CAD models in DS?
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CAD models in DS?

in The Commons
Anyone want to give me the lowdown on CAD models, and their usefulness to DS/Poser/etc. users? I glanced at a couple free models and saw very heavy file sizes (e.g., a 100mb plastic water bottle), so I assume one would want to decimate or otherwise down-res them for use in DS. Advice on how viable the the content is for this purpose, what software will be needed to to convert, etc., is very welcome.
The only place I've found a Ruger Mark II model so far is at GrabCAD, so it would be nice if this stuff can be made useable without too much fuss. It's 120mb, so I assume there will be some fuss.
Comments
Not sure what the extension is for cad files (maybe .cad?) anyways, if they are not obj already, then they would probably have to be exported from autocad to obj. Daz can then import the obj.
As for size, Daz does have a decimator add-on (for about $100 I think) or you could import the obj into blender, hex or another modeling software and decimate it from there, then re-save the obj.
CAD models are made for a completely different purpose than the models normally used in DS. In some cases the model will render excellently without any intervention, and in some cases it may be quicker to model a version from scratch due to the amount of work necessary to make it usable. The down side is that you cannot tell which case you have until you are already into it.
There are many rules that apply to shell modeling that do not apply for CAD models (which are normally "functional modeling"). For instance, functional models may contain nGons that are completely fine for manufacturing and/or simulation purposes but are pretty much unusable for artistic rendering.
Kendall
If it's Allan Howard's Ruger mk III model you've found, use the .STL, it's as good as they get.
Load that .STL in Meshlab (a free conversion and repair tool for all sorts of mesh models), and export it (without doing anything else to it) as 'Alias Wavefront Object (*.obj)'.
The resulting OBJ file can then be imported into DAZ Studio.
The magazine spring will be sticking out, but that's easily taken care of with DAZ Studio's Geometry editor.
That .OBJ will be about 50 MB in size, but it contains ALL internal mechanical parts!
If you rip those out, again using Studio's Geometry Editor, file size will shrink to a fraction of that.
One additional tip: set the smoothing angle in DAZ Studio's Surfaces Tab to 30 degrees, so everything looks sharp and crisp as it should.
Cheers!
And this is a quick (500 Spp) 'Octane for DAZ Studio' render of that (free!) GrabCAD Ruger model with all of its internals removed.
Now it is 22.6 MB in size, with a bit of work more invisible polygons could be cut away.
Keep in mind that this render needed no texture and/or bump maps, everything you see is 'real' geometry!
I prefer real geometry to normals and bump, and use whenever possible; the car in my profile has a lot, but it can get very 'entertaining' dealing with all the geom.
Nice render.
Just pulling out all the springs shrinks it down to something manageable.
Here's another nice one from GrabCAD by 'brazy-u', about 84 MB in size as DAZ-ready .obj.
Lots of work ahead to separate all those surfaces though, it's one single material as it is now.
Some CAD models are more time consuming to convert for DAZ Studio than others, but modeling from scratch will almost always take MUCH more time (not to mention skill).
Well, just removing the springs takes the Ruger from an over 600,000 face model down to under 300,000...so over half the faces are in the tightly packed, invisible springs. There's probably another 100K + in other internal parts that aren't visible.
Here's a 3Delight render....
I'm not entirely happy with the materials...there are a couple of places where a part should be a different material, but overall this is one sweet model.
Example of a converted CAD model that initially has no separate parts.
Here's Brazy-u's 'concept design custom 300 blackout blk aac 7.62x35mm braz in progress V.2' (in full) from GrabCAD after creating surfaces for the individual parts using DAZ Studio's Geometry Editor.
This is a time consuming and very boring process, but is necessary if you want to make those parts stand out in your renders.
For mechanical objects that can look brand new in your render this often is all you need to do, but if you want them to show wear and tear, or if they are organic, they will need to be textured, and you'll first have to add texture coordinates, aka 'UV's', using an external editor. With that done you can finally paint those textures to make them look as real as you want them to.
All in all quite a bit of work, and some of it requires (a lot of) practice and a dedicated set of tools, but you do end up with 3D models that you can't buy anywhere, and/or wouldn't be able to create yourself from scratch.
So, for me at least, well worth the effort!
Cheers!
Untextured ex-CAD models can look good enough, here's an example (the pistol).
I've modeled this one myself (in Autodesk Inventor), couldn't find one ready-made to save some time : )
Cheers!
Any recomendations on getting a .dwg from AutoCAD into DAZ?
I didn't find a free program that can convert .dwg to .obj, even though it should be a relatively simple conversion.
SketchUp (free) can import .dxf files (also an AutoCAD format), but that's not the same thing.
Not much of a worry though, since good old AutoCAD has been as good as obsolete for about a decade now.
Most, if not all GrabCAD models have additional .STL files for visualization, so there's no need for fancy expensive CAD-software, just a lot of elbow grease (and free time).
Again, GrabCAD membership is free, downloading those .STL files is free, MeshLab for converting them is free, the only expense to get these models into DAZ Studio is your time and energy.
Commercial vendors won't be able to offer (most of) these models because of copyright limitations and possibly lack of access to required dimensional data, so there's no other way to get them besides modeling yourself.
Here's another fine one by brazy-u, fully-named 'strike one arsenal firearms strizh in progress braz V.2'
Same process as before, but this time I exported the frame and slide to 3dCoat to give them UV's, so I could add a bit of bump to them in this Octane for DAZ Studio render.
Cheers!
CAD files are designed to perfectly replicate what the final product will look like. As a result, they can consist of millions of triangles which for the average user on our end, its completely beyond anything we need. While modeled details are good as they hold up well in close ups, there is a limit to whats really needed for what we do.
Depending on the CAD file format, and how the modeller creates the object, it can be easier to work with. If separate parts have been defined (even if they use the same UV map) then it's possible to separate those into different materials with several packages. Also, there are decimation/retopology programs which can significantly reduce poly count without significant loss of details. And you can always bake a normal map from the original high-poly model, decimate/retopo and then apply that normal map to the reduced poly model to maintain the appearance of more detail....
Just takes more work to get things ready. Of course, some models are just not well made, despite looking good and being very accurate. Those can be VERY slow and painful to convert to something that's really usable in DS or other applications......
Perhaps not all here like this sort of thing with all its intricate detail, but for me this is another great find from GrabCAD, made by someone named 'Gregorio'.
Quite a bit of work sorting out all those materials for Octane Render (for DAZ Studio), so this is just a first test run and not 100% ready.
Lots of textures like tiny decals and markings were included by Gregorio, so it eventually will look stunningly real!
I'm sure Vicky will love it!
Cheers!
hmm, the extra compression added by this here server does its usual damage, quite severe this time.
here's a better version http://erik-nl.deviantart.com/art/Ferrari-F50-01-602279134
I'm composing a scene to place that Ferrari in, something appropriate.
No need to guess where all that chemical processing equipment is coming from ; )
For those interested: according to Octane for DAZ Studio there's now a total of 1274 MB of geometry in this scene.
So even with my aging, memory challenged GTX 770 there's still plenty of room to put more stuff in.
Like that Ferrari for instance; and Vicky of course.
Cheers!