lw export to strata??

[cwarden]

I'm modeling objects in lw 7.5 that I'm giving to a client rendering in strata 3.8.1.
We've had problems with vrml's, dxf's and 3ds's. Vrml's and dxf's come into strata with the polys ungrouped and with gaps. 3ds's seem to have a poly limit. Anybody have any ideas?

[Kuzey]

I had a look at strata's features and it can't save to or import in .obj format...now that's just plain silly.

Triple all polygons and then try exporting.....I'm just taking a wild guess but you never know.

If that doesn't work, you might have to export your model in parts..not a good solution.

Otherwise, you might try finding a 3d converter that can convert an .obj object or lightwave file into a native Amapi 3d or Strata format.

Maybe that's the best way to go.

Anyway, best of luck.

Kuzey

[m_luscombe]

Sure thing, I do this all the time.

3DS: 64,000 poly and point limit per object. Just avoid it if you can.

DXF: DXF is a low-precision file format. If you absolutely need to save as a DXF, increase the size of the model x100 or x1000. The bigger the better. DXF only saves 2 decimal places worth of vertice positional info, so the bigger the object is, the more precision it gets. (That sounds silly, but it's like moving the decimal place to the right, then moving it back for all vertice info.

VRML: it's a nice, high-precision format, but for some reason it imports at a very, very small size. So, it's not the same problem as DXF, but the solution is the same. Increase the size of the object by 1000% or more, and resize as needed in Strata3D.

The 3.8.3 patch for Strata will be out shortly, and that will allow you to specify a scale on import of VRML files.

That will solve the "gaps" problem.

As far as meshes being "ungrouped" on import, there are quite a few options when importing. Your friend should be able to specify that the mesh be welded on import.

If he's having trouble with that, he can select the mesh, grouped, and convert it to a polygon mesh using the "Convert" command on the top toolbar.

[drclare]

Hey m_luscombe. Remember me from Stratacafe. So, did you jump on the Lightwave train, or had you been using it for a while? Cool to see you on these boards.

[m_luscombe]

Absolutely. I remember the ill-fated Mantis animation as well. Shame about that.

I've been using LW for about a year now. I still run StrataCafe. I've made too many friends, and I still have an occasional StrataTraining gig :)

Actually, I registered lightwavecafe.com a while back as well, although the market for Lightwave websites is pretty saturated. That one may sit for a while :(

I've got a lot of WIP LW stuff, but not too many finished peices. I'm pretty much a lurker everywhere while in transition.

I surf here and CGTalk quite a bit. I'm sure I'll see you around. It's a small world :)

[cwarden]

After searching on flay for a while I found a more robust dxf export plugin that seems to work pretty good. The surfaces don't come across as named surfaces but they do come over as named groups. The plugin even does the tripleing for me, which saves a little time.
On flay there was also a dead link for a lw to strata plugin. Anybody ever downloaded this?