The difference between LW .OBJ and 3dS MAX .OBJ

#1

Sorry to post this here guys. It is releveant to Lightwave. I am using Lihgtwave in conjunction with 3DSMAX 9.

I have my character setup in Lightwave, UV’s layed out Groups layed out ready for ZBRUSH to pickup (so I can define each area to turn on or off when sculpting)

Now

Lightwave and ZBRUSH .obj export and Import can read the Group information fine but why oh why oh why cant MAX? MAX doesnt seem to be able to pick up the group information on import, it just sees the groups as sperate meshes!!? Why one rule for OBJ import export for one package then another rule for OBJ import export in the other package.

I thought .OBJ format was a universal format. I have tried everything, newer versions of Max, Deep Exploration. I just dont get it. It either merges in seperate meshes or stitches them altogether and therefore reomves the group sets. How do Max users export group information to Zbrush? I bet they have to rely on UV space!

It’s not a big deal but I am rigging in MAX and when I bring the object posed back into Lightwave the GROUP infirmation has vanished.

Does anyone know why this is?

Sorry for the long post but this is so frustrating. ZBrush picks up obj group info, so does Lightwave why cant MAX!!

The only I can think of to fix the problem is by hand go in and redifine the mesh using Set ID’s ( thats if thats how MAX defines group information? )

Any help or light on the matter would be very much appreciated :cool: I must be doing something wrong?

Regards

Lee

#2

Just wondered if you have tried the Max Guruware OBJ import plugin?
http://www.guruware.at/main/index.html

#3

Yeah thanks Veehoy, that’s actually integrated into Max 2009 it doesn’t support the groups either. Max can see them when you import but it thinks they are separate meshes and melds them into one. I think the basic core structure of Max just doesn’t support these types of Groups. Groups in Max are known as something else entirely.

Some kind of universal file format would be ace, surely it’s about time in thie day and age!

#4

ive had some probs with LWs OBJs before. modo, max, maya all seemed to swap around OBJs with no problems but when dealing with LW’s OBJ’s it wasnt quite so simple for some reason

im an animator so dont know much about these things, so it might just be daft me :slight_smile:

#5

Hey, Infinite, How vital is Max in your workflow? I may be missing the point but couldn’t you bypass it altogether and rig in Lightwave? I know you’ve said before you’re not convinced by Lightwave’s rigging or animation for figurative models. True, LW animators are still waiting for point manipulation in Layout but carefully applied weightmaps could be the answer for realistic character work. Many LW artists seem to avoid them for some reason though they’re a cinch to apply and work well fine tuning the ‘magnetic’ effect of bones. With simple weightmaps on the torso limbs and head, deformations in LW can be pretty good (here’s a link to a ‘realistic’ figurative T posed weightmapped model enveloped to a simple mocap rig which was also used for manual animation). If there are problems you can place ‘hold bones’ in trouble spots or readjust the weightmaps, blending between them or tinker with bone strength. For still images you can always use a basic skeleton + weight maps to deform the mesh and ‘save transformed object’ at basic resolution to tidy up the geometry. Good luck! Any new material in the works?

#6

bobakabob: Hey, thanks for your comments. I am still yet to be convinced by Lightwave’s rigging and animation capabilities. I liked your work BTW. When trying to push for ultra realism there arent many packages that can do it IMHO, the only package that I have seen that can is XSI. I dont know XSI so I am having to do rigging in Max for the moment as it has far more control than LW. I have literaly spent months trying to rig and weight in LW and never got any good results from that time and I havent seen any body else either. So for now I think I will stick with Max for that.

But by the looks of thingsd LW will be getting more attention in that area in the future so fingers crossed. What we need is a dedicated package like ZBrush or ‘Mudbox’ just for rigging and weighting.

I just wish .OBJ was a pure universal format.

#7

I don’t use 3dsmax, but XSI. But I don’t use the actual mesh for poses etc, but instead use .mdd files. I don’t know if PointOven is integrated in Max as it is in XSI.

I setup my character in LW, and then rig/animate the mesh in XSI, then I plot out a .mdd file by pointoven baker, and just attach the .mdd file to my object in LW layout. Works very well.

/Regards Peter K

#8

Hey Sniffet, yeah thats a great technique. It’s a great way of working, sadly I dont know XSI but I plan to do something similar between MAX and LW, however my good friend James Busby showed me one of his LW bone setups and I must say that it did look pretty impressive (even without weight maps) so who knows I may not have to wrry about .obj after all :applause:

#9

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