Resolution of imported geometry

[tricky]

I have an Autocad model of quite a complex engineering/machine component. Lots or small objects and small radius chamfer/fillets etc.

I need to get this into Max in the best possible way so all the curves are retained as closely as possible. Regardless of my attempts so far - even setting the maximum surface deviation to 0.1mm - the geometry comes in a bit rubbish.

Any suggestions? I've tried scaling up the model in AutoCAD 10x, but the problem still doesn't really go away.

[YoyoBoy]

Does the geometry look bad if you export as IGES and keep the objects as BREP Body Objects? I've found that usually what makes things fall apart is when you convert them to Editable Poly. But leave them as Mesh and they'll be fine. And if you need to edit them as Polys, then make sure all your edges visible first.

[Morne]

I have an Autocad model of quite a complex engineering/machine component. Lots or small objects and small radius chamfer/fillets etc.

I need to get this into Max in the best possible way so all the curves are retained as closely as possible. Regardless of my attempts so far - even setting the maximum surface deviation to 0.1mm - the geometry comes in a bit rubbish.

Any suggestions? I've tried scaling up the model in AutoCAD 10x, but the problem still doesn't really go away.

Just set your max SYSTEM units the same as the AutoCAD file before importing. If it's engineering with small things it's probably mm or inches. Having your max units in meter will mess up small things, regardless if your display units is mm.

Hmmm, although you mentioned scaling it up 10 times in Autocad, and then importing, and still issues...

[dlparisi]

I need to get this into Max in the best possible way so all the curves are retained as closely as possible. Regardless of my attempts so far - even setting the maximum surface deviation to 0.1mm - the geometry comes in a bit rubbish.

What happens if you set it to 0?

[DanielBrew]

Try exploding all blocks so the dwg only contains geometry.

[tricky]

Here are a couple of screen grabs showing the wire in Cad (smooth curved lines) and when I've imported into max with the best settings (0.1mm is the lowest)
Its not the worst thing in the world, but it isn't perfect by any means. The model is also likely to have a lot more detail than this, so I want to get things as good as I can from the outset.
I guess, really, the thing should be modelled natively in 3dsMax, right? The problem is that 3dsMax just isn't good at accurate engineering models like this (IMhO). Cad, with solids and boolean operations, is much better.



Do you think I should be able to do better?

[Morne]

Save it to a SAT file in AutoCAD and import that into Max 2016. It has special import that deals with SAT files

[mikeh]

increase your curve steps when you import. makes a big difference.
mh

[tricky]

increase your curve steps when you import. makes a big difference.
mh

Curve steps just affects lines

[tricky]

Save it to a SAT file in AutoCAD and import that into Max 2016. It has special import that deals with SAT files

Mmm. interesting. Looks like an improvement

[crazy homeless guy]

Listen to YoyoBoy. IGES to Max Body Object is probably the best way to handle geometry like this. The Body Object are similar to nurbs and I believe are designed specifically to handle geometry like you are trying to bring in.