Thanks for the tip Alan - that is quite cool.

FYI BTW Turbosquid has been quite helpful and converted all the problematic
models to fbx for me now.


Morten




Den 24. februar 2015 kl. 14:36 skrev Alan Fregtman
<[email protected]>:

> 
> Don't forget that Houdini has some fantastic IO and topology cleanup stuff,
> too! Even in the free Apprentice version. (Look for the "clean" node.)
> 
> 
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2015, 8:31 AM Morten Bartholdy < [email protected]
> <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote:
> > Good to know some more of the in's and out's of this. I agree Turbosquid
> > should throw away obj and deliver a more uniform package option of
> > collada/fbx and additional platform specific formats dependant on content
> > and original creation platform.
> > 
> > MB
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Den 21. februar 2015 kl. 00:29 skrev Matt Lind < [email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]> >:
> > 
> > 
> > > Softimage is all too guilty of this problem far too often.  Not just with
> > > .obj, but with dotXSI and most other supported formats as well.  I'm
> > writing
> > > a frickin' SI3D exporter now for this very reason as the ones supplied by
> > > Softimage don't work.
> > >
> > > I can understand and accept cases where an importer doesn't do a perfect
> > > job, but under no circumstances should it ever crash or corrupt the host
> > > application.  Data should be ingested and validated before attempts made
> > to
> > > use it.  This is a perennial weak spot of Softimage as far as I can
> > > remember.
> > >
> > > .Obj can be binary or ASCII, and the group option was to support CAD
> > (DXF)
> > > data back in the day.  later was used for shading groups, but as you
> > said,
> > > repurposed by many people for things like defining clusters or materials.
> > >
> > > Another area to check is the vertex normal data section.   The official
> > > format spec only supports 3 numbers per line as X, Y, and Z.  Some
> > > importers/exporters secretly stash an additional RGB triplet in there for
> > 3D
> > > printing purposes as userdata to print textures as vertex colors.  If
> > > importers do their due diligence the extra data should be ignored and not
> > > cause any problems, but as you've clearly seen, most importers don't do
> > > their due diligence.  They make many false assumptions about the data
> > > leading to problems.
> > >
> > >
> > > Is there any strong reason why people still use .obj?  Isn't collada or
> > > another format more capable?   .Obj is a horrible format.  It should be
> > > retired.
> > >
> > >
> > > Matt
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 16:38:21 +0000
> > > From: "Ponthieux, Joseph G. (LARC-E1A)[LITES]" < [email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]> >
> > > Subject: RE: OBJ import problems
> > > To: " [email protected]
> > <mailto:[email protected]> "
> > >
> > > Look deeper in the files. Compare the ?group? command with those files
> > that
> > > don?t work. To do this search for the ?g? command. Does the information
> > > following them differ greatly? Are there any ?g? commands at all? Some
> > > exporters format the obj in such a way that it can import what it exports
> > > just fine, but other exporters may adhere to a more strict interpretation
> > > (or less strict) of the OBJ spec. Are there any commands other than v, f,
> > or
> > > g?
> > >
> > > If you know what you are doing it can be as simple as adding or removing
> > > those commands as needed, or not needed, by the target importer. If there
> > > are no g commands in the offending file try adding one to the file. They
> > are
> > > usually inserted after the vertices and before the face declarations (but
> > it
> > > is not restricted to that organization).
> > >
> > > Everything will depend on the ?nature? of the importer. The only way to
> > know
> > > the true ?nature? of your importer is to find one file that works and
> > hack
> > > the other files to match it. Omit anything superfluous (smoothing groups,
> > > materials, etc) from the offending file until it starts to adhere to the
> > > same structure as the file you know works. Things like smoothing groups
> > etc
> > > you may want Soft to rebuild anyway as approximation.
> > >
> > > I seriously doubt that the decimal point values will have any adverse
> > > effect. You are looking for things that the importer was simply not
> > written
> > > to recognize. Or add things it requires. Either commands or command
> > > structure.   Obj can support curves, surfaces and host of other things
> > but
> > > you rarely see that anymore, its mostly facet data.
> > >
> > > The issue with groups is kind of weird. I think the ?g? group was
> > originally
> > > intended as a way of managing shading groups. You will typically see ?g?
> > > followed by a usemtl statement for example. But a lot of developers
> > > repurpose it as a group in the traditional sense to form hierarchies or
> > > facet groups. I think TAV users used it that way as well adding to the
> > > confusion. Soft gives you the option to import these groups as shading
> > > clusters or objects for example.
> > >
> > > Ultimately all you probably want from the file is the vertices and faces.
> > > Theoretically you could delete just about everything except the v, f, and
> > g
> > > commands and clean up the file post import.
> > >
> > > The problem is not restrictive to Soft. Maya had multiple obj importers
> > even
> > > when it first arrived. One came standard and another came as part of the
> > cad
> > > connect package I think. If one failed you would try the other. And to my
> > > knowledge no one has ever created a reliable material library converter
> > for
> > > obj into Maya that can support the entire mtl spec.
> > >
> > > If an obj is significantly clean and compact, there is no reason for it
> > to
> > > fail unless the data was written in a nonstandard way that only that
> > > exporter understands or an otherwise valid command is present that the
> > other
> > > importer is simply ignorant of.
> > >
> > > --
> > > Joey Ponthieux
> > > LaRC Information Technology Enhanced Services (LITES)
> > > MYMIC Technical Services
> > > NASA Langley Research Center
> > > __________________________________________________
> > > Opinions stated here-in are strictly those of the author and do not
> > > represent the opinions of NASA or any other party.
> > >
> > 

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