Line Art from .max files?

V-Ray V-Ray Common Off-topic
1

Does anyone know of a way to get fairly clean 3D line art from objects that were hand modeled (such as a task chair)? I’m wondering if there’s a format I can export to and bring it into AutoCAD (which I don’t own), or Inventor and be able to translate that way, or maybe there’s a plugin somewhere?

These examples were created from within Inventor, so it needs to be similar.

Thanks.

.png.png
.png.png561×483 50.3 KB

2

Illustrate ?

3

You can export 3dmax files to .dwg and open them in CAD. Just not sure what capabilities you’ll have in CAD to manipulate the line work.

4

Export the model to AutoCAD (dwg)
In AutoCAD, orbit until you have an angle you like (or setup a camera), or use DDVPOINT to select an ortho view
then HIDE (gives you what you see above).
You can also then print to PDF to whatever size you want (no rendering needed)

OR

in Max render settings disable lights. Switch off GI. Add vraylight as an override material and make it white. In Environment choose a white background. Add VRayToon. render

5

I figured out how to get a white background and can do screen grabs, but the antialiasing is a bit much. Hmmmm There must be a way to export it cleanly.

6

Instead of exporting to PDF, I tried using “Plot” and selecting PDF from there. That seemed to work! Any ideas how I would get the arm in the foreground to show up better, or even thicker lines?

7

Here’s a quick max file for you that I slapped together in 2 seconds. Excuse the “modern” chair and replace with yours (just delete everything besides the camera, then merge your chair in here). Render

david1.jpg
david1.jpg1600×1200 56.6 KB

8

And here’s the max file
david.zip (47.1 KB)

9

I just sent you a PM with a link to my chair if you get a chance. Thanks for your help!

10

No dont add anything, just merge and render (the file you sent me has the camera pointing AWAY from the chair)

If you do decide to add a toon shader, here’s the results from your file:

beauty.jpg
beauty.jpg1600×1200 109 KB

toon.jpg
toon.jpg1600×1200 130 KB

11

You can adjust the toon settings under max environment settings and adjust “normal threshold” and “overlap threshold” to increase/decrease the effect

12

Thank you so much! I didn’t realize it’s an atmospheric effect. Also, I was trying to use IPR which has something to do with it not working. As for the camera pointed the wrong way, um… we’ll just let that one go. :smile::smile::smile: haha.

Dave

13

Final Toon - exports vector files directly from 3dsMax.

Great control for types of lines..

14

De facto anime renderer :slight_smile:

15

You will need to apply white vraylight mtl as override material in render settings I suppose

16

Yep. That’s what it was. Thanks!

17

For these sort of things I used to use VrayEdgeTex. Apply white self-illuminated material and VrayEdgeTex into the map slot. It gives you great control of which edges need to be visible. Great control of line thickness, colour and visibility. BTW it’s very fast to render. I found it to be sometimes annoying with every “toon” shader that you depend on their guesswork to decide which edge to show or not.
Hope this might help.
Zoran