#morph extractions
15 messages in this thread
Does anyone out there have any ideas of how to extract an intermediate
object of a morph to ACAD or anything like that???
– clarification required- say you have a box for the start of the
morph at frame 0 and a sphere at the end of the morph at frame 30, is there
any way of extracting (for example) the geometry of frame 18?
Any help on this one would be GREATLY appreciated,
Jaan Lepp
Harry,
I don't think so.
WHY NOT?!!!
The geometry is really there…… you can render individual frames….. all I
would like is a dxf snapshot of one of the intermediate frames…….Is that a
lot to ask?
Harry,
>> WHY NOT?!!!
The geometry is really there…… you can render individual frames….. all I
would like is a dxf snapshot of one of the intermediate frames…….Is that a
lot to ask? >>
If the feature doesn't exist, then yes, it is a lot to ask. Especially of me,
since I don't work for Adesk or the Yost Group.
O, those keystrokes that cut like a knife. <g>
Buy Visual Link. 🙂 Alan – Hords of Fun!
I am interested in Visual Link. Maybe you can tell me more about it (?) Does
it eliminate the need to be fastidious with your AutoCAD drawings that you will
transfer to 3DS format e.g. two adjoining walls that will have different
mapping orientation in 3DS must be separate colour/layer/entity, or annoying
little reference markers that AutoCAD types insist on putting into the drawing
miraculously disappear? What does it do exactly?
Michele
Visual Link is an ADS app that has to be loaded just like AME. It has it's own
pull-down menu. It allows for you to map out your model by accessing the map
libraries in 3DS and apply them. Yor can arrange hierarchies just like you
would in 3DS. In fact, I wish I had the same link editing abilities in 3DS.
It is valuable in that it provides the best export utility for 3DS. In
addition, you can now import your modified 3DS file back into ACAD! Beats
redrawing. There is no keyframer info stored, transferred, or otherwise saved
w/ the model to or from ACAD/3DS. Sorry. 🙂 Enjoy Alan – Hords of Fun!
Re: Visual Link:
<<It allows for you to map out your model by accessing the map libraries in 3DS
and apply them.>>
Does this mean you can apply 3DS mapping coordinates within the AutoCAD model?
If so, how does it differentiate between different "objects" in ACad?
<<You can arrange hierarchies just like you would in 3DS.>>
Does this mean the hierarchical links get carried over into 3DS, or are these
just for testing in ACad?
Thanks
Michele
Yes to both. VL accesses the texture map libraries that you've already
created. You can apply the mapping co-ordinates to objects just like 3DS. I
control objects by layer name. Hierarchies are passed to/from 3DS via VL. Try
it, you'll like it (takes a while to master, be patient). 🙂 Alan – HOF!
Thanks. I now have a copy of VL (courtesy of Screen Artists) and I think I
will have a play.
Michele
Michele:
VL allows you to set up cameras, lights, materials, smoothing, and mapping
coordinates in your AutoCAD drawing and then write a 3ds file directly. While
I'm not yet a VL expert, I don't think that any heirarchy other than what
constitutes an object made up of elements is translated. I.E., no animation
related stuff…
There is no appreciable benefit other than a direct link between AutoCAD and
3DS and that AutoCAD users can set up their drawings to be sent off to some 3DS
hack like yourself to get an animation made <grin>. The use of mapping
coordinates are still difficult for architectural modeling, although I am more
comfortable getting them in the exact location that I want in AutoCAD than I am
in 3DS.
VL does exactly what its name implies… and for an office of AutoCAD users
with one 3DS whiz in it, it is a great tool with alot of utility. It also helps
get non 3DS users to understand how they need to build a model in AutoCAD for
appropriate use in 3DS.
C#
You can set one of the VL options so that your VL tree becomes the Keyframer
hierarchy. (At least you could last time I looked at the product, shortly
before shipping.) As you say, it's a good product for your situation, where
there are a large number of AutoCAD users and only a few 3ds experts to receive
the data.
– Jack
Hi Craig! Nice to hear from you after all this time.
Thanks for the VL info. As Greg Pyros can probably attest, it is a problem
with Acad users that it seems no matter how many times you explain about 3DS
objects and different materials, mapping etc. it is still difficult to get a
workable model directly from an Acad user. (Except Jeff Hester, of course
<g>.) From my forays into 3D Acad, I suspect that making a 3D Acad model
requires an entirely different approach to usual Acad modelling, where you have
to think in terms of 3DS Objects instead of logical Layers.
It seems that Visual Link goes a long way toward at least making this new
approach clearer.
Hmmm, thinking about the next book… would there be a demand for a book on
"AutoCAD modelling for 3DS" both with and without Visual Link? Oh look,
someone just handed me an unopened copy of Visual Link… I think I'm going to
be busy for the next few days…
Michele
Sorry
Visual link does not give me the answer I need. That intermediate geometry in
the morph is what I'm interested in…… I find the computer permutations
sometimes much more interesting than any thing I could dream up. Maybe someone
will read this and really come up with an answer…
Thanks
Jaan