Render Results with CAD outside of CFD

[grantchapman_glassboard]

I have an issue with CFD 2019 I can't seem to find a good solution to. In the good old days you used to be able to export your CFD results as an FBX and then render them in Showcase (why Autodesk ever killed that wonderful app I'll never know). I'm looking for a good way of rendering my CFD results out, specifically with CAD geometry in the image that I don't need or want to deal with in CFD. Any good suggestions? I've tried exporting the results as an FBX and  importing into Fusion 360 to render, however, the colors don't show up. I also tried to import that FBX into 3DS Max and the colors show up but also they are all washed out. (Side note, I'd really like to not have to learn 3DS Max as its a bear. I also don't have a license to VRED or I'd try that out. Any advise would be greatly appreciated. 

Best, 

[marwan_azzam]

Hello Grant,

Since this is a CFD forum, I can only comment on what you can do in CFD.

If you have CAD parts that are suppressed you can still have them show up in a static or dynamic image as shown in this picture:

Otherwise I'm not sure what else can be done.

As to why they killed Showcase, the answer is the same as to "what happened to Jimmy Hoffa": Who knows!

Regards,

Marwan

[grantchapman_glassboard]

Marwan, 

Thanks for the reply. I do understand I can have other geometry in CFD and just not act on it, however, My real issue at hand is looking for functionality that used to be in the product. Having a high quality render with CFD results along side it really helped me convey what's happening to those I am working with. It used to be a seamless workflow within the Autodesk environment. It appears as this functionality is just being scrapped, along with Autodesk CFD's Vault integration. Can you shed any light on if there is any intent to bring either of these functionalities back to CFD in future releases? 

Best, 

[marwan_azzam]

Hello Grant,

I have used Showcase a few times in the past and it does a nice job in presenting the model.  I doubt it will be brought back to life.

This page (you might have seen it already) presents alternatives.  If you have any of the suggested alternatives it might be worth your time to seek help in the corresponding forum.

As for CFD-Vault interoperability, I believe it is something the development team has on their plate but I would not know when to expect that functionality to be operational again.

Marwan

[grantchapman_glassboard]

Marwan, 

After digging around on the internet for a while I found this https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/3ds-max/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2017/ENU/3DSMa.... I think this might be the integration I am looking for. It is definitely not as simple as the old Showcase integration but can make some really nice results. I haven't yet had the time to go through the exercise and get it running but I wanted to post it here so others can find it quickly. Let me know if you ever come across anything else that can fit this need as I often need this ability in my work and 3ds Max is a lot of overhead to deal with. 

Best, 

Grant Chapman