KeyShot - can a part have different textures...

[dwc]

I am makng my first tentative steps using Keyshot and have in the first half an hour found what appears to me to be a show stopper.
I can find no way to put different textures on different surfaces of a part.
I have parts with, for example, a brushed surface and polished angling on the edges. The material is the same.
If I can't do that I don't need to look further using Keyshot, that is fundimental to the looks of the parts.
Someone please point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Don

 

[bigseb]

Only way I know to do this is to split into several smaller parts and use them in an assembly. Tedious but works.

 

[DavidJ]

I am definitely NOT experienced in this - there are other forum users with much more knowledge.

Playing with the different options for mapping texture onto the part may help.

Labels may well be worth exploring, to get different effects on different surfaces.

There is a lot of good information available over at the Keyshot web site - including tutorials on materials, labels etc.

 

[dwc]

Thanks for the info, I will look into labels.
Splitting parts into smaller pieces is impractical.
On the Keshot website I only see videos, which I hate as a way of learning things, a nice written description would be nice.
Am I missing something?
I will keep looking.
Don

 

[DavidJ]

Keyshot web site material is mainly videos - they do have a forum which might help - I presume you've checked the Keyshot sub forum here.

 

[JST]

As far as I can determine, or have been told, it's NOT a limitation in Keyshot, the problem is Geomagic. The part is all one piece with properties same throughout, and I do not think surfaces come through to keyshot with names. So Keyshot has no handle to work with.

Geomagic cannot make different surfaces different colors etc, without desperate workarounds that do not export. I believe in other software, such as Solidworks, you CAN separate surfaces, and that can go through to Keyshot. GMD has a name for each surface, but does nothing external with those, nor does it allow color assignment, etc by surface.

GMD is way way behind the curve on most of the connection to Keyshot, they cannot have used it much or understood it well when they did the integration..... one huge problem as an example: By 3DS' own admission, the "bip" file uses the file name as the material name. 3DS did not understand Keyshot when they made that decision. You can specify different materials in GMD, but the bip file ignores the materials, and inserts the file name.

HOWEVER, you SHOULD be able to export the material to Keyshot, and Keyshot gives you the option of using the part or material as the tag for material, color, etc. The right material file, and you can have identical pink green, purple, or whatever elephants if you want them. Except that GMD doesn't allow that the easier way, nor does it allow assigning material by instance.

EDIT: The big issue with this is that any time you want to change material, you must do it thru Keyshot, and cannot do it automatically by reassigning it in GMD. So you must manually change, in Keyshot, every individual item that has been altered, every time a new bip file is made. BUT, if 3DS had done it correctly, you could, IN GMD, change to any other material which you have named and have identified in keyshot's materials conversion file, and the change will be automatically made by Keyshot, no laborious manual editing required.

This is all of a piece with the whole part name vs file name vs part number argument.... GMD uses the part name as the file name, and tangles the part number in there too. It's a mess, and probably cannot be untangled without making a new and completely incompatible version of GMD. All the good choices end up sucking.

 

[HaroldL]

In KeyShot Pro you have the option to use the Geometry Editor which allows you to split a part into is constituent surfaces. You can then regroup the surfaces into like textured groups. The end result is a single CAD part with different textures on it.

If you only have KeyShot for 3D Systems, an alternate method, if you have MOI, you can import your part, apply colors to the faces you want to have the same texture then import that into KeyShot which will treat the different colors as different material. Apply your textures as you see fit for a multi-textured part. I think Ralf has a post somewhere on the forum that demonstrates this procedure. Have a look in the KeyShot section.

 

[JST]

I am assuming the Original Poster has the integrated version of Keyshot. The one that you get with GMD.

With that one you don't get the surface stuff, you cannot edit the HDMI, etc.

What can be done, although it is a stinky, clumsy workaround, is to apply a different thin overlay to each of the surfaces you need to have unique, and then give THOSE a texture in Keyshot.

 

[dwc]

Do I understand correctly that the integrated version of Keyshot does not allow importing a bip file directly?
It works OK from GM if I start Keyshot from the desktop before trying to use it in GM.
If I just try the Render from the GM menu it returns a Live Link error (live link is activated in KS).
If I start KS and try to import a file it crashes every time, before I can even select the file.
I just uninstalled GM and KS, registry cleaner, reboot, new download of both, new installation.
Exactly the same behaviour.
Any comments, ideas ?
Don

 

[bigseb]

In KeyShot Pro you have the option to use the Geometry Editor which allows you to split a part into is constituent surfaces. You can then regroup the surfaces into like textured groups. The end result is a single CAD part with different textures on it.

As I suspected, a Keyshot for GD limitation.

If you only have KeyShot for 3D Systems, an alternate method, if you have MOI, you can import your part, apply colors to the faces you want to have the same texture then import that into KeyShot which will treat the different colors as different material. Apply your textures as you see fit for a multi-textured part. I think Ralf has a post somewhere on the forum that demonstrates this procedure. Have a look in the KeyShot section.

Handy tip. Thanks.

 

[jhiker]

In KeyShot Pro you have the option to use the Geometry Editor which allows you to split a part into is constituent surfaces. You can then regroup the surfaces into like textured groups. The end result is a single CAD part with different textures on it.

If you only have KeyShot for 3D Systems, an alternate method, if you have MOI, you can import your part, apply colors to the faces you want to have the same texture then import that into KeyShot which will treat the different colors as different material. Apply your textures as you see fit for a multi-textured part. I think Ralf has a post somewhere on the forum that demonstrates this procedure. Have a look in the KeyShot section.

I can confirm it works very well.

 

[bigseb]

Keyshot 6? Pro or for GD?

 

[JST]

Do I understand correctly that the integrated version of Keyshot does not allow importing a bip file directly?
It works OK from GM if I start Keyshot from the desktop before trying to use it in GM.
If I just try the Render from the GM menu it returns a Live Link error (live link is activated in KS).
If I start KS and try to import a file it crashes every time, before I can even select the file.
I just uninstalled GM and KS, registry cleaner, reboot, new download of both, new installation.
Exactly the same behaviour.
Any comments, ideas ?
Don

That's NOT normal. At least not for the "pre Live Link" version. I have no idea what unworkable bugs are in Live Link.

In 2015.0.1 and Keyshot 5.64, I can create a bip file, and OPEN it in Keyshot (it's not an "import, really) no issues, it just works as it should. I can then apply a material file to it, and instantly it is using the desired materials.

If there were new things added to the model, then I may have to assign materials to them.

And, of course, due to 3DS BLUNDERING BADLY, I may have to do some gyrations adding parts in GMD to change materials on some parts..... Or manually edit the file in Keyshot. Or change the Keyshot material file to suit the FILE NAMES 3DS STUPIDLY USED FOR THE MATERIAL IN THE bip FILE. You CANNOT use a standard material file with GMD, although you can with ANY other program that exports a bip file.

 

[HaroldL]

An important issue when using KS Pro with GD is that GD will reassign materials willy-nilly. I have an assembly that has Red, Green and Yellow parts. When I make a change in GD and resend to KS the materials are all the same. On subsequent updates the material change will be different, one time Red another time Green. :? :?

KeyShot support directed me to 3DS since they created the LiveLink Add-On.
When I asked GD Support I was directed to read their release notes that stated they only support the KS for 3D Systems version of KeyShot. NOT PRO or any other version!!

I provided support with the model and the last response has an image that has missing parts and the colors are way off. I would expect the import to look the same regardless if it is KeyShot Pro or KeyShot for 3DSystems.

As for GD not being able to assign colors to surfaces, I tried to use Feature Color. And although GD did apply a different color to some holes I created when I sent the part to KS all surfaces were the same color.

 

[JST]

The bip file creator was not made right.

There is no other way to say it.

I'd suspect it of being never tested, and being really a disguised alpha version, frankly. Looks like it was done off a data sheet, and left to be what it is. A last minute "let's add this, how hard can it be?" deal.

I do not have the live link version of GMD, and frankly I don't expect to ever have it until 3DS figures out that the version is riddled with unacceptable errors as reported right here. It's crazy that there are no patches 6 months later.

I expect that the KS deal will be discontinued, either in the next version, or the one after. That will be a major pain in the tusch now that we have got used to having it.

Sorry to be so negative and kvetch like that, but it's been a good while, nothing seems to be happening, and it's getting old. Particularly the Keyshot biz that fails to take advantage of important user features, AND whatever it is that causes the other issues reported by others above...... You would think that would be important stuff for 3DS, but apparently having a major feature work correctly is not a big concern of theirs. And apparently neither is a "feature " that not only does not work, but actively corrupts existing files.