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Exporting to 3DStudioMax

Anonymous
Not applicable
Before anyone even thinks about telling me to search these forums for an answer, please know that I HAVE searched these forums, I found some answers, but for some reason I still can't seem to get it to work.

OK here goes:

Using ArchiCAD 12 on a OSX 10.5, 2.4 Ghz Intel Core Duo iMac, 4Gb Ram.
Using 3DSM 9 on Bootcamp with Windows XP.

Very simple model, 6 walls, a couple of ArchiCAD 12 couch library parts, a table, 2 windows, a 4 panel sliding door. Hipped roof. Slab floor.

Internal view, Save As...
3DStudio file

Construct 3D Studio objects according to: Materials
Set drawing unit to: 1000mm

File saved to desktop, transfer to USB drive.

Restart iMac into Bootcamp Windows XP.

Open 3D Studio Max, and attempt to open saved 3DStudio file, but it will NOT OPEN.

Have tried this with the view in OpenGL, Internal shaded and Internal hidden lines.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Am I missing a simple part of the save process? Is anyone successful in doing what I am attempting, AC12 to 3DSM 9, iMac with Bootcamp etc?

Any help much appreciated.

Mike

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24 REPLIES 24
Erika Epstein
Booster
Fuzzy,
Why are you wanting to base your translation on Materials instead of the default archicad 3DS translation?
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Anonymous
Not applicable
Erika,

are you referring to:

Construct 3D Studio objects according to: ArchiCAD objects (native output)? when saving the 3DStudio file?

If yes, then my answer is, because that is what I read on other, older, topics in this forum. People have suggested that by 'Materials' is the ONLY way to export successfully to 3DSM.

I will try the 'ArchiCAD objects (native output)' option, and the other options other than Materials, when I return to my other office were the 3DSM is set up.

Will keep you posted.

Mike
Anonymous
Not applicable
Ahhhh what you can find if you search AGAIN!!!

http://archicad-talk.graphisoft.com/viewtopic.php?p=135868

This post suggests the following options selected when saving from ArchiCAD as a 3DStudio file:

Materials
1000mm
Object = group name (7 characters)

Will post my progress later today.

Mike
Anonymous
Not applicable
Thanks to sbrincat for this screenshot of their suggested settings.
Erika Epstein
Booster
Mike,
The intent of my question was specifically why chose Materials based rules? What do you want to do with the model in the other program?

I went to the help menu in AC to see what the reasoning is behind the options:

3D Studio File (.3ds)
With the 3D window in front you can save 3D models of your projects in AutoDesk’s 3D Studio 3DS photorealistic rendering and animation file format.
The resulting document will include the following information:


3D model geometry: All surfaces and all edges.


Surface materials: All materials used in the project, including the name and the characteristics.


Light sources: Both the sun and the additional light sources are included. Sun will be handled as a spotlight very far away from the project.


3D projection: The current perspective settings and Fly Through paths are included.


Shadow casting information: The current shadow casting setup in the PhotoRendering Settings/Effects dialog box of ArchiCAD is included.


Smooth (welding) information: The smoothing setup in the PhotoRendering Settings/Effects dialog box of ArchiCAD is included.
After choosing the .3ds file format, click Save. The Save 3D as 3D Studio object dialog box opens:


Construct 3D Studio objects according to ArchiCAD objects: Click this button to create a 3D Studio file without grouping.


Construct 3D Studio objects according to Element types and Materials: Click this button to create a group in the 3D Studio file for each ArchiCAD construction element, and within these groups, create internal groups for each surface material.


Construct 3D Studio objects according to Layers and Materials: Click this button to create groups in the 3D Studio file for each ArchiCAD layer, and within these groups, create internal groups for each surface material.


Construct 3D Studio objects according to Materials: Click this button to create a group in the 3D Studio file for each surface material.


Drawing Unit: In this field, you can define the distance in the ArchiCAD project that will be translated into a drawing unit in 3D Studio. As ArchiCAD works with metric data internally, setting the drawing unit to 1 meter (=1000 mm) will result in a 1:1 model after the conversion.


Colors: You can choose either the ArchiCAD pen colors, or match the ArchiCAD colors to a similar 3D Studio color.


ArchiCAD texture information: You can select whether to include material texture information in the 3D Studio file.


Object = Group Name: You can select whether the object’s name should be a generated unique ID or the group’s name.
Note that 3D Studio works with names up to 10 characters. For names generated by ArchiCAD the convention is the following:


Chars 1 to 7: unique ID or clipped layer/material name.


Chars 8 to 9: used for a distinctive number to avoid identical names generated by clipping. Up to 100 variations of the same name are allowed this way.


Char 10: used for slicing information. 3D Studio can handle up to 65,536 polygons by object. If an object has multiple polygons, ArchiCAD will split the object into several objects and put the segment number into Char 10.
Erika
Architect, Consultant
MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch Yosemite 2.8 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Mac OSX 10.11.1
AC5-18
Onuma System

"Implementing Successful Building Information Modeling"
Anonymous
Not applicable
Hi Erika,

I am trying to learn how to use 3DSM and VRAY to produce rendered stills and animations, from ArchiCAD files.

I'm going to give the settings supplied by sbrincat a shot and go from there.

Nice work using the ArchiCAD help menu, I would never have thought of that!!!!!hehehhehe

Mike
Anonymous
Not applicable
Export by materials only!
If you work in cm, scale 1:1000! It's an AC bug.
Texture information - not needed! AC maps are bad, so you probably would like to apply new ones.
Object/group name if only for your help, otherwise they come as numbers.

Have a search for ml plugins for Max. They help you import in Max without the stupid AC fog.
Anonymous
Not applicable
kliment wrote:
Have a search for ml plugins for Max. They help you import in Max without the stupid AC fog.
Hi Kliment,

Could you please give more details about the "ml plugins" (an alternative name perhaps, the firm or person that is making them, ...), as I can't seem to find anything related to them on Google.

Thank you in advance,
Adrian Tudoreanu
Anonymous
Not applicable
ml is for Marc Lorenz. This is an old plug-in for Max. I don't know if it can be used with latest Max versions. I have downloaded it several years ago from somewhere but I cannot remember it.