How come Keyshot still haven't dealt with the issue of lack of UV maps from CAD?

[eobet]

I'm guessing that 90% of Keyshot users use STEP files, a file format which all CAD software exports and generates zero UV maps.

This nearly always causes issues with any and all texture maps. They will be too small, too large, or tile in very strange ways.

Why is this still an unsolved problem and how long are we going to have to deal with it?

I know that Keyshot's 3D procedural materials does a pretty good job at solving this, but the pattern selection is rather limited.

The only software (for CAD users) that does seem to deal with it in a general way is Autodesk VRED, and it's a pretty nice two-click process, but could still be made better (ie, I should not have to click at all).

[guest84672]

I'm actually not sure I understand the issue. We support the mapping type if it can be preserved in the native file format. 

What do you mean by "the pattern selection is rather limited"? What are you missing?

[eobet]

I'm actually not sure I understand the issue. We support the mapping type if it can be preserved in the native file format. 

And that is why I specifically said "issue of lack of UV maps from CAD", as no CAD software produce UV maps (or rather, the STEP/IGES file format doesn't support it).

What do you mean by "the pattern selection is rather limited"? What are you missing?

Linear and circular pattern variations on brushed and machined surfaces, for example.

But I guess my general question would be, if the 3D procedural textures in Keyshot manages to figure out how to map itself onto a surface, why can't you apply the same techniques to figure out how a traditional texture ought to be mapped onto the same surface?

As I mentioned, VRED can manage this with a few clicks, but it really should be no clicks at all since this is a decade old problem and I thought that we really should be able to do better by now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bLTLcND_D4

[DMerz III]

  That's cool!

To be fair, this is VRED 2017... it's not like they've had this capability for years within their program. I think since many people are relying more and more on Keyshot to implement "higher end" imagery (thanks to KS6, and it's Mat. graph), the need for seamless texturing and UVs is in higher demand. I'm sure Luxion has heard the demand more and more recently, and hopefully that means in the next version, we will have something like this built in.

Thanks for sharing this video!

[cadjockey]

That is VERY cool..  it's a problem I struggle with constantly with Solidworks files and no easy way to UV map properly. Acute angles or complex surfaces always look wrong close up.   
I would love to see this functionality built in, looks pretty easy to use too.

+1

Rich

[DriesV]

UV unwrapping is hard. 
At least, it is hard to make it user friendly. The VRED video is a bit misleading, as the geometry to unwrap is rather simple. It is just a  single quilt (surface patch) and not a complex surface or solid model. For more complex geometry, the task become exponentially more tedious.

We are open for discussing any suggestions about functionality or actual use cases from a production context, that go beyond demo applications.

Dries