Basic ...basic ..very basic question

[fktt]

I demoed SILO and Hexagon and decided to buy Hexagon as my modeling tool. I just felt their tools are more practical for modeling than Blender ...plus they handle n'gons better. However, I still intend to use Blender in my pipeline ..as a minimum I'll use it for the UV work and maybe rigging and animating (though I've got my eyes on Messiah).

When I create my models in Hexagon I think the format for export best suited for blender is wavefront (.OBJ) ... there are more but this is the one I heard best suited.

My question is ...both SILO and Hexagon creates an addition ".MTL" file when I save the objects ..and I am not sure if it needs to be picked up somehow by blender along with the ".obj" file ...or what?

Also although most of the time I get Blender to accept these files and to work with them as if it was created in Blender...

It's the wavefront material file, and it should be looked up automatically,
eg. you dont have to specify that file specifically your self.

although sometimes some parts of the file coming from the exporter of another app,
may be not in line with the file standard structure, or just some of the file standard features aren't supported, in witch case some parts may not be imported.


...initially Blender's tools disappear when first imported. Then I have to go through a lot of clicking around (i.e. selecting and un-selection the objects) before Blender tools are visible. And bear in mind I'm importing basic stuff ...(i.e a cube with a few extrudes ...a sphere etc) using a Quad core machine, Geforce 9800, and 8GB ram. running Vista 64b.

Could you be more specific?


Also, these software allow you to smooth objects without increasing the polygon count ...is this a no-no for Blender ...because when I try this blender seem to only be able to accept and maybe render ...but can't use the file to do much else ...like UV mapping etc.


again, could you be more specific, its hard to guess why something is or is not happening...

[truenovice]

Ok ..so you're saying the files (.obj and .mtl) shouldn't be fragmented ... maybe there is some preference setting within these softwares that I don't quite get.

As for the disappearing ...I literally mean when I import the file initially my tools in the object/edit mode are gone in Blender...no tool is present. Link/Materials...multires ...all those pallettes are gone.

On the last subject ..perhaps its best to go to Hexagon forum with this. But in Blender when you sub-surf it increases the polygon count ...in SILO/Hexagon you can smooth without increasing the polygon count. I think when you do this blender doesn;t like it when those files are imported. But first things first ...I'll try to find out why SILO and HEXAGON both fragment the files when saved as an .OBJ wavefront file.

Thanks for helping!

[fktt]

Ok ..so you're saying the files (.obj and .mtl) shouldn't be fragmented ... maybe there is some preference setting within these softwares that I don't quite get.
All I'm saing/confirming is that there is a .mtl file for material data,
and that every things fine with that.


As for the disappearing ...I literally mean when I import the file initially my tools in the object/edit mode are gone in Blender...no tool is present. Link/Materials...multires ...all those pallettes are gone.
ok, have you tried selecting any of the imported data?
it is very context sensitive in that respect after all..


On the last subject ..perhaps its best to go to Hexagon forum with this. But in Blender when you sub-surf it increases the polygon count ...in SILO/Hexagon you can smooth without increasing the polygon count. I think when you do this blender doesn;t like it when those files are imported. But first things first ...I'll try to find out why SILO and HEXAGON both fragment the files when saved as an .OBJ wavefront file.
you mean, the models are split, where the model should be just sharp?

[phexitol]

Whenever a Wavefront OBJ is imported, it's always in some pseudo-selected state, and although highlighted must be clicked on to be actually selected and have tools be usable.

[profnull]

I suggest that you don't press the "active" button on the subsurf modifier: that way you still get the smooth rendering without the extra verts.
It's not perfect but it works great provided you keep the number of meshes treated this way down.

[Michael-Williamson]

It's possible you just mean it's flat shaded rather than smooth shaded? ( rather than creating a subdivision surface?)

That's set on a per object basis in blender... or per face(in edit mode)... (or per edge using the edgesplit modifier)

Try selecting your object and hitting the "set smooth" button in the "edit " buttons section

It's also possible that the mesh is "split" on export (or import) for one reason or another (often apps separate meshes by material on export... blender will create new meshes on import when it hits its own (silly and outdated) limit of 16 materials in an object.)

[hvanderwegen]

Also, these software allow you to smooth objects without increasing the polygon count ...is this a no-no for Blender ...because when I try this blender seem to only be able to accept and maybe render ...but can't use the file to do much else ...like UV mapping etc.

No, you misunderstood - in Hexagon you can smooth an object (up to level 7), but this is exactly the same as Blender's Multires: in multires you can work with similar levels. And you can uv map and add a texture map to the first level, and start sculpting at a higher levels.

Also, the polygon count IS increased in both Hexagon and Blender when using either method. For example, when you click smoothing level 7 in Hexagon, the default sphere object's polygon count increases to 491520. In Blender it is the same. Though I do admit Hexagon is far more responsive at high levels: 1966080 poly's at level 7 did not really affect the view performance a lot (because Hexagon quickly switches to a lowres version while orbiting/panning/zooming). Obviously, the point to this is that you convert the high level smoothing to a displacement map in Hexagon, export that as a 16-bit greyscale map and use that to displace the geometry in a 3d app, such as Blender. Look it up in the documentation.

So a suitable working method for getting the same smoothing in Blender, would be to create the base object in Hexagon (if you like: add uv map too), import in Blender, add a uv map (if not already done in Hexagon), add a material and apply multires. That way you do not have to import the "smoothed" version into Blender, which is, as you already stated, pretty much unusable due to the high poly count. A second method would be to export a displacement map based on your sculpting in Hexagon, and use that in Blender to re-create the surface detail on your object. Or a third method: convert the map to a normal map, and use that (though no 'real' geometry is created, it is much faster).

And yes, phexitol is correct in stating you need to select the imported *.obj object to 'activate' it, and to show the panels.

*edit*
Use a displacement modifier in combination with a subsurf modifier to get high poly count displacement without slowing down the view too much. See:
http://www.blendermasters.com/cms/en/materials/displacement-maps-3d-objects-based-on-2d-maps.html
And do not forget to switch to a lower smoothing level (0 or 1 or 2) before exporting to an wavefront file; export uses the active smoothing level during export.

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