Is it possible to LFS renders in POV-Ray? Has anyone done this before?

Hi Spoop,

In theory yes you can *render* these models using POVRay, but to do this, you'll still need some modelling software to create the scene, with the model in it (and some light, and maybe some background). The modelling software would also need to be able to output POVRay scripts for POVRay to render.

Moray is the thing most POVRay users use. It won't read these CMX files either, but there's good support/docs for it so it may not be too difficult to write a converter.

Cheers,
Scoot.

3d Object Converter (http://web.axelero.hu/karpo/) will open .cmx files.



The catch with the trial version is you have to save it in some obscure format. POV is one of the formats avaliable, however the POV files do not work, but I'm sure someone who knows how to use POV-Ray will be able to do something with the triangles information.

Quote from a bit of the file :

// Object 3D_Object1
object {
union {
triangle { < -38460.000000, 77295.000000, 26626.000000 > < -41132.000000, 79164.000000, 9902.000000 > < -36727.000000, 78014.000000, 26430.000000 > }
triangle { < -36727.000000, 78014.000000, 26430.000000 > < -41132.000000, 79164.000000, 9902.000000 > < -39399.000000, 79883.000000, 9706.000000 > }
triangle { < -36727.000000, 78014.000000, 26430.000000 > < -39399.000000, 79883.000000, 9706.000000 > < -35986.000000, 79747.000000, 26504.000000 > }
triangle { < -35986.000000, 79747.000000, 26504.000000 > < -39399.000000, 79883.000000, 9706.000000 > < -38658.000000, 81616.000000, 9780.000000 > }
triangle { < -35986.000000, 79747.000000, 26504.000000 > < -38658.000000, 81616.000000, 9780.000000 > < -36670.000000, 81479.000000, 26808.000000 > }
triangle { < -36670.000000, 81479.000000, 26808.000000 > < -38658.000000, 81616.000000, 9780.000000 > < -39342.000000, 83348.000000, 10084.000000 > }
triangle { < -36670.000000, 81479.000000, 26808.000000 > < -39342.000000, 83348.000000, 10084.000000 > < -38379.000000, 82195.000000, 27161.000000 > }
triangle { < -38379.000000, 82195.000000, 27161.000000 > < -39342.000000, 83348.000000, 10084.000000 > < -41051.000000, 84064.000000, 10437.000000 > }
triangle { < -38379.000000, 82195.000000, 27161.000000 > < -41051.000000, 84064.000000, 10437.000000 > < -40112.000000, 81476.000000, 27357.000000 > }
triangle { < -40112.000000, 81476.000000, 27357.000000 > < -41051.000000, 84064.000000, 10437.000000 > < -42785.000000, 83345.000000, 10633.000000 > }
triangle { < -40112.000000, 81476.000000, 27357.000000 > < -42785.000000, 83345.000000, 10633.000000 > < -40853.000000, 79743.000000, 27282.000000 > }
triangle { < -40853.000000, 79743.000000, 27282.000000 > < -42785.000000, 83345.000000, 10633.000000 > < -43526.000000, 81612.000000, 10558.000000 > }

Also saved and imported to Anim8or (.obj), Blender (radio, off) but haven't been able to see anything (although the files open correctly again in 3d Converter

Hi Ajp71..

Thanks for that. I played around with this Today, but got much the same results as you did. Ie that the output 3d converter produces is either junk, or the target modelling software imports the data but you see nothing.. Moray, for example reads the UDO output from 3D converter, and even lists all the objects correctly, and lets you assign materials to them - but you still see nothing at all in any of the views. I did try adding some light and rendering the scene anyway but POVRay choked on Moray's output.

I did manage to get something on the screen in "Model Scene Editor":-
http://mse.sourceforge.net/ By exporting to RAW format from 3D converter, and importing that in MSE.

I got nothing in the single plane views but adding a camera and switching to the camera view got me a wire frame view of the car, but very close up - I saw the back wheels... Unfortunately, MSE, like all the modelling software I tried (and I tried about 6 Today) seems almost deliberatley obtuse. It wouldn't zoom out, or allow me to select an object on screen, and then just started generating access violations.

It's almost as if the designers of all these modellers have not grasped the idea of dragging and intuitive manipulation of things with a mouse. Things like entering rotation values by hand, selecting from lists rather than what's in front of you on the screen etc etc. I wanted to be able to point at an object to select it, and then change the properties of the selection (like say Visio for exmaple). It's almost like the modern desktop age has passed them by. Maybe this is what you pay Autodesk £2,500 for

Lot's more software to test though...

Cheers,
Scoot.

The only other thing I can think of is if a Max user would export the models to .x, then they could be imported into zModeler/Blender etc. and converted to POV.