topic mtl is not visible in Meshmixer Forum

mtl is not visible

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 17:46:32 GMT

I understand that the obj and mtl file have to be in the same folder and I checked to make sure the mtl file was indicated in the obj text file (which it is with no illegal characters) but mesh mixer will not show me any textures, only a white meshed model.

Re: mtl is not visible

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 09:23:56 GMT

Besides the obj geometry file and the .mtl a textured .obj needs some image file as well (.bmp, .jpg, .png).

The .mtl needs to link to that image file. Opening the .mtl of a textured mesh in a text editor there should be at least two lines:

newmtl defaultMat
map_Kd someImage.bmp

The material name in the "newmtl" line may be different.

The second line expects a file named "someImage.bmp" in the same directory as the .mtl

Re: mtl is not visible

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 15:20:46 GMT

Oh okay. Thanks for reaching out. I don’t have an associated texture file because we preferred the model without. I was under the impression that the mtl was a shaded mesh file so that would be enough but I guess you’re saying it is necessary to have to texture file as well. Also, is there a number of polygon limit? I have a high polygon count so was wondering if that could be another reason why other files that I have that do have associate texture files are not loading.

Re: mtl is not visible

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 23:29:38 GMT

Never found some software limitations in MM. Just tried to load a 1.49GB obj file (24'485'888 tris) plus a 8192x8192 texture image (201.3 MB): Works here (admit: Things are getting slow .... and some tools might overload resources ... but pure loading definitely works if one is patient).

In general a .mtl can define material shading without a texture as well (color, transparency, reflectivity a.s.o.). BUT MM simply does not support those definitions (except the texture information). Other third party apps might support only some of the definitions (maybe color and reflectivity but no transparency...) Shipping materials via .mtl files is an adventure of try and error.

Re: mtl is not visible

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 01:49:47 GMT

Thank you so much for the feedback. This helps!