CompuServe Messages

Phil, —————————————————————————- The discussion below mostly concerns AutoCAD, not 3D Studio, but it's about how ACAD interfaces to 3D Studio, so I think it belongs in this forum. —————————————————————————- >>How is [3dsout] not working? Remember that the same rule pertaining to DXF about layers needing to be ON to be exported still apply to 3DSOUT. My acad .dwg consisted of a four story building exterior w/ each floor as a block and repetitive elements within those floors (windows, etc.) as blocks. In addition, the four stair towers were one block repeated four times, mirrored/rotated as needed. I did it this way because it required very little work to convert from 2d plans to 3d models. 3dsout converted all the pieces, but the rotations/mirrors were inconsistent and incorrect. The stair towers were *not* rotated/mirrored, and some elements within the floors *were* rotated but shouldn't have been. Yann Bertraud agrees that this is a bug and has reported it. I was able to workaround the rotation problems by exploding all levels of blocks down to (but not including) the ACIS block level. >>>>but my first attempts to 3dsout a file w/ acis solids (using r13c1) locked up my machine. >>Hmm….How large was your model? R13's 3DSOUT (and the Renderer) mesh the ACIS entities "on the fly" and can create _very_ large files that may soak up a lot more resources than you think. Did you have an enormous temp file after the crash? Also check the FacetRes variable – this controls the density of the exported ACIS mesh. Personally, I use a Lisp routine that prompts me with its value before initiating the 3DSOUT command. After I solved the block rotation problem above, I encountered the size limitation problems. My machine no longer locked up, but I got "3ds database error" or something similar when I tried to export the entire drawing. I exported one or two layers at a time and it worked fine. Speaking of FACETRES, where in the docs does it tell me that FACETRES controls tessilation on exported ACIS objects? Which brings me to some general complaints about the r13 documentation. Is it me or do the r13 docs seem more geared toward novices than before? For instance, the 3dsout explanation in the command reference might as well not be there. It told me nothing that I couldn't see in the dialog box. What about some info on the size restraints of 3dsout? How 'bout some info on exactly what ACIS is all about? I know information about ACIS is proprietary, but there's a lot of info about it here on the forum that's not in the docs. An ACIS appendix would have been nice. >>Yes! The latest DXF3DS utility is here on the forum and will read R13 DXF files as it did with previous AutoCAD releases. It's my standard method of AutoCAD to 3DS interaction (when I'm not exporting ACIS). So you're saying that DXF3DS won't read ACIS entities in .dxf files because ACIS is encrypted in .dxf files. Is that going to be the story for all .dxf- reading programs from anyone? Does the company writing .dxf translation software need to purchase a license for ACIS from Spatial Technologies? I presume that's the reason ACIS even shows up in .dxf files. Is that how it will work? If so does the Yost Group or whoever needs it for 3d studio plan to buy a license or will we be relying on 3dsout for the present & future? I agree completely that dxf3ds is the way to go, but right now it's severly limited. Thanks for addressing *all* the issues in my last message. Knowing that you're w/ ADESK makes me feel better about grilling you like this. Thanks again, Joe Miller