Removing visible edges
from imported FBX models
Use this script to hide any unwanted edges from imported models, typically Revit models loaded in 3ds Max using FBX.
The visible edges are hidden lines that are normally invisible in 3ds Max. The problem typically occurs with Revit models because everything exported from Revit is triangulated. This causes edges that 3ds Max would normally hide to become visible.
You can recognize a visible edge, for example, if you have a wall in Revit that should only be represented in 3ds Max with four edges which are the four sides of the wall. Instead, 3ds Max displays the middle triangle that connects both corner vertices. This middle triangle is normally hidden.
The following script reads all edges and determines which ones can be hidden by evaluating whether they are next to any neighboring edges. Hiding these unwanted edges makes the model much easier to view.
You can also save this script in 3ds Max and drag and drop the .ms file in the Viewport while objects are selected.
(
-- do this in a local scope so I don't pollute the global scope.
function setVisibilityEdges obj =
(
local edgeSelSet = #()
-- Go through all faces
local numFaces = obj.numfaces
for faceIndex = 1 to numFaces do
(
-- And for every one of the 3 edges
for edgeIndex = 1 to 3 do
(
--collect the edge
append edgeSelSet ( ((faceIndex-1)*3) + edgeIndex )
)
)
-- Select all visible edges
meshop.autoedge obj edgeSelSet 5 type:#setclear
)
--==============================================
-- Start of the runtime script
--==============================================
local timestart = timestamp()
-- turn off undo during this operation.
with undo off
(
local editMeshArray = #()
for obj in Selection do
(
if (classof obj == Editable_Mesh) do
(
-- collect all the edit meshes first, because the
-- user could have selected some helper objects too, which we
-- don't want to process.
append editMeshArray obj
)
)
-- we don't need to hold the selection anymore, clear it out.
clearselection()
-- Array of object handles that have already had their edges hidden
local allReadyProcessed = #()
-- iterate through all selected edit meshes...
for editMeshobj in editMeshArray do
(
local found = (FindItem allReadyProcessed editMeshobj.handle) > 0
if (not found) then
(
setVisibilityEdges editMeshobj
append allReadyProcessed editMeshobj.handle -- Mark all the instances as processed too!
InstanceMgr.GetInstances editMeshobj &repeatArray
if (repeatArray.count > 0) then
(
-- mark them as processed by adding their handle to the array
for repeat in repeatArray do
(
append allReadyProcessed repeat.handle
)
)
)
)
)
redrawviews()
local timeend = timestamp()
format "Total time: % (seconds)\n" ((timeend - timestart)/1000.0))