CompuServe Messages

(replies to William Rockhold and Impulse) I was having the same problem getting Imagine to import DXF files from either VistaPro (for landscapes) or trueSpace. I also sent e-mail to Impulse and they were quite helpful and suggested I use WorldRender. Unfortunately I couldn't verify that WorldRender would work from the demo version since it doesn't let you save files. But do not despair! I found a solution! The problem with Imagine seems to be that it wants DXF polygon data using the 3DFACE directives. Both VistaPro and trueSpace output the polygon data using the POLYLINE directives which seems to just be ignored by Imagine. I spent days trying to find DXF converters to solve the problem, until I finally found one in the strangest place: The Windows POV modelling program called POVWIN (GRAPHDEV forum) will import a DXF file that uses either 3DFACE or POLYLINE and convert it to RAW triangle format. Then you can convert the RAW file back to DXF which is saved using the 3DFACE directives and then it can be imported into Imagine with no problems! Well, almost no problems. I suggest using the Object-Merge command after you import the DXF, otherwise you will have problems rendering. Doing this, I was able to import a BIG landscape (about 1 MEG) created from VistaPro into Imagine and boy was I happy! By the way. You can't really blame Impulse for having troubles with DXF since there seems to be so many versions and formats and it just keeps changing. Imagine is a great product! For the price, I really don't think it can be beat. Faced with either spending $3000 for 3D Studio or $300 for Imagine (2.0) didn't make it hard to decide. Besides, 3.0 is an incredible upgrade. It seems that every time I use it I discover new features that do really cool things. And to keep babbling on…I was surprised to learn the other day that 3D Studio doesn't ray trace?!? In my opinion, 3-D art that is ray-traced looks a lot more photo-realistic than art that is not. Imagine is a great ray-tracer. Keep up the excellent work! How about a Windows NT version? Christopher A. Thames Fusion Systems International