Good to hear ZENOPHONZ (about LW), as I too have the LW9 upgrade sitting at home waiting to be installed, I just have to find time to learn the program.

Thanks for the info too on 2007 translation down to 2000, something to tell my Cad manager at our next meeting.

Julian D, The easiest way to convert an autocad model for 3ds is to make sure that all of your parts are on seperate layers, as long as no single layer exceeds that limit then you should be just fine.  I've been exporting models up to 30 mb with no problems by splitting the objects up into layers.  The real units thing is annoying but as long as you're always working in the same units (I typically use the architectural units as those seem to be the closest to "real world" as vue gets, then the model should always come in to relative scale to the other objects (provided you have "resize and center objects" unchecked.  Also moving the model to 0,0,0 is needed as well when importing into Vue (as surveyman pointed out)

Oooh, that could indeed be a problem.  Surveyman, could you test a solid model dxf export out of Autocad and into Vue.  Terrains are fine because like they said they're made up of 3d faces, but I do almost all of my solid modeling within Autocad...

Thanks in Advance!

Thanks Surveyman, that's exactly what I needed to hear!

Thanks for testing Surveyman!!

Does the dxf import into Vue hold the seperate layers of the object or does it merge them all into one (thus ruining re-texturing in Vue) since I never texture using acad anyway.

Expected rollout for us for 2007 is May of next year, but I have to be prepped/trained before then so that the clients don't end up having to bear the brunt of learning new software if it becomes necessary.

What Agiel is trying to point out that I think is being confused by the "locked" terminology is that we are already using "node-locked" licenses, we have been since the software first came out and all the way through the versions (1,2,3,4, and 5) the floating network license is a new feature to allow a user to install it on as many machines as they want but only be able to use 1 copy of the software at a time, ideal for office settings where you know you have 10 people who know how to use it but probably only 5 at a time who will use it, so you would by 5 licenses instead of 10.

Just my understanding of the situation, hope this clarifies some things. :)

Especially seeing the preview of Vue 6 and all the professional level rendering/shader tools being added (displacements, SSS, painting of ecosystems (my god that's scary to watch) being able to continue to use Vue has suddendly become a very high priority.  I even go my Die hard Viz boss to ask if we should be buying 3-6 licenses when it comes out.

Surveyman: if you could test the dxf export with a large model (is that 65k per layer that it's limited to or 65k overall??) from AC2007 directly to Vue and see which dxf version imports the best into Vue, holding the layers as well, that would be extremely helpful!!  Maybe you've already done this, there was a lot to read in your responses and it wasn't clear whether that was an export to Hexagon or an export to Vue.

Thanks!

Thanks surveyman! Useful information.

I've never encountered any issues either, the "outdated" terminology came from the makers of Polytrans.  I have had no problems whatsoever using the 3ds format, especially since it's the only one that autocad exports to that reliably imports into Vue.  I tried argueing that with the polytrans people (who kept insisting that it was limited, outdated and useless in the future of 3d) and finally gave up.  I use it all the time and if I had my way; Autocad wouldn't get rid of it at all.  As far as textures, I don't need them to translate, I map them in Vue, and I really don't need more than 8 characters to define a layer (which is the limit the .3ds format has).  I really do think ultimately this is a play by Autodesk to force anybody using Autocad for 3d (architects, designers, etc...) into using 3d Studio max as their 3d renderer, not that they really have to, 90% of architectural renderings are already using it from what I can see. 

Good to know about Hexagon, you'll have to let us know if it ends up working (the 2007 saved down to 14 and imported into Hexagon path).  It would definately help to know that there's an answer out there other than switching out of Autocad completely.  And Hexagon would make a cheaper file exporter (it does export right??) than 3d Studio Max.

Oh yeah, totally night and day when it comes to Autocad vs Microstation.  The most accurate advice I ever heard was... "think of how you do it in Autocad, and then do it backwards, that's how you do it in Microstation."  I have since forgotten my Microstation training but shudder when I hear of a project that uses it coming down the pipeline.

As far as the network issue, it could very well be.

Keeping two versions may solve the short term problem, but over the long term it's definately not the ideal solution.  The problem is only going to get worse the longer you hang onto the older version.  Eventually you'll be passed by by people utilizing the better software and it's new features.  Also, exporting to release 14 or 2000 formats probably isn't going to work for 3d models.  It's been my experience so far when saving back that elements that can't be created in the version you're saving back to either get mangled or deleted.  I can do some testing when we get upgraded to 2007 and see what happens.  I've also noticed that having two versions on a system tends to screw things up, I'm not sure why, I just know that when we had 2002 and 2005 on our systems at the same time it was creating bugs and errors and corrupting files.

Ryan, Oh don't I know it, Bently and Autodesk are insanely proprietary and it's always user error when something goes wrong or doesn't work, the software really can do no wrong according to them.  Around here if something funky happens we just call it a "feature" of the program.  That's all that really happens when you upgrade, they fix the "features" from the last version, change the format just enough so people have to upgrade, and add new bugs...oops...sorry..."features" for the user to worry about.

It's funny because as Microstation advances it's taking on more of Autocad's features, and as Autocad advances it's taking on more of Microstation's features (in program rendering advances and eliminating export options being the ones that affect us the most) pretty soon you'll have AutoStation and MicroCAD :)

One thing I noticed, the polytrans people said that the reason Autocad is dropping the 3ds format is because it's an old out of date DOS format, which I could understand if it wasn't for the fact that Autodesk told our support people that the best way to export files from Autocad was to take them into 3d Studio Max and then export them from there as .3ds.  If they were eliminating the format because it's old then why is it still in 3d Studio Max???

At this point I'm recommending the Lighwave/Xstream/Vue 5 package as our standard, as it seems to be the cheapest and more efficient way as well as getting away from the whole "Autodesk rules the world" complex that you'd have to deal with using 3d Studio or Maya.  I've seen some really good work utilizing this and am finding a few people who are already using this workflow.  It definately sucks that we even have to deal with this stuff, as I too had developed a really nice workflow from Autocad (which I know really really well and can work really fast in) and Vue.  It would be nice if things didn't change but I've discovered the 3d world changes extremely fast and you have to be aggressive  and proactive in order to keep up with it.

I think at this point the further away from Autodesk I can get the better, I really don't like the way they do business or customer support, and them re-incorporating 3d Studio Max and buying up Maya just rubs me the wrong way.  I'm really looking toward Lightwave at this point, since two of the "Xstream" supported programs are Autodesk and Cinema 4d has you paying for plugins to do some more advanced things that Lightwave already lets you do.

As far as moving up to ACAD 2007, it's our companies decision, and for the most part is just fine since we're a civil engineering firm putting out CAD plan sets, but when it comes to 3d I'm not going to be locked into one suite of programs because they want it to be that way.  I want to be able to pull stuff from one program and drop it into another without batting an eye, it won't stop me from using either program, but I tend to feel that the best toolbox uses MANY different softwares to get what you ultimately want (or in this case what the client wants) rather than having to find a way to make it work because you can't get your model out of your high end package and it won't easily do what a more specilized program like Vue will do with ease.

Oh, and I checked with the makers of polytrans (the 3d format converter) and their response was:  "Autodesk has used entirely new encryption for DWG 2007 so there is no planned shipping date for any translation company to provide DWG 2007 support right now."

As far as a solution for Autocad to Vue, I doubt there will be one, if anything I would worry more about them doing the same thing to 3ds Max and Maya that they're already doing with Autocad, making them more proprietary and limiting exportation.

I'm not sure what the material is like but you could always apply the ecosystem to only part of the mixed material, that's usually how I do it anyway just because it affords greater control over the placement.

You can indeed have fog without sun.  Deleting the sun just causes Vue to continually try to suggest that you add a sun, but as long as you respond with "no" you can still get in and edit the environment to your hearts content.  Just play with the level of fog and the falloff values under the altitude dependent fog settings.  Hope this helps!

I can totally relate, right now I'm on hold for buying until I hear that it's actually working for people, but I can't wait to get ecosystems into Max!

If you haven't already I'd immediately log this with eon tech support.