Confusion about the bounds mesh and the exporter
by Todd D. Degani · in Artist Corner · 02/25/2005 (11:19 am) · 8 replies
For some reason when I export a shape models from Max 7 into a dts and display them in the Torque ShowTool Pro the bounding boxes shapes seem to get resized. At first I thought it was a display issue with the tool which I brought up in those forums but it seems to be an exporter thing.
Here are some examples:
Here is my simple box with a small bounding box in Max:
Here is that same shape as a DTS in the ShowTool:
Here is the same box with a large bounding shape in Max:
Finally, here is that shape with the large bounding box in the ShowTool:
As you can see the bounding boxes shape is getting changed. Now I am mainly wondering if this is an exporter thing and if it is, why it is doing it.
Here are some examples:
Here is my simple box with a small bounding box in Max:
Here is that same shape as a DTS in the ShowTool:
Here is the same box with a large bounding shape in Max:
Finally, here is that shape with the large bounding box in the ShowTool:
As you can see the bounding boxes shape is getting changed. Now I am mainly wondering if this is an exporter thing and if it is, why it is doing it.
#2
02/25/2005 (11:40 am)
I'm not an artist so I'll try to explain how I resized the bounding box. I selected the bounding box then chose the Modify tab. Under the parameters list I just set the length and width to 2 meters instead of the previous 1 meter.
#3
03/03/2005 (7:51 am)
Bump, anybody that can throw me a clue on this. It's not exactly slowing down my progress just darn curious as to what is causing this behavior.
#4
03/10/2005 (2:38 pm)
Giving this one final bump and then relegating this to the no one knows pile.
#5
The box you see in Showtool, is a true torque created box, made basically by saying give me a box that fully encompasses the entire geometry of this object.
Collision boxes are entirely different...
03/10/2005 (4:28 pm)
I think a lot of people are getting confused over bounding boxes. The box you create in Max is not the bounding box, and probably should be named something else. Its merely a marker that says export everything in me, unless told otherwise. It is not something that is exported itself.The box you see in Showtool, is a true torque created box, made basically by saying give me a box that fully encompasses the entire geometry of this object.
Collision boxes are entirely different...
#6
03/11/2005 (7:52 am)
Thanks Erik! That makes sense since the bounding boxes in the showtool seem to auto-magically fit the shape perfectly.
#7
05/17/2005 (10:47 am)
Erik, are you sure? We just spent all morning running tests with the Max dts exporter, and it seems that the Torque bounding box (mObjBox) is the same thing as the box in 3ds called "Bounds," independent of the actual mesh geometry, and (unfortunately) independent of object scale.
#8
If you exporting in Obj format and use the presets for either Maya or Softimage, then import the saved obj file back into Max, the bounding box will be fixed. Make sure to pick to export as Polys instead of Quads or Triangles or else it will be distorted on the import. If you use other formats like DFX or 3DS it will grossly distort the model by adding edges. Also, if you use other obj settings like Poser or Vue, etc the model will import grossly distorted.
That's the easiest fix I can figure out and it works perfectly. Also, I'd recommend doing it before subdivided because the more complex your model is, the higher chance of something importing distorted. I hope that helps.
06/17/2009 (3:44 am)
I might be confused here since I'm not trying to import to the Torque ShowTool Pro, but I just spent hours trying to repair a bounding box on one important piece of a larger model I'm working on. The bounding box is white in Max by default and if you're creating a new box it should appear to hug the box on the outer corners and geometric edges of the box. In my situation the bounding box somehow grew to many times the size of my object, so I tried tons of things to try to fix it. Finally, I found a method that works.If you exporting in Obj format and use the presets for either Maya or Softimage, then import the saved obj file back into Max, the bounding box will be fixed. Make sure to pick to export as Polys instead of Quads or Triangles or else it will be distorted on the import. If you use other formats like DFX or 3DS it will grossly distort the model by adding edges. Also, if you use other obj settings like Poser or Vue, etc the model will import grossly distorted.
That's the easiest fix I can figure out and it works perfectly. Also, I'd recommend doing it before subdivided because the more complex your model is, the higher chance of something importing distorted. I hope that helps.
Torque 3D Owner Adam
Adam deGrandis
Im guessing that you are resizing the bounding box with the scale tool... is this correct? When you create an object, its scale is set to 100%. If you use the scale tool, it bumps the scale up... what was once 100% is now 110% or 120% or wahtever. When you export, though, the exporter sends everything back to 100%. That means that if you used the scale tool, your changes are negated.
You can correct this by clicking on your object, clicking into the hierarchy tab, and clicking reset scale. Or you can skip this problem altogether by converting your bounding box into an editable mesh and just moving the actual faces.
edit: spelling