supernovavfx Posted May 6, 2015 Report Share Posted May 6, 2015 a production I'm working on. HERE is the model on their site http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/3d-model-imac-g3/820248 I can't find another one anywhere on this planet with this 'quality' or id buy it. First off... us loyal EI lovers get tired hearing so called 'experts' that never heard of EI! I sent them a link to the DEMO and they claim it would not install and then gave up for the day on me. Here is the issue. Its in the 3ds Max 2013 FORMAT - they offer conversion services so I recommended .3ds because I've had good success in the past with that format and EI. They sent me a screen showing how it was too "large" ? and errored converting to that format... but I explained that EI imports MULTIPLE formats but their day ended and I got essentially a "we give up" email that I can't accept. My client paid for this and their sales assured me they could get it into one of the MANY formats EI handles. I really could use advice or help here. I recently had the worst data loss crash in my career and desperately need to rebuild a music video that this model is KEY in. It saves me days of work I reassured my client if he payed for it... I will look AWFUL too my client if I cant find a way to get this model into EI.... textures I can re apply... groups I can of course take the time to make the way I need if they import randomly... nothing animates on this but the screen and CD coming out... I'm so confused with this MAX format and how to guide them to get me what i need. Help.... thank you in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 We have 3D Max here, I can try to convert it if you like. I'm in the office now so send it through or upload to dropbox or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 We also have the Okino Polytrans conversion from 3D Max, if it can't do it I'd say there is a problem! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Purcell Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 Have you tried blender. Import the .3ds there then export it out as another format? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 It's only in .max format. That is the problem, I think, they are saying that they cannot convert from .max to .3ds as the file gets too big. We have the Okino plugin for Max and it will export a .fac directly from a .max file! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fantomaz Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 As i said before, you can get a copy of MAX legally, when you can tell that you a are a teacher 'somehow'. I did this several times and did some lessons in the school of my daughter to show them the 3D world. The guys at Autodesk had no problem with me (i am no teacher in real life). What you do with your copy afterwords, its then up to you ... Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 I think there is a problem sometimes when it is setup with VRay materials as this model is. Export settings need to change, particularly with .3DS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supernovavfx Posted May 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 Thomo... thank you... are you available for me to send what they gave me to you? Would it be a large hassle for you too choose which of the formats they gave me will convert the best into EI? This is the one area in EI that i don't just lack software... I'm not sure what I'm looking for and the proper check boxes etc. They are sending me an OBJ, FBX and the original max file. I have a drop box account and can easily upload it if you could give me an email Thomo ill send you a link to all I have and any help getting this into EI would be so very very appreciated. Let me know please. Im not animating any of it as far as exploding it out or anything... but I do need to apply the maps that come with it and make sure the geometry is separated so I can apply my textures and shaders... but I believe when I imported it separated by material?? I believe ?? it came into EI nicely separated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 Sure, send me the link, it shouldn't be a problem. I'll do it now. Cheers Ah sorry email address. DELETED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMeyers Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 I think I can open it in FormZ - which is supposed to handle 3DStudio (if that is the format) - so if you are still having troubles let me know and I'll be happy to give it a try - and export it to a FACT or whatever format you want that FormZ has at it's disposal. Hal Meyers hmeyers1@mac.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 These are the .OBJ settings for import to EIAS. .OBJ should also have a .MTL file by the same name. This will bring in all textures and EIAS interpretation of .max standard materials. If UV mapped textures it should be fine. https://www.dropbox.com/s/0nsqpf3yzo276nz/Imac%20G3.JPG?dl=0 Yes FormZ will do it. .obj or .3ds. Not .max though. Maybe need to get export from .max right since has VRay materials already assigned. Probably not. Let me know if you want me to do, it's not a problem. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supernovavfx Posted May 7, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 UPDATE... wow... thank all of you for being so fast and willing to help... I LOVE all of you guys in the EI community. The modeler at turbosquid was able too convert it into an OBJ and an FBX I have never imported an FBX before... but the OBJ - with an EI friend of mine in England who i was instant chatting with on Facebook converted the OBJ for me and it "looks" successful. Its made of a ton of shapes so I won't know for a while.... I do this so rarely its time consuming to group things properly and the shade them and texture them - but usually I'm so happy just to GET the model into EI that a few hours of organizing is annoying but much better than not getting the model in at all. Ill still send it if either of you wants too challenge your selves and texture it and do my job FOR ME!! LOL - I cant ask anyone to do THAT much... i know. many many thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMeyers Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 The "ton's" of shapes can be really daunting - I have several "manufacturing clients who send models with tens of thousands of non-well-formed parts made up of zillions of pieces - FormZ is pretty good about putting these together pretty quickly. So again … if you need some help - let me know I might (the word is "might") be able to help you. FBX is very good - Tomas suggested the FBX format as well for a model I was doing and it worked beautifully. Another great suggestion that has floored me several times … was importing into BLENDER - and exporting from there into one of several formats … Blender has saved me several times … exporting the "parts" well formed and correctly textured/colored. And I really don't know blender at all - yet - for modeling. Again … if you run into a problem let me know - via email (hmeyers1@mac.com) - since I won't be on the forum for long. Then we can even talk on the phone - I'm in Maine - 1:37 pm here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 7, 2015 Report Share Posted May 7, 2015 UPDATE... wow... thank all of you for being so fast and willing to help... I LOVE all of you guys in the EI community. The modeler at turbosquid was able too convert it into an OBJ and an FBX I have never imported an FBX before... but the OBJ - with an EI friend of mine in England who i was instant chatting with on Facebook converted the OBJ for me and it "looks" successful. Its made of a ton of shapes so I won't know for a while.... I do this so rarely its time consuming to group things properly and the shade them and texture them - but usually I'm so happy just to GET the model into EI that a few hours of organizing is annoying but much better than not getting the model in at all. Ill still send it if either of you wants too challenge your selves and texture it and do my job FOR ME!! LOL - I cant ask anyone to do THAT much... i know. many many thanks. Ok, I'd be interested. ( Ill still send it if either of you wants too challenge your selves and texture it and do my job FOR ME!! LOL) Send the file please. Reason being to see what export directly from Max can do with textures applied as they were originally. I don't think .fbx will bring textures not as 2013. From 2014 yes. Oh yeah it won't export from Max with textures when Vray is "applied", have to go back to standard materials and it will export with textures, in place! :-) I do it lot's with Arch vis from clients. If you do this it is straight out with maps applied. Scriptspot.com converts Autodesk Materials But you have to have a MAX app. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supernovavfx Posted May 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 amazing help from Hal in Maine!!! thank all of you for the fast and accurate advice. SO appreciated!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 8, 2015 Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 I think I can open it in FormZ - which is supposed to handle 3DStudio (if that is the format) - so if you are still having troubles let me know and I'll be happy to give it a try - and export it to a FACT or whatever format you want that FormZ has at it's disposal. Hal Meyers hmeyers1@mac.com Good to hear it all worked out! On a final note with FormZ export o .fac. If you have the textures tab checked on export it can play havoc with models. Weird transparency and reflections. Exporting from Form Z as .obj has no such problems. Just a side note. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMeyers Posted May 8, 2015 Report Share Posted May 8, 2015 Thomo … … glad you mentioned the export and unchecking the textures tab. I recently had a discussion with Paul from FormZ tech and he went onto EIAS during our conversation and saw the issue first hand. I know both he and I sent emails to Tomas … and now that Paul knows what's happening maybe FZ can look further into it on their end. It's still a problem in the new beta. Anyway, glad I was able to assist Supernovavfx … and thank you for the kind compliment. Hal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 9, 2015 Report Share Posted May 9, 2015 Hi Hal, good to hear you are keeping up communications with FMZ. I find them to be extremely helpful and open nowadays, it's great! FormZ has become a very good tool in our work flow since the re-build. If the issue of .fac to EIAS gets solved it'll be very powerful. If we could to and fro (import / export) textured models between the two...wow! Even if EIAS could export any format with textures we'd be on a winner! Best regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMeyers Posted May 12, 2015 Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 Thomo … I just came up with a crazy thing the other day (I sent all the info to Tomas and to Paul at FormZ) - and it's partially true … the FACT export transparency issue is based on the "color" assigned to the object in FormZ prior to it being exported as a FACT (Texture box un-checked). Initially I thought it was a ROYGBIV situation … because I did a test like that and it each progressive color - starting from RED being 100% transparent yellow 80% =/- transparent to BLUE (100% solid) - was a mind blower. The I tried it again and it didn't get the same results. Except Red was still 100% transparent and Blue 100% solid - the in between colors weren't registering as a transparency % - they too were 100% transparent. And it could be that they started out as RED and then another color assigned (ahhhh) Anyway … it's a start … something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomo Posted May 12, 2015 Report Share Posted May 12, 2015 Well, that's a mind full. So if they start out as red. Where does that come from? The thing for me is that I have never used red as a colour material because it is the "highlight" colour of a selected object in FMZ. Never do I use red. Yes I think it is a start and well done for starting the conversation. However there are more issues associated than just that "transparency" problem. I actually came across this again tonight, hadn't since FMZ 5. (I went from 5 to 7), where FMZ "hangs / crashes" on export to .fac. The easy fix is to select my whole model in FMZ, triangulate it, then export to .fac. (if you forget and save it....well!). So not a good solution. Even if "triangulate" is set in the export options it hangs. Must be triangulated before exporting. Smooth objects are the culprit mostly (nearly always)! But then if you tessellate all your smooth objects in FMZ just to cater for export to .fac then it becomes a problem to work in FMZ. Funny thing is I addressed this with FMZ nearly 8 years ago, EIAS as well. It's like working under water sometimes, but glad to hear that someone is looking into things. Good luck and keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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