|
By Lord Ashes - 3 Years Ago
|
3DXChange 7 has had import issues since iClone 7 (and possibly earlier). This video shows how the import function fails to import relatively simple meshes properly and shows how this functionality still has not been fixed in iClone 8. There are also a slew of export issues which have not been fixed since 3DXChange 7i / Clone 7 but this video will focus on demonstrating the import issue with a sample asset. It should be noted that the asset was created in Blender software which is a common, free, and powerful software used by a large portion of the 3D content development community (i.e. it was not made with some small obscure software).
As can be seen the import function does not render geometry correctly. The video shows both shape issues (such as the pin being distorted) and face issues (such as the pin hole and the cutout being covered).
|
|
By Peter (RL) - 3 Years Ago
|
Hi Lord Ashes
If you believe there are import issues with either iClone 8 and/or CC4 then please report them in the Feedback Tracker. This is the best way to get issues logged and looked into. Thanks.
http://www.reallusion.com/FeedBackTracker/
|
|
By Rampa - 3 Years Ago
|
|
Try applying a "triangulate mesh" modifier to your Blender model. I have seen cutouts go missing like that a couple times.
|
|
By ckalan1 - 3 Years Ago
|
Triangles and Quadrangles
This article is pretty good at explaining how meshes work. I have found that I can import nearly every mesh from Blender if I convert it to triangles before I export it and then import it into iClone.
Hope this helps.
Craig
|
|
By 4u2ges - 3 Years Ago
|
As others said, you have to triangulate before export. Reason this is happening, is because you have n-gones (faces created with more that 4 vertices).
Any app you import such a mesh to, would look the same as in iClone.
If you wish to retain quad faces, then after triangulating hit Alt+J while all faces are selected.
That would reinstate quad mesh where it is possible.
Otherwise you have to make sure not to have any n-gones in the first place.
|
|
By jeff.davies - 3 Years Ago
|
|
Triangulate for the Win with Blender exports! Try it and let us know if theat does or doesn't fix the issue. I had all sorts of problems with my Blender meshes before I learned to triangulate before export/import to iClone. Alot of gaming platforms also want triangulated meshes. Blender seems to have a deep love of quads in its native format, most other platforms want tris.
|
|
By 4u2ges - 3 Years Ago
|
I prefer quads for the simple reason. It is heck of a lot easier to work with quad mesh as oppose to tris when you return the model BACK from CC/IC to Blender for customization.
But not CC nor IC have any issues with quad mesh. It is a problem when you have a face created with 5+ vertices. If I accidentally (or sometimes on purpose - being lazy) create such faces, I make sure I either use knife tool to slice it.
Or use another lazy routine: Ctrl+T and then Alt+J
|
|
By 4u2ges - 3 Years Ago
|
-
|
|
By Lord Ashes - 3 Years Ago
|
Peter (RL) (7/7/2022)
Hi Lord Ashes If you believe there are import issues with either iClone 8 and/or CC4 then please report them in the Feedback Tracker. This is the best way to get issues logged and looked into. Thanks. http://www.reallusion.com/FeedBackTracker/
I am not sure it is worth my time. As you may recall from our previous conversation about the Export function, I reported bugs against it and they are still there. No resolution on them for over a year and it looks like they won't be resolved now that RL migrated to iClone 8. The CC4 import doesn't seem to be backwards compatible since it won't load my CC3 Avatar and the FBX import just throws a generic FBX error. Not a great track record.
|
|
By Lord Ashes - 3 Years Ago
|
Thanks for the triangulation suggestion. It seems to have resolved the issues in this particular asset.
However, if iClone can't handle non-triangulated meshes properly it should include a check for non-triangulated meshes and provide a meaningful error indicating this. As can be seen from the enclosed ranking, today's software is quite capable of handling n-gon meshes without issue. I did a check, using some of the 3D software that I had access to, and ranked it based on two criteria: if it can handle n-gons and at what price.
Ranked highest are Blender and Unity who both handle n-gons without issue. I rated Blender higher because I find it easier to create materials in Blender than in Unity. The rest of the tested software did not render n-gon meshes correctly so I ranked on on price and size. Yes, this is not a truly fair ranking since the price of these software typically are for all of the other features that the software has. But I ranked Anim8or next because it is an ancient blast from the past (originally written in 1995 and updated in 1997) but it rendered the triangulated version of the asset (faster than most of the other software) and it did this with a 4MB footprint. The whole software, including a 3D editing functions, armature functions, scene layout functions and animation function, takes up less than 4MB (yes...four megabytes). Yes the GUI is totally dated by todays standards and it does not have anywhere near the features of Blender but it is amazing what could be put into a 4MB file. The iClone twins came in around the same rank, and last was DAZ Studio because its import completely screwed up the locations of mesh components.
|
|
By Lord Ashes - 3 Years Ago
|
Thanks for the triangulation suggestion. It seems to have resolved the issues in this particular asset.
However, if iClone can't handle non-triangulated meshes properly it should include a check for non-triangulated meshes and provide a meaningful error indicating this. As can be seen from the enclosed ranking, today's software is quite capable of handling n-gon meshes without issue. I did a check, using some of the 3D software that I had access to, and ranked it based on two criteria: if it can handle n-gons and at what price.
Ranked highest are Blender and Unity who both handle n-gons without issue. I rated Blender higher because I find it easier to create materials in Blender than in Unity. The rest of the tested software did not render n-gon meshes correctly so I ranked on on price and size. Yes, this is not a truly fair ranking since the price of these software typically are for all of the other features that the software has. But I ranked Anim8or next because it is an ancient blast from the past (originally written in 1995 and updated in 1997) but it rendered the triangulated version of the asset (faster than most of the other software) and it did this with a 4MB footprint. The whole software, including a 3D editing functions, armature functions, scene layout functions and animation function, takes up less than 4MB (yes...four megabytes). Yes the GUI is totally dated by todays standards and it does not have anywhere near the features of Blender but it is amazing what could be put into a 4MB file. The iClone twins came in around the same rank, and last was DAZ Studio because its import completely screwed up the locations of mesh components.
Note: Ignore the materials in the samples below. Not all of the textures where applied in most of the software. The point of the samples is to show mesh correctness.
Edit: Switched format of image to JPG
|
|
By 4u2ges - 3 Years Ago
|
Offtopic. Is it just me, or everyone else is having the same problem with images attached in PNG format to forum threads.
Normally, when you click an image, it would open in a new window with direct link to an image zoomed to the original size (jpeg, gif, bmp).
But PNG images open differently. In Chrome and Edge, a blank page would open (about:blank in an address line).
In Firefox it would open the same address as the thread itself but show the image (not a direct link though). And you have to click on it again to zoom it.
It could be a forum bug of some sort. So please everyone, do not attach PNG images. jpg and gif (for animated images) are the best formats to stick with.
|
|
By animagic - 3 Years Ago
|
|
@4u2ges: no it's not just you. I noticed the same (I didn't realize it was related to PNG images).
|
|
By Lord Ashes - 3 Years Ago
|
|
Updated image to use JPG instead :D
|
|
By Kelleytoons - 3 Years Ago
|
|
I know, again OT but why is it that RL has an issue with PNGs? You can't use PNGs for opacity maps, for example - it ignores them. I always forget this and spend a few minutes wondering why my opacity maps aren't working (yeah, I know, that sounds like MY issue but still...).
|
|
By 4u2ges - 3 Years Ago
|
|
no it's not just you. I noticed the same (I didn't realize it was related to PNG images).
I figured I am not alone... :)
Updated image to use JPG instead 
No, you did not :D It is still a PNG. Still opening with about:blank page, although it started showing though:blink:
I always forget this and spend a few minutes wondering why my opacity maps aren't working
I still prefer PNG for opacity - it is safest as oppose to JPEG, which is even uncompressed still might give artifacts on complex opacity maps.
PNG works.. but only 24bit color. 32 bit can be converted to 24bit online. I use older version of Photoshop which has that conversion option.
|
|
By Kelleytoons - 3 Years Ago
|
Yeah, I just use the latest Photoshop and it's "quick output to PNG" is the easiest button in the world to output an image of any sort. Which, of course, does not work.
In my Python routines for this I actually convert the PNG to 24 bit but it's far easier to program that in a script than to change Photoshop <g>.
|