C4D to XSI

[whalerider]

Tried another approach as well - installed the FBX import add-on in XSI, but when I try to import an FBX file it just gobbles a ton of memory and stops responding.

[Keith Young]

What is the right way to migrate a C4D project to XSI?
Exported from C4D as Wavefront (.obj), but after importing in XSI all I see is some mess.

Did you use C4D's native .obj export? Or have you tried using Riptide (http://www.skinprops.com/fr_c4d.htm)?

Keith

[Creature]

Generally I find it very hard to migrate a project from any program to any other program.

Could you post some more details other than "a mess" on what went wrong and what you are trying to migrate? For example you have no chance of bringing over Cinemas Shaders to XSI as they simply do not exist there.

For modells and animations I've made good experiences with FBX. Though it is true that fbx imports in XSI are quite likley to go wrong when you are exporting too much at one time. Try to split your scene into smaller fbx files. That should get rid of the freezing problem.

Also make sure that the Version of fbx is the same in both programs. Cinema4d is not using the most recent one. I don't have c4d here at the moment so I can't check the number. But I think Cinema uses "most recent minus .2" or so Version. So install the XSI fbx plugin with the same version as Cinema uses.

[MJV]

I transfer lots of stuff from Cinema to XSI via obj. The problems are due to XSI's very poor obj importer, not Cinema. In XSI, turn off import user normals upon importing, and if that doesn't work, then remove them manually after import. They can cause display issues. As far as structural integrity, you shouldn't have any problems aside from possibly needing to rescale stuff.

[whalerider]

Haven't tried Riptide. Will give it a try later.

Did you use C4D's native .obj export? Or have you tried using Riptide (http://www.skinprops.com/fr_c4d.htm)?

Keith

[whalerider]

The Cinema 4D scene has animted ice chunks, which are sinking and along the way emit bubbles. When I import the OBJ version all I see is black lines crossing one another - see the attached snapshots (kinda small, because of the size limit).

Re FBX - exported from C4D using FBX 6.0, imported using a plugin called FBX 2006.02 for XSI 5.0 (from http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6839916)

Update: I deleted the attachments - the snapshots weren't that useful, plus there is a space limit for attachments.

Generally I find it very hard to migrate a project from any program to any other program.

Could you post some more details other than "a mess" on what went wrong and what you are trying to migrate? For example you have no chance of bringing over Cinemas Shaders to XSI as they simply do not exist there.

For modells and animations I've made good experiences with FBX. Though it is true that fbx imports in XSI are quite likley to go wrong when you are exporting too much at one time. Try to split your scene into smaller fbx files. That should get rid of the freezing problem.

Also make sure that the Version of fbx is the same in both programs. Cinema4d is not using the most recent one. I don't have c4d here at the moment so I can't check the number. But I think Cinema uses "most recent minus .2" or so Version. So install the XSI fbx plugin with the same version as Cinema uses.

[whalerider]

Import Normals as User Normals is turned off by default (at least in my setup).
How do you remove the normals manually (in C4D I guess)?

I transfer lots of stuff from Cinema to XSI via obj. The problems are due to XSI's very poor obj importer, not Cinema. In XSI, turn off import user normals upon importing, and if that doesn't work, then remove them manually after import. They can cause display issues. As far as structural integrity, you shouldn't have any problems aside from possibly needing to rescale stuff.

[Srek]

In C4D you can simply delete the normal tag from the imported objects.
Cheers
Björn

[Keith Young]

It's kind of hard to determine what's happening, based on those images... but I'd recommend that you try something simple to start with (like just a cube and a sphere or something). That way you can work out any scaling issues and get a better idea of what might be going wrong.

I'd also note that .obj export won't handle any type of animation (or lights or cameras or any bones, etc), so if you have any of that and want that exported, you'll need to go with FBX.

Keith

[Creature]

Cinema objects appear really large in XSI (and I mean really really REALLY large, even scratching "huge" :))

So maybe simply zooming out might do the trick? :)

[Per-Anders]

Yes, make sure to use a much smaller scale. In XSI the entire groundplane grid is only 40 sSIunits (as opposed to the cinema groundplane grid which is a whopping 10,000 units). You can imagine how huge C4D objects are relative to the default scene in XSI then (especially given the default cube is 200 units in length in C4D)!

It's important to remember that the scaling in the wavefront export option is the overall scene scale (i.e. how large an dimension in C4D because a single unit on export), not the scaling factor applied to the scene. This means that putting in 10 wont make the objects 10 times bigger, instead it'll make them ten times smaller on import into XSI. this is useful to you because you can see how big a single SI unit is (one of the grid sqaures in xsi) then should you have an object that you want ot be one XSI unit on import you can simply take it's current dimension in c4d and put that straight into the Scale value in the wavefront export options.

[MJV]

I'd recommend that you try something simple to start with (like just a cube and a sphere or something). That way you can work out any scaling issues and get a better idea of what might be going wrong.

I am constantly constantly amazed at how often this sort of thing needs to be said to people. Troubleshooting is one of the most important skills required of working in this medium and it's incredible how seemingly inept many people are at it. (No offense intended but come on!)

It makes me wonder if it would be worthwhile for someone to write a comprehensive guide to troubleshooting that could be required reading for beginner digital media students. Or maybe there's something like that already? Seems like there should be...

[stevester1]

I am constantly constantly amazed at how often this sort of thing needs to be said to people. Troubleshooting is one of the most important skills required of working in this medium and it's incredible how seemingly inept many people are at it. (No offense intended but come on!)

It makes me wonder if it would be worthwhile for someone to write a comprehensive guide to troubleshooting that could be required reading for beginner digital media students. Or maybe there's something like that already? Seems like there should be...

the programs manual maybe :)

[whalerider]

I simplified the Cinema 4D scene (it had a ton of objects, 17 MB file) and managed to import as both OBJ and FBX. Had to frame the objects using Shift+a, so it was a question of scale as some of you guys suggested. Thanks for the help.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.