How to work with many similar objects, how to swap, replace & manage objects.

[sygboe]

 

Hi I'v been working in SketchUp but am looking to construct my scene in 3DsMax. Sketchup just cant handle the scene when it gets fully populated. The SketchUp import isnt much use as all the complex objects appear fully exploded with all componant names gone, so you cant do any further editing or moving even though it recognises the instanced components.

 

my question/s is/are. In 3DS max if i have say 200 copies of this retail gondola (in picture), and i want different attachment configurations and products. would you make instances of objects or would they be imported as xrefs then copied?

If i want to say update the wheels on the fixture and want it to update on all 200 copies, how would i do this? can the same copy of an instanced object have a different material?

 

Should i make a .max file for every little object then import them in and add to groups, then i can make instances of the groups?

 

I can export each individual Sketchup object as .3ds or .obj. I want to retain the object name (which is the Sketchup file name).

 

I just want to try to make this huge scene as efficient as i can, as at the moment i find the models ive made become too large and unusable in SU.

 

any help appreciated, thanks

[datacrasher]

before you start importing anything i would make sure you're models are in the same units as the one your gonna import as long as that is okay then i would import one of you're objects into max then clone it as an instant once you import you're object then they will come in as gondola as you clone them then it come in gondola01 max will keep on adding the number.

 

side note

I would be-careful if you're gonna keep importing the same material will be the first same as the first one then you will get a duplication because you have the same material as the first import if you import so i would just import one then copy it to where you want it.

 

don't forget as you're scene gets bigger max will use a lot more memory

[sygboe]

Thanks for the reply Tony.

I have got the units the same. So say i import one object. then the scen file has many copies of this object at different rotations and positions. How can i replace this object with an updated version (with an amendment or extra detail added). but to have all the copies of it distributed in the scene update as well?

[datacrasher]

i would just delete the old model and import the new one but don't forget you will get a duplication if the materials are the same as the others you imported also if you have not named the material then that's what i would do so you don't get confused which material is which.

 

i'm not sure if you want them in different location but you could use the scatter in the compound objects but i am not sure how good this really is b/c i have never used it if that grayed out (not available) then you cannot use it

Edited July 30, 2012 by datacrasher

[John Dollus]

if you plan correctly, you can use import->replace.

If the mesh has the same name, it will replace it and all of it's instances.

[dmv79]

There are some simple scripts for replacing objects... Just make sure to check scale/units and pivot points.

You can assign different materials to instances, but not different material IDs.