3ds Model Parts

[JOHNNYD]

When I load a 3ds object into Lightwave Modler or Layout I see the whole model but I only see one surface. In maya or 3dmax the surfaces are detachable.....Is there some setting that I need to enable to do this?..thanks.

[mkiii]

What do you mean by surface? Is it the 'material' attributes as Max would put it, or the physical mesh?

If more than one Max material was used, the materials should be intact, and assuming the names don't exceed the 3ds name length, will be the same.

Generally, a 3ds object that comes from Max will retain its UV coords, but clumps them all together into a single UV map which you will need to re-assign manually for each texture map that is used. The UV map will be renamed Imported3DS_UVs.

If you mean the physical mesh, then the polys *are* separated by using LW Part names that use the same names as the LW Surfaces (access via the Stats panel). if you want separate bits of mesh, it's an easy task to select each chunk & paste it into another layer.

LW Isn't Max, so don't expect an old file format to duplicate the inner workings of a completely different app.

BTW, what has Maya got to do with it? Maya can't load 3ds files.

[sheidi]

I had to play with this problem some time ago, I'm not exactly sure what was it, but if I remember it was about grouping in Max. I think I ungrouped everything and attached them as a single mesh or something. If you are facing the same problem I was. Only part of the original model is loaded to lw?