cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Medium Mesh Import Guide

duncankeller
Protege
Hey all,

My name is Duncan, I'm a dev on the Medium team. I know some people have been asking for an import guide, so I wrote up some short guidelines. This guide is targeted specifically to Reference Meshes, though there's certainly some overlap with stamps. There isn't all that much to it, but with textured meshes coming online it seemed like as good a time as any. If there's anything you'd like more detail on, let me know and I can update it.

Thanks!
37 REPLIES 37

timflee
Explorer
Hi all.
Let me first start by saying how impressed I am with Medium. I find it very richly featured (at least for my needs), intuitive and the controls very well thought out.

I’m a mechatronics engineer developing medical instruments and the company I work with has just started dipping its toe into the VR space. Medium gives us many (almost all) of the features we are initially looking for, but, a problem with importing colours and textures in through reference meshes is really limiting the potential.

Specifically, I am exporting files from Solidworks (3D CAD) and trying to import them into Medium WHILE still retaining the colours and textures of the original CAD model in Medium.

I believe I’m following the instructions in the various guides and manuals (but very happy to have any mistakes in my process pointed out) and have tried pretty much everything I can think of to get things working. Almost all of my attempts result in grey meshes in medium with no texture or colour. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!!!

So, down to what I am confident is working and what I have tried so far.

I am successfully able to export .obj and .fbx texture and coloured models from Solidworks using the following tools:

I’m pretty confident that everything is exporting fine as I’m able to open any of the .obj and .fbx exported files Windows 10 Paint 3D and everything looks great. However when I put all the files (.obj, .mtl, .jpg .fbx) in the Medium import directory (C:\Users\\Documents\Medium\_Import\Reference Meshes\) they only appear in medium as grey models with no colour or texture.

Interestingly, I downloaded a lego man from the net (.obj with texture) and not only does it open in Paint 3D (as you would expect) but it imports into medium just fine (looks awesome with the textures and colours!) So, just to reiterate, every file other than the lego man is one that I exported from Solidworks and opens perfectly in paint 3D but just as a dull l grey solid in Medium.

I then started looking closely at the differences between the lego man file set and a simple .obj block I exported from Solidworks (“textured block.obj”). I first modified lego man’s .mtl to point at the same .jpeg as my “texture block”. Lego man still imported fine into Medium. I then noticed that there were some slight differences in the structure/code of the .mtl files, so I changed the textured block .mtl to look exactly like the sections the lego man .tml (and called the new .obj and .mtl “textured block 1”).

I was now reasonably convinced that the problem was not with the .jpg or the .mtl file so turned my attention to comparing the .obj files of the lego man and by “textured block 1”. To my reading, there appear to be a few slight structural/syntactic differences in the structure to the two .obj files, but honestly I have no idea how to read the .obj “language” and therefore how significant the differences are.

If anyone is able to help me find the issue or provide any guidance I would be deeply appreciative. Perhaps someone would be kind enough to try and load all these models into Medium and report if you have similar success with lego man and failure with everything else.

I've placed all the relevant files on a sharepoint location that you can get the files I've been using from.


Cheers
Tim

timflee
Explorer
Somehow it (ok probably I) posted multiple times, but can't delete duplicates?

timflee
Explorer

Somehow it (ok probably I) posted multiple times, but can't delete duplicates?

Goguerrero
Explorer
Hello I've been wondering if I can import several objects at the same time keeping them in their own layer ?

duncankeller
Protege


Hello I've been wondering if I can import several objects at the same time keeping them in their own layer ?


No, currently there is no way to do this. Keep an eye out for future updates. Without saying too much, this is something I'm very eager to add.

DTH
Heroic Explorer
I imported a .obj  file per the manual above.  Now I have moved it into my work area.  I can move it around or get closer to it nor can I paint it.  Maybe someone can post what I should do or do I just make a model using my import as a
reference?

Goguerrero
Explorer




Hello I've been wondering if I can import several objects at the same time keeping them in their own layer ?


No, currently there is no way to do this. Keep an eye out for future updates. Without saying too much, this is something I'm very eager to add.


Can´t wait! Thanks!

just tossing some other ideas :

Masks
Create extracts from said masks

Seriously thanks
I love Oculus Medium It has become a very important part of my workflow

Calimero_Oeuf
Expert Protege
Impossible to save to a new object with correct scale (for home) an imported object
Error when saving.

I imported a wonderwoman character, I can see it in Medium but always error when saving or exporting for home

Help please

JPBenson
Protege
@jessicazeta - I never got this working. or if I did, I didn't realize it worked. with the newer version of medium has it changed how importing textured models works?

I am so complexed by medium's import functionality. Even with the new version and the guide here, things are difficult to understand. I want to import a mesh, use medium to fix it up, and export it so that it re-imports back into my original workflow perfectly. How do I do that? Each time I try (over 100 times!) it's a different size, or flipped sideways, or way off to the side. How do I get it back into my original program in the same exact orientation as I originally had???


jessicazeta
Heroic Explorer
@JPBenson - With 2.0 we made no substantial changes to the importing flow that affects transform, but we do realize how crazy it is right now. Definitely something that we want to address, we just need to find the time and the best way to do it.