ArchiCad C4d R9 Plugin trouble

[Wokka]

Ok, I've been using the OBJ file format for years to import into C4D and thought, since I have it, I'll give the new plugin a go. Everything comes in nice except that anything curved has had it's geometry hacked with a carving knife

Any ideas???
Thanks

[Anonymous]

The plugin won't work with r9 version of ArchiCAD, (they are working on a new version) but I see you are not there - so maybe the update will help you with the r8.1 ArchiCAD.


http://www.maxon.net/pages/download/download_updates_e.html

Mark

[Wokka]

Thanks Mark,
Has anyone been successfull with this plugin or has it been a waste of time for Graphisoft? Everyone wanted it 6 months ago.
Cheers

[Dwight]

None of these plug-ins are a universal or transparent solution to exporting ArchiCAD files.


Sometimes curves and other complex polygons just fail to be properly interpreted - usually Add-ons like Profiler make suspect elements.

ArchiCAD remains quite adept at picture-mapped objects - but none of the mapping data will transfer - it must be mapped as a new material - paintings on walls are a good example - easy in ArchiCAD, difficult otherwise. Much remapping of materials is still necessary.

With LightWorks, most ArchiCAD users should be satisfied - to go to Cinema means building a new material library - for Cinema - but delivers better results, especially in complex animations requiring hours of rendering, can be achieved.

For instance, our colleague Burginger is playing with realistic grass in Cinema and he says that it makes you just as mellow as the real thing and has no stems or seeds.

[Anonymous]

The tried and true method, OBJ file works and should be used instead at this time . Maxon says they are in final beta with the new plug-in - patience they say.

Grass Test Attached. C4D, the ultimate Turf Builder!

[stefan]

Never used the C4D plugin, but I've used *.3ds and *.obj and both carry over the mapping info from ArchiCAD.

I don't use ArchiCAD materials in C4D (or 3ds max) but having the mapping survive the conversion is a huge timesaver. Sure, it is easy to map a new picture in C4D when the model is like a box, but curved or non-orthogonal walls will have to be mapped by hand.

So having the mapping come over from ArchiCAD really saves time.

I usually stick with 3ds-files.

You can reapply smoothing as a tag in C4D to recalculate normals for the geometry (they come over through OBJ and not through 3DS-files). But I guess the picture shoows that the geometry is not detailled enough. I wonder if that is an option in the plugin?

You can increase the RESOL-settings in the appropriate GDL-objects. This is usually set rather low to not slow ArchiCAD down, but C4D can handle more of that.

[Wokka]

Yea, I've used obj for the last 2 years with no problems of curves etc and I prefer the layer structure it gives me compared to 3ds. I just thought I'd give the plugin a go. It seems funny to release a plugin that just doesn't work. I've quered this in several different forums and I don't know anyone that uses it. It reminds me of Archicad R8 first release (AAAAAAAAGH)

Stefan: No option on the plugin for smoothing etc (only scale and layer settings which I tried) and as you can see the geometry is way too poor for smooth shading. The sphere were set to 36 in Archicad and therfore looked smooth in the native program.

Dwight: I have no problem reasigning meterials in C4D, the power of the materials is phenomenal. I'll certainly enjoy Lightworks when I make the move to R9 for my quick and sometimes final renderings (depends on the client and the $$$$ ).

Mark: Is your grass just a noise filter with SPD? Looks great. I'm about to use some for cobblestones up close but I'm also doing some manicured lawn, so I might give it go for that as well. I'm interested in seeing how it goes with radiosity........

Cheers guys, good to be back

[Eduardo Rolon]

If it is not too much trouble....

How did you do the grass in C4D????

[Dwight]

Wokka wrote:
Dwight: I have no problem reasigning meterials in C4D, the power of the materials is phenomenal. I'll certainly enjoy Lightworks when I make the move to R9 for my quick and sometimes final renderings (depends on the client and the $$$$ ).

Precisely - if time is irrelevant, we can cruise through all surfaces and make sure they are mapped and reassigned correctly. But one needs to rely on surfaces behaving as they do in ArchiCAD, and you will agree that this is not always the case....

[Wokka]

Sure there are sometimes differences in the surfaces, but for me, 95% of my work comes out of C4D, so how they behave in Archicad isn't so important but how I can manipulte them in C4D is.
Time is of coarse relevant, but I completly ignore the materials in ArchiCad (as long as they are assigned correctly) and that gives me more time to spend in C4D.
If I start using Lightworks for 'medium quality' renderings, I'll have to approach this differently and make the materials work in AC and C4D.
Cheers