Michael,

thanks for all this info. I think I have lots of work and study ahead but that's my problem.

I noticed when I export to skp that Moi solid turn into individual entities as SU calls them and when I use obj instead, all solids turn into groups in SU and even the name I used in MOI are present, I'm I missing something on the skp export?

I also tried to export to blender using lwo format and every thing seems fine.

Since my work basically always involve pieces of wood and that I use only 2 types of finish, either a varnish or somekind of "faux fini" using paint on top of varnish. From the little I know, wood seems to be quite difficult to render realistically, the grain pattern causes each faces to look differently, one can add to this, random things like knots, defects or machined edge and carvings. Varnish and paint also present there own set of characteristics that are more or less difficult to render especially when there applied using a brush. I wonder if there exist someway to apply a grain pattern to an object representing a piece of wood such that it look like a real solid piece of wood. I wonder also if any program would be better at this then others even if it's more or less difficult to use and learn?

Don't worry, this may exist only in the miracle department and nobody I know of knows where it is.

edit: I think I've found the miracle department! The procedural wood texture in Blender seems to fit the bill, the docs says:

"Wood is a procedural, which means that each 3D coordinate can be translated directly
into a color or a value. These types of textures are 'real' 3D. By that we mean that
they fit together perfectly at the edges and continue to look like what they are meant
to look like even when they are cut; as if a block of wood had really been cut in two."

Sounds promising...



Thanks,
Felix