When I read a PlantStudio (3DS, LWO, etc) file into my 3D program, it crashes.

▪        We have some suggestions for improving import into different 3D programs in our section on What to do if your 3D program can’t read PlantStudio filesWhat_to_do_if_you_cannot_read_PlantStudio_3D_models. However, there are many problems with 3D import in many programs. 

▪        If you can’t get one export format to work correctly, try another – one of the four most popular ones is bound to work for you.

▪        Many people have reported that one 3D program in the suite they use will read one format well, and another will read another format well. Often it works to import files into one program, save them, and read them into the other program. We know this is a hassle, but it’s a fact of life in using most 3D tools. 

▪         We would like to improve our export, but since we don’t have all the programs out there we have to rely on what people tell us for the most part. We’d love to hear about any problems you have with importing PlantStudio files. Please give us as much detail as you can about what you are using and what happens: what error messages you see, and so on.

When I read a PlantStudio-written DXF file into Poser, it gives me the message "This DXF file does not contain an 3D facet entity data" and will not open the file.

▪        One of our users tells us that in this situation she unchecked an option in Poser's DXF import that said "make polygon normals consistent" and Poser could then open the file. 

▪        There are often import options you can play with to see if they help with import of PlantStudio files.

I can’t figure out how to write out texture mappings or vertex normals in 3D.

▪         PlantStudio doesn’t do that. There are some available file converters that will add this information.

When I tried to print a picture I got an Access violation error. 

▪         Printing pictures may produce an error on some systems if the printed image takes up a lot of memory. If this occurs, reduce the number of pixels (which determines memory use) by reducing the print resolution or image size. Also, if you have little disc space available the system may not have enough space to spool the printer file. 

Why does PlantStudio say my screen has 96 pixels per inch? I thought screen resolution was 72 pixels per inch.

▪        The original Mac monitors had 72 pixels per inch, but not all monitors and software settings follow that standard. Different monitors and settings have different resolutions in pixels per inch. Some have 72, some have 78, some have 96. If you are using Large Fonts under Windows 95/NT, the pixels per inch will most likely be 120 or even higher. We get the number we report by calling a function that is supposed to tell us what the screen resolution is. Your monitor might not report this number correctly, or it may be different from what you expect. 

How can I maximize the number of plants I can draw at once? I'm trying to create a meadow scene and the program gets slow with a lot of plants. 

▪        If your final image will be in 2D, you could create a Painter nozzle or Paint Shop Pro tube and use it to either paint in a background for a 2D picture that has 3D elements, or use the background as a bump map for a 3D landscape. You would want to include a lot of different grasses in your background bitmap to give the "grassy field" image variety. This would depend, of course, on how much detail you need because all of these solutions would produce something that looks good from far away but not so accurate up close. 

▪        If you need a 3D grassy-field model and are composing the scene in a 3D rendering program, try reducing the number of polygons output from PlantStudio by doing these things: 

▪        Reduce the number of distinct lines drawn in stems [General parameters: Number of segments to draw to create a curved line]. For most grasses reducing this number to one will still look fine. 

▪        Use leaf 3D objects that have as few triangles as you can stand. Try designing a leaf with only two or three triangles and see how it looks. Sometimes when you have many of these and they are small they look quite good enough. Here's a two-triangle leaf to try out:

              Name=Leaf, two-triangle

              Point=0 0 0

              Point=-6 -52 -5

              Point=5 -53 0

              Point=1 -96 -8

              Triangle=1 2 3

              Triangle=3 2 4

▪        You can paste this in your 3D object library file and use it (make sure to keep blank lines before and after it when you paste it in the file). 

▪        Make sure you aren't drawing any inflorescences and flowers unless you need to. This can take up a lot of polygons you might not even be able to see. To make sure these are turned off, set both [General parameters: Number of apical (terminal) inflorescences] and [General parameters: Number of axillary inflorescences] to zero. 

▪        When you export, reduce the number cylinder sides to use to draw stems to three (the minimum). From far away this will probably not be noticeable but it will reduce the polygon count. 

▪        Make the plants have few internodes and leaves by increasing the amount of biomass needed by each, by decreasing the life-cycle length of the plant, or by export the plant at a less-than-full-grown age (or by using plants with a variety of ages). 

▪        There are probably other ways to reduce polygon count, but you get the idea. What you want is to produce grass-like things with as few polygons as possible, and if you can do this you can probably double or triple the number of separate plants you can handle at once. You could try looking at one exported plant in your rendering program and looking for polygons you could lose, then going back to PlantStudio and figuring out how to get rid of them. And you could look at the number of points being exported when you export and try to minimize that. 

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