3d photogrammetry and importing to Chief, and getting the textures RIGHT!

[CARMELHILL]

This has a lot to do with 3d rendering and textures.......Rene are you listening?

 

I want to add some custom objects to make my renders more relevant to the tastes of my clients. I want to add some beachy decorative items like wood carved fish, pelican, sea birds, and build up a good 3d user library to quickly drag and drop into my scenes, etc..., But I keep getting stuck on the texture applications. Is this even possible or is it a dead end?

 

I've been experimenting with 3dphotogrammetry, RealityScan from Epic Games, Meshroom, 3DF Zephyr, and a few others. 

 

RealityScan uploads your model to Sketchfab and then you can download it from there. You have to convert it from gltb to either fbx, obj, or stl. When I import the model it's just a white object. I have no idea how to properly apply the 3d image as a 3d texture map.

 

So.......Can I take a 3d model I photo scanned using 3dphotogrammetry and uploaded to sketchfab, and download that model into Chief or Twinmotion? I've tried a few times and the textures are always messed up. I'm assuming the textures aren't overlayed automatically and I need to somehow do it manually?

[robdyck]

@Renerabbitt Can you speak to this Rene?

[Renerabbitt]

4 hours ago, CARMELHILL said:

need to somehow do it

And @robdyckaorry was traveling today. My preference is Polycam.

yea you can import it but in some instances you’ll be fighting chiefs native and very impressive symbol smoothing which can goof up your UV mapping. Also please note if you’re not decimating your mesh prior to an import, you’re likely bringing in an object with a HUGE poly count.

for your fish, try setting symbol smoothing to 1 degree…. Does that fix your UVs?

[Chief_Content]

Hello @robdyck,

Here is a workflow for Meshroom by AliceVision:

1. Separate your scanned mesh into separate meshes based on texture assignments within your 3D editor of choice.
2. Place a cube around each separate mesh that is larger in volume than your original mesh. This makes the absolute bounds of all meshes equal to on another so that they all have the same origin upon import.
3. Import the individual meshes into Chief.
4. Place all of your separate meshes at the same point.
5. Assign an invisible material to all of the cubes that belong to each mesh.
6. Create individual materials for each mesh based on their texture assignments.
7. Assign the materials to their corresponding meshes.
8. Block all of the symbols together and add them to your user library.

 

Following the process above will result in a more accurate asset than if you were to set your smoothing angle to 0 degrees. While smoothing angle 0 does enable your texture coordinates to appear correctly as @Renerabbitt suggests , it will also result in surface anomalies during PBR raytrace. Unless you are using your scanned asset as a focal point of your scene/render, Rene's suggestion is easier and faster while yielding an almost identical result.
 

The image on the left shows smoothing anomalies due to 0 smoothing while the image on the right shows alignment anomalies due the object being made of multiple meshes.

 Let us know if this works for you or if this process breaks during any step.

[CARMELHILL]

Holy crap that's more complicated than I thought.

[Renerabbitt]

Just now, CARMELHILL said:

Holy crap that's more complicated than I thought.

See what I wrote above
 

 

2 hours ago, Chief_Content said:

Hello @robdyck,

Here is a workflow for Meshroom by AliceVision:

1. Separate your scanned mesh into separate meshes based on texture assignments within your 3D editor of choice.
2. Place a cube around each separate mesh that is larger in volume than your original mesh. 
3. Import the individual meshes into Chief.
4. Place all of your separate meshes at the same point.
5. Assign an invisible material to all of the cubes that belong to each mesh.
6. Create individual materials for each mesh based on their texture assignments.
7. Assign the materials to their corresponding meshes.
8. Block all of the symbols together and add them to your user library.

 Let us know if this works for you or if this process breaks during any step.

Can you explain this in a bit more detail? why would placing a cube around a mesh improve UV mapping within Chief? Is this some internal thing we don't know about?
What is the point of placing all meshes at a same origin point?
I can see maybe doing this if you are trying to isolate a scan of something say from its stand like a tripod etc. I think we are missing some context on this post.

[Chief_Content]

14 hours ago, Renerabbitt said:

Can you explain this in a bit more detail? why would placing a cube around a mesh improve UV mapping within Chief? Is this some internal thing we don't know about?
What is the point of placing all meshes at a same origin point?
I can see maybe doing this if you are trying to isolate a scan of something say from its stand like a tripod etc. I think we are missing some context on this post.

Of course!

Placing a cube around the individual meshes does not improve the UV mapping within Chief. The purpose of this is to make all separated meshes have the same bounds and volume so that a user can accurately place them at one point - enabling the separated meshes to appear as one mesh. You can them block them together or convert them to a symbol; allowing the objects to be edited as one object. 

This process ensures the texture coordinates are targeted correctly without disrupting the smoothing of the mesh(es). Note that this process if for Meshroom assets which are generated as one single mesh with multiple texture assignments. 

[Chief_Content]

We have updated the original answer to this post.

[Renerabbitt]

Just now, Chief_Content said:

This process ensures that the texture coordinates are targeted correctly without disrupting the smoothing of the mesh(es). Note that this process if for Meshroom assets which are generated as one single mesh with multiple texture assignments. 

ok I'm learning something here, you mean to say that smoothing angle only affects the outside bounds of a mesh as opposed to all faces of a mesh?

 

2 minutes ago, Chief_Content said:

Placing a cube around the individual meshes does not improve the UV mapping within Chief. The purpose of this is to make all separated meshes have the same bounds and volume so that a user can accurately place them at one point - enabling the separated meshes to appear as one mesh. You can them block them together or convert them to a symbol; allowing the objects to be edited as one object. 

clever, understood

[CARMELHILL]

On 11/9/2023 at 12:05 PM, Renerabbitt said:

clever, understood

Sometimes I feel like you guys are speaking a different language. I've built 5 computers, do my own website, networking, etc., but when it comes to coding for Ruby and this mesh stuff I get lost.

 

Is there a program that will downsize/simplify the poly count on a model, apply the texture to make it a part of the model, then export it as something that Chief can recognize. If it's not a simply process then it's not much use. I'd rather not make life even more difficult.

 

Example: doesn't a Sketchup dae collada file export retain the entire texture on the model itself?

[Renerabbitt]

27 minutes ago, CARMELHILL said:

Is there a program that will downsize/simplify the poly count on a model, apply the texture to make it a part of the model, then export it as something that Chief can recognize. If it's not a simply process then it's not much use. I'd rather not make life even more difficult.

Blender, its free. Google decimation and UV remapping in blender