Where Have All The Edges Gone?
mod
I have 3ds Max 9 SP2 installed when we export almost any mesh that isn't base geometry to .obj (no matter what settings quad, poly, tri) or convert from E-Poly to E-Mesh it hides some of the visible edges, leaving Mudbox to fill in the gaps which it does poorly. ZBrush has an easier time fixing it but we use Mudbox at work. It seems to happen to added geometry like polys born from extruded edges, or cuts.
Things I've tried:
- Reset Xform: Failed
- Merg/import the mesh into a new file: Failed
- Exported the mesh as all exportable formats: Failed with slightly different results each time.
- Export to .obj fix in ZBrush, export out again, and import to Mudbox: Works but I can only do this at home, doesn't help me at work because we don't use ZBrush.
- Create a box, convert it to E-Mesh, attach the geometry to the box: Failed
I'm pretty sure the issue comes from converting from E-Poly to E-Mesh and the .obj exporter is doing this before it exports. Which I suspect stems from the "speed improvements" the introduced. I'm afraid to see what Max2008 will bring since they "improved" E-Poly again.
I can painstakingly get around the issue by converting to E-Mesh, clicking on all the effected edges and making them "visible", then export. The only problem is time and sometimes I don't find all the missing edges (even with the quad finding scripts) until its too late and I find a pinch spot in Mudbox.
My question is, has anyone else ran into this issue? If so how have you fixed it and is there a simple solution I'm missing or am I doing the only one thing that works and my productivity is being punished for Max's "improvements"?
Replies
- Apply the "Turn to Poly" modifier
- Check on "Keep Polygons Convex"
- Convert to Edit Mesh or just Export.
It does flip some invisible edges sometimes but it keeps all visible edges which is a HUGE improvement over manually editing the edge visibility. It would be nice if Max wasn't broken and didn't need a work around but meh... whatever.
Now Autodesk just needs to hire that guy to fix the conversion from E-poly to E-Mesh.