ArchiCad to Discreet 3ds Max 7.0

[brqlumpkin]

I'm an Industrial Designer currently work for an Architecture firm who uses ArchiCad. I'm engaged in the construction of fly through's and scene stills for them using Max 7.0. At the moment there exists a transfer issue with standard export import protocols (vertices unwelded, incorrect planar geometry, etc.) Is there a fix to these problems using script or a plugin? Am I out of luck and just need the newer Max 7.5 with Revit.

[bricklyne]

I'm an Industrial Designer currently work for an Architecture firm who uses ArchiCad. I'm engaged in the construction of fly through's and scene stills for them using Max 7.0. At the moment there exists a transfer issue with standard export import protocols (vertices unwelded, incorrect planar geometry, etc.) Is there a fix to these problems using script or a plugin? Am I out of luck and just need the newer Max 7.5 with Revit.

 

What version of ArchiCAD are you using? With the latest version, unwelded vertices, coplanars and all those sorts of problems, really shouldn't be an issue, since they've improved the 3ds exporter in version 9. Which also begs the question, what 3D format do you use to export your models into MAX? Typically 3ds is the most reliable and frequently used, although dwg can also give pretty decent results.

 

In any case you might want to try out this script that does everything for you and also includes a material replacer function:

 

Archicad import wizard

 

 

You might also want to look at a few previous threads on this issue regarding other export-import problems that others have had before with ArchiCAD-MAX, specifically:

 

http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/showthread.php?p=84960#post84960

 

FYI, Revit-MAX 3D model import-export also has its own reknowned and notorious set of "issues", so don't just assume that that would be your silver bullet. Nor does MAX 7.5 add anything that MAX 7.0 doesn't have and that would alleviate your problems in this scenario.