Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

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Todd_Davis
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Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by Todd_Davis »

Most softwares I've worked with that convert a point cloud to a mesh utilize vertex colors to shade the resultant mesh appropriately. This displays great inside 3dsMax but I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to get the mesh to display with vertex colors when imported into AutoCAD?

Currently I can import the mesh but the vertex colors do not show up. It only displays with a default material of one color.

If anyone could shed some light on this I would greatly appreciate it.
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by gilles_3DR »

Hi Todd,
When rendering a mesh, you need to differentiate between 1/ textured mesh and 2/ mesh with color on the vertices.
Some SW can do only one or both. Same for file formats...
Which format are you using to import in autocad?
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by mmarsault »

Gilles,

could we export a Mesh with the colours from the vertices in reshaper ?
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by gilles_3DR »

Yes, in 3dreshaper, you can have either colored/inspected or textured meshes.

You will get a colored mesh by using the dedicated function which uses the color of the points of a point cloud to apply to the vertices.

In the case of a colored/inspected mesh, you can export the color to a format that supports it (for example .ply).
As for textured mesh, the most common format to export texture would be .obj
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by mmarsault »

Thanks Gilles, will try that.
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by Todd_Davis »

I have a mesh which is using "2/ mesh with color on the vertices". Displays fine in 3dsMax but when I export it as a .dwg and open in AutoCAD the model shows up but not the vertex colors. It's just all shaded one color. I'm going to assume AutoCAD does not handle vertex colors?
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by gilles_3DR »

Could also be that 3dsmax, when exporting to DWG doesn't include the color...
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by Todd_Davis »

Thanks for the feedback. Do you know of a file format that does support "2/ mesh with color on the vertices"?
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by max72 »

ply is usually a good option but unfortunately autocad does not support it..
ing. Massimo De Marchi - +39 347 32 17 049 - www.studiodemarchi.net
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Re: Mesh w/ Vertex Colors in AutoCAD?

Post by max72 »

You can try with meshmixer. You can save an obj with per vertex color, besides the textured version.
At this point you *might* have a 3dstudio file with per vertex colors to import in autocad?
Massimo

edit:
it looks it's not working as expected.
there is a trasfert mesh to vertex in meshlab, that could be a good candidate....
ing. Massimo De Marchi - +39 347 32 17 049 - www.studiodemarchi.net
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