Next Limit releases Maxwell Render 3.2
Originally posted on 27 August 2015. Scroll down for news of the official release.
Next Limit has announced Maxwell Render 3.2, another free update to the physically based renderer, adding a diverse range of features – from improved subsurface scattering and dielectrics to light-emitting fur.
Faster SSS and dielectrics, new procedural emitters and stereo lenses
Top of the feature list in version 3.2 are the improvements in speed and accuracy when rendering subsurface scattering and nested dielectrics. You can see before-and-after comparisons on Next Limit’s blog.
However, there are also a number of new render options, including the option to make non-triangular meshes – including hair, fur and particles – light-emitting materials.
The update also introduces two new VR lens types: latlong and stereo fisheye.
Updates to render channels, scattering and grass
Several of Maxwell Render’s existing toolsets have been updated in version 3.2, with the Multilight Editor (shown in the video at the top of the story) getting the option to select and edit multiple emitters simultaneously.
The render channels have also been updated, with the option to render separate reflections and refractions passes, plus a new reflectance channel, which renders flat surface colours, without shadows or highlights.
Maxwell Scatter gets a new option to avoid intersections between objects scattered over a surface; while Maxwell Grass gets the option to make grass always grow towards the sky, regardless of the angle of a surface.
New export and file-referencing options
There are also several pipeline integration improvements, including an extension to the API enabling third-party developers to create their own procedural geometries, geometry modifiers, procedural textures and lens types.
The update also adds the option to export multi-layered 8, 16 and 32-bit PSDs; and file referencing now supports assets in standard 3D formats like OBJ, FBX and Alembic, as well as Maxwell’s own MXS files.
Updated 6 October: Maxwell Render 3.2 is now shipping, for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. A single node-locked licence costs $775; pricing for packs of render nodes varies.
See the new features in Maxwell Render 3.2 on the product website