PLY converter Normals

[bradon]

are their only 2 options for smoothNormals? all hard or all soft if you set the -smoothNormals. but is there no in between? where you can set the normal angle like you can in maya? if I try to set the normal after the vrmesh is imported it seems to crash maya or the object doesnt render.

[vlado]

Which file format are you converting? Some formats allow you to specify the normals directly.

Best regards,
Vlado

[bradon]

in general, obj, geo, sometimes bin, but usually obj because its fastest to render out of houdini.

[Metzger]

I also want to add that by default the vrmesh is created with inverse normals and getting correct normals requires a mandatory flip normal flag.

[vlado]

I also want to add that by default the vrmesh is created with inverse normals and getting correct normals requires a mandatory flip normal flag.

This depends entirely on how the input file format is stored; some applications use flipped coordinate systems. The converter has no way to figure out if the application that generated the file used left- or right-hand coordinate system; by default it assumes a right-hand coordinate system as used by 3ds Max.

Instead of flipping the normals, you may want to try the flipYZ or flipYPosZ flags.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Metzger]

Well Houdini geo and Realflow bin exports are inverted.

[alainfx]

You may want to try the flipYZ or flipYPosZ flags.

I am converting Realflow bin files, it doesn't seem to work.

Without any option, ply2vrmesh creates a vrmesh that is flipped (shapes are the same as original Realflow import, but position of vertice are flipped).

I tried flipYPosZ, it is not a recognized option (syntax error), I guess my version is too old (VRay for maya 1.5SP1 Nightly Build 14259, Windows 7 64 bit.)

Then I tried flipYZ. The vertice positions are flipped in another position (also wrong).


I found a workaround to make it work :
Do not use flipYZ option, import the vrmesh in maya, then apply this to the VRay mesh node :
RotateY = 90 ScaleX = -1

Is it fixed in VRay 2.0 ?

Thanks.

[vlado]

Nope, as there is nothing to fix. However the -flipYZ and -flipYPosZ options work correctly.

Best regards,
Vlado

[alainfx]

Nope, as there is nothing to fix. However the -flipYZ and -flipYPosZ options work correctly.

Glad to hear it works for you.
Do you think it doesn't work for me because I use VRay for maya 1.5SP1 Nightly Build 14259 ?
Maybe the flipYPosZ option was added after that build ?

[vlado]

Yep, I think it was added for V-Ray 2.0; will see if I can port back the change to the 1.5 branch.

Best regards,
Vlado

[alainfx]

Thanks Vlado.
No need to port it back to the 1.5 branch, as everybody will move to 2.0 soon anyway.

[alainfx]

you may want to try the flipYZ or flipYPosZ flags.

Hi,

We now have 2.00.04 stable build 15820 (june 21th 2011), but it still doesn't work for us, the realflow object is not on the right position.
I tried all ply2vrmesh options (flipYZ, flipYPosZ, or no option).
It works all right with Realflow's standard Bin importer, please look at this comparison picture (it's a maya2011 screenshot) :


I can't attach the Realflow bin file (it says 1.3Mbyte is too big), I will send it to vraymaya (at) chaosgroup.com
It's Realflow 5, in case it's important.
All our artists use this setting inside Realflow : File-->Preferences-->Axis setup-->"ZXY (3dsmax, maya)"

This is in Maya2011 SP1, VRay for maya 2.00.04 stable build 15820 (june 21th 2011), Realflow 5, Windows 7 64 bit.

Cheers.


PS : here a very dirty workaround, to get the right position and orientation :
Do not use any flipYZ or flipYPosZ option, import the vrmesh in maya, then apply this to the VRay mesh node :
RotateY = 90 ScaleX = -1

[alainfx]

Did you receive the zipped bin file (Realflow) I sent to vraymaya (at) chaosgroup.com last week ?
I hope it will allow you to reproduce this problem.

Thanks !

[vlado]

Yes, I got it, thanks... looks like we'll need yet another option to do that particular transformation.

Best regards,
Vlado

[alainfx]

Would you be so kind to write a note here when this new option is added to a new build ?
Thanks a lot !