Tidying up a VERY high poly, many layered model.

[starbase1]

OK, so here's the situation.

I've bought myself a VERY detailed model of a lunar module.
I'ts been converted from Max.

The result is something with many hundreds of layers, and .5 million polygons, mainly because each bolt and rivet has been modelled and ended up in it's own layer!

Now there are some easy winds here - I really don't need that much detail at the bolt and rivet level, so these seem prime candidates for some aggressive gathering up, and polygon reduction. I can do things like gather up the rivets into 1 layer via the surface, but I still end up with all these layers, mostly empty... And trying to move them down manually is a pain.

So is anyone aware of any tools or scripts that will help in this kind of case? Perhaps something that will automatically eliminate empty layers and move the rest down. Or any other tools that will help clean up.

Thanks,
Nick

[ernpchan]

I'd check the plugin database. There are a handful of plugins/scripts that do things like layer management and cleanup.

[hrgiger]

Well you can select multiple layers at once. I'd just go through each bank of 10, select all 10 layers and cut and past them down to the first 10 banks. Unless you're talking 30 or 40 banks of 10 or more, shouldn't take long to do it manually.

[Nicolas Jordan]

Well you can select multiple layers at once. I'd just go through each bank of 10, select all 10 layers and cut and past them down to the first 10 banks. Unless you're talking 30 or 40 banks of 10 or more, shouldn't take long to do it manually.

How do you select multiple layers in modeler at once? I have never been able to do this. Is there some kind of obscure trick to it? I can go into Modo and shift click multiple layers but can't do that in Lightwave modeler.

[starbase1]

Either the usual ctrl / shift click, or use the layers window.

- - - Updated - - -

2800 layers! Hence my desire to do it automatically.

Most just individual bolts and rivets.

[Nicolas Jordan]

Either the usual ctrl / shift click, or use the layers window.

- - - Updated - - -

2800 layers! Hence my desire to do it automatically.

Most just individual bolts and rivets.

If I hold down shift I can add 1 layer at a time to my selection but I can't select a range of multiple layers when I shift click. Is this the way it is supposed to work?

[OFF]

Just don't open your FBX file as laeyered - open it as single layer object (FBX import dialog).

[Chris S. (Fez)]

If I hold down shift I can add 1 layer at a time to my selection but I can't select a range of multiple layers when I shift click. Is this the way it is supposed to work?

Sensei and I think OD Tools have solutions for FG and BG range selection. Needs to be native.

[dlvphoto]

If all of the parts have different surfaces; ie.. all bolts have a "bolt" surface and spars have a "spar" surface, etc.. then just open the layers panel and click the checkmark next to the object name. It'll select all layers with one click. Copy (ctrl-C), click New to create a new object and paste to one layer in the new object. The entire 2800 layer object will be in one layer in a new object you can save without modifying the original.

Then just use the Selections -> select surfaces panel to select a surface or ctrl-click to select multiple surfaces and cut/paste into new layers to re-organize your object.

Scott

[daforum]

Have a look at this: https://www.lightwave3d.com/assets/p...y/layer-tools/

There's a script for reducing empty layers.
Hope it helps

[prometheus]

In 2018 we can select a range between specific layers in one go, Select_FG_Lyr_Range
check layer menu, and the layers tab...




https://docs.lightwave3d.com/display...t+FG+Lyr+Range


As for not even selecting any layer, but wanting all parts in one layer, just use collapse object, and all layers will be merged to one, a bit of a difference from flatten selected layers.


When I worked on rendering gym machines, I could have several hundreds of bolts, it was so easy to merge equal components Only with Deep Exploration (now sap SAP Visual Enterprise Author)
Lightwave at the time of 2011 couldn´t handle that many layers without choking, and it was the same with surfaces, Deep exploration made this easy to merge down several thousands of surfaces with a nice selector list, and the same for parts.

[starbase1]

The pain is there is SOME useful information in the layer names, which will make selecting sets easier.
I'd rather not loose that...

- - - Updated - - -

I'm on 11.6

[daforum]

Try the script(s) i suggested.

[Sensei]

The pain is there is SOME useful information in the layer names, which will make selecting sets easier.
I'd rather not loose that..

Layers To Parts from TrueArt's Modeling Pack http://modelingpack.trueart.eu



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae_o4GKdOd4

[Nicolas Jordan]

In 2018 we can select a range between specific layers in one go, Select_FG_Lyr_Range
check layer menu, and the layers tab...




https://docs.lightwave3d.com/display...t+FG+Lyr+Range


As for not even selecting any layer, but wanting all parts in one layer, just use collapse object, and all layers will be merged to one, a bit of a difference from flatten selected layers.


When I worked on rendering gym machines, I could have several hundreds of bolts, it was so easy to merge equal components Only with Deep Exploration (now sap SAP Visual Enterprise Author)
Lightwave at the time of 2011 couldn´t handle that many layers without choking, and it was the same with surfaces, Deep exploration made this easy to merge down several thousands of surfaces with a nice selector list, and the same for parts.

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't expect this functionality to come in the form of a button in the UI. While it's not an ideal solution it should work well in most cases where this is needed.