Vray Proxy not working

[Billabong]

I have been having a problem trying to proxy some of my objects. I have impoted a file from Inventor as a step file. Ill select one object from the file and try to proxy it. When I do, it converts my object to this very small cube. Its saying it is a proxy but when I render I get the Failed to initialize object and Warning: Scene is empty.

I've included 3 images. One is a before the proxy, and after I proxy it and what happens when I render. I could use some really fast help on this as im under a pretty tight deadline.

Thanks for any input you can give.

-B

[super gnu]

did you convert the object to a simple editable mesh before proxying? if not, try that.

second, if that doesnt help, try creating a box, converting it to editable mesh, attaching your object to it, and deleting the box. check the pivot is in a position you are happy with after this step. then proxy. this sometimes helps.

third, it doesnt look like a very heavy mesh.. why proxy?

p.s. the box you get is when the proxy export has failed. usually because of a non-standard geometry type or something.

[Billabong]

I have converted everything to an editable mesh before I proxied it. Didn't work

I tried your suggestion with the box, that didn't work either.

The reason that it doesn't look like a heavy mesh, that little motor, and just a very small part of the file. The file has over 1600 objects and is over 8 million polies, which I have to duplicate three times, which gives me over 27 million polies if I don't proxy it

[super gnu]

hmm, could be some kind of wierd cad linkages that have come through in the import.. bit of a mystery to me.. but try selecting the object, and hitting the "unlink" button.. see if that helps.

also,if possible, id try to attach larger chunks of the model together, as proxies seem to work best (in my experience) when they are quite heavy chunks, rather than each element in a seperate, lighter proxy.

maybe youre doing this already though.

id even try attaching the whole shebang together and making 3 instances of the proxy. that assumes of course that you wont be animating geometry.

[Billabong]

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out super gnu.

I selected over half of the model, attached them all as one piece, hit the unlink button and tried to proxy and the exact same thing happened. This is driving me crazy

[super gnu]

very strange. however, assuming you are on a tight deadline, might i suggest, youd be very surprised to see how much normal geometry max/vray can handle, if its set up right.

if you attach your 8 million polies into no more than 2-4 objects, then instance those 3 times (possibly setting the display to "box" to avoid locking up your viewport - (depending on how good your gfx card is)

youll probably find vray will render it just fine. no promises, but i think 8 million polies instanced 3 times isnt such an outrageous amount for a modern machine.

where max really struggles is when you have loads of individual objects - and the 1600 you mentioned might well cause a few issues...

obviously figuring out your proxy issue would be best, but as i said, if youre up against it, id try just sidestepping the issue!

[Billabong]

I guess I'm not going to have much choice but do like you said.

I saved a part of the model and uploaded it. If anyone has any free time can you guys try to proxy this and see if the same thing happens to you.

Also, does anyone know how I can get in touch Vlado?

Thanks for the help

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16007479/help.zip

-B

[super gnu]

im sure he doesnt mind me posting this, does it often enough himself:

vlado@chaosgroup.com

[Billabong]

Thank you so much for all your help

-B