RichDirt with Autocad Models

[stuartkemp]

Hi,

 

Looking into RichDirt at the moment, however I have some reservations due to the workflow we use in the office. We use Autocad for our modeling (for reasons I won't go in to) which we then link to max, obviously this has its drawbacks when it comes to mapping, normals and such, and I have noticed that Vray dirt does not work properly on imported Autocad models that are more complicated than a box.

 

Does anyone have any experience using RichDirt with Autocad models in max, or any insight as to whether it will function correctly?

 

Thanks

 

P.S. I have no idea what forum this post should have gone in, so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

[Nicolai Bongard]

Ive not tried RichDirt but i have a feeling it is pretty much the same as vray dirt in the sense that it works by finding edges of geometry and/or intersections between geometry (ambient occlusion pretty much), and thus every model that as edges in the wrong places will get dirt in the wrong places as well. The problem with a lot of cad software is that they export geometry with either weird edges applied, or even worse, open/seperate faces. This can be remedied by merging verteces, editing edges, or unfortunately most of the time modelling the geometry from scratch in 3ds max. So in order for the automated magic of dirt to function properly, you have to spend some time beforehand to prepare the geometry. An alternate dirt method you can try is creating a vray extratex render element with a black and white grunge map, insert in on top of your layers in photoshop, set the mode to multiply and delete the areas where you do not want dirt.

[stuartkemp]

Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling that would be the case, bit of a pain really. I will look into your alternate method though, cheers.

[Morne Erasmus]

Thanks for the reply. I had a feeling that would be the case, bit of a pain really. I will look into your alternate method though, cheers.

 

VRayDirt should work just fine. Please post a simple autocad file linked to max that exhibits the "wrong" VRayDirt behaviour so that we can investigate further

[paneli]

Hi,

 

Looking into RichDirt at the moment, however I have some reservations due to the workflow we use in the office. We use Autocad for our modeling (for reasons I won't go in to) which we then link to max, obviously this has its drawbacks when it comes to mapping, normals and such, and I have noticed that Vray dirt does not work properly on imported Autocad models that are more complicated than a box.

 

Does anyone have any experience using RichDirt with Autocad models in max, or any insight as to whether it will function correctly?

 

Thanks

 

P.S. I have no idea what forum this post should have gone in, so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

 

I bought RichDirt about two months ago and its great.

Make sure you get the Extreme edition for the Merge Objects function.

 

Anyway I work with AutoCAD/ACA and never had issues.

 

I recommend applying it via Blend material, for bettor control on color etc.