3DS MAX plugin settings issue and render artifacts

[matthew.hull]

Hi all, I've been using the 3DS MAX plugin for some time now  but recently it has been giving me issues. Once before I would get artefacts on the model surfaces when exporting to Keyshot but a quick reinstall of the plugin fixed it. It is happening again but reinstalling the plugin has made no difference.

I tried to look at the settings for the keyshot plugin in 3DS MAX but when i click on settings it crashes the program every time.

I'm exporting STEP files from Creo and importing them into 3DS MAX to animate and rendering stills with Keyshot. I've rarely had issues in the past with this method.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

[Fabbrica]

Hello,
I have had a similar problem on some models imported into 3Ds Max from SolidWorks and .step files. I would first try to apply the "smooth" modifier to the model in 3DS Max  and set it to "auto smooth". If that doesn't work try to apply a Tessellate or Quadify Mesh. (I would try these on individual parts to just check if they work as they can crash the program if you do the entire model in one go)

If the issue is with the plugin crashing, I know that when I've had issues with it, it was best to re-install 3DS Max, Keyshot, and the plugin completely. Make sure to save a copy of your Keyshot resources folder in case anything goes wrong. (the folder doesn't get deleted it but the shortcut does)

[guest84672]

Are you using the latest plugin that is posted on our site?

[matthew.hull]

Are you using the latest plugin that is posted on our site?

I'm using 3DS MAX 2017 and Keyshot 6 plugin 1.3.12, which I believe is the latest version.

It is a complex model but I've rarely had issues exporting to keyshot before without applying any modifiers but i will do some experimenting

[hstokholm]

Can you perhaps share a file showing the problem? Preferably a smaller file if it is possible.

[matthew.hull]

Can you perhaps share a file showing the problem? Preferably a smaller file if it is possible.

https://we.tl/3CiVb55D98

Here is a model that has worked fine in the past but now I seem to be getting these issues with every export.

I imagine I must have changed an option in the settings for the keyshot 3DS MAX plugin but every time I click on the settings menu it crashes 3DS MAX

[matthew.hull]

Hello,
I have had a similar problem on some models imported into 3Ds Max from SolidWorks and .step files. I would first try to apply the "smooth" modifier to the model in 3DS Max  and set it to "auto smooth". If that doesn't work try to apply a Tessellate or Quadify Mesh. (I would try these on individual parts to just check if they work as they can crash the program if you do the entire model in one go)

If the issue is with the plugin crashing, I know that when I've had issues with it, it was best to re-install 3DS Max, Keyshot, and the plugin completely. Make sure to save a copy of your Keyshot resources folder in case anything goes wrong. (the folder doesn't get deleted it but the shortcut does)

Thanks for the advice, applying the smooth modifier seems to have resolved the artefact issue but I never had to do this before. Is this an option in the 3DS MAX plugin that I can't get to because it keeps crashing?

[hstokholm]

Good you found a workaround.

I don't think there are any options in the plugin settings that should be causing this. You can try removing the saved settings and see if that fixes the crash. They are located in :
DRIVE:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\VERSION\ENU\en-US\plugcfg\keyshotexport6.ini

[matthew.hull]

Good you found a workaround.

I don't think there are any options in the plugin settings that should be causing this. You can try removing the saved settings and see if that fixes the crash. They are located in :
DRIVE:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\VERSION\ENU\en-US\plugcfg\keyshotexport6.ini

Could the fact that I don't have that file be part of the issue?

[Livingstone]

Hi ,
The reason of all that artifacts and triangular weird shadows is because the 3D file was created as solid ( nurbs ) in another software different from 3DSMAX.
3sdmax mainly works with polygons but CREO same as Solidworks, ProE, Fusion360, NX etc works on parametric nurbs solids. Polygon and nurbs are different as bitmap and vector.
When you import a solid into 3dsmax the software recreate the surface creating a triangular mesh and it is possible in the conversion the information of the Normals direction ( the direction of the light hitting the triangular surface ) is lost.
It is also possible this information will be lost in the conversion between 3DSmax and Keyshot because in 3dsmax you can import a solid as Body object without any visible data  lost but then when you translate it in keyshot it is triangulated  in polygon.
The solution can be to convert in edit polygon in 3dsmax and apply the smooth modifier as other suggested before or in Keyshot you must adjust the normals with the edit geometry function.
In keyshot6 open the Geometry View ( button 1 in the attached image )
Click the Edit geometry button ( point 2)
Select the object you want repair in the list and click ok
In the Geometry Editor menu select Edit Normals ( point 3 ) and click next.
The Edit Normals menu will appear . Click on calculate normals ( point 4 ) . Usually the 45 degree standard value works well . After it will finish to do the calculation click on done and close the geometry view .

[matthew.hull]

Hi ,
The reason of all that artifacts and triangular weird shadows is because the 3D file was created as solid ( nurbs ) in another software different from 3DSMAX.
3sdmax mainly works with polygons but CREO same as Solidworks, ProE, Fusion360, NX etc works on parametric nurbs solids. Polygon and nurbs are different as bitmap and vector...

Thanks for the advice Livingstone, your point about losing the data for the normals sounds like the issues i've been having. I have got around that now by using the smooth modifier and i'll bear your advice in mind next time i have any issues like this.

[mattjgerard]

This was an issue with the Cinema4D plugin for a while. Its working great now after some back and forth with the tech people. KS now ignores the normals tags that C4D was slapping on every imported object, then I'd have to go delete it before kicking it over, or fix the normals in KS as you stated. Thankfully the KS plugin now ignores those normals tags. Saved me loads of time.

[matthew.hull]

This was an issue with the Cinema4D plugin for a while. Its working great now after some back and forth with the tech people. KS now ignores the normals tags that C4D was slapping on every imported object, then I'd have to go delete it before kicking it over, or fix the normals in KS as you stated. Thankfully the KS plugin now ignores those normals tags. Saved me loads of time.

Perhaps that should be implemented on all the plugins to eliminate even the possibility of issues with the normals. However until now I have had very few issues exporting from 3DS MAX to Keyshot through the plugin, but now I am getting these errors even on models that have worked perfectly in the past. And I still cant seem to fix the crashing when trying to view the plugins settings.

[guest84672]

We will have an update coming shortly that will fix the issue.