Software that can render lines primitives at fixed thickness regardless of zoom?

#1

I am looking for the best 3D modeling software that would be able to import and render 3D line primitives (preferably without odd plugins that may break or without any hacks).

The application is importing a .dwg file that represents a road. Much like Google Maps, I would like to render the road a certain thickness regardless of zoom level.

From what I understand, the major issue is that many 3D modeling software do not have a line primitive. I read somewhere that this is true for Blender, and assume it is true for a lot of the other software out there.

Any ideas appreciated!

EDIT: I see I asked this same question many years ago but specific to 3ds max: http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=6&t=669379. I never ended up finding a good solution. I haven’t touched 3D modeling programs since - hopefully over the last 3 years there are advances in 3ds max or other software…

#2

sketch and toon in cinema 4d

#3

Every major 3D application can do this. I use Maya, but C4D, Max, or any other would do just as well.

#4

How? To be clear, I do not want to render the edges of an object - i want to render an object with no volume (a line). A line will show up in any 3D modeling viewer, but what rendering engine will render an object with no volume?

#5

Use Rhino, then. I render hundreds, thousands of lines daily in Rhino. It even has a technical drawing mode to help out. You would also have Vray available as an option, if you needed to to more heavy rendering later.

#6

I’ll check out Rhino thanks! Are you saying that VRay (on whatever 3d software) supports rendering of non-volumes such as a line - and continues to render the line at the same defined thickness no matter how zoomed out you are?

#7

I’m saying that any of the main rendering engines can do this, mental ray, Vray, etc. You may have to write a special shader, but they all have this capability.

However with Rhino, you would be working with actual NURBS geometry and rendering out via the print dialogue, for linework. Here’s a quick example, note the line thicknesses are consistent throughout:

#8

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