Named faces in STEP-files to Named Selection Sets in 3DsMax

[WouterSwi]

I import STEP files with named bodies (which in turn have named faces) in 3DsMax.

In later stage, I assign different materials to the bodies and faces for rendering.

(Manual assigning is not an option bacause of the volume af drawings and material combinations.)

Retreiving the names of the bodies works fine when I make a smal change in one of DirectConnect's ini-files (see below); but because, for as far as I know, it's not possible to name faces in 3DsMax, I'm looking for a solution to assign materials based on face name.

There is someting called Named Selection Sets, this could be a solution to my problem, but it means that DirectConnect or programming wise it should be possible to create selection sets upon importing named faces. I'm guesses/hoping one can configure DirectConnect in one way or another, but I cannot find any information conceirning this.

So in short, how can I assign materials to faces imported from STEP by face-name?

In attachment, a simple STEP file with a body "PRT1" with a face "FACE1".

For access to the body names change the following:

In file :

C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMaxDesign\2014 - 64bit\ENU\plugcfg_ln\DirectConnect\DirectConnectTranslationOptions.ini

Set :

CopyParentNameToObjectNodes=OFF

[Steve_Curley]

Hmmm...
I made that ini change, opened Max and imported the object. No Face selection sets. I selected 2 faces and created a new selection set. De-selected the faces, and attempted to reselect them via the selection set. Doesn't work - does nothing.

I do note that each face has a Material ID - and that is the usual method for assigning different materials to different faces. All faces with the same ID receive the same material. so, if you could arrange for the Material IDs to be assigned prior to export, the all you would need to do in Max is create a Multi-SubObject material with all your other materials within it, though you may need to apply appropriate UVW Mapping to the object for it to work correctly.

Adding a UVWMap set to channel 2 and an UnwrapUVW crashed my Max 😞

[WouterSwi]

Thx, I got the same hint from someone in know: Material ID's. The only issue is that the original CAD drawings (well into the hundreds, maybe thousands) are made in Siemens NX.
STEP is the bridge to 3DsMax. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to get Material ID's across that bridge 😉

[jonathan.matthews]

Hello.  The requested process of "Named faces in STEP-files to Named Selection Sets in 3DsMax" has been reported to our development team as a feature request / request more information.  When more information arrives we will do our best to post / blog about it.

Thank you for your patience.