When I import a .3DS file or an .FBX file into WED or MED the result is that the model is deconstructed. The parts of the model are not in alignment, not complete, and are rotaed in differing directions. What am I to do? I also often get an error message : ">64K faces" and the program crashes. There certainly cannot be a limit of only 64,000 faces is there? Most of my models are in the 150K to 350K faces range. What am I doing wrong? Any comments will be appreciated.

What do you want with a >64K model? Do you most of your customers can handle it an engine?

Yes this limit is there(something with the reading bits...), but IF YOU REALLY need so many polygons, split your model, but everything will be slow.



Which program do you use to model?

I use Autodesk VIZ 2006. Most of the models can be broken down, for example, If I have a house I could have the house be a model, the furniture inside the house another model, the kitchen cabinetry another model....and so on. BUT, when I import a model that is allowed to be imported the sub-parts of the model are out of alignment and at incorrect angles. Also, for example, I brought in a chair that I modeled in VIZ, it was mostly there except that one arm was missing and two of the four legs as well The bracket that supported the missing arm was there but no arm on it. Also, if I have things like rugs, drapes, lamps, tables, vases, etc. , do I have to load them all in separately. How are some of the games put together that you can walk in and out of several buildings and pick up twenty different objects without having a great deal of faces (obviously more that 64,000). Do I look for another game developement software? Thank you very much for your response, I look forward to hearing back from you.

Alright... Mr. "Just a novice searching for answers."
Rei is right... there is a limit... but that depends of what version you are using too.
If you can... (version based)... use the tool in med to knock the polygon count down.

There is a reason for keeping your polygon count as low as possable.
Mainly because a game engine works to do many different things at once.
And... prefoming collision detection locates the main avatar in relationship to everthing else based on the verticies/polygon intersections.
If you have a game level with zillions of polygons you will be asking the engine to do so darn much at once that you will simply lock up the engine and therefore your entire computer...

About the messed up imports of .3ds files... That has always been a problem.
I think it has to do with orientation of parts that were built in MAX...
The only work around that I found is to export the model file from MAX as a Wavefront .obj file and then you can import it into MED. That has worked many times for me...

Good luck with your 150k to 300k face models...

Randallkent,
Now I see why you have so many faces...
You are creating rather large models because you have many models in your primary arrangement software ie. Viz...
It is rare that I here someone using Vis in this manner...
Vis is cool but you'd be better off using MAX...
Apparently Vis has a problem with orientation when exporting to 3ds...
You don't need to switch to another game developement software. You need only to find the "key" for exporting and importing...

Once you figure out the "key" so that orientation is ok upon export and import
you will be able to recreate your Viz Level by somewhat doing what REI said...
Break up your model/level into seperate pieces...

TerraSame,

t
Thank you very much for the help. I will follow up on this as you have suggested.

Randallkent,
I'm thinking that you and your approach is quite interesting...
I have a good 30 years design experience in the architectural/engineering field...
So, I know Autodesk software very well and therefore I know Viz.
The way you are attempting to use 3DGS with your Vis created modeling has major potential in a
similar way that my personal work by using accurate architectural digital data in conjunction with
accurate geospatial digital elevation data being run through the 3DGS engine.
On one hand I wish you success in finding the key you search for...
On the other hand I feel that I might be able to find that key in a manner such that you could be more efficient in your endeavors.
Please let me know if more assistance could be advantageous for you.
Regards

Thank you TerraSame, my real job is as Director of Architecture for a development company and I only find time to work on this on the weekends, but I will be in touch.

I most definatly understand the situation you alude to only to well...
At your convience...