Maxwell Render Suite
Physically-based Advantages
Based on Reality
Reality means predictable, reliable first-time results. With Maxwell Render, you can focus your valuable time and energy on creating your vision, not struggling with obscure computer graphics terminology and tweaking parameters.
Accuracy
Be confident that your simulations truly reflect reality. Maxwell Render's incredible lighting accuracy means that your materials will look the way they are supposed to, and every detail of your textures and models will play a part in bringing your render to life.
Advanced Ray Tracing
The advanced ray tracing technology which forms the core of Maxwell Render's engine is so powerful that it is capable of simulating light exactly as it is in the real world. No tricks. Just real world physics. Which is why Maxwell Render is the benchmark in render quality.
Physical Sky
The physical sky system in Maxwell Render uses a novel approach, offering a wide range of real-life, physically-correct variables to control the look of the sky and lighting in your scene. You can control your position on Earth (location and time), the sun's aspect, and the atmospheric conditions.
Fast Scene Setup
Computer time is less important and far less expensive than human time. The entire Maxwell Render approach (real world camera, emitter and material parameters) is geared up to save you time on your projects by giving you accurate, predictable results. Don't spend your valuable time endlessly tweaking dozens of parameters, just set your scene with simple Maxwell settings - and move on to your next project!
Materials
Intuitive
The Maxwell Material system uses components that can be stacked like layers in an image editing program, so it’s easy to use. The materials are based on real optical properties, creating unrivalled realism.
Ready to use
You have free access to hundreds of ready to use materials online in our community based library.
Materials assistant
A fast-track materials editor which build the basics for you – saving you lots of time. Choose a category and the assistant will help you create perfectly optimised materials for your scene in just seconds!
Particle Rendering
RealFlow Integration
Maxwell Render is compatible 'out of the box' with Next Limit's RealFlow™ software, giving RealFlow™ users the option to use Maxwell Render as their render engine of choice. Render your RealFlow™ particles directly with Maxwell Render, meshing the point cloud at render time.
Maxwell Sea
Maxwell Sea creates realistic ocean surfaces and waves based on the Ocean Statistical Spectrum from RealFlow. Various parameters such as water depth and surface dimensions allow you to produce a convincing water surface, from swimming pools to open ocean. The meshing is only done at render time, meaning it takes up almost no extra space in the .MXS file.
Industry Standard Support
Alembic
The Alembic file format allows for very efficient storage of geometry and other scene data, which can now be referenced directly in Maxwell. Support for Alembic includes static and animated geometry as well as particles. It also works with the Exocortex CRATE suite of Alembic plugins.
Deep Compositing
Maxwell can render in 'deep image' format, which stores color as well as depth information per pixel, making it much easier to composite rendered objects together as well as eliminating troublesome edge artefacts. You can save the deep info in either .EXR or .DTEX formats, in rgba or alpha.
Pixar Open SubDiv
The Subdivision feature allows you to subdivide low-polygon objects into smooth surfaces, by implementing Pixar OpenSubdiv. Because it's subdividing the geometry only at render time - your scene files take up far less space and can be transferred much faster around your network. OpenSubdiv is owned by Pixar. Copyright (C) Pixar. All rights reserved
Python scripting
Maxwell Render has a Python SDK with online documentation. With Python you have access to almost all the features of Maxwell Render, allowing you to write custom tools such as extracting certain channels from an MXI sequence, rendering a turn-table animation of all your scene assets for easy referencing, creating materials on the fly, network render management and much much more.
Post Production
Post production plugins
We offer plugins for NUKE, After Effects and Photoshop which can load Maxwell Render's high dynamic range format (MXI).
Channels
The Alembic file format allows for very efficient storage of geometry and other scene data, which can now be referenced directly in Maxwell. Support for Alembic includes static and animated geometry as well as particles. It also works with the Exocortex CRATE suite of Alembic plugins.
Custom Alphas
The Alembic file format allows for very efficient storage of geometry and other scene data, which can now be referenced directly in Maxwell. Support for Alembic includes static and animated geometry as well as particles. It also works with the Exocortex CRATE suite of Alembic plugins.
Multilight™
The highly acclaimed Multilight™ feature removes the need to re-render an image when light changes are required. Multilight™ allows you to change the intensities of lights and scene emitters during and after the rendering process, so you can tweak the lighting set up over and over, saving out as many images of the same scene as you like-all from just a
render.
FIRE: Interactive Scene Preview
Real-Time Scene Preview
Maxwell FIRE gives you immediate feedback in the renderer for adjustments to lighting, materials and camera settings. And unlike other interactive style renderers, Maxwell FIRE is compatible with ALL Maxwell materials and features.
Realistic Camera Model
The camera in Maxwell Render has all the parameters you would expect in a real camera - f-Stop, Focal Length, Shutter speed, ISO, film size, diaphragm blades. This means that DOF, bokeh and the exposure match your live footage - making the compositing stage far quicker and simpler.
Memory Saving Instances
Instances are a great way to save memory when rendering. With 10,000 instances of 1 object, Maxwell Render will consume the same amount of memory at render time as if it was rendering only the 1 object. Instances are great for creating vegetation, bricks, furniture or any other extensively repeated geometry in your scene.
Accurate 3D Motion Blur
Maxwell Render's accurate 3D motion blur can now handle unlimited sub-steps, and can be set for both a still camera to mimic long exposure effects such as trails of light, and a film camera to show the motion blur effect of fast moving objects. The amount of motion blur is directly controlled from the camera, by either the shutter speed or the rotary shutter angle.
Hair, Grass and Fur
Maxwell Render's hair rendering tool is compatible with many of the most popular hair systems (Maya Shave and a Haircut, Maya hair, 3ds Max hair, CINEMA hair, or Ornatrix). Hair systems are automatically converted to the Maxwell primitive - which is highly optimized for memory consumption and speed. The hair primitive has actual thickness so any Maxwell material can be applied to it, including transparent, refractive materials.
The Maxwell Render grass generator allows you to quickly create grass on a selected piece of geometry. Designed to offer maximum control over the look of the grass - from impeccable detail on close-up shots to fast-rendering further away from the camera. Compatible with Maxwell Studio and almost all supported plugins.
Volumetrics
The volumetric feature in Maxwell can work in several ways: as a constant density volumetric object - useful for large atmospheric haze effects or thick fog, it can work with particles files in several formats including RealFlow .bin, and also with density fields/voxels directly from Maya or Houdini.
Networking
Maxwell Render's powerful networking capabilities are multi-platform, allowing for a mixture of Windows, OSX and Linux in the same network. You can set Maxwell Render to render one image using all of your computers, or set each computer to render one animation frame. Complete control and flexibility.