LW 11 not importing OBJ poly groups or vertex groups

#21

Well I found a thread on the Newtek forum that actually linked to this one. It weas created by either jwiede or digitaldoc, but I can’t remember who right off the top of my head.
That was very nice of him, as the thread was titled “can someone help this guy” or something like that. :slight_smile:

Anyway, in the thread he reported that he did some experiments and confirmed the issue I mentioned here, plus found other issues and said he was filing a bug report.

So that was very nice of him. I have to say though I’m surprised that out of all this discussion none of the rest of you tried this. Not even curious? Or did you all try it but just forget to mention it?
I think jwiede and digitaldoc both tried it, so I’m not talking about them here.

I mean, I’m surrounded by Lightwave users and Newtek supporters here, but you guys are all telling me, the guy using the trial, that it’s up to me to fog it?

Anyway, I actually did try and I wasted 5 minutes of my life waiting for a page to load that simply didn’t want to load. Seems to be the way of Newtek lately. The last handful of times I tried to use their forums, they were either down or perpetually loading or very slow.

I have entirely too much to do to be spending time on this. If it works, great, if not, I’m not interested until it does. I need tools that work now, not two months later after several bug reports.

In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t even created this thread. I was just wondering what was up, not expecting to have people trying to make me feel guilty for not filing a bug report.

#22

I could reproduce your issue, but since I at the time wasn’t at work, I asked you if you could import the obj into other apps with the groups intact. I was simply asking if it was an import or export bug, or maybe even both. You never responded to that, and I have since long forgotten about this.

Personally, I never deal with this type of data-transfering between apps (we have other methods to deal with things, hence my question about what you are doing outside of LW that requires the groups). So, in a sense, you were the “expert” on this particular bug.

I mean, I’m surrounded by Lightwave users and Newtek supporters here, but you guys are all telling me, the guy using the trial, that it’s up to me to fog it?

You mentioned that you didn’t see this issue in LW10.x, right? I assume you used it instead to deal with the exporting of things?

In any case… it seems this bug is being documented and reported thanks to you! So, that is all good and well!

:slight_smile:

#23

Cageman,

Well I thought I had mentioned that it was losing groups on both import and export. I see now that I didn’t, so I apologize for not responding to that earlier.

As for why, well there are lots of reasons, number 1 being that the OBJ format is probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to a universal file format that works in all 3D programs. Specifically in Mudbox it can be very useful to have poly groups, as well as in ZBrush and Softimage.

I know LW also has FBX, but again, OBJ can be read by all programs.

Well I’m glad it’s being looked at, or has at least been reported. I still find it extremely strange that nobody else ever noticed or mentioned it, and I find it nothing short of deplorable that Newtek could let such an obvious error slip past them. Especially since I assume they’re testing it with ZBrush, so the missing poly groups should have been immediately obvious to anyone who actually tested it.

Personally though it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they knew all about it but simply ignored it.
Getting new LW versions out the door quickly seems to be the top priority for them these days.

#24

Why, Why, Why do you have to Bash Others/Newtek or anything/one for that matter??? :banghead:

deplorable for Newtek to let an error slip past them?

Where the Fudge have you been the past 25 yrs or so? (unless you are 12 yrs old) which I doubt.

There is NO Software anywhere that is Bug Free. Never was, and Never will be. Though Yes, ideally it should be. Not Autodesk, Not Modo, Not Mudbox, not Adobe, not Apple, not MicroSoft, no Body… No one.

And, when was the last time you were perfect, never mad a mistake of any kind? That would be correct, before your inception.

Bet they All knew about it. . . You are on the Verge of Slander, well it is actually Public Slander of Newtek, and should be warned of the consequences of such action. Speak to your Google Lawyer about it.

As for people going to Z-Brush not noticing it, if you have not noticed. . . .

There are new Workflows from going directly to Z-Brush and Back from Lightwave . . . .

It is called Go-Z ! Hmmnn, perhaps this is why one did not notice the old way.

Looking through your old Posts here (had to Laugh @ the First 2), I see that you are using a Lightwave, Maya, 3D-Max, Mudbox, Z-Brush, SoftImage, and so on, and so on Workflow.

As others have stated, can only recommend using FBX Format, or the Lightwave Format via Point Oven. Your Softimage (mod) free version even has Point Oven built in directly.

I know because I also have it loaded. It directly opens and reads the Lightwave Object Formats and Scene Objects as well as Morphs, and Motions, MDDs and so on without problem. It even supports the Messiah Format and embedded Scenes with Messiah in them!

Ok, back… had to step away a bit to calm down. Just can not believe your audacity all the time.

I for one will never try to assist you in any way shape or form in the future. Wish you the best trotzdem.

#25

Oh no, I’ve upset a lightwave fanboy. :eek:
And that’s an awful lot of heated posting there to make your point just how upset you are that I slightly bashed a software developer. Well, maybe you have a good reason for wasting all that time defending them.

Thank you for the lesson on FBX and Softimage. Like, I never knew about point oven or FBX. :rolleyes:

I don’t suppose it ever occurred to you that maybe other people I work with might require being given files in OBJ format?

No, probably not.

You don’t have to worry about me asking you for any help. I do appreciate those who were helpful in this thread, but after reading back I see all you did was try to tell me to tell Newtek about it a few times. Not exactly helpful to begin with.

#26

Fanboy? I use the tools that provide me what I need be whatever it might be. But yes, Lightwave is like family to me. And, as any family member there are problems with it.

Slightly Bashed a Software developer?? Sort of like your post in the Mudbox part of the Forum ealier, to Quote you from there. (as well as other bashes)

Again, something against a company publicly against Newtek, without knowing anything behind your post. Yes, Lightwave had a Part in the making of Avatar, and Rob Powers a pivotal part in that before coming to Newtek.

Wasting time defending them??? I was wasting time trying to take time to assist you. That is the point the same as the others here taking their time to try to assist and keep cool about it.

If you would venture over to the Newtek Forum and look up the First Post (if the Newtek Forum or Search Works) to ask for Assistance (FOR YOU), you would see my post as the first one, asking others to venture over and assist.

I also wrote an email to the Customer Assistance Department of Newtek, asking them to contact you via the CG Talk Forums and assist you with the import/export of OBJs with Parts.

And Newtek replied to report the error with Content. Content which I then in the Thread asked you to reply with to fully document and get the Bug fixed. Fixed for you and Others.

But of course your response was, that you couldn’t give a Rats a. . . about it. You did not have the Time to Do Newteks Work. You did not care about half finished things.

Link Newtek Site (Check out the First Post!) :lightbulb
http://forums.newtek.com/showthread.php?130594-Obj-Import-Problem-11-x-anyone-able-to-help-this-guy (Jeeze, looks like hmnn…)

Hmnn, let me think about your “question”
1. I try to assist you here.
2. I try to get further assistance from others @ the Newtek Site
3. I contact Newtek Customer Support directly, and ask for assistance for you.
4. I report the bug.

hmnn, Maybe you should ask your “better half” that question.

If you want me to post more links trying to solve this or my mail exchanges with Newtek asking for assistance. Then please let me know will glady Post everything up here for you to Breakdown.

Cheers. :slight_smile:

#27

Best thing is to submit as a bug report and provide content to work from.
If there is a problem, we can fix it, and if there is a workflow need, we can do that too.

LightWave Support
lw-support@newtek.com

-----Original Message-----
From: "support@lightwave3d.com" <support@lightwave3d.com>
Reply-To: "support@lightwave3d.com" <support@lightwave3d.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 11:01:24 +0000
To: "lw-support@newtek.com" <lw-support@newtek.com>
Subject: LightWave 3D Support for Jeffrey Burford

>Message from Jeffrey Burford
>Email: jburford@.de
>Subject: technical_support
>
>Obj Object Import Problems with Groups/Parts
>
>Could someone please look into this?
>
>http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=7418719#post7418719
>
>It should be please addressed.
>
>Best Regards,
>Jeff Burford

#28

jburford:

Take it easy… this isn’t worth getting upset about. We all know that you invested a lot of time into trying to help twosheads, and it’s just another fine example of how cool the LW-community is. Sharing and helpful.

Lets stick to that… let this thread be a reminder of that we shall never stop being helpful to eachother.

Peace and Love! :slight_smile:

#29

I said it before and I’ll say it again. I wish I hadn’t even made this damn thread.

All I had was a statement that this wasn’t working and a question if I was doing something wrong.

But from the moment I posted it, this thread was doomed to this outcome.

Maybe jburford WAS trying to be helpful, but how could I have known that anyway? You certainly can’t tell by this thread, which is all I was reading. I certainly don’t have access to his communications with Newtek, and I’m not a mind-reader.

Anyway, I’m through.
My LW trial is expired, and I’m going back to LW 9.6, which I do in fact like a lot.
Maybe a future Lightwave will be useful to me, maybe not, but I’ll keep watching its progress anyway.
And no, it’s not just because of OBJ. It has a lot to do with Modeler’s severe shortcomings too, although I hear that it too will soon be getting a facelift.

#30

Oh, I hate it when that happens. I’ll find a different behavior with a fairly common used feature in a program’s update (Vue, modo for example), and other users think everything is just fine (it’s a cultural difference for sure). They’ll even tell the tech support to ignore the bug report you make for some reason (these are the marketing PR types for the company that act as filters between you and tech support). Finally, when the bug is fixed, you want to get the hell out of Stepford.

Both modo and Vue can’t import their own OBJ files. So I try not to model anything in those apps, though I do use Vue to export trees once in a blue moon.

#31

I don’t think anyone here are trying to say that this ain’t a bug. On the contrary, myself and others have tried to encourage twosheds to do a bug-report. I think most people that uses LW are using either 3DCoat (loads LWOs natively) or ZBrush with GoZ. GoZ was implemented in LW11, so people started using that instead of going through exporting objs. In this process something got broken, and no-one actually noticed it, because we (the users) are using other methods to bring data back and forth.

So, with that in mind, I’m not surprised it was something that got overlooked and missed…

All in all though, this has brought the issue to the surface, and the devs will get testcontent to deal with the bug and fix it. And that is a positive thing, I’d say!

:slight_smile:

#32

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