Topic Title

So when you imported the file into Thea with weld vertices enabled, it didn't look like the image I sent? Could you email me the 3ds file you exported?

[Mark F. Madura]

Here's a Zip file of my export folder contents including my original sample and an export of the file you sent me.

Try_Thea_Files.zip

3DS Exports w/ Bitmaps
(5.62 MiB) Downloaded 571 times

Whether or not weld vertices is on seems to make no difference for me when opening models, so it must be a problem within my version of Thea, it appears. I'll contact their support team about it. Do you mind if I use any of the images you sent from your imports as a reference when contacting them?

I'll also test it on my version of Thea when I get a free moment.

Robert

Is this siding rendering problem actually due to triangles or just a moire effect? The moire will occur with unexploded symbols (according to renderer's literature) with some textures. I have this happen with Dcad's kitchen cabinets in Thea and Indigo. Also voids in slabs can do funky things with the normals which may effect how the textures lay.

[Mark F. Madura]

I'm glad this issue was solved. This was a really good learning discussion. Thanks to Mark for playing with a third-party program for us too.

My business partner, Troy Homenchuk, just had the following tutorial published on Sketchupartist.org explaining the workflow we use for Thea for Sketchup. The same process could be used by those importing a 3DS file direct from DataCAD.

The models used in the tutorial were produced in Sketchup from a DataCAD file by Ethan McMorrow Design & Associates, Nantucket, MA.

http://www.sketchupartists.org/tutorial ... r-process/

Robert

I'll have to look through the tutorial later this week. From the glance I gave it, it looked helpful! Thanks for sharing

For 3D Models of newly Designed Homes I use V15 and Smart Walls...exported to Sketch Up w/ Podium V2 Plugin for Materials and Textures....then Podium Walker for quick Photorealistic Renderings & Animations. Rendering w/ Podium(rather than PW) is slower but with higher res, but has more exposure control.
Podium V2 adds reflections and bump textures etc. to materials, and Lighting Fixtures and virtual lighting w/ realistic shadowing.
Careful to remove smoothing from DataCAD's textures and cut down entities on Smart Wndws and Drs. so not to be large groups for Sketch Up edits, will save time w/ finished Model.
I have made Finished Models with just DataCAD too. -Very powerful, but a bit complex.
I edit my DataCAD Smart Wall Model with Roof, Trim, and some materials much quicker with Sketch Up and Podium.
Reflections, texturing, and Lighting the big plus w/ Podium.
For existing Homes generally I use DataCAD w/o Smart Walls if I have to draw from pdf's or DC5 files etc. assign z attributes then export to Sketch Up.