United3dArtists Archive

I don't think we ever mentioned KeyShot on the forum yet.

Okay, this is a rather expensive renderer, but I haven't spent a $ on a 3d tool since my trueSpace 6.6 upgrade ( I won the 7.1 version ) so this could be the time to invest
I have had 30 days to check if it suits my needs and see if I can integrate KeyShot in a trueSpace workflow and what are the benefits in terms of efficiency and rendering quality.
Here is my report.
To send a trueSpace Scene to KeyShot, we can use OBJ or 3DS file formats.

OBJ
1. In trueSpace, using Clinton's OBJ plugin, export the scene in the OBJ format. The plugin will generate an .mtl file and create a copy of all texture files in the destination folder.
2. In KeyShot's import options panel, set the orientation to -X
Notes :
If you make a selection of several or all objects in your tS scene, then export using OBJ, be aware that only your first selected object will be exported : the rest is ignored.
To export all of your scene, you must glue your objects together first. But they will appear as a single object in KeyShot.
To avoid this, you may prefer 3DS format.

3DS
1. In trueSpace, just select the objects you want to export, then use tS6 Files>Save_As>Object menu to save in 3DS file format.
2. In KeyShot's panel, just leave orientation to the Z direction. Also, make sure to uncheck Center_Geometry, so you will be able to import other objects from trueSpace and keep them at the same 3d location from each other.
Notes :
KeyShot will load the textures from the 3DS file as long as the textures are stored in the same location as the file. Therefore, the best way to ensure all textures will get loaded is to Archive the trueSpace scene first (in the tS6 Fils menu, choose Archive), then save the 3DS files in the same directory as the archived scene.
Big scenes (like architecture ones) are problematic. It seems KeyShot behave just like Workspace : it can handle a couple of objects with tons of polygons but a scene with a ton of very simple objects will crash it. If this is your case, forget about Glue_As_Sibling : you must use Clinton's PolyCombiner tsX/plugin to convert the glued objects into a single mesh.

Now I get my trueSpace scene loaded in KeyShot.
Wao, the rendering is cool. It is a sort of VRay soft look, but rendered in almost real-time ! You've got plenty of appealing shaders and many ways to produce stunning renderings.

The interface is pleasant and very intuitive... But after a while I start to find many weaknesses.

The U and V repetitions of the textures are lost during the conversion. I try to get them back using a Scale X & Y panel. Unfortunately, I realize that KeyShot only handles well the square textures : with bitmaps that are rectangular it is impossible to make the bitmaps to match trueSpace's scene unless you find the exact X:Y ratio that makes the bitmap to fit the projected plane... In other words, you simply can't make an accurate texture setup if you haven't baked your textures to match that real-time render engin requirements before.

Animations don't handle keyframes.
Instead, you have an assistant with very limited options : an object animation has a start stat and a stop state
I also notice that you can't make the camera to look_at some object. Therefore, there is no way to smoothly control the trajectory of the camera in order to follow some object.
Last but not least, the original axis for rotation from trueSpace are lost. You must define a rotation point in KeyShot.

Lights. The builtin HDRI editor is very well done... But there is no local/infinite lights in KeyShot. Instead, you must get objects that will represent your local lights and apply a material that will be a light emetter.
Just like DirectX lights in trueSpace's Workspace, light setup in KeyShot is a pain and require long minutes of tweaking to get the shadows you want... if you can.

Only these 3 issues are making KeyShot not worth its price. At least for a trueSpace user.
At this point I see it more as a sort of plugin for Solidworks (which it is) : it is a fast and easy tool to render industrial designs, and even animate those shapes in a short and simple animation (fly around, translate camera, dismantle a device in its spare parts).
It is NOT a versatile render engine.

My

Thanks to my work for a training company I managed to get an education licence of Keyshot !

And I must update the comment above from 2015 year : today, in 2024, Keyshot has become a very mature product and a pretty companion for trueSpace.
No more crashes at loading trueSpace objects.
It takes benefits of modern graphic cards and can render trueSpace scenes in seconds with tons of complex material effects, depth of field and many more features !

I still find 3DS as the best export format from Modeler.

Animation tools are more consistent but Keyshot's keyframe animation is not as accurate and flexible as we may wish. It does not handle complex animations.

FBS is supported by Keyshot now though and thanks to Clinton's FBX export we can load a trueSpace animation, and thus bypass Keyshot weak animation tools !
Texture maps does not convert well though. When I export textured FBX files from Workspace I just get plain white material. Maybe I am missing some option...

Still experimenting, but a promising new workflow is opening for me !

The FBX is picky about the kind of material it will export. Base d3d material, vray and lightworks materials will export as a blank default material. It only works with compound D3D materials. The image shows a sample of a compound material on top and a base material on the bottom. The compound has the orange triangle and contains more nodes. The base has no triangle and you can't go inside it. There is a tool in the Unofficial Updates(UU) that will convert materials. If you don't have the UU there is an older version of the converter available here: http://clintons3d.com/plugins/truespace ... erter.html

Thank you Clinton. Good to know.