Workflow Rhino-Keyshot

[mikalind]

Hi, is there anyone out there that has found a fully satisfying workflow for making models in Rhino and applying materials and light and render in Keyshot? I use Rhino 6 for windows and Keyshot 9.3 Pro fow Windows and i find it difficult to get everything in a confident flow. Mostly i have trouble with UV mapping and for some reason the tesselation seems to be running its on show with jagged edges sometimes and less jagged edged at other times. It just looks impossible to work the tools with any confidence. I would greatly value if someone that has figured out a perfect workflow between Rhino and Keyshot could share their findings.

[andy.engelkemier]

Rhino to keyshot can be tricky, but the easiest way I've found to handle applying materials is to split all your materials by layers. In keyshot, applying materials to an entire layer group isn't the most intuitive when compared to dragging and dropping onto an object from the library. I would avoid dragging and dropping...Always. You might have something in the scene linked without realizing it. So just skip that. If you're applying things from the library, then right click and copy the material. Then go over to the layer you created from rhino, right click, and paste material. This way you apply that material to the entire group at once, and you didn't mistake anything. Also, if you're scene is heavy, doing a drag and drop tries to preview what you go over, and if the scene is too heavy it just sort of locks up. Copy and Paste is the way to go because it's consistent, regardless of your scene.
Also don't copy the same material from the library on the left a second time. Once you  have a material in the scene, copy it from your scene, then you can paste as a new material or paste as an instance. Always paste linked (as an instance), unless you're Definitely about to change it to something else.

Do as much UV mapping in Rhino as possible.

Jagged edges. Use the custom settings in rhino, and the only thing you really need to change is the maximum distance to edge. Use the help file and look up what that does. That helps not overcomplicate tiny fillets, but keeps large sweeping smooth pieces with lots of mesh so you get smooth highlights.
Import NURBS so you can change it in keyshot afterward. But Keyshot's tessellation is not size based, so if you just use something like .6 on everything, you'll have this Tiny Tiny part and it'll have a Ton of tessellation, and a really large part won't have enough. Rhino's tessellation tool is much better, so try and get it right there.

If you want to get fancy, put specific words for materials in your layer names. You can have keyshot automatically apply materials based on those to help save lots of time. Even if it's not Quite the right material, it gives you a good start.

[mikalind]

More info than i dared hope for, spot on all the way, answers on every thought i had and a few more that i should have, thank you so so so much : )

[mikalind]

Hi again, after making a mesh in Rhino do you use the Rhino plugin for Keyshot, or import 3dm file, or save to another format from Rhino and then import to Keyshot?

[andy.engelkemier]

No plug-in for me, but that might just be habit. It only saves a few clicks anyway, so what's the point?
I save 3dm and import.
I did forget to mention, you can define a "part" by creating a block. If you then move that block in rhino and rotate it, keyshot understands that. That's how most cad works. But it's tricky because the block is Always created on the active layer. So you get the benefit of a properly placed pivot point, but applying materials is trickier to plan for. It's totally worth it for things like Casters, which don't rotate on center. So for those you would have to pick a pivot point for each caster.