thank you for your comments, Micheal

I go thought this every day, we live in a world with too many standards.
This is not a good thing for the end user, because way to much time is being
wasted just getting things from one format into another. I thank God I didn't go out and buy Vista
(just a vent...no reply needed!)

I notice that a torus made with Modo is quite a bit smoother, than a torus imported from Moi in LWO format.
I presume thats part of the problem you described in your inital reply?

Regardless, there needs to be a may to import and export between different software applications.
In the final analysis Moi needs to perform this task well, before I would go out and buy it.

I hope you will accept my comments as constructive :)

tom

Hi Tom, in this case it's not really about standards, it's about different kinds of base technology.

There isn't just one mechanism to represent 3D objects - there are different mechanisms that can be used to make a 3D shape. Modo and other polygon-based programs use one method (polygon mesh), and MoI and many other CAD programs use a completely different method (NURBS).

These aren't just different ways of packaging the same data, the actual data itself is different between these methods.


> I notice that a torus made with Modo is quite a bit smoother, than a torus imported
> from Moi in LWO format.

My guess would be that the Modo torus is just using more polygons than MoI. This creates a smoother shape at the expense of additional data.

You can adjust the density of MoI's export by using the slider that appears when you save to a mesh format like LWO. If you move the slider a little more towards the right (towards the "More polygons" label), MoI will create a denser output which will then look smoother in Modo.


Generally the focus of MoI is that you would create industrial type models inside of MoI and then you can export those to your polygon program by LWO or OBJ formats.

If you need to import and edit polygon mesh type data, then MoI just is not designed for that type of work, you'll need to use a different program for that type of stuff. It's just outside of the type of work that MoI is focused on doing.

- Michael

In addition to Michael's comment about the "unsmooth" torus imported into Modo - One factor is the # of polygons defining the shape. Another thing you can do to keep the poly counts low and still have good renders is set a higher smoothing angle in the objects material channel in Modo. By default it's set to 100% smoothing at 60 degrees. But you can obtain some interesting effects by adjusting it...

jonah

yes, I missed the increase density window.

I fully understand your commitment.

I sent a 3DM & LWO file to a friend of mine tonight who uses Cinema 4D (latest version)

He says he can import LWO but not 3DM, I don't know if you aware of that.

cheers!

Hi Tom, what's happening there is that 3DM files can actually contain both NURBS and polygon mesh data in them, it's kind of a combination file format.

However, MoI will only write NURBS data to the 3DM file, and Cinema4D will only read polygon data from the 3DM file. So they're kind of like 2 ships passing in the night in this situation.

Even though LWO works, I would really recommend OBJ format for going from MoI to Cinema4D - the OBJ format will also bring smoother shading information (vertex normals) into C4D which helps to increase render quality.

LWO is best for going into Modo or Lightwave.

- Michael