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VW2011 and C4d.


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I tried the new Export to C4d with Vw 2011.

Extremely dissapointing!

The First impression looks good, but after I examined the resulting File for a while in C4d I found it almost unusable.

Example:

Symbols dont get exported well.

For 327 Chairs I got 327 Groups

250 contain Instances the Rest of the Chairs get transformed to Groups with with Subgroups and subgroups and Subgroups....

Textures are assigned to the Each ploygon deep down there, and not to the Groups, so if you want to change textures you have to digg deep down into the Group trees that the Software creates for whatever reason.

And there are hundreds of Groups and subgroups and subgr.....

The new easygoing sensational relation is no yet reality.

The resulting File of the Nemetschek Plugin is 41MB.

The resulting File of the Maxon Plugin is just 8.5 MB for the same Model.

Edited by Horst M.
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I think the Export to C4D... command works a little better with C4D R12. I am playing with it a little now, but I am having a bit of a problem with the scale of the imported model in C4D. I think C4D has changed the way it handles units in R12. For example, when creating a default sized cube, in R10 and R11 the cube would be 200 units, regardless of the units being worked with (i.e. 200 mm, 200 cm, 200, ft, 200 inches). Now in R12, a default cube is 2000 mm, 200 cm, 78.45 inches, etc. so C4D is now converting between units. The problem for me is that now a model that is imported from VW (imperial units) in to C4D, set to inches as units, is huge, making it difficult to work with in C4D.

I have not had the time to really figure out what is going on, or find a work around, but my first few attempts were a bit un-weildy. The lage model size make lights, camera, etc difficult to use. Is anyone else seeing this, or do I have something messed up?

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I have found a work around for my scale problem with VW 2011 and C4D R12, if it is helpful. Not sure I can be of help to Horst, so pardon the thread high jack.

My goal is to use feet/inches in VW2011 and inches in C4D R12 and have the imported model be appropriately scaled to the workspace in C4D so that the camera, lights and everything else works as expected. This is how to work it:

In C4D:

Open a new, clean file

Set the Units to your desired units (inches) in Edit>Preferences>Units

Set the Document Scale to 1, and set your desired document units (inches) in Edit>Project Settings....

Save the file as 'new.c4d' in the C4D preference folder

Now, when you open a new file in C4D the default units will be inches, and document units will be inches.

Before running the 'Export to C4D...' command in VW2011, open a new file in C4D, and tic the 'Merge into Current Scene' radio button.

The scene should be scaled correctly, and a good size for the workspace with out further tweaking.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hello Horst:

We have been working on improving the object hierarchy for C4D files for SP1 and SP2. The number of groups is reduced in SP2 for example. We are continuing to reduce the number of objects in the hierarchy for future releases as well. The goal is to have one C4D object per VW object.

If a symbol is flipped we have to show that as a "dumb" group rather than an instance, for now. We intend to improve that for the future as well.

With regards to units, would you folks rather have the C4D file exported to VW's current units rather than mm all the time?

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Hi Dave.

Thanks so much for your answer.

I was just shocked by what I saw last night.

Regarding the Scaling issue, I would suggest to solve the Probelem as it is done with the Maxon plugin.

You can give a Scale for the import the VW File in the Preferences of C4D.

So you can even work in Meters and do the sacling during the import to C4D

As long as you don't do so, you will either have the Imperial world unhappy or the Meters users will be whining.

For Symbols Maxon creates an extra hidden Group "Symbols",

and then they just use instances with whatever needed angle position and height.

What also is a must, tis the possibiltiy to update the geometry from VW to

C4D during the work, .

For example if you change walls windows Staiers and so on.

Desinging is an interactiv process.

The maxon Plugin supports that!

And Please give us the Export of Camera Objects!

If You like I could Post you a Sample File. But to be honest, I hope you know already what the Maxon Plugin does... ;-)

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With regards to units, would you folks rather have the C4D file exported to VW's current units rather than mm all the time?

Hi Dave

I don't mind either method because I work in mm all the time :grin: . However, I think the best would be whatever is set in VW should be exported to C4D in the same units and c4d should be able to detect and change itself automatically. If the units is controlled in one place, it should avoid a lot of confusion.

Essentially if a user works in vw in "feet&inches" then the model exported to c4d should be in "feet&inches" automatically and the model in vw or c4d should look the same without the user tampering with the units or doing any type of conversions.

Thanks,

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