How to attach lots of small objects?

[tammo]

hi,
i have a CAD model of a Tyre here that i need to render.
They have send me a VRML file thats consists of thousands of very small objects. i need to attach them all into a single mesh so that i can weld vertices and smooth it.
if i use Edit/Attach List and select all or even just a few of the objects,
max is using up all memory and then crashes after some time.
i have tried to disable undo but that didnt help.
attaching every single object per hand or even ten at a time would take a year and i have 13 more models coming.
anyone here know a solution or a script?

[Neilg]

I tend to do it in groups of 50 and save after every 3, then when it crashes youve still got some done and you can start over with the memory limit.

Its a pain, but it doesnt take as long as you'd think.

[Codi]

Are you working with editable mesh?

If so you can try to convert the object you want to attach all abjects to editable poly and then do the attach list. Edit poly worked better for us for this kind of things.

[tammo]

Many thanks for your help!
Converting to editable poly solved the problem.

this is going to save me days of work with all the models.

[Codi]

Glad to help

[SnipeyX]

another tip for attaching many objects together, try using Neil Blevin's "Attach Selected Objects script" from his Soulburn scripts collection, quite handy as well. www.neilblevins.com

[mike_kennedy]

the collapse utility is good too if you don't care about materials....

[Seraph135]

Instead of waiting for it to crash you could attach a selection that is small enough that it won't crash then type the following into maxscript...

gc()

This will release the memory...Then repeat the process until everything is attached.

Tim J

[Ktoeto]

... or you can temporaly set in preferences the number of Undo levels to 1.