Free Lightwave Model conversion?

franontheedge

Hi,
I'm searching for free underwater models, and while doing so I've found some - but they are .lwo and at present I have no programs that can import these and thus convert them into models that I can get into Bryce, now Wings3d says it can import .lwo models but so far I've never yet come across any such models that will actually import, and I have a memory of a wings expert saying that it will, but that those are older Lightwave models, not the newer versions and that was some years ago, so by now there's no hope at all.

Is there anything else that will convert .lwo files to .obj? (it must be a free program by the way.)

Dave Savage

This may help, but I've no experience of using it myself. :)

http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/

cdordoni

There is a Lightwave import/export script in the script section of the Blender wiki. Its for an older version of Blender but maybe it will still work.

Dave Savage

I now have experience of the online model converter I linked to above.

I found a simple .lwo model online and downloaded it. Then I uploaded it to the website linked and it was dead easy to convert it to an .obj.
The only problem being that there is some work that needs doing in Bryce when you import it (The .obj didn't have the UV map on and it didn't ask for it even though the online software did create an .mtl file). This may have been the way the model was set up originally or it may have made a difference if I had also uploaded the .jpg UV file, I don't know.

Anyway, this is the finished render of the imported .obj model... looks quite good to me.

Dan Whiteside

Not that this helps much and just to complicate issues there are two, incompatible, versions of .LWO. Bryce (and most current apps) only reads the LWO 2 format but there are still a lot of old LWO 1 files posted on line. Generally, if you open the LWO file in a text editor, the header of a LWO 2 fie will say LWO2 or LWO6.5 (usually "FORMVLWO2").

franontheedge

TheSavage64 said:

This may help, but I've no experience of using it myself. :)

http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/

Thanks for that link, it sounds very helpful.

@cdordoni
A script for Blender? Okay, I'll take a look at the wiki, not that I have any idea how to use a script... But thanks all the same.

@Dave, Oh nice coke can, where did you get it from?

@Dan...

I'm speechless, you mean that all this time (years) I've been ignoring the vast multitude of .lwo models - and Bryce could load half of them anyway?
I guess I must have continuously just come across the ones that didn't and thought that was that. I mean I did know there were 2 types of lwo models around, but every time I tried to load any of them into wings it failed, so I thought they were all tarred with the same brush.

I think it was just the vast derth of underwater freebies that made me ask this time, well - result!
especially if the online converter Dave has found will deal with the ones that Bryce can't manage.

Dave Savage

franontheedge said:

Thanks for that link, it sounds very helpful.
No problem. It is certainly now saved in my bookmarks and no doubt will come in useful for those times when only the wrong format is available on a freebie. :)

@Dave, Oh nice coke can, where did you get it from?

http://tf3dm.com/3d-model/coke-can-80892.html
But after conversion it needed a bit of work in Bryce to get it to look OK. :)
I think it's like most models and it will depend on how it's set up in the first place.
The converted model was a single mesh but the label artwork that came with the .lwo wasn't set up as a full mesh UV map, so I presume that the original model had separate material zones for the label and for the metal parts.

Dan Whiteside

I should have mention that I'm using a Mac, PC may have issues with .LWO...

franontheedge

dan whiteside said:

I should have mention that I'm using a Mac, PC may have issues with .LWO...

No no, I have a PC and it turns out that the model I was looking at loads just fine into Bryce - no textures, but that's probably how it comes, the preview image was very tiny and I couldn't tell if the shark was default grey or textured as grey.

And now of course I'm having trouble finding any other .lwo models to test in Br7 pro to see if a textured one arrives with or without textures...

In the meantime I'm making myself a Nudibranch...

Dan Whiteside

Might try one of the free Dystopia city blocks (w/textures) here a DAZ

http://www.daz3d.com/dystopia-city-blocks-001-010-lwo

Had to look up Nudibranch - "a group of soft-bodied, marine gastropod mollusks which shed their shell after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms. " Sounds interesting!

limmon

(Been a while, so this is my first post since the old forum purge.)

Just recently there has been new work done on Lightwave import/export for Blender. Blender Artists member 'paleajed' has been actively working on it and updating scripts for the current Blender version.

http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?336749-The-LWO-import-export-project

http://www.ewocprojects.be/io_import_scene_lwo.py

http://www.ewocprojects.be/lwoexport.html

thomvinson

Dave Savage said:

This may help, but I've no experience of using it myself. :)

http://www.greentoken.de/onlineconv/

 

My luck with this one is around 50% converting LWO ships from Foundation 3D, but none of the other converters that I have found do any better.