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pro/e export to 3ds MAX

enever

New member
sorry if this has been posted before.


i have been using pro e for years, but am a new user to 3ds MAX.


i have seen that you can export STL files to MAX, but sometime the surfacing is slighty dodgy and faceted when brought in.


i have also hear that iges files can be exported to MAX, but these either dont import, are far too big, or miss off suraces.





does anyone know of a better way (without buying polytrans!) or what settings to use when exporting the iges file





cheers
 
The link doesn't do anything.


Exporting STL with the intention of using for rendering is never a good option. Can you not use STEP?
 
step is exaclty the file i want to use,





it works perfectly for Alias imagestudio rendering, and for maya...surely 3Ds max should have a way of importing it!? but it doesnt.


and i cant afford to pay for a plugin to do it. there must be some way of doing it however.
 
To get a smooth object when importing from Pro/E to 3ds Max there are 2 main variables as far as I know.


1) the amount of "triangles" in the mesh when exprting from Pro/E, the more triangles the finer the mesh, the smoother the object. When exporting STL from ProE, try get the maximum triangles by making chord height the minimum and angle control the maximum (or play around with it) For average size parts the PC is nowadays capable of handling this geometry.


2) Smoothing the object when importing into 3ds Max. When importingparts into 3ds Max,play around with the settings. I use Quickweld and Auto smooth. Use a large Smooth angle.


Now a question that someone can maybe help with: I have just exported a part with a bent wire shape from Pro/E. I can get a fine mesh with 17000 triangles. When I pattern this part in an assembly and export it from within an assembly, I can get a max of 2300 triangles and it starts too look jagged. Even if I only include and export 1 part, I only get 2300 triangles. Could it be because I'm exporting from within an assembly, or because the part is in a pattern?


Interesting...
 
> Could it be because I'm exporting from within an
> assembly, or because the part is in a pattern?


I have not a clue but the first thing that comes to mind is the assembly
accuracy setting. Maybe try 'fining' it?
 
Whichever way you look at it, STL will always have a facted appearance. It just doesn't seem right to me that you can have a smooth object (like a sphere) in Pro/E but then can only have an approximation to a sphere that is made up of triangles (no mater how small they are). Can you not export out another software package like Maya or Studiotools after first having imported into these as STEP?
 
nope, tried exporting toools from both studiotools and maya. nothing.





however i have chosen to download the trial to Rhino as this converts steps directly into 3ds files, perfectly apparently.





so that looks like the best solution!
 

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