What length in pixels does a Wings3D unit of measurement equate to?

[Nightwing]

Hello,

I am using Wings3D to create models for my C#\XNA project and I'm wondering what 1 Wings3D unit of measurement is in pixels?

Thanks for your help.

[puzzledpaul]

There's no useful relationship between pixels and a WU - just as there is no other linear correlation between a WU and miles / mm / cm / nanometre etc

pp

[Nightwing]

There's no useful relationship between pixels and a WU - just as there is no other linear correlation between a WU and miles / mm / cm / nanometre etc

pp

Thanks puzzledpaul, I'm wondering what do you mean by useful?

If I RMB and create the default cube - which is, if I'm correct, 2 WU x 2 WU x 2 WU, then internally Wings3D must know what a WU corresponds to in pixels in order for the software to draw the cube.

[Fonte Boa]

Nightwing, why dont you export a simple cube to your destination software and make the calculation in this last one?
I think this would be the best way to stablish a equivalency between WU and any other measure (cm, pixels, km etc) in a specific situation.

[ggaliens]

"If I RMB and create the default cube - which is, if I'm correct, 2 WU x 2 WU x 2 WU, then internally Wings3D must know what a WU corresponds to in pixels in order for the software to draw the cube. "

NightWing ... Wings3D would do very very well to let the graphics card draw the PIXELS and not know jack about that. And here's the real brain buster ... when you zoom in and out with your camera ... the Wings UNITS for an edge stay the same ... but the edge changes sizes on the display.

Hmmm ... what PP said ... only different.

[puzzledpaul]

'useful'


For something (in this sort of context) to be useful ... it's good to be predictable / consistent / accurate / repeatable etc.

Trying to equate No of pixels to something like linear dimension is about the same (imo) as trying to knit smoke

The innards of wings bear no useful (that word again) comparison to the real world ... unless its output can be referenced against some sort of real world datum.

If you tell us what *exactly* what it is you're trying to achieve ... we might be able to help.

pp

[Nightwing]

Nightwing, why dont you export a simple cube to your destination software and make the calculation in this last one?
I think this would be the best way to stablish a equivalency between WU and any other measure (cm, pixels, km etc) in a specific situation.

Thank you all for your replies.

The reason for my question was to do with wanting to have models of a specific size (in pixels) in my game and to that end I think I might give Fonte Boa's suggestion a go and see what happens if it's easy to implement.

Edit: Some threads on Blender forums dealing with the same or similar issues

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Link 4

[Fonte Boa]

If you will export an OBJ (for example, since i am not sure which format you will use to send your model to the destination app), click on the little rectangle side File|Export|Wavefront (OBJ), so that you can open the Export Options window and be sure Import Scale and Export Scale fields are set to "1.0". This way the object wont be redimensioned during export operation.

Be sure during Import operation in the destination app there wont be any alteration in the scale of the imported object.

-------

Exemplifying with 3dsmax, to which i usually transfer my models from WIngs daily, the situation is the same you asked about. User has to set which is the system unit to be adopt in any new project. In other words, in 3dsmax, user has to set what is the value of a single Unit (1 m, 1 inch etc).
So lets suppose you set in 3dsmax 1 unit = 1 cm.
Then you import a default Wings cube (2x2x2 wu, wings unit).
This cube will arrive there measuring 2x2x2 cm.
That is all, Nightwing.

I can suppose this is valid for other 3d softwares too.
Just be sure you didnt re-scale the object during the Export operation, as i said above.

[hershel]

One odd little thing just happened to me, when importing an OBJ made in Maya by a friend of mine. The edge lengths/verts distances were slightly off. for example, a 1x1 units cube in maya came up with edges of 0.999999 length (not a big deal indeed ). Just saying... I'm not sure if this has to do with the maya export plugin, or Wings import plugin though.

[dawntreader]

I have printed a measurement block on my Makerbot Replicator 2 printer.
I made a series of blocks stacked on one another from 50WU (Wings Units) down to 5WU reducing in increments of 5WU
| 05|____
| 10.......|____
| 15..............|____
| 20.....................|____
| 25............................|____
| 30...................................|____
| 35..........................................|____
| 40.................................................|____
| 45........................................................|____
| 50________________________________________|

Then I got a ruler and measured each line of the printed lines on the block and got the following
05WU = 05mm
10WU = 10mm
15WU = 15mm
20WU = 20mm
25WU = 25mm
30WU = 30mm
35WU = 35mm
40WU = 40mm
45WU = 45mm
50WU = 50mm
Therefore 1WU = 1mm when exporting to a .stl file that is to be printed on a Makerbot Replicator 2 3d Printer.

Hope this helps