[SunlightRocker]

Hi guys, Its me again, the converter-guy.

This time, I need to convert a .mcd-file (VectorWork) to Maya.
Any experiences? Anyone?

Thanks. Any help is very appreciated.

I know that VectorWork can export to dxf/dwg, and that Maya can import that, but when I do that, I only get an error when importing to Maya... So.. I dont really know whats going on there...

So, again, Any help is really appreciated.

[rdesign]

VW 12 can also export 3DS, you may have better luck with that. (I've read elsewhere that other apps can have problems with DXF/DWG exported from VW). Hope that helps.

Regards,
Tim

[deadalvs]

2d or 3d data ?

[SunlightRocker]

Deadalvs, Its 3d-data.

rdesign. Vw 12? Ohh, I think I have VW 11...

[deadalvs]

i'd try dwg in first place. a test with maya 7 just worked.

export settings from vW11:
-dwg
-version 2000/2000i/20002
-export layers as dxf layers
-invisible layers are not exported
- no other checkbox clicked

or
- dxf (dying format)
- iges (primarily for nurbs and curves, but polys should be supported)

hope this helps.

[deadalvs]

in case You want to export 2d data (lines) once as a reference for modeling:

convert all symbols to groups and all groups to one big pile of single lines. avoid any groups !

delete lines that You don't need for modeling and export with the same options posted above.

in maya, like this, only one layer with one group (import options: group !) exists. there are many problems when importing 2d data with multiple groups. select them all then and pickwalk -up a few times to be sure all is selected and add the lines to an other layer to be sure, the group of lines is really parented under that layer. otherwise some groups can be child of different layers where even deleting the history doesn't help.

i had a lot of troubles with that and it's the easiest way... trust me on that.
all lines will be converted to curves deg.1 and can are snappable via curve snap or their cvs.

[SunlightRocker]

i'd try dwg in first place. a test with maya 7 just worked.

export settings from vW11:
-dwg
-version 2000/2000i/20002
-export layers as dxf layers
-invisible layers are not exported
- no other checkbox clicked

or
- dxf (dying format)
- iges (primarily for nurbs and curves, but polys should be supported)

hope this helps.

Thanks deadalvs.
But I still get the message "// Error: Error reading file"

Anyway, I found out that I could export to .stl, and then import that into "3D Object Converter 3.80". But then all materials were gone...

[deadalvs]

awww damn.

reinstall vw ...