Happy New Year to all, Just imported the ground level of an architectural model(a hill site residence)that I did with my architectural package(Allplan FT V17.3 by Nemetscheck)as a 3DS file in Vue 4.1. I had all the ground level house components on their own layers, totaling about 10 layers. When I imported the model, I first noticed that the whole model is now a collection of small and large objects/solids with different numbers assigned to them. There are too many of them and it is rather confusing what is what. Of course one can click each number and find out what object it represents, but it would be tedious to do the same with so many of them. I figured that I could group the interior walls for instance as one object. But just to find them amongst all these numbers would take a long time. Since I am trying to produce couple of interior shots, what would be the best way to organize/manage these numbers? Also is there a way that the model can be imported with all the original layer's names as opposed to numbers? I would attach the file, but it is about 5.5 megs. The 3Ds file was only 2.3 megs and I have no idea what made the file so large. I don't know the max. file size allowed for attachments, but will try to attach it anyway. Thanks for all the help in advance Nick Apparently the Vue files are not allowed for attachments. Sorry.

Best way to group meshes like thst is by material. It's fast and that's usually what you want to work on anyway is the materials right? So open up all the layers actually ungroup everything first. then Display / Material summery. Click a material then notice on the right all objects using that material are highlighted? Group those objects. Keep doing it till all the materials are grouped. I don't know why sometimes meshes import with grouping intact and other times not intact. I think it has to do with the export program settings to tell you the truth. You can rename any and everything on the right there anyway. I think double clicking on it works then you must press enter for it to stick.

Thanks MP- I will try that see how it goes. Also I have this plaster texture that i will attach. If I want to assign it to my interior walls, it would be mapped material,right? I tried it few times, but the color keeps showing darker than the texture sample.Of course it is because of the lighting inside the space. I lowered the picture scale from 1.00 to 0.5 on x & y and mixed a white color with it color mask box checked. It rendered a bit whiter color, but I lost all the plaster textures. I tried the bump tab, but could not figure out what settings it should have. HELP Thanks again, Nick

Hi Nick, I'm also working with Allplan & Vue. I've tried many type of import (3ds, dxf, obj...) and also with the help of Rhino 3D, but the best way that I've found is in 3DS. You must prepare in allplan Ft all the layers / teilbild in different color, so when you have imported in Vue the model, you can select the object "by material". Only the dxf can import the names of the layer, but vithout the basics textures that you may have put to the model in Allplan FT. Best wishes Massimo

Attached Link: http://petes-oasis.com/wall.zip

Oh well that's easy really when you know how to do it. You got to import the texture twice one as the color channl and once as the bump channel. Best way really is to look at a texture done and see how it's done then making them is way easier. Here download this file and pick it apart. You should also click the FAQ link for tons of links to tutorials and things. Add this material and drop the picture in bitmaps in the Vue folder.

Hi MP, <> Do you mean unzipping the file you have attached? Also another general question: When should I use the "mapped picture" and when the " Procedural colors"? In other words what should i want to achieve by choosing one over the other. I know my own answer, but just want to make sure that I am on the right track. Also you say <>. isn't this "material" and the "picture" the same thing? Or are they two different files? You might have guessed that I have not unzipped your attached file yet. Thanks again for your help and patiently waiting for the response. Reagrds, Nick

Hi Massimo, Nice to hear from another Allplan user. first of all where are you based if I may ask? I Initially imported the allplan model as a 3DS file in Vue without any textures assigned. Iwhen opened in Vue, I noticed a lot of numbers/materials/objects when looked at the world browser list. I only had about 12 or 13 drawing files and the default colors for Allplan does not exceed 30. But I noticed I had more than 100 material/object/numbers. I then imported the very same model with textures already assigned in Allplan. The result was the same thing. Again too too many material/objects/numbers. I would gladly email you both files if I can have your own email. There is a max. file size limit here. Also I would really appreciate it if you could email me a step by step exportation from Allplan to Vue as a 3DS with any options that i might need to check in Allplan. Looking forward to your response and thanks so much. Regards, Nick

Of course unzip it, It will be difficult to use otherwise. You can do anything with procedural textures really but there difficult to get perfect sometimes cause the way the work in 3d. Pictures are easier and right now way more powerful in a way for really detail specific type textures. Like the the trees are both. There is no way to answer that really. If I can't make it procedural I'll whip up a seamless texture instead. It don't matter you can MIX them to. I do that to to get the exact effect I want. Maybe the color of my textures is not right or or maybe I want to use a procedural bump on my picture. Anything is possible really. Building textures for me work better using pictures cause there basically boxes. Procedural textures can give you problems on one side of the box. Like look at the cage. Ya I need that on my building bit I don't want to have the cage show on the roof. See the problem? Now edit it so the cage does not draw on the roof. It's easier to use picture meshes. It can be done but it's really time consuming. Pictures are easier to scale to. Sometimes you get unexpected results scaling really complex procedural textures that are seemingly hard to fix. You work with them awhile you see they both have advantages and disadvantages then they can be mixed endlessly together and that has advantages and disadvantages. I think pictures also render faster cause there basically 2d with a bit of bump of highlight if you actually add it. I could spend 10 lifetimes here explaining it all really. Been using them both now for 2 decades and I still learn stuff. You learn by doing and asking questions when you can't figure it out. Now you got the web. I never had the web when I was where you are right now. I had to learn trial and error. It was perplexing to say the least.

Don't worry about massive seamingly endless textures when you import objects sometimes. You probibly exported it by texture so ever object gets one if it needs it or not. Notice lots are the exact same? Vue will not group them by similar though for ya. Could be some there default ones that don't even exist on the mesh. Vue will prune those out as you start working on the mesh. Some things could have several textures on a single object also. It's best to split those objects to get maximum control retexturing them if that's what you doing. You can always tell if a object is like that cause when you click on it the texture preview will be grayed out, then you know it's using several textures. Double click on it (object part name)and select split. If your mesh is grouped already Vue will make a new mesh outside the group with all the new objects and assign the original the default texture. You can then delete the original object and drag the new group back into the whole mesh group. Man go read some tutorials I'm getting tired of typing.

I've been using Vue for a short while now, and I do Architectural renderings. I have found the same thing when exporting an ArchiCAD model to 3DS and importing the 3DS file into Vue. I've tried several other methods of export/import, and find the 3DS to work the best. However, I still get the 100 same numbered layers. unless I export with Layers & Materials rather than Objects & Materials. I get some anomalies with polygons while exporting using Layers & Materials, but I maintain my layer names.

My solution is to export using Objects & Materials and ignore the layers and make my modifications using the material editor. The best thing to do is carefully attach simple materials to all the objects in the Modeling App and use Vue for what it does best. Materals and Scene generation.

I also use proceedural textures as often as possible in order to increase the speed of the rendering. Texture maps seem to slow Vue down considerably by comparason. I have been working on some stucco materials using functions and colors. Try this one out. If you get the scale right, it can give a very realistic look with varigated colors that look like hand troweling. I encourage you to mix the colors to your liking.

I guess I can't upload a .mat file. I'll post it in the freebees. Sorry.

Hi Ace-Face, Thanks for your suggestions. There were two areas I could not quite get your meaning. The first, when you mentioned "unless I export with Layers & Materials rather than Objects &...". So if we export with Layers and Materials, we would get all our layer names in Vue? And if we do the same with Objects and material we only get numbers and we have to modify accordingly? The second is " The best thing to do is carefully attach simple materials to all the objects in the Modeling App..". By " Simple Materials" do you mean regular color material, like red or yellow or blue, or do you actually mean real materials as in textures? And then when in Vue, give your objects the real textures? Thanks for the info again, Nick

Hi Nick, You are correct on both accounts. If your Modeling App alows you to save using Layers & Materials you should get the layer names and the materials. (I have had trouble with screwed up polygons with this method). Don't know why. If you save using Objects & Materials you should get numbers for your layer names. By "Simple Materials" I mean regular colors like red yellow blue etc. You can name them things like Masonry 1, Stucco 1, Stucco 2, Glass, Shiny Metal... Whatever you want, and the names will be attached to the materials that you will modify using the Material Editor in Vue. It works quite well, and then the layers don't matter. Once you do this the first time, you can save the materials to your personal material pallet. That way if you have to modify the building or object, you can quickly delete the old one, and import the revised object and reassign the materials throught the editor again. You won't have to tweak the materials again because you saved them. Hope this helps. Tom

Thanks Tom, We'll do and see how it works. Regards, Nick