Smesh optimization UEd -> MAYA

RFairey · 28th Jul 2003, 09:09 AM

I've been trying to get to grips with MAYA for a while, and the polygon manipulation tools are either inadequate or painful to use. I know that UEd can create Smeshes from BSP geometry, but that they are not properley optimised in some way (too many vertices or something).

Can someone explain exactly how they are deficient, and whether it would be possible to export them to MAYA PLE for some cleanup and texture adjustment before reimporting them to UEd.

Doctor7 · 28th Jul 2003, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RFairey

I've been trying to get to grips with MAYA for a while, and the polygon manipulation tools are either inadequate or painful to use. I know that UEd can create Smeshes from BSP geometry, but that they are not properley optimised in some way (too many vertices or something).

Can someone explain exactly how they are deficient, and whether it would be possible to export them to MAYA PLE for some cleanup and texture adjustment before reimporting them to UEd.

Basically, UEd treats each polygon as a separate object. So your basic square face is two polys and four vertices, but one created from UEd would be two polys and six vertices, because the two triangles, even though they share coordinates, are stored separately. On top of this, UEd has a fairly low resolution when it comes to storing coordinates, so it tends to introduce rounding errors which separate the vertices slightly.

I don't know how easy it is to weld the separated vertices in Maya. Even if you can, it will probably mess up the UV mapping - two vertices that were treated as different when the UV map was created will break the mapping if they're welded.

chip · 28th Jul 2003, 01:05 PM

afaik, there is no pipeline from UEd to MayaPLE.

PLE has no model format import options, so even if a BSP object could be converted to static mesh and exported in some fashion, there's no way to get it into MayaPLE for further work.

just out of interest, if you're OK with the BSP modeling tools in UEd, how do the poly modeling tools in MayaPLE seem inadequate? they're way more capable in terms of operations, and though the watermark is a pain, the interface is much more flexible than UEd's for modeling. IMHO, of course.

RFairey · 28th Jul 2003, 03:24 PM

To answer your question, look here:
http://forums.simplymaya.com/showthr...&threadid=7089

Is a bit of vertex duplication really going to kill me? I know there might be some purists out there that insist smeshes should be maya or max, but if you read the thread above you'll see why I find MAYA so painful. Max seems to be incompatible with my OS, so thats out, which leaves Ued itself, which I have been using for years with UT1.

Radiosity · 28th Jul 2003, 06:51 PM

Random vertices are bad, so yes it will kill you (metaphorically speaking

). Main reason is that Ued uses vertex lighting for meshes, and if you've got random vertices hanging around a mesh then it'll look like crap when you light it. You might get away with some stuff, but it's pretty hit and miss.

And how is Max incompatible with your OS? What OS are you using?

RFairey · 29th Jul 2003, 05:46 AM

Win XP - Max installs OK but CDilla won't, so no Max.

Radiosity · 29th Jul 2003, 06:00 AM

That's weird.....I'm using XP Pro SP1 with 3dsMax 5 and it works fine. I heard that Discreet are bringing out some XP compatibility patch though so you might want to check the website ( www.discreet.com ) and see if there's info about it.

28th Jul 2003, 09:09 AM	#1
RFairey King of the Faireys Join Date: Aug. 2nd, 2000 Location: Somewhere Else Posts: 169	Smesh optimization UEd -> MAYA I've been trying to get to grips with MAYA for a while, and the polygon manipulation tools are either inadequate or painful to use. I know that UEd can create Smeshes from BSP geometry, but that they are not properley optimised in some way (too many vertices or something). Can someone explain exactly how they are deficient, and whether it would be possible to export them to MAYA PLE for some cleanup and texture adjustment before reimporting them to UEd. __________________ Bravery is not a function of firepower - JC Denton

28th Jul 2003, 03:24 PM	#4
RFairey King of the Faireys Join Date: Aug. 2nd, 2000 Location: Somewhere Else Posts: 169	To answer your question, look here: http://forums.simplymaya.com/showthr...&threadid=7089 Is a bit of vertex duplication really going to kill me? I know there might be some purists out there that insist smeshes should be maya or max, but if you read the thread above you'll see why I find MAYA so painful. Max seems to be incompatible with my OS, so thats out, which leaves Ued itself, which I have been using for years with UT1. __________________ Bravery is not a function of firepower - JC Denton Last edited by RFairey; 28th Jul 2003 at 03:27 PM.

29th Jul 2003, 05:46 AM	#6
RFairey King of the Faireys Join Date: Aug. 2nd, 2000 Location: Somewhere Else Posts: 169	Win XP - Max installs OK but CDilla won't, so no Max. __________________ Bravery is not a function of firepower - JC Denton

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28th Jul 2003, 01:05 PM	#3
chip Registered User Join Date: Nov. 14th, 2002 Posts: 524	afaik, there is no pipeline from UEd to MayaPLE. PLE has no model format import options, so even if a BSP object could be converted to static mesh and exported in some fashion, there's no way to get it into MayaPLE for further work. just out of interest, if you're OK with the BSP modeling tools in UEd, how do the poly modeling tools in MayaPLE seem inadequate? they're way more capable in terms of operations, and though the watermark is a pain, the interface is much more flexible than UEd's for modeling. IMHO, of course.

28th Jul 2003, 06:51 PM	#5
Radiosity Minty Fresh! Join Date: Jan. 3rd, 2003 Location: UK Posts: 2,213	Random vertices are bad, so yes it will kill you (metaphorically speaking ). Main reason is that Ued uses vertex lighting for meshes, and if you've got random vertices hanging around a mesh then it'll look like crap when you light it. You might get away with some stuff, but it's pretty hit and miss. And how is Max incompatible with your OS? What OS are you using?

29th Jul 2003, 06:00 AM	#7
Radiosity Minty Fresh! Join Date: Jan. 3rd, 2003 Location: UK Posts: 2,213	That's weird.....I'm using XP Pro SP1 with 3dsMax 5 and it works fine. I heard that Discreet are bringing out some XP compatibility patch though so you might want to check the website ( www.discreet.com ) and see if there's info about it.