headus 3D tools

stomps · Posts: 27 Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Location: Austin TX USA

I have gotten my company to purchase the professional version of UV Layout. I have installed ythe program fine and installed the UV_pipe script. I can export my files from 3dsmax 9 into Uvlaout using UV_pipe. I do my editing of uvs in the UV Layout program but when I send to Max I get a MAXScript error "No UVs were recieved from UV Layout. "

Was there a thread on this issue that I am not finding? Can anyone help me before the rest of the team starts using it and runs into the same problem? Smile

Stomps

headus · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:44 pm Post subject:

Hopefully someone else will help with the max script ... we don't have Max here at headus, so I cant debug that one.

But one thing I'd try is to save out an OBJ ... you can still do that even when in plugin mode ... and see if you can load that OBJ into Max. If it works, then something is broken in the UVLayout to Max plugin. If it doesn't work, then it looks like a problem in UVLayout itself, or something about that model.

Phil

stomps · Posts: 27 Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Location: Austin TX USA

No Max in house??? Still? that makes me sad. Doesn't Autodesk own all the big apps? Like I said in your forum back in 2006 I have been using 3dsMAX for over 12 years and not once did I work in a studio that used anything different! Sorry to come off pissed but I again got another studio to buy your app and my reputation is on the line again.

Please consider getting 3ds max in house to test your product.

Shocked

stomps · Posts: 27 Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Location: Austin TX USA

i reinstalled the professional version. The first time I sent it back to max it worked. when I tried it a second time on a different mesh I got the error. I tried the origional again that worked previously but now it does not. For some reason UVlayout is corrupted now.

I tried exporting an obj, edited the uvs in UVLayout then imported back to max. That works but i lose all my smoothing groups and vert colors and it is a pain in the ass to work in this way. UV_pipe helped me keep these nessecary details. It made going from max to uvlayout simple and easy.

Is there anyway to get a copy of the previous version of UVlayout??? this new version (UVLayout for Mac OS X Thursday, 18 September 2008) will not work for my team. Sad

stomps · Posts: 27 Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Location: Austin TX USA

I do not know if it was me punching my keyboard or some magical number of restarts/reinstalls of uvlayout but it is working now with the script.

I want to apoligize for the previous heated posts. It takes great effort to get purchases at my new company. I really love what UVlayout did for me on my last project and I came onto the new team boasting about how great the UVLayout program is. People were still skeptical but I finally got them to purchase a few seats to work with and then I started having trouble. Hopefully I don't run into snags so that I can get the rest of the team on board.

Thanks for the quick response to my posts. I am finally getting back to work now.

Sincerely yours,
Tommy S.
Very Happy

headus · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 5:38 pm Post subject:

Its great to hear that it eventually sorted itself out!

The OSX version is relatively new, so there could very well be some teething problems left to fix there still. If you ever need to go back a version or two, you can find the last four releases usually on your uvlayout.com Support Download page.

As for Max support here at headus, we're all signed up for the Autodesk Sparks program, so getting a license isn't the problem. Its just that we're basically only just keeping our head above water with Maya and don't have the spare resources (i.e. people) to take on any other applications. Before UVLayout, most of our customers were in the film VFX area, and Maya tends to be more common there than Max.

But yes, we will definitely consider getting Max at some point :-)

Phil

stomps · Posts: 27 Joined: 13 Nov 2006 Location: Austin TX USA

Thanks Phill for that update. I understand all too well about being short handed.
In my line of work with Massive Multiplayer games there is so much content that needs to get made in a relative short amount of time. Then after the game is launched the MMO beast needs to be fed with even more content for years on end. Tools like yours are incredibly valuable to a fool like me. I need to be more patient and not yell fire so soon. I was like a junkie trying to get his fix and my matches were wet.

Laughing

Thanks again for the quick replies!
Tommy

headus · Posted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:54 pm Post subject:

No worries! If you have any ideas for improvements, apart from the ones already on the wish list, just let me know.

Phil

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

I tried the plugin today, had a little trouble with the mesh coming back with only triangulated UVs in place. I looked at max's obj import options and it had Re-triabgulate mesh checked.

I unchecked this option and all seems fine now..

One thing that may have not been thought of is...

Large models can take time to unwrap.
UVLayout does crash from time to time so I guess we could send it back to max, save then send it back. Seems like a hassle, especially if it take 5minutes to save the max scene.

Could there be a save progress option??

Cheers,

M

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

I am finding that my camera is moving when bringing the mesh back.

I also just had an error and crash when I sent a model back. UVLayout said "No file exists". I crashed once I clicked the box...

M

headus

"Could there be a save progress option?"

Which version of UVLayout are you using? Recent releases have the usual save buttons visible when running in plugin mode, so you can use those to save your work. Earlier versions of UVLayout didnt have the Save buttons shown when in plugin mode.

Phil

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

I'm using version 2.06.02

I have been experiencing a number of rather random issues when sending meshes back to max.

1. The perspective camera in Max moves prior what it was before I sent the mesh back. (this seems to happen all the time)
2. My mesh is rotated by 270 degrees, in X.
3. UVLayout gives me an error, something about there not being a mesh. I'll post the comment when it happens again. Worth mentioning is that the mesh does get updated.
4. I've had the mesh come back, well it appears that the existing mesh was deleted and replaced with a copy of the mesh but has not materials assigned and the smoothing group has been deleted (as if I had imported an obj mesh). In this instance the mesh was also rotated 270 degrees as well.
5. UVLayout doesn't always close after sending a mesh back. I find myself closing other instances of UVLayout before editing another mesh out of fear of a break in the connection. Can this happen, can it get confused??

I'm finding myself sending detailed meshes back regularly to avoid having to re-UV because of the somewhat sketcky state of the plugin.

Despite these issues it is working fairly well and allowing me essentially stay in Max.
Smile

, which I dont like all that much Sad

It would be good to know how to save progress, I can't see how to do it other than to send it back then save that file. If I save the mesh as an obj then it doesnt send back to max.

M

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

Ok the error (number 3 from last post) is:

"Problem Loading. No such file or directory"

mokosan · Posts: 150 Joined: 03 Apr 2006 Location: NZ

This mesh got screwed up somehow while it was being passed back and forth using the max plugin. At a later stage it was in XSI (I am aware that OBJ's exported from XSI have broken faces, I tried the weld option).

I have had this happen with another mesh where only certain faces are broken..some border edges are treated as interior edges (border edges are marked green instead of blue) which will weld...resulting in an illegal weld that isnt physically possible to do in a 3D app.

I'll post more meshes as they happen..

M