[purCAB]

I was originally going to post this under the Maxwell Render section, but additional testing seems to suggest that this is probably a SolidWorks plugin issue.

There seems to be a fair amount of confusion regarding how to set and utilize the scene scale when exporting from SW to Maxwell. On page 29 of the SolidWorks guide, it is suggested that "the value of 1.0 is always correct...Change it only for artistic purposes". I'm not clear of what is meant by artistic purposes, but it's clear that this value needs to be properly set in order to have a chance of obtaining realistic and predictable results.

Additionally, prior discussions of scene scale suggest setting the value to .001 if the part is in mm, .01 for cm, .0254 for in, etc. My testing with SolidWorks and the SolidWorks plugin indicates other values. For example, a 39.5 inch part with the plugin's scene scale set to .0254 yields a part that is only 40 mm in Studio. The approximately "correct" setting seems to be .50. Testing using a 3.3 foot part gives similar results. Using the value of .30 for the scene scale yields a part approx 2.0 ft. Interestingly, the "correct" value again appears to be .50. Finally, I tested using a 1 meter part, most surprisingly the correct value is not 1.0 but .50.

So it appears that while there is some consistency, the correct value is always (usually??) .50 and not 1.0. Any additional insights would be appreciated.

Ken

[purCAB]

One additional note. The scene scale in the SolidWorks plugin is limited to two decimal places.

[b-kandor]

hmm, I've never had a problem with scene scale at all, I don't believe I've ever touched that setting.... for me it seems like the value of 1.0 is correct.

I'm usually exporting inch parts but occasionly the are in mm.

[Mike Scola]

It also seems to be working fine for me.

Maybe this has something to do with the units set and units used. Make sure that your settings under tools, options, units is set correctly. the settings for units should match the units you are modeling in. SW allows you to input any dim standard when modeling but will covert it to the unit standard set in the options menu. Not sure if this would affect the scene scale issue though. Keep us posted on your progress with this

[purCAB]

Based on comments from b-kandor and Mike Scola, I re-examined/re-tested my results. I created a simple 1000 mm x 1000 mm x 1000 mm cube in SW based on my mm template file. When exporting to the Studio and with the SolidWorks plugin's Scene Scale (Render Options->Scene Scale) set to 1.00, I still get a 2m x 2m x 2m cube in the Studio as indicated by the grid size. Just for grins, I also confirmed that the units (Tools->Options->Document Properties->Units) was set to mm. Setting Scene Scale to .5 makes the part sized properly in Studio.

I do not know what setting(s) may be affecting this, but given that others don't seem to be having this problem, I'm unclear where else to look. For reference, we're running SW 2007 SP4 under Windows XP (not that I think that this has anything to do with it). Perhaps others can double check their part sizes versus the grid in Studio to see if they ever experience any sizing anomalies.

[Mihai]

Did you check the grid in Studio bith from 3D and 2D viewports?

[purCAB]

Mihai, thanks for the suggestion as this is something that I hadn't done...and indeed there is a difference. In a 2D view, the grid and my test part agree in size. When in 3D (even with the camera positioned so that it effectively becomes a 2D view) the grid does not match the part. So what I think we have is a problem not in physical size, but in the way that the grid is displayed in a 3D view (or perhaps my interpretation of that display). Unlike the 2D view where the major/minor grid presentation is quite clear, the 3D view does not appear with any minor grid lines. So the only (reasonable?) interpretation is that each line on the grid represents the increment specified by the size and therefore this would seem to suggest that the part is not sized properly.