Thanks for all the replies people.

Hi, BurrMan
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2347.12 In reply to 2347.9
Hello Ash. Awsome. Just for my info, if its all one piece your software can recognize the original individual pieces to shade seperatley? I hadnt triedf to experiment but was under the impression that one peice, one object, one material overall.
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I used modo for this. No, it doesn't recognise the individual pieces, it's all one mesh. I select the polygons and assign them to a different polygon tag for use with a different material, in this case glass. Note that only the housing is all one piece. The rest of the parts in the renders are still seperate.

It's all just experimentation at the moment, trying to find the best way from MoI to modo. I'm learning modo's texture system as I go along too, and getting into a few pickles along the way :-)

Still, it seems to be coming along okay. I am also experimenting with reducing the polygon count (which was over 1.2 million) by the use of instances and re-meshing using the new beta.

I created the thing as mostly seperate parts, which to my mind, it is more realistic. But if it is all one mesh then you can use things like modo's weight maps to put dirt and grime into corners. If you don't do this then you have to paint them on, which means UV stuff - and that's a whole new skill I haven't got to grips with yet ;-)

I'll keep you posted with my progress