Thanks for an explanation, Michael.
So it seems when I first heard about these new "Dimensions" I misunderstood them and somehow imagined it will be something like the system in SW/Inventor etc. (probably because I was working in SW for a few years back in the day).
But all clear now. It would be really nice to someday get this feature working just like in apps mentioned before, though :) so fingers crossed!

Love the updated fbx exporter too (especially naming export). Since before this, every time time I changed something in the model and re-exported it to 3DS Max I had to rename all the parts once again (and usually there's like 10-20 of them). And that was a pain in the ass which is now gone, thanks to You.

Hi mantaskava,

> It would be really nice to someday get this feature working just like in apps
> mentioned before, though :) so fingers crossed!

I would like that too, but there is a tremendous amount of work involved in doing that. Those other apps you mentioned before come from companies making literally billions of dollars more than me.

So that's a pretty tall order for me as a single person to replicate the work of a billion dollar company that has had a team working on it for 20 years. It would be cool but it's not particularly feasible, there's a vast discrepancy in the amount of resources.

In general I can be more effective by focusing my energy on things that those other companies are not doing. If you need the things that those apps do then it makes sense to use them too if it helps you get your job done.

- Michael

Hi Michael,

turned out the non ascii characters wasn't the only problem in that case. I modified your script to also remove slashes and colons. Even then the fbx didn't work. After several hours digging through lists of object names, trying to find any suspicious characters I stopped. Possibly the length of the names was also a problem, I don't know. I changed the script again to remove object names *entirely* and then it worked.
Since I don't absolutely need the object names, I"m happy with that.

Thanks again for your help. Btw the new feature having materials exported in fbx is very useful!

Sven

Hi Sven, thanks for letting me know what was going on with the FBX import.

Does that mean that you don't need any option for stripping out extended characters from object names then?

I've also taken a look at why the names are so long, it's because there is this property in a "Product name" and that's getting added to the name as well (sometimes twice I guess) like "Product name: component name". I've updated this for the next beta to only get the component name so I think that should help avoid getting tremendously long names. I'll put in an option to have the long names (with duplication removed) if that was useful for someone.

Thanks,
- Michael

> Does that mean that you don't need any option for stripping out extended characters from object names then?

Well, I'd say it's always a good idea to filter them out but thats more from a general perspective. At one point or another they'll cause problems in a pipeline and to be honest, no one needs them.

So it would be a nice feature to have that option, yes. Do I absolutly need it right now? No, because I can alternatively remove names entirely and that's good enough for me.

- Sven

Hi Sven, ok I'll leave that option for stripping extended characters in then.

- Michael

Hi Michael.

Thanks for the recent update.

I have a question about the SubD From File import option.
I was wondering if your implementation was similar to Catmul-Clark and if so, is there an edge weighting option that we can use to tighten up the mesh?

I have a model in modo that is all quads and all verts are merged. No open boundaries.

When I convert to Catmul-Clark subD with not edge weighting I get this result.



Were I want tight lines and or corners, I simply apply edge weighting.





When I import this model into the latest v4 beta I get this result.



This looks very similar to the conversion to Catmul-Clark in modo without the edge weighting.

My question is, is there a way to apply such edge weighting in Moi upon or after import of such a file?


Thanks

-s

Hi Scooter, yes the sub-d conversion is almost the same as Catmull-Clark, the only differences are at extraordinary vertices.

There isn't currently any way to set the edge weighting in MoI but that is something I want to work on in the future. Additionally the .obj file format does not itself have any method of representing edge weighting so any transfer through .obj format will not preserve edge weighting anyway.

FBX format does have a way to store edge weighting and that's a format that I want to add in the future.

- Michael

Michael,

>Additionally the .obj file format does not itself have any method of representing edge weighting so any transfer through .obj format will not preserve edge weighting anyway.

I thought the edge weighting could be something like Max's SubDiv Beta 9 script, where one uses a slider.
I'd rather see this for imported OBJ files, as opposed to relying on the ever changing proprietary FBX format.

Thanks for the consideration.

-s

Hi Scooter,

> I thought the edge weighting could be something like Max's SubDiv Beta 9 script, where one uses a slider.
> I'd rather see this for imported OBJ files, as opposed to relying on the ever changing proprietary FBX format.

Just a slider after the import does not seem very feasible to me since there isn't any control over what edges are being targeted.

In the future I would like to have it so importing an obj file would result in creating a special sub-d type object in MoI where you could turn on control cage points and move them around, adjust edge weights, etc... For now when there is not the infrastructure in place for making those types of objects it just makes a regular NURBS object.

- Michael

"... In the future I would like to have it so importing an obj file would result in creating a special sub-d type object in MoI where you could turn on control cage points and move them around, adjust edge weights, etc..."

That, I would like to see. It would take MoI to a whole new level.

Ed Ferguson

That sounds feasible to me Michael and would be much appreciated.

Until then, I'm attempting to have the current importer give me the results I'm looking for.

What I've done is to unweld all of the points of my object, in order to take advantage of the "SubD import options" "Open Boundaries" "Keep Corners"

When I import this file into Moi, it sees that all faces are open boundaries and thus retains the sharp corners.
Then, moi appears to weld the patches back together and a create a Solid for me.

Not certain if this has resulted in a true NURBS object though.

Can you test the attached file and let me know what was created?

Thanks

-s

Hi Scooter,

re:
> Not certain if this has resulted in a true NURBS object though.
>
> Can you test the attached file and let me know what was created?

Yeah it's a NURBS object, although a kind of oddly structured one with a lot of little surface fragments instead of large smooth surfaces.

- Michael

Michael,

I build all of our models in a DCC app and occasionally am asked to create an equivalent CAD model.

In the ongoing attempt to convert a quad poly mesh into a CAD model, I thought I was onto something.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the whole point of the SubD importer.

Just what should I expect as the result of the import?
Is it just a background mesh to build off of?

Would like to avoid having to completely rebuild it.

-s

Hi Scooter, the primary job of the sub-d importer is to enable a hybrid workflow where you can incorporate some sub-d elements as parts of a semi-organic model.

Say for example you want to do a space helmet and you want to start with a smooth base head shape that you'll then boolean some details onto. The head shape can be easier to do as a sub-d surface, and with the new importer you are able to use a sub-d modeling program to make the head surface and then import it into MoI and continue to build more elements off of it.

So basically it allows for using a combination of both sub-d and NURBS modeling techniques in a single project.


> Just what should I expect as the result of the import?

You should see a NURBS object in MoI that looks the same as the sub-d limit surface in your sub-d modeling program. But it does not currently support edge weights.


> Is it just a background mesh to build off of?

You mean like a template guide that you're going to throw away? That's not really the main idea, it's more about using the sub-d surfaces directly as part of your model.

- Michael

Thanks for your patients and explanation Michael.

Keep up the great work!

Looking forwards to the final V4 release!

-s

Sorry if it has been said before, but....I think that the option "From object" in Dim must be checked -not pushing the button each time- in order to keep this option active while the dim task is doing.

BTW, again a amazing version!

Hi Michael,

Have you changed the size input field so the prompt as at the end of the field rather than at the beginning - I have always used those fields with tab key and type over current settings but now need to backspace to clear field before new entry?

thanks Alex

Hi David,

re:
> Sorry if it has been said before, but....I think that the option "From object" in Dim must be
> checked -not pushing the button each time- in order to keep this option active while the
> dim task is doing.

Unfortunately a checkbox option is not quite feasible here. If you start out with nothing selected, then setting the checkbox would need to ask you to select an object. That selection is an additional stage of the command and the global UI convention in MoI is that setting a checkbox state should not cause a new stage of a command to be entered, that's always done by a push button, not a check button.

It is possible though to set up a keyboard shortcut that will automatically trigger the "From object" button so you don't have to click it separately.

To do that set up a shortcut key with one of the following:

DimHorizontal FromObject

DimVertical FromObject

DimAligned FromObject

Those keyboard shortcuts will be the same as running the command and clicking the FromObject button.

- Michael

Hi Alex,

re:
> Have you changed the size input field so the prompt as at the end of the field rather
> than at the beginning - I have always used those fields with tab key and type over
> current settings but now need to backspace to clear field before new entry?

It wasn't intentionally changed to do that. I can't seem to make it happen over here, does it only happen when the new object properties dialog is open?

- Michael