I'm having a hard time importing objects in bryce (5)I can't keep the object textured, it appears in the work area but when I render, the texture is gone. Also when I try to export from bryce to other, it doesn't work. For example I make a tree but if I select it, the "export object" button stays unavailable A little help wanted here, THANK YOU VERY MUCH Peevee

i have found that 3ds files will retain their material colour when imported into bryce 5 but obj don't. lwo files also retain their assigned materials. as to exporting - as far as i know you can only export models you've made using lattices and terrains. all others can only be saved as odp files using the 'create' palette. if you like i'll post some images showing what i mean

this image might be of assistance for saving obj creations. if you have bryce 5.1 you can save trees in their own special format. there is info on this in the archives - i can't help as i only use bryce 5 due to an uncontrollable urge to play with the dte

I see, and how do you turn your saved files in to IWO files ?

you can't covert odp files to any other format - as far as i know. if you have created a model using lattice or terrain then you can easily export them as lwo. but other objects don't work that way. also, sorry but in my message with image i meant odp not obj files - stupid typo on my part

Ok, thanks a lot

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Well, Bryce *does* read textures with the .OBJ format - this sounds like a problem with the app that exported it. Do you know what that was? Or if it's a online, if you'll point me to it I can probably tell you what's going on. This is always helpful info when asking about imports :-) Bryce exports terrains/lattice/rocks and mesh imports only - see link above. btw - Bryce native format is .OBP and the Lightwave object format is .LWO. Best; Dan

thanks dan for the link - it clarified the issues about exporting 3ds et al meshes for me - i couldn't figure that one out at all. :) they certainly like to keep us on our toes. btw, the program that seems to have problems exporting OBJ files with mats is Cinema 4d - it may just be me doing something wrong though. :)

Ah, I don't use Cinema but I know it supports texture layering and texturing polygon selections nether of which Bryce supports (not even sure if .OBJ supports these). I seem to recall reading about how to "flatten" these but a quick web search failed to turn it up. Best; Dan

I just tried to export a 3Ds file into bryce but unlike I expected, it lost its texture, so the only files that keep their textures are obj.-files then, or not? I export from 3Dsmax (6) and poser (5)

This is a real long shot Peevee but is the far left dot next to the big Bryce render button on? This button turns textures off so everything you render is the default gray. That's the only thing I can think of becuase all Bryce's import formats support some sort of texturing. Some, like DXF, only support solid colors while .OBJ and .3DS supports solid and image textures. HTH; Dan

yep, the button 's on, but the barrel still stays blue

Extensive testing with models in .3ds format seem to support the theory that Bryce indeed imports also the texture data. Never once have I lost ANY texture data on imported models. TIP : YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE MESH FILE AND THE CORRESPONDING TEXTURE FILES IN THE SAME FILE FOLDER WHERE YOU'RE IMPORTING FROM. Good luck !

That button should not be blue. That disables textures. It should be grey.

peevee, When you export an .OBJ file from another app, if it has associated textures with it, they will be referenced by an .MTL file(a readable text file) which will refer to the texture files. The .obj, .mtl and texture files need to be in the same directory for import into Bryce. Once you have imported your .obj you may need to adjust the texture colors in the material editor and/or include the alpha channel, but they should be in place so they shouldn't have to be adjusted in terms of offset, scale or rotation. Generally .obj is the best to work with for importing into Bryce once you understand how texturing works with .obj files. There is a free utility that can help - there are references to it in this forums archives. in read new messages seach under grouper. .3DS is a pretty good format to work with too, but I don't think Bryce will import the later versions of .3DS. - TJ

Here's what everything should look like for a normal render. Also, I was wrong - turning off textures uses the diffuse color when rendering, not the default gray. Best; Dan

thanks again dan for your info and for taking the time to do a quick websearch on the matter. i shall look into it further myself now that you've alerted me to this quirk of cinema's. i had noticed that it wasn't generating MTL files to go with the OBJ - now i know why - thanks :)

Aha, didn't know about the texture to be in the same directory, that explais a lot. Ow, and the button was grey it was the barrel that remained blue. Thanks for the help every one!

Bryce may import a texture, but it won't come in with very good material settings, so ultimately, all imported objects have to be retextured.