache Opens MXM Cache administration module G A U N00 Incoming IMXMN MXM Material 2011 06 17 09 02 39 2011 06 17 09 02 40 Material Associations Opens Material Associations administration module Any MicroStation material can be mapped to any ex isting MXM material If such association is defined it will override the corresponding MXM Cache assign ment if it already exists Material associations are stored globally in DGN files or can be recalled from a msmxmmap ASCI file Close Save settings and close this dialog box Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 23 Credits Creating Maxwell Render Export plug in would not be possible without help of some very dedicated and passionate people I want to express here a big thank you to Matt Gooding Bentley Systems Inc U S A for providing the framework for interfacing the tessellation and faceting engine in MicroStation V8i and assisting with advice and source codes whenever was necessary Juan Cafiada Next Limit Technologies SL Spain for his assistance with interfacing the Maxwell Render SDK And community members like Andrew Novinc Australia for creating the state of the art structured test cases provid
10. jpg MX File Globals Displacement E Motion Blur MXM Cache Material Associations Scene Rendering Time This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Sampling Level This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Rendering Threads This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file A setting of 0 will use all available threads MultiLight This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Priority This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 14 Quality This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file You can now choose to render with the preview RSO engine by setting the this option to Draft Command Line Argument This parameter is passed verbatim to Maxwell Render Output Depth RGB bpc This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Image File Target Image file type and path If none set it will default to DGN file name and JPEG type Maxwell Render macros are allowed scene png etc MXI File Target MXI file path If none set it will default to Image file name and path Globals Displacement This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Dispersion This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file MotionBlur This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file O Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 15 Render 2 Tab Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation
11. ls option in General tab and will be further explained later When the Plugin first translates the MicroStation materials and rolls them into the resulting MXS file one can choose to send a copy to an external folder the MXM cache and subsequent exports will refer to the MXM in the cache folder rather than re translate Any edits that you do to the MXMs in the Cache folder will be reflected in the subsequent DGN to MXS translations that make use of these Cached MXMs Large parts of the Plugin s user interface intentionally mimic their counterparts in Maxwell Studio and are not documented here Only concepts unique to the exporter are covered by this document Please consult the Maxwell Render User Manual whenever an Plugin option has the same name as its corresponding setting in Maxwell Studio as the exporter is merely passing on a setting Different Plugin settings can be stored in the same DGN file for different purposes Whenever the Plugin s dialog box is closed or an Export action is performed the current set of your Plugin options is saved both as MicroStation user preference and to the active DGN Model This allows you to have several Plugin setups in a DGN file one for each DGN Model you create as the current Plugin settings will be copied to the internal Plugin settings of any new Model you create and can then be further edited All Plugin options have balloon help pop ups and for the most part are self explanatory All li
12. st boxes support double click actions and right click pop up menus Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 4 Installation Supported platforms MicroStation V8 SELECTseries 2 v 08 11 07 443 Maxwell Studio Maxwell Render v 2 5 1 e How to install from Windows Installer Double click on Maxwell_for_MicroStation V8i SS2 1 0 0 exe file and follow the prompts On Windows later than XP ignore the security warning e How to install manually from ZIP archive Assuming you have installed MicroStation in the default location unpack the delivered Maxwell for MicroStation V8i SS2 1 0 0 zip file and copy the extracted files to Bentley MicroStation V8i SELECTseries MicroStation mdlsys asneeded These files should replace the existing files in this folder maxwellbridge dll maxwellexport dll maxwellexport ma maxwelllib dll IMPORTANT NOTE Do not install this plug in to MicroStation mdlapps This will cause a severe malfunction of the plug in How to start Maxwell Render Plugin in MicroStation To start the Plugin issue the following key in in MicroStation MAXWELL SETTINGS Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 5 Configuration Variables MS MAXWELLOUT Optional Absolute path Defines default folder for exported MXS files MS MAXWELLMXM Optional Absolute or relative path Defines target folder for MXM Cac
13. ug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Environment Active Sky Type Use Existing SKY File SKY File dTedture mm D5 03 Default sky Q MXM Cache Material Associations If you enable Use Existing SKY File the selected SKY file will be used rather than individual settings that are not accessible when using this option Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 20 Environment Tab Sky Dome Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 Environment Intensity lumens 1500 000 Zenith 255 255 255 Horizon 255 255 255 Midpoint degrees 45 0 lt Ambient A Use Sun MXM Cache Material Associations If you choose to use a Sky Dome it s Intensity and Midpoint settings will be available in this Tab The Zenith and Horizon colors are derived from the current MicroStation Light setting If you check the Sun option Sky Dome will render together with the Sun from the current Physical Sky set tings You can first adjust the Sun by switching to the Physical Sky environment lighting and adjusting the lo cation time date and then switching back to Sky Dome Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 21 Environment Tab HDRI Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Render2 Environment Curent HDRI Channel Background C
14. use and or create and use the MXMs within that folder If you do not set the MS MAXWELLMXM the MXMs will be created in the same folder as the MXSs You can access the MXM Cache manager via MXM Cache button You may also Cache the textures used by your Cached MXMs by enabling the Cache Textures option which will create a textures sub folder within the active MXM Cache folder This option only works for MXMs cached after the Cache Textures option was enabled Cached textures will be referenced by MXM materials in place of original textures so you may modify them freely Note that whenever you change the original texture the cached copy will be automatically overwritten if it has an earlier date stamp This action is controllable for each texture and you may disable automatic updating of any texture by removing the accompanying sync file this is a plain text file where the first row shows the path to the original texture file Create Export Log When enabled it creates a CSV file suitable for importing into a spreadsheet with information about all ex ported or reused materials Cache Textures As explained above when enabled all texture files used in the materials exported to Cache will be saved to a textures Cache folder and used by the Cached MXMs in place of the original MS material textures Please note that you will need to add this path to the Textures Preferences in Studio as well in order for Next Limit
15. v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Render 2 Environment Channels Output Mode Render Alpha E Z Buffer m L 0 000 H 1 000 E Shadow E Material ID Object ID E Motion Vector A Roughness E Fresnel Tone Mapping Color Space Bum 0 800 Gamma 2 200 Illumination 4 Caustics Illumination Reflection Caustics Refraction Caustics MXM Cache Material Associations Channels Output Mode Choose whether to create a separate image per channel or embed layers if the file format permits it The following check marks determine which channels are export ed Render Enabled by default Alpha Check to enable this channel Zbuffer Check to enable this channel Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 16 Zbuffer Low Z Buffer low value This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Zbuffer High Z Buffer high value This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Shadow Check to enable this channel Material Id Check to enable this channel Object Id Check to enable this channel Motion Vector Check to enable this channel Roughness Check to enable this channel Fresnel Check to enable this channel Tone mapping Color Space Choose the color space you are rendering to default is SRGB Burn This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Gamma This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Illumination amp Caustics Choose
16. well Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 12 Optics Shutter Speed This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file F Stop This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Sensor Resolution pix From View button Automatically set to Default View Use the Active View s screen extents as the target image Resolution Image Width Image Resolution width X Image Aspect Lock When enabled locks aspect ratio changing either value will automatically adjust the other Image Height Image Resolution height Y Filmback Width Filmback Resolution width X Filmback Aspect Lock When enabled locks aspect ratio changing either value will automatically adjust the other Filmback Height Filmback Resolution height Y Pixel Aspect This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Film ISO This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Diaphragm Aperture This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Blades This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Angle parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file O Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 13 Render 1 Tab Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Render 2 Environment Scene Rendering Time hr 10 min 0 Sampling Level 23 Rendering Threads 1 Multilight Priority Quality Command Line Argument Output Depth RGB bpe Image File scene
17. whether to enable both direct and indirect Illumination amp Caustics Illumination This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Reflection Caustics This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Refraction Caustics This parameter is passed verbatim to MXS file Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 17 Environment Tab None Environment Active Sky Type Epot MXM Cache Material Associations Sets MXS environment to None Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 18 Environment Tab Physical Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation v1 0 0 General Camera Render 1 Render 2 Environment E Use Existing SKY File SKY File Sun Temperature K 6500K Planet Reflectance 25 Ozone 0 300 Water 2 000 Aerosol Properties Turbidity Coefficient 0 060 Turbidity Wavelength Exp 1 200 Aerosol Reflectance 70 Asymmetry 0 700 MXM Cache Material Associations If you choose Physical Sky you can either set the parameters yourself or use a Maxwell Render SKY file When using your own settings the Sun Kelvin Temperature will be read from the DGN file if you are using Physical sky in the active Light setting Next Limit Technologies Maxwell Render plug in for MicroStation User Manual 19 Environment Tab Physical using SKY file Maxwell Render pl
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