robcat2075

We need to Skype about this. There is too much getting lost on the forum here.

I'm lost. Not getting groups from A:M was the problem that had to be solved but the groups have been coming through all along? What is the problem we are trying to solve?

That is also success. If you turn that so the other side is facing the camera does the other side become visible?

What about groups? Do you have any identification of Groups on that model when it's in Lumion?

These problems aren't solved by loading a complex model and finding that it doesn't work. You start with a very simple model and try small changes until it does work It has color? That is success. That's all I needed to work. Now I can go on to the next step. That was an A:M OBJ with a Blender MTL. All we have to do now is find out what is the key difference that stops the A:M MTL from being used. There's probably just one line in this that is the problem...

Import this into Lumion and tell me what you get TestCyl5.zip

Try opening this OBJ in Blender. This was exported from an A:M model that had a simple material on each Group. TestCyl3.zip When I import it in Blender the top is Red and the bottom is Green. Where do i look for "Groups" in Blender

Does that testCyl2.OBJ load with color for you? All i did was change the color chip in the Surface Properties of the Group and named the Group. No materials. You don't need A:M materials anyway if you have to re texture it all in Lumion, right? You just want Groups, right?

Here is my test model made with groups in A:M and exported to OBJ. TestCyl2.zip When I import that in Blender it has colors. I don't know how to see Groups in Blender but they must be there too. Now... why is it that when you import an OBJ from A:M you don't get any colors or groups?

I don't know if it is or isn't about spaces in 3DS. OBJ models DO have color. It's stored in the companion MTL file I do know that if i try to import "Cube creation Y&G.obj" to A:M I get the shape but no colors and no groups. If I remove the spaces from the file names AND from the references to those names INSIDE the files, A:M loads the OBJ and the groups with color. The Groups just have numbers without names but at least they are groups. First lesson: Don't make anything at any step of the process with a space in a name (even if it's a group name) and for now... don't use more than 8 characters while you are doing tests. I also just noticed that the ampersand (&) is trouble. Just use letters and numbers in your names for now I will get Blender and see if there are any obvious fixes. This is your blender model after I deleted all the spaces in the file names. It came in with groups and colors.

Now we can put two files that should be the same thing side-by-side and see what is different and if it's important. There's a lot that is different. First possible clue... A:M doesn't handle names with spaces when it's trying to import and OBJ file.

When you reload that OBJ you made, the groups come in correctly colored and named, right?

Do this Here is lathed cylinder exported as OBJ from A:M TestCyl.zip Load it into Blender Make a Group on the top half and make it Yellow and name it "Yellow" Make a Group on the bottom Half and make it 50% gray and name it "Gray" Save the new model as a native Blender file (if it's asking to subdivide anything, don't let it) Close Blender Reopen Blender and reload the Blender version Export that to OBJ with a new name (if it's asking to subdivide anything, don't let it) Send me the new OBJ and MTL files

Now I need a cube exported to OBJ from A:M with the same group names, with the same colors, in the same places on the model.

That is only one file and it's not in ASCII text format and it's not OBJ. 3Ds isn't going to help us. We need to work with OBJ because that can be a text file. I need the four the four files I listed and I need them in ASCII text. See how they have readable text and readable formatting... example OBJ: # OBJ - Exported from Animation Master # 1OBJ mtllib CYL.mtl o CYL.OBJ v 6.76197 21.8464 0 v 4.79586 21.8464 4.79586 v 4.24249 15.8275 4.24249 v 5.98175 15.8275 0 v 3.68912 9.80858 3.68912 v 5.20152 9.80858 0 v 8.06357e-08 21.8464 6.76197 v 7.13316e-08 15.8275 5.98175 v 6.20275e-08 9.80858 5.20152 v 4.24249 15.8275 -4.24249 v 4.79586 21.8464 -4.79586 v 4.51609e-07 15.8275 -5.98175 v 5.10515e-07 21.8464 -6.76197 v 3.68912 9.80858 -3.68912 v 3.92704e-07 9.80858 -5.20152 v -4.24249 15.8275 -4.24249 v -4.79586 21.8464 -4.79586 v -5.98175 15.8275 -9.03218e-07 v -6.76197 21.8464 -1.02103e-06 v -3.68912 9.80858 -3.68912 v -5.20152 9.80858 -7.85407e-07 v -4.24249 15.8275 4.24249 v -4.79586 21.8464 4.79586 v -3.68912 9.80858 3.68912 # 24 verticies vt 0.00000 1.00000 # 1 texture coordinates g default s 1 usemtl UnKnown0 f 1/1/1 2/1/2 3/1/3 4/1/4 f 4/1/4 3/1/3 5/1/5 6/1/6 f 2/1/2 7/1/7 8/1/8 3/1/3 f 3/1/3 8/1/8 9/1/9 5/1/5 f 1/1/1 4/1/4 10/1/10 11/1/11 f 11/1/11 10/1/10 12/1/12 13/1/13 f 4/1/4 6/1/6 14/1/14 10/1/10 f 10/1/10 14/1/14 15/1/15 12/1/12 f 13/1/13 12/1/12 16/1/16 17/1/17 f 17/1/17 16/1/16 18/1/18 19/1/19 f 12/1/12 15/1/15 20/1/20 16/1/16 f 16/1/16 20/1/20 21/1/21 18/1/18 f 19/1/19 18/1/18 22/1/22 23/1/23 f 23/1/23 22/1/22 8/1/8 7/1/7 f 18/1/18 21/1/21 24/1/24 22/1/22 f 22/1/22 24/1/24 9/1/9 8/1/8 # 16 polygons example MTL: newmtl UnKnown0 Ns 200 Ka 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000 Kd 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000 Ks 1.000000 1.000000 1.000000 d 1.000000 Ni 1.000000 sharpness 1.000000 If it looks like this, it's not ASCII text...

You can put anything in a zip We need four files: OBJ file from A:M MTL file from A:M OBJ file from Blender MTL file form Blender

I started to do it but it says long posts will be compressed without tags and I figured that would turn all the quotes in to wall-of-text.

The files need to be in readable text format like A:M's export files are, not compressed binary format. There is almost certainly an option for that if that is not the default.

Post both here

I did a test with OBJ export and it retained the original JPG format. It didn't convert either the file or the name to BMP. Just in case you missed it, I'm repeating this... this is the fastest way to find out what is going wrong: Make a very simple model with the same groups in both, then open their OBJ exports up in a text editor and the differences will probably be apparent.

Make a very simple model with the same groups in both, then open their OBJ exports up in a text editor and the differences will probably be apparent.

Is the problem not getting groups or not getting maps? If I make a model in A:M, create three groups on it ("Top", "Middle", "Bottom"), and export to OBJ, the group names and definitions are contained in a .MTL file that is written along with the .OBJ If I look at the MTL file in a text editor, the group names are indeed there I think the problem is not that A:M is not exporting the groups but that the target application is not reading them in correctly. Tell me if I have completely misunderstood what you are trying to do.

It's in the zone!

Experiment using environment map to create the highlights

I presume cycles is faster but he was never able to show us any more than a speckly preview in real time. It still takes a long time to get finished result. Last time I tried a cycles demo it was very slow and pokey. And none of the beauty shots he showed were something that an amateur did with one light. For your Lego project, I'd distribute the sets with lighting set up already.