[b-kandor]

I thought the name was polyworks but that's for point cloud conversion, I remeber you saying that you used it for SW conversion to poly models - but I just can't remember the name???

Thanks,

Kandor

[Eric Lagman]

Polytrans. The company that makes it is Okino

[b-kandor]

Thanks Eric!,

PS. would you recommend this for bringing models from sw to modo? I can already do this in multiple ways but I'm hoping polytrans offers better segmentation or maybe even quads, not just tris.

[yanada]

A bit of topic_PhotoView 360 is on the horizon and we may have the ability to open SolidWorks documents directly into next Modo release

http://www.luxology.com/press/release/2 ... Works.aspx

[yanada]

+ Modo to MXW pluginnnn on he Works

[Eric Lagman]

I have never used modo, but if it will open .obj or vrml files etc it should work fine.

[b-kandor]

Thanks Eric,

But I was wondering - is the obj output still long skinng triangles like I would get from exporting an stl in solidworks?

[Eric Lagman]

Thanks Eric,

But I was wondering - is the obj output still long skinng triangles like I would get from exporting an stl in solidworks?

Yes. It will not be quad triangles. It will be the ugly trianles spider web looking mesh. I have found that the program MOI has very nice quad obj output. It freaks out on really complex stuff, but for the most part it does a nice job. Its only around $200.00 From solidworks save as IGES open in MOI and export out as .obj with N-Gon polygons as the export option. There is a free demo on their website.

[mtripoli]

Baren-Boym (http://www.baren-boym.com/index.php?pag ... io&item=83)...

3D File Converter... you can save out the assembly just as easy as "Save As...". As long as you have different colors for each of the objects (or faces, doesn't matter) you can assign materials any way you want...

I have Poly-Trans for SW and I think 3DFC kicks ass... And it's cheap...

Shoot me a test object and I'll give you the obj...

[b-kandor]

mtripoli,

Thanks for the info, all I need to know about it is, for eg. if you export a block does it export tri's with long aspect ratios ala solidworks stl export or does it export quad's. And, if it exports tri's does it allow you to control the aspect ratio?

Thanks,

Kandor

[mtripoli]

I'm not sure what you mean by controlling the aspect ratio... The controls for "Save As..." are:

Quality: sets how dense the mesh is - "low to high"
"Save normals" check box
"Translate triangles in quadrangles" check box
"Units Digit Multiplier" [1,2,5,10,100,1000]
"Decimal place" [max,2,4,6]

I've posted some obj examples for you to look at.

http://www.pioneercad.com/maxwell/PART/block.zip

block1.obj: mid-quality, quads
block2.obj: mid-quality, triangles
block3.obj: highest-quality, quads
block4.obj: highest-quality, triangles

The exporter recognizes faces based on color. If you make each face of the cube different colors, when its exported you can select each face individually and apply materials at will. I have to admit, I used this when the SW-Maxwell plugin was a little harder to use (I really like it now!). I would assign different color faces to a model and export it as an LWO file. I'd then bring it into Lightwave and apply materials and render Maxwell from Lightwave. I haven't had to do that for awhile now...

[Eric Lagman]

Ok here is a dumb question how do I download the 3D FC program. I dont see a download link on the link you posted. How much is it? Free?

[b-kandor]

I think you need to talk to them to get an evaluation. They've been around for a long time, I used to use a sw plugin they had years ago - but it's been so long I can't even remeber what it was called? (geometryworks mayber).

[mtripoli]

You need to contact them for the price. When I bought it in 2005 it was $295.00. PolyTrans was far more than that (I have the base package plus the SW package) and I used PT under 10 times (not that its not good product, I just found it cumbersome going from SW to another format). 3DFC is a "Save As..." operation. I've used it so many times I've forgotten.