VRML 2 Import

General

• ASCII-Format

• All basic objects (cuboid, sphere, cone, cylinder).

• Polygon objects of any size and number of vertices (n corners are triangulated).

• Perspective cameras, light sources (direct, point, spot).

• Material tags:
ambient color, diffuse color, specular color, emissive color, shininess

• WWW Links are created as a Cinema 4D attribute (Comment tag).

• WWW Inline Nodes are not supported.

Scale

This factor can be found at numerous locations throughout Cinema 4D when importing or exporting foreign formats. Therefore, don’t be surprised if the term ,export’ is used if this factor is seen in an import function (this factor is explained as a whole here).

This factor lets you scale files upon import/export, i.e., practically all relevant numerical values saved in the file or those to be saved will be multiplied by this factor and then saved - or interpreted when loaded.

The unit at the right in turn defines how upon

• Import the numerical value saved in the file is converted to the current Cinema 4D unit. Example: if an X value of 1 is saved in the file and you define Feet, the X value will be converted to 30.48 cm in Cinema 4D (if centimeters are defined by default in Cinema 4D).
• Export numerical values are saved in the file. Example: an X value is set to 100 cm in Cinema 4D. If you define Feet for export, the exported file will save a numerical value of 3.281 (1 meter = 3.281 feet).

More information about units and scaling can be found in the Project Scale section.

Optimize Hierarchy

If Optimize Hierarchy is enabled, the hierarchy is optimized once the VRML 2 file has been loaded. Superfluous dummy objects are removed and the object hierarchy is optimized. This creates a clearer overview, helping you to work more quickly.

Optimize Structure

This command will delete double points, i.e., points that lie on top of another point.

Import Normals

Several NURBS modelers export meshes in relatively poor quality, which is most noticeable in the faulty shading. VRML1, VRML2 and Wavefront formats can embed Vertex Normals (these are Normals that are present for each vertex; this can be multiple Normals per vertex, depending on the number of surfaces) into the file, if the corresponding option is enabled.

These Vertex Normals can help create good shading results with in Cinema 4D (Import Normals must be enabled on import) despite poor mesh quality.

The Normal tags can be found in the Object Manager:

These only serve to display and render the imported objects correctly. As soon as such objects are edited in Point mode, the Normal tag will no longer match the object and will produce faulty shading. However, the object can be moved, scaled or rotated as a whole.

As soon as the Normal tag is deleted, normal shading will automatically be applied.