Tricks for importing objects

[Rhino]

I'm currently having trouble importing (into per pixel mode) an object I've created in 3DS . It's less than 5,000 faces but increases my memory usage (Win 7 64-bit) by over 3 Gb - is this normal?

I've tried both FBX and OBJ files but neither seems to make a difference. My main trouble is that I need to import about 6 times as many faces but my computer keeps running out of memory and 3D Coat will crash out.

I've tried triangulating the meshes and closing all faces but it's still no good. Curiously I can import an object of 5 million polys if it's something like a high density sphere. Is it because my shape has holes in it?

Any hints as to what I should try?

[Rhino]

I tried allowing 3D Coat to Auto UV for me and this helps loads.

But while I'm here, I often find that 3D Coat triangulates polys wildly differently from 3DS. So a face might look OK in 3DS, but will overlap in 3D Coat - any tricks to stop this from happening?

[Carlosan]

The .obj have an UVmap assigned ?

[Zeddicus]

All I can offer is a comparison. When I load a 3b file which has a 2,282,187 quad reference mesh that has no UV's (it came from ZBrush), as well as a 5814 quad retopo mesh which has three UV sets, 3D Coat uses approximately 2.8 GB of memory. With just that retopo mesh alone and nine 2K maps applied (six diffuse and three normal) 3D Coat uses 1.2 GB of memory. I've never run out of memory with any of the latest BETA versions. The retopo mesh was imported into Max for testing, had it's UV's tweaked using an unwrap UVW modifier, and then was exported back to 3D Coat as an OBJ for per-pixel painting too for what it's worth.

What version of 3D Coat and 3ds Max are you using? How much memory does your PC have? What settings are you using for exporting and importing (screenshots)? Are you allowed to upload the OBJ for others to have a look at?

[Rhino]

I'm using 3.7.18H DX64 (which comes up as 4.00.BETA1 in 'about'). And 3DS Max 2012 with the latest FBX plugin. I have 8Gb of memory, but like I said, letting 3D Coat auto-generate the UVs on import really sorted it out for me - it still takes a while to import, but I'm no longer running out of memory.

Although I still have this problem with face triangulation from 3DS to 3D Coat. I often have to go back into Max and connect offending vertices to force faces to behave properly. I realise this wasn't my original post, but any help would be appreciated.

In the meanwhile thank you both for your help.

[alvordr]

This may be a silly question, but what settings are you using on export from Max? There is a checkbox for triangulating on export and if checked, this can have an impact.

[Rhino]

This may be a silly question, but what settings are you using on export from Max? There is a checkbox for triangulating on export and if checked, this can have an impact.

Not a silly question! It's funny, I fleetingly noticed this option on the FBX exporter for the first time yesterday when exporting a model for another programme, but it didn't occur to me to try it with 3D Coat - you're right it does make a difference. And also, on the OBJ exporter, there's an option to export triangles rather than quads or polys, which also fixes the problem. Which is fine for my non-animated, hard surface, hi-poly-to-bake models.

I am in your debt - you have saved me hours of manually connected verts to try to solve the problem.

[alvordr]

I find that the Autodesk products are often like that. The UI is way to muddled with options to take it all in. This is why Blender isn't for me, either. However, I know 3ds Max very well now, having practiced with it for a few years. I'm glad this helped.