object resizes on export

Discussion in 'Design and Modeling' started by berky93, Sep 11, 2010.

  1. berky93
    berky93 Member
    I have an object I am creating that should be a few inches wide. Before exporting from 3ds max I confirmed the size. But after I export both netfabb and shapeways tell me the model is less than 3mm wide. Is there a way to prevent this? I've never had this issue before with any other objects.
     
  2. Shuggster
    Shuggster Member
    3ds max seems to always mess the scale up for me on export, all I do is make a note of what the largest dimension is supposed to be and then divide that number by what the largest dimension reads out as in netfabb and use that as a scale factor with the scale tool in netfabb.

    Its a bit of a pain really but it works.
     
  3. berky93
    berky93 Member
    hmmm I've never even used any tool in netfabb except repair. Good idea.
     
  4. bitstoatoms
    bitstoatoms Member
    I always assume 1 MAX unit = 1mm

    This seems to work for me?
     
  5. Shuggster
    Shuggster Member
    Well it never works for me :)
     
  6. Magic
    Magic Well-Known Member
    I used to have a similar problem.
    Please check this topic to see the solution that worked for me. I hope it will work also for you.
     
  7. berky93
    berky93 Member
    I never work in max units, especially when I'm creating an object for print.

    And thanks for the link, I think that's my problem.
     
  8. Magic
    Magic Well-Known Member
    It seems that 3DS Max has some display (or working) units and some internal (or actual) units.
    Let us know If this solve your problem: it is at least the 3rd or 4th time someone complains about wrong export sizes with 3DS Max, so perhaps this has to be mentionned in the appropriate tutorial, if it is not already the case.
    :p
     
  9. Shuggster
    Shuggster Member
    It works so long as I use mm as display units in max, when I change to cm display units its then out by a factor of 10, still its a lot easier to deal with knowing I can just scale by a factor of .1 in netfabb for all objects.
     
  10. Magic
    Magic Well-Known Member
    Yes, I assume that display units and internal units must be the same to avoid any scaling at export.