Exporting Metaballs?

philw1972

Hey all, 

I saw,on the list of new features for Bryce 7 that there is now  an option to export metaballs. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place, but I can't figure out how to do this. I haven't used Bryce in years and am just now starting again because I saw this feature.

Rashad Carter

Philw1972!

Wha's up Bro?!!

I'll be completely honest with you and save you some time. Bryce metaballs do not export the way they should. In fact I have never managed to make anything worthwhile. What happens is that the polygons of the resulting mesh just will not respond properly to mesh smoothing. Unfortunately this is one area where a bit of an apology is in order. The exporting was never fully finished in the previous cycle so the feature isnt fully functional. But for fun sake here's what I think you'll need to know.

1. Scaling directly controls the output resolution of metaball object meshes. Thus the same model scaled up will actually produce a result with more polygons. Thus if too large, it can create a terribly heavy file.

2. For some reason Bryce itself will not reimport a metaball mesh that it has itself created. Once your metaball object is exported it must be run through a UV program and resaved before Bryce will read it.

3. Due to the concave manner of the facets, smoothing of these meshes is literally impossible. Notice in the attachments that the "collapsed" metaball grouping already lacks smoothing. It didnt improve any once I exported the mesh, ran it through a UV editor and resaved, then reimported it into Bryce. Still no smoothing.

Thus, if your goal was a target model with a naturalistic amount of surface smoothing, exporting Bryce metaballs will not get you there. We need another development cycle to iron this one out.

Wish I had better news.

philw1972

Thank you for the information. What I'm having trouble with is knowing how to export them at all. My aim is to use the file for 3d printing, so if the mesh isn't smooth that's not that big of a deal. Attached is the object I'm trying to export. I haven't seen any documentation on how to accomplish this function.

 

Rashad Carter

The images I included should give you a few clues but here are the between the lines...

1. Select each item individually and set its polarity to positive.

2. Group them together. If all is as it should be a littel letter C should appear beneath the letter U for Ungroup

3. After Pressing the C Bryce will collapse the mesh group into a mesh. Only once this is completed can you then seek the export function from the File Tab.

4. Choose your outgoing format. You should then be good to go

philw1972

Thank you again, man. :)