As I recall, all 3D geometry had to be converted to 3dfaces and we used to do this by 3ds export. Is this still the procedure? Or...?
--
Randolph Fritz
design machine group, architecture department, university of washington
[email protected] -or- [email protected]
used to do this by 3ds export
If you're working in AutoCAD, 3DSOUT isn't included as a command
anymore, but it's still available here:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9481286&linkID=9240618
--Dave
Thank you!
On 2010-02-25 13:46:18 -0800, David Smith said:
used to do this by 3ds export
If you're working in AutoCAD, 3DSOUT isn't included as a command
anymore, but it's still available here:http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9481286&linkID=9240618
--Dave
--
Randolph Fritz
design machine group, architecture department, university of washington
[email protected] -or- [email protected]
Hi!
If you want a direct export without the 3ds workaround, Schorsch has a dxf2rad that allows that as part of his commercial products.
If you go 3ds, which will break all your surfaces into triangles, it is possible to use Blender to do some "healing" on the mess. I usually export the 3ds by layername, so that all objects (triangles then) from one layer become one object. In Blender, I only have to select one by one (but the number of objects is limited to the number of layers, so that is fine) and de-triangulate the surfaces of the objects. Finally I export the whole model as OBJ - which is supported in Radiance almost as well as the native scene language 
Cheers, Lars.
Also, thanks. One of the problems we run into here is that due to Autodesk licensing it does not seem to be possible to bring out a free dxf2rad.
Randolph
On 2010-02-25 21:37:29 -0800, Lars O. Grobe said:
Hi!
If you want a direct export without the 3ds workaround, Schorsch has a dxf2rad that allows that as part of his commercial products.
If you go 3ds, which will break all your surfaces into triangles, it is possible to use Blender to do some "healing" on the mess. I usually export the 3ds by layername, so that all objects (triangles then) from one layer become one object. In Blender, I only have to select one by one (but the number of objects is limited to the number of layers, so that is fine) and de-triangulate the surfaces of the objects. Finally I export the whole model as OBJ - which is supported in Radiance almost as well as the native scene language
Cheers, Lars.
--
Randolph Fritz
design machine group, architecture department, university of washington
[email protected] -or- [email protected]
Hi!
R Fritz wrote:
Also, thanks. One of the problems we run into here is that due to Autodesk licensing it does not seem to be possible to bring out a free dxf2rad.
You cannot do it using the libraries of the opendwg alliance (or whatever it was called). So basically you either support only anything but the ACIS stuff (well, this means that you build you models completely out of 3dfaces), or you stay away from Autocad. Which is a general rule, as they step-by-step removed all(!) exporters to non-Autodesk formats to lock in users. As soon as you move to standard-CAD-formats (such as step, iges, ...) you will have a choice of tools to do the conversion. Take a look at brlcad for example, it is a great conversion tool for 3d-geometry. But of course they support documented open standards, not propietary file-formats.
Cheers, Lars.
Hi!
R Fritz wrote:
Also, thanks. One of the problems we run into here is that due to Autodesk licensing it does not seem to be possible to bring out a free dxf2rad.
You cannot do it using the libraries of the opendwg alliance (or whatever it was called). So basically you either support only anything but the ACIS stuff (well, this means that you build you models completely out of 3dfaces), or you stay away from Autocad. Which is a general rule, as they step-by-step removed all(!) exporters to non-Autodesk formats to lock in users. As soon as you move to standard-CAD-formats (such as step, iges, ...) you will have a choice of tools to do the conversion. Take a look at brlcad for example, it is a great conversion tool for 3d-geometry. But of course they support documented open standards, not propietary file-formats.
Cheers, Lars.
You cannot do it using the libraries of the opendwg alliance (or whatever it was called). [...]
Thanks for the summary, the confirmation of my intuition, & the cite of brl-cad, which I'd only vaguely been aware of.
I think it might be possible to get around Autodesk's restrictions by writing a script that would run in the AutoCAD environment. Such a script, I think, could directly create files in an export format. It would have to be quite a script, though!
Randolph
I looked at AutoCAD scripting for a while but I found that a simple
"scripted" solution will only allow you access to a few element types
but not the whole set.
The best solution to get polygons out of AutoCAD still seems to be
3DSOUT. If that some day is incompatible or not available for the
next AutoCAD release then we will probably have to spend even
more money on some other apps like Rhino or Max and hope that
they can import AutoCAD and export polygons.
Regards,
Thomas
On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 7:49 PM, R Fritz <[email protected]> wrote:
I think it might be possible to get around Autodesk's restrictions by
writing a script that would run in the AutoCAD environment. Such a script, I
think, could directly create files in an export format. It would have to be
quite a script, though!
Hi Guys
Has anybody tried microstation?
I downloaded V8 XM last year. After thirty days it reverts to 15 minute
sessions but apart from that is still FULLY FUNCTIONAL!
The import / export is infinitely better than anything Autodesk: IGES,
Parasolid, STL, STEP, ACIS, Sketchup, Collada, CGM and DWG/ DXF!
It's a bit of a pain to get used to after Autocad but at least you can get
it talking to blender and sketchup.
Chris
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas
Bleicher
Sent: 28 February 2010 20:31
To: Radiance general discussion
Subject: Re: [Radiance-general] Re: Preparing an open DXF file for import
On Sun, Feb 28, 2010 at 7:49 PM, R Fritz <[email protected]> wrote:
I think it might be possible to get around Autodesk's restrictions by
writing a script that would run in the AutoCAD environment. Such a script,
I
think, could directly create files in an export format. It would have to
be
quite a script, though!
I looked at AutoCAD scripting for a while but I found that a simple
"scripted" solution will only allow you access to a few element types
but not the whole set.
The best solution to get polygons out of AutoCAD still seems to be
3DSOUT. If that some day is incompatible or not available for the
next AutoCAD release then we will probably have to spend even
more money on some other apps like Rhino or Max and hope that
they can import AutoCAD and export polygons.
Regards,
Thomas
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As a very late footnote to this, the 3DSout plugin does not work with AutoCAD 2010.
--
Randolph Fritz
design machine group, architecture department, university of washington
[email protected] -or- [email protected]