First post here!

Hey I tried doing a couple searches but I dont have a ton of time.

I go from, .step from the client, to rhino, to moi. I just noticed on the modo forum (where I originally asked this question) that there is a version 3 of MOI.

Well my original question was with the problem of normals I was having in Modo. I use to export, from MOI to Modo as .lwo files, then I would delete the imported normal map. But I would have so many polygons with facets in them, sometimes it would work if I took them polygons and beveled them in by 1 mm. But sometimes it would make the mesh worse.

So then I tried all sorts of different exports, (with version 2) and I found my best option was to export as an OBJ and keep the normal map created, if I deleted it, the polygons would get all FUBAR again. But I still have a few polygons here and there that are faceted.

Will upgrading to V3 fix any of these problems I am having with LWO export? Or am I reaching the peak of MOI.

On a side note as well. Will V3 allow me to export more at a time. I almost always reach the memory limit when I export more than about 75 mb of data from Rhino to Moi.

Thanks a lot!

Hi there,
i would not touch the generated normal map...it's calculated from the actual splines and much more accurate than any approximation modo could come up with. ngones might be an issue..did you try using quads&tris instead?...exporting via LWO towards Modo is usually a breeze..i'm pretty sure Michael will chime in shortly, PaQ would be the MOI<->MODO master though. In the meantime you might want to read through this...

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5840.5

Hi kallas08,

.lwo with Ngons is the way to go when exporting mesh for Modo.

However, editing the mesh at a geometry level is really something to avoid at all cost ... same thing for the vertex normal, do not discard it.
If you need to add 'cosmetic' fillets, you might try to use the 'rounded edge' option in the material editor.

If you really need to edit the geometry, then indeed vertex normal should be deleted, but as you already discovered, you will get smoothing glitches all over the place that will takes you hours to fix.
However transformation at the Item level is allowed, but that's the only editing operation you can do.

I suppose there is quite a few fix in the meshing engine between V2 and V3.

As for the memory management, this thread might help :

http://moi3d.com/forum/messages.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5322.1

Thank you for the reply. I will read over that thread.

Yeah I don't edit any geometry after I export. But a lot of times the geo was coming in with faceted N gons. To fix this sometimes you can select the faulty polygon and bevel it in 1mm and it would flatten it, but a lot of times this wouldn't work and the facets would show up in the render. I heard there are new export options in v3 in the preferences for modo. Just wondering if that fixed this problem.

Thanks again.

Sorry coi I didn't see your post when I replied. (New to how these forums work :/) I have tried quads and tri's as well. Still facets. I need to use like an angle of at most 5, for the detail I need for my clients.

Like I said, I am on Version 2, so hopefully I can get version 3 and see if that does the trick. But overall OBJ has been pretty good instead of LWO. But would just love to have LWO work nicer.

Hi kallas08,

Could you eventually post a piece of the model (.3dm) to get a better idea of the problem ?
Are you using a bump map texture in Modo ?, or is the faceted look happens without any 'fancy' material on it ?

Hi kallas08,
not to worry. You might just grab the Moi V3 30-day trial over at the download section and give it a spin.

http://moi3d.com/download.htm

Yeah I will try out that trial. Thanks for that!

I will do some testing with the trial first. Then I will post a part if I can't get it resolved. But it is when I have a highlight hitting the surface basically. Like lets say I put a mirror surface on it, there will be a sharp edge like breaking up the reflection and distorting it. I will give this trial a go and report back.

On a side note, I am really surprised with this community so far. Seems like you guys are great and the response time is top notch.

Thanks everyone!

Damn, I must have used the free trial for version 2 a long time ago, now I can't for version 3. Is this possible to start over? If this fixes my problem, I will upgrade for sure...

Thanks!

hi kallas08,
can't really help you with the trial issue, but you can always post those parts as 3dm files, so we can have a look at them or/and provide you with some test exports

best

Hi kallas08, please e-mail me at moi@moi3d.com and I can set up a new v3 trial for you.

- Michael