[jvanmetre]

I'm working on a project where a client has given me
a file of an object with many different sized meshses...together they work fine for my clients prototyping purposes but are a mess in developing
visualization.

Original file came to me as .step and I'm using Rhino to open and edit.
I've tried a couple different techniques for refining the mesh(es) and have
managed to improve it but I'm wondering if there is an app that is best suited for this type of work...I've also got c4d, but Rhino mesh tools seem
more effective to me.

Suggestions much appreciated...

jvm

[ivox3]

Naturally -- with money, .. all seems possible.

This: http://www.sycode.com/products/meshcad_rh/index.htm is MeshCad for Rhino. It'll cost you $495.00 --- the silver lining: it has a 10 day fully functional demo. Never used it and can't vouch for it -- but it seems to add some robustness in the mesh department.

Sometimes I use Meshlab -- it's free. http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

UV Mapper also has some nice mesh tools --- in particular, .. a subdivision function. http://uvmapper.com/index.html

[Maximus3D]

Or you could go down a cheaper road and use Moi3D to import your file into and then use it's excellent mesher to get a quad mesh which is then easier to UV map and texture.

/ Max

[Micha]

Some days befor I bought MOI for meshing only, because the Rhino mesher is so slow and create ugly meshes often. If you buy MOI now, you get access to the MOI v2 beta too (but you must pay for the full v2 in some months). If you used this mesher once, you never will miss it. MOI v2 open large STEP files within a few minutes for that Rhino needs for ever or crash. The meshing works with multicore support and create nice homgeneous meshes.
If you don't need v2, the v1 mesher is much better than the Rhino mesher too, but without multicore support. And only v2 supports STEP.

For an easy workflow I'm tinker on some Rhino buttons that send NURBS geometry to MOI3D and get back a clean MOI mesh. Could be good if somebody with some scripting knowledge could help.

[polynurb]

there was something else popping up in the forum.. haven't used it yet .. but its free:

graphite

http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 014#291014

http://gforge.inria.fr/frs/?group_id=1465

(Graphite-2-a1-bin-windows.tar.gz for windows)

just tried it on some trees.. really great tool.
it is actually used by blender now.

http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12996

[yanada]

+1 for MoI, Also Rhino to MoI and back it does not work most of the time( a bit long to explain why) Anyhow MoI to UVLayout or Unfold3D to MaxwellStudio works best IMO. All I wish is Modo Plugin. Moi Modo Maxwell=Magic3

[yanada]

+1 Graphite by far the best open source, even payware can take a lesson from them.

[dd_]

i bought moi for this reason and i love it

[Eric Lagman]

+1 Graphite by far the best open source, even payware can take a lesson from them.

I tried it also, but can only find the one tutorial on their wiki on how to get a quad mesh from a triangulated mesh. It works ok, but I still get a lot of imperfections in the quad mesh for some reason. Does anyone else know of an efficient way to get 3d scan data easily into quads that is fairly automated and doesnt involve a lot of manual work? Its the only thing I have found that comes close to just a few mouse clicks and you have a quad mesh from lots of triangles that can be repaired in certain areas.

[Maximus3D]

3D-Coat alpha or beta whatever it is 3.0 can automatically quad a mesh, this works on both internally sculpted models or imported models such as laserscanned models.

/ Max

[Eric Lagman]

3D-Coat alpha or beta whatever it is 3.0 can automatically quad a mesh, this works on both internally sculpted models or imported models such as laserscanned models.

/ Max

Ok thanks max that sounds awesome I will try that out. Is there a demo for this or do you have to be an existing customer of the older version to try. Is it a faily automated process. I am trying to get a home made laser scanner set up and have been looking for a way to easily process the scanned data to a nice quad mesh, but still keep fine detail if needed.

[Maximus3D]

No problem Eric you can download the alpha from the first page in this huge thread and try it. I'm not sure if you have to own a license to run it but you should notice that when you launch it. The process to quadmesh a imported model in 3D-Coat is still pretty weird and not very userfriendly integrated. Hopefully Andrew will sort this out soon.

http://www.3d-coat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1412

For laserscanned models you probably need some pretty expensive highend app to clean them as you often get pretty much junk in such meshes. I guess Jotero knows alot about this, if he can reply more about all that stuff.

/ Max

[yanada]

+1 for Jotero
+1 for 3d-coat

[yanada]

there was something else popping up in the forum.. haven't used it yet .. but its free:

graphite

http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... 014#291014

http://gforge.inria.fr/frs/?group_id=1465

(Graphite-2-a1-bin-windows.tar.gz for windows)

just tried it on some trees.. really great tool.
it is actually used by blender now.

http://www.devmaster.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12996

http://www.nevercenter.com/wiki/index.p ... aries_Used
OpenNL is also used by SILO