Car cad data extreme slow down

[ali_cgi]

Most of the Maya files I have used geo wise come in just fine, 'fbx - media/enetertainment preset' in and out nothing else needed regards to smoothing etc,

If you was delivered a raw Catia file, I would imagine you would need a new pair of pants and a lot of time, not typically done from my experience,
I think in general the car company's have their data prepped by certain company's 'rtt' to be then delivered to cgi guys, prepping catia or alias files for poly rendering is an ugly and time consuming process, if working from an engineering file, so hope it comes as prepped poly's, but even then the prepped files can be quite complex.

Cheers,
Ali

[Morne]

How much can I expect to pay for a typical exterior car model, if I have to get somebody like RTT to prep the RAW catia for me and deliver a MAYA or FBX file so I can take it from there?

[Wilyman]

John and Oliver, some interesting points you bring up there. I have a question for you both.
What if, I get the RAW CAD data, not Maya files, and not exported from Maya to fbx, but the RAW Catia 5 data (or in some cases the STEP files)
How do I get that into a usable form into Max, considering I don't have Maya?

It depends what software you've got.
Personally when I get Catia data, I take it into Alias Surface or Rhino first, because generally you need to strip all the B surfaces to make it in the least bit usable.
Then I'll either tessellate it in Showcase or take the nurbs into max with PowerTranslators.

If you was delivered a raw Catia file, I would imagine you would need a new pair of pants and a lot of time, not typically done from my experience,

You'd be surprised. I've had quite a few jobs come in as full, unsorted Catia data. And to be honest, when I know the client well enough, I often request it, rather than having to put up with what RTT have done.

How much can I expect to pay for a typical exterior car model, if I have to get somebody like RTT to prep the RAW catia for me and deliver a MAYA or FBX file so I can take it from there?

With RTT? An absolute fortune, I'd assume!
But if you're serious about it, drop me a PM, and I'll give you a quote on it.

Cheers,

John

[ali_cgi]

How long would it take you too sort a Catia model generally John?
I can see the benefits of sorting the data yourself, and I would personally prefer it, that way you know exactly what your getting, I just can't imagine I would ever be given the time on a real job,

Cheers
Ali

[Wilyman]

How long would it take you too sort a Catia model generally John?
I can see the benefits of sorting the data yourself, and I would personally prefer it, that way you know exactly what your getting, I just can't imagine I would ever be given the time on a real job,

Cheers
Ali

I guess a couple of weeks, best case.
It's feasible on some jobs, not on others.

Cheers,

John

[ali_cgi]

Thats good to hear, at least I know i'm not extremely slow,
I imagine it would be great for details, were you can export higher res meshes etc

Cheers,
Ali

[Morne]

If it takes a few weeks to cleanup, how long would an avergae project take then? 6 to 8 weeks?

[kosso_olli]

What if, I get the RAW CAD data, not Maya files, and not exported from Maya to fbx, but the RAW Catia 5 data (or in some cases the STEP files)
How do I get that into a usable form into Max, considering I don't have Maya?

Best thing that can happen to me is getting Catia files straight from the client. No RTT to interfere, no Maya. Max 2016 introduced a superb new import algorithm that handles .step, .iges and even .catpart very very well. There basically is a slider for the tesselation quality and that is it. Recently completed a job with some rifle scopes delivered as catpart, worked like a dream. Also got some head and rear lights the other day as iges, worked there, too. The data might be complex, but everything is there, no missing B-sides or stuff like that.

How much can I expect to pay for a typical exterior car model, if I have to get somebody like RTT to prep the RAW catia for me and deliver a MAYA or FBX file so I can take it from there?

Really, you don't want that. It will cost a fortune, and you get messed up data afterwards. Fixing their stuff is a nightmare. I'd rather get the raw CAD data then anything from RTT. And that is why I demand headlights and stuff to be delivered as CAD files.

[Wilyman]

Best thing that can happen to me is getting Catia files straight from the client. No RTT to interfere, no Maya. Max 2016 introduced a superb new import algorithm that handles .step, .iges and even .catpart very very well. There basically is a slider for the tesselation quality and that is it. Recently completed a job with some rifle scopes delivered as catpart, worked like a dream. Also got some head and rear lights the other day as iges, worked there, too. The data might be complex, but everything is there, no missing B-sides or stuff like that.

There's a flipside to that though. That's all fine if you've got a bit of Catia data in amongst the prepped stuff, but try the whole car with all it's B-surfaces and mountains of unnecessary crap, and you're not going to have much fun dealing with it in the viewport. Or waiting half an hour for the file to save.
I've got some Catia data here for a car which is bordering on 60 GB. You can't just take that into Max without some serious work beforehand.


The ideal situation for me is a mixture. Sorted data from RTT, Burrows, or similar, and the nurbs surfaces on hand for any areas you need them.

Cheers,

John

[kosso_olli]

There's a flipside to that though. That's all fine if you've got a bit of Catia data in amongst the prepped stuff, but try the whole car with all it's B-surfaces and mountains of unnecessary crap, and you're not going to have much fun dealing with it in the viewport. Or waiting half an hour for the file to save.
I've got some Catia data here for a car which is bordering on 60 GB. You can't just take that into Max without some serious work beforehand.

Yes, that's true.

[ali_cgi]

Oli and John, it would be great to get some knowledge on parts of the car that are best to get the catia data for,

Lets say headlights for example, with some data I have from rtt, the headlights look cool on first inspection, then I dig deeper and the bulbs are replaced with blanker geo, some parts seem to have been skipped etc,
Is this the same problem you guys are having? For example to do a headlight on shot, there dosen't seem to be any detail, seeing light through glass etc,

Good to know the problems you guys come across when your not doing the prep yourselves.

Also would the Catia data have materials assigned? With naming conventions? So you can convert them all when you get them into cgi, obviously not the shader properties just the right placeholder mats on the right parts,

Is there anywhere were I could get hold of a file to practice with? and learn the prep side of things, I know you guys arn't aloud to share this stuff for obvious reasons, but anyone know of anything good thats publicly available?

Cheers,
Ali

[kosso_olli]

Lets say headlights for example, with some data I have from rtt, the headlights look cool on first inspection, then I dig deeper and the bulbs are replaced with blanker geo, some parts seem to have been skipped etc,
Is this the same problem you guys are having? For example to do a headlight on shot, there dosen't seem to be any detail, seeing light through glass etc,

RTT randomly deletes the backside of some glass parts or splits them up into several different pieces. But Vray (or any other renderer) would need them in order to calculate correct refraction together with a fog color (for coloured glass like rear lights). Sometimes entire glass parts are missing.

Also would the Catia data have materials assigned? With naming conventions? So you can convert them all when you get them into cgi, obviously not the shader properties just the right placeholder mats on the right parts,

Sometimes you do get material assignments, mostly you don't. Usually is not a big deal, because from experience you can already tell what material might go where. Often you get reference photos, too.

Is there anywhere were I could get hold of a file to practice with? and learn the prep side of things, I know you guys arn't aloud to share this stuff for obvious reasons, but anyone know of anything good thats publicly available?

A site like Grabcad is a good source to get free catia data. Mostly simple objects, but as a start that should be enough.

[ali_cgi]

Yes i'm also noticing some single sided glass parts within the lights, such a shame!

Thanks for the advice,

Ali