headus 3D tools

[SLI_Fallen]

Sorry if this is posted in wrong forum. I did not see anywhere else "off topic" to do so.

I remember something Phil said in one of the (many) video's I watched about there being problems with exporting OBJ's (from the 3D app) where there are verticies very close to one another.

I have this very issue where there are very close verticies (to basically create "square" corners on a meshsmoothed object) and these quads disappear and distort the model when exported. I need these to "stay put". Anyone have ideas on how can I get around this messing up? Using Max 2009 with it's default OBJ exporter.

[headus]

To me it looks like all the qauds are still there, and the distortion you are seeing in UVLayout is because you've selected SUBD in the import options.

When you select SUBD, UVLayout calculates the shape of the smooth surface, then relocates the vertexes so they're on that surface. The idea there is that the resulting polys are closer in area to the real surface, and after flattening an applied texture will be less distorted. Have a look at the "UVLayout-SUBD-Surfaces" movie under the Advanced videos at uvlayout.com for more info on handling SUBD surfaces.

If you don't want the shape distortion, select Poly in the UVLayout import options. The loaded mesh should then (hopefully) look exactly like it does back in Max.

Phil

[SLI_Fallen]

DOH! You are exactly right... I thought I needed to import it as a subD to maintain the uv's properly once the modifier is turned back on. (I will watch the subD tutorial again so i'm clearer on that. Thanks!!