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Its because VW is a solids and NURBS modeller. The geometry you're importing is a polygon based mesh which is essentially a group of triangles. As mike_m_oz says, reducing the mesh smoothing angle will help. Also, converting the mesh in something like Meshlab to a regular, square mesh could help. Much of what you're seeing is because of the triangles.

There is a new feature of the auto-hybrid object in the upcoming VW2014 that will allow you to adjust the smoothing angle on individual object which might help you if you do a lot of imports from Sketchup or 3D Max.

A better option is to use solids based resources. What version of VW are you using (Architect, Designer, Spotlight, Landmark, Fundamentals)? There are 3D resources like you're looking for included with some versions (definitely Designer which I'm using, has 50+ 3D toilets). Resources based on solids and NURBS will always render better in VW.

Kevin

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I deal with this issue with all the models I make in C4D and import into VW. The problem is there is no phong tag in VW. I have had mixed results with changing the smoothing angle. In general, I find it doesn't usually work. Maybe 2014 has phong tags now. Let's hope. And also proper UV mapping so we can scale the models after import. Without both of those abilities, VW isn't too useful for 3ds models.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

As mentioned by a few above, the problem lies in the geometry, which in this (and many) case(s) appears poor because of the way 3DS and other types of Mesh objects import into Vectorworks.

They are handled as a large number of separate 3D polygons at worst, or an overly complex and slow mesh object at best.

For instance, if you created that toilet in Vectorworks using the 3D modeling tools available in the software itself, there would be no issue. Render a Sphere in this rendering mode with geometry and 3D conversion res set to Very High to see what I mean, perfectly smooth edges and surface with no odd warping or faceting.

It doesn't solve the issue, but in this case it isn't Renderworks thats to blame, its what is happening to this kind of geometry during import.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Some of the libraries are made here, but many are submitted by the manufacturers directly and will be of varying quality, true.

Make sure to test resources from multiple sources when trying to verify if an issue is with the rendering engine or not, its easy to keep one model and forget that the problem can lie elsewhere.

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As mentioned by a few above, the problem lies in the geometry, which in this (and many) case(s) appears poor because of the way 3DS and other types of Mesh objects import into Vectorworks.

They are handled as a large number of separate 3D polygons at worst, or an overly complex and slow mesh object at best.

For instance, if you created that toilet in Vectorworks using the 3D modeling tools available in the software itself, there would be no issue. Render a Sphere in this rendering mode with geometry and 3D conversion res set to Very High to see what I mean, perfectly smooth edges and surface with no odd warping or faceting.

It doesn't solve the issue, but in this case it isn't Renderworks thats to blame, its what is happening to this kind of geometry during import.

Jim,

While the primary problem is the geometry, there is also a problem with how VW handles polygon/mesh geometry specifically when rendering. You can make the same types of models look better in C4D (same rendering engine) with very little effort.

Kevin

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee
You can make the same types of models look better in C4D (same rendering engine) with very little effort.

True, currently there isn't a way to coherently edit a collection of 3D polygons or meshes. Specifically the Organic Mesh in C4D and even the way it handles editing them is superior.

Not sure if that is a direction engineering will be going with our built-in modeling engine, but being able to "link" or otherwise make 3D polys understand that they are part of a whole, larger object instead of individual panels would be an excellent addition.

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  • Vectorworks, Inc Employee

Hello Ernestas:

The Mesh Smoothing Document Preference does essentially what Phong Tags in C4D do, as long as the separate imported polygons are converted into connected meshes. The only limitation to mesh smoothing in VW is that it applies globally to all meshes.

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Hello Ernestas:

The Mesh Smoothing Document Preference does essentially what Phong Tags in C4D do, as long as the separate imported polygons are converted into connected meshes. The only limitation to mesh smoothing in VW is that it applies globally to all meshes.

The problem is when you convert the triangles into a mesh, the texturing goes all to heck. Therefore it is useless if you have a textured model. I'm guessing it's related to the same problem I mentioned in another post concerning scaling 3ds models after import. I'm no expert on any of this, all I know is the same model viewed in C4D looks smooth, viewed in Sketchup looks smooth, viewed in other 3D apps it looks smooth, viewed in VW looks terrible. I've tried and tried to figure out a way to get my plant models to look smooth in VW and the only way is to up the polygon count by 3 or 4 times. Which makes them unworkable in VW. I believe it is due to two factors, the triangulation caused by converting to 3ds and the lack of a phong tag in VW (or the equivalent - I'm fine if using mesh smoothing works, but then make it work with triangles. Or make the textures work after converting to mesh). Triangulation could be avoided by including a OBJ or FBX or DAE IMPORT capability. All of these maintain quads.

So, with all respect, it is a problem with VW and its rendering engine.

Edited by Monadnoc
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Kevin I have just used random object from vw designer 2013 library.

I am interested why I am still using this program. Despite the rendering it is one of the best I have used so far, what I love most about it that it got rendering machine inside and even after rendering I can change it.

So I assume there is no way I can import objects and make them look photorealistic, what a shame.!

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