Hi Michael, thanks I checked this immediately and "Weld vertices along edges" is turned off in the export dialog. It seems like this setting is sticky and I already turned that off one day. I can't remember. Anyway it was good to rediscover that there's a hidden part in the Meshing options dialog.

Hi Martin,

Sure you can have the same result in modo, ... or any render engine.
Just the curves overlay can be a problem with some engine, but Michael show you a solution for C4D.

Those do look nice!

Funny, I have SolidWorks as well and didn't know about RealView, but I see you need a graphics card that supports it. See:
http://help.solidworks.com/2012/English/SolidWorks/sldworks/RealView_Graphics.htm

I have found that you can get a similar look for a final output by making a copy of your render in Photoshop and use the find edges filter and then blend with the original. I created and rendered the copier in TurboCAD and tweaked as outlined in Photoshop.

You can have also interesting 2D results with this crazzy free French Product (in English)
http://www.fotosketcher.com/

Thanks Don, it looks good. Thanks Pilou I don't mind the french but unfortunately its Windows only.

This is what I can do with Cinema4D and Sketch & Toon. It's nowhere near the RealView quality and with my limted skills I have a hard time to simulate its great lighting.

Don, maybe you can enable your card for RealView with a hack: http://solidworks.burkesys.com/2011/10/realview-graphics/

Realview does'nt really provide lighting...it provides an HDRI map with colored areas to simulate colored lights and provides reflections. You should be able to get this C4D or any other as a render with a good free HDRI and toon lines from hte renderer or as a photoshop extract.

Ah I see Grendel, thanks for the insight I'll experiment in this direction.