Is it that easy to import pro-e into 3d studio max ?

[jim01018]

Hi

ive read all the other emails about this subject but have a question myself ! I am new to all this as well !!!

anyone got any suggestions or know of any books that will help me either render in pro-e or 3ds max ?

i have 3ds max version 5 (all that my company would give me !) , i havent tried yet (but im sure i will have problems) is it just as simple as exporting in either a .stl or .obj file and importing into studio to allow me to render the parts from Pro-Engineer ? Or is there some other translator or extra things i need to do to allow me to do this, without losing data or solids ?

Finally, any ideas where i can obtain some texture files from for pro-e to allow me better material types/rooms extra ?

Thanks for any initial help, may have some more questions as the days progress !!

Jim

 

[TXS]

Yup its that easy, just bring it in as an stl and you can manipulate it just like any other object. Apply all textures and finishes in 3DS, not Pro/E

MM

http://www.txsdesign.com/

 

[jim01018]

Top marks..works a treat thanks...

However !

It seems to corrupt the data when assemblies are bought in, should it do this ? Or is the idea to bring in the individual parts and join them together in 3ds ?

When i have a part imported, i can only seem to change the colour, not apply any material/textures to it what am i doing wrong ?
Also, when i render it states a message that the co-ordinates havent been set, how do you set these ?

Thanks for your help, finally, dont suppose you have a flyer you could email me that explains the whole process of transfering into 3ds, ability to edit the part, join with other parts, place onto a fancy background and then render ??!!!!
Maybe thats a bit optimistic ! But thanks for any help you can offer anyway........
James.

 

[TXS]

We usually try to bring in assemblies first, but sometimes if the parts are touching or overlapping it doesnt work so we have to bring in individual parts and re-assemble

Not sure what you are doing wrong, I do the Pro/E and another guy here does the rendering (and actually my boss doesnt really like me telling others how we do stuff so cant really ask hime)

Not sure about the co-ords

Good luck

MM

http://www.txsdesign.com/

 

[Guest0527211403]

I've only tried this once (with horrible results). I couldn't work on it too much as time was limited.

But- One thing I did find useful, which might be the answer to your problem, is to bring in each part separately.

What I had to do was to open the assembly, export as an OBJ file, and then from the assembly select which parts are going to be exported. This exports whatever parts you are in the context of the global aseemby (i.e., locates them).

When I tried to export the assembly as a whole, it treated the whole thing like it was one object. Doing it as separate parts also let me adjust the level of detail for each individual part.

As for the horrible results- chalk that one up to my inability to use 3DS and lack of time to sit there and figure it out!

If you do get it going, let us know! I'd be interested in having some renders done in 3DS down the road.

Mark

 

[G1DESIGN]

3ds and pro e are different and up till recently large datasets werent really easy to import and i dont mean big assemblies for the full techno explanation go here

http://www.okino.com

most 3d animation rendering programmes work on a slightly differnet model geometry principle and they break most things into triangles whereas in cad models this isnt quite the same

on import its more an approximation of the cad geometry to the rendering software and they handle geometry in a different shapes and forms in different sometimes peculiar ways so the more triangle it breaks it up into the smoother the surface

the downside is the more triangles the more data your pc has to grind through and the larger the assembly the more triangles or polys still

sure iges and stl are supported but not in the same kind of way once it gets to your graphics you see things with jagged edges triangulated etc

if you need to do mind blowing photrealistic rendering and animate it sure its worth it but if you consider that animation in 3d max means reconstraining everything inside the max software to animate then you have in effect doubled your job time

the only way after a year of messing around was to plump for a dedicated converter i use polytrans and it is really good no tesselation problems and it will convert and handle large assemblies
but there is another called deep exploration we tried both and polytrans was better in our line of work

that was my very simple explanation hope it helps

 

[xbot]

G1Design, do you now do your actual rendering in 3ds Max after converting with Polytrans? Or do you use Okino's Nugraf? I checked the trial version of Nugraf but it seems to have a funny interface, also not sure if you can map decals in Nugraf etc.

 

[G1DESIGN]

yes we use 3ds max to render mainly mental ray and brazil the brazil renderer is unbelievable in speed terms

okino is just what we use to eliminate and optimize wasted artifacts and geometry it is good at that and means that the files are ready to go with very little tweaking

 

[xbot]

You mentioned that reassembling and setting up in 3dsmax in effect doubles your job time. I suppose you still experience that...

Now if only Pro/E could do proper rendering....

 

[G1DESIGN]

yeah if its just a still rendering then its not bad just materials and lighting but if you are going to animate the way a product works for example you have to rebuild it like you would in pro

 

[jim01018]

I really only want to produce mind blowing photorealsitic rendering, for use on boards....

havent really got the need for animations yet with our models, just displays that are v.realistic....

in this case am i using the right software...
bearing in mind we draw in pro-engineer what would people suggest are..
a) the best translator software (such as polytrans)
b) the best or most photorealistic rendering package that would literally make you go wow !! Is 3ds good enough to make my jaw drop or are there others that are better, such as lightwave....

any advice would be appreciated on the above, bearing in mind, mainly cost and availability and quite importantly use-ability.

Thanks all for your answers on these........

 

[G1DESIGN]

well being honest its not the software really

max maya and softimatge all use mental ray its the daddy of what you get in solidworks photoworks 2

up until the latest version mental ray 3.4 was known to be slow though outstanding in this respect other companies broyght out different faster renderers such as brazil and final render as alternatives that plug into max with the same quality rendering capability

the good thing about max is you can plug in different renderers which could not be said for other packages maya for example

to be honest it doesnt come any better once you get a handle on it it is a phenominal render and has the power to make you ask if its rendered or real

you have to remember the package you are rendering in is used for special effects or cgi in movies yep jurassic park the dinosaurs looked real enough i robot matrix etc enough and a lot of concept cars are rendered to the point where you cant tell if its real or not so yes without a doubt it can produce jaw dropping images

you can make good renders with the standard renderer but once you get int lighting and learn how to light and create materials this is the point where you will make some good quality renderings

lightwave has its own renderer which in its day was streets ahead of anything out there but now i think its about the same the real pros can make it look just as good

best advice work with what you have it is capable and pro dat can be put in once you have the way to get it in reliably and quickly like i said in my earlier post we use okino because it handled mechanical design dat really well

okino is about 400 and works with ptcs granite kernel
and deep exploration was about 200
but with deep exploration you have to buy a cad plug in for pro solidworks etc which sticks another 395 on top

some surfaces we do in cad dont go in that well but you learn to clean them up

 

[bopper19]

When I export.stl or .step to 3ds max i have to sort out all the geometry in max itself.
Is there any way of getting the full assembly into max ready to render and animate?

 

[Hora]

Try this:

http://www.okino.com/products.htm

-Hora