I hope some others are using Showcase. I loved the '12 version, but I’ve almost given up because of the tessellation problems I have in the '14 version.
As you can in the attached image, Showcase is struggling with creating enough polygons to give my cylinders a smooth edge. I’m importing with iges from Solidworks, but I’ve tried .step and .sldprt too. I’ve tried the different import levels (higher level of detail), but it seems to make no difference. Is there an over-ride somewhere or some other trick?
I had no idea people were still using Showcase. Not because it’s a bad idea, but purely because Autodesk seems to have given it the typical abandonware treatment.
You mentioned importing at higher detail levels. I’d try exporting an STL out of SW, that way you have manual control and visual feedback of your tessellation before you export it.
Ah yes, Showcase, the once useful product that Autodesk ruined.
I would have the same problem, somehow they broke the basic functionality BUT the setting I always used to use still exists.
If you browse to your Program Files\Autodesk\Showcase XXXX\Support folder you should see two folders:
TesellationSettings and LegacyTesselationSettings.
In my experience I have always used #14-Small-object-1LOD-High.j
I haven’t used Showcase in about 2 years, but IIRC copy that file from Legacy into the TesselationSettings folder and restart. It should now give you the option to use that setting.
That should give you a much tighter tessellation. I don’t know how they broke such basic functionality, even my data coming out of Alias would get corrupted in the same fashion - at one point I called Autodesk and shouted a bit, but they just turned Showcase into Abandonware and I switched to Keyshot. Was a shame, there were really some nice tools in Showcase.
If that doesn’t work, you can open the .j files in notepad. You should see lines that look like this:
My other designers are using Keyshot, but I Showcase still gets me to where I need to go. I was surprised that it seemed that it got one good year of promotion from Autodesk before being kicked to the curb.
Thanks for the tip. I found the folders, they are still there. It looks like those files are easy to modify too…why isn’t this on one of their support websites or help files?
Great. Thank the wonderful folks at Autodesk for breaking the most basic functionality of the tool.
I loved Showcase while it lasted. Especially for quick internal renderings that were used in design reviews, but once version 2013 came out it broke a bunch of functionality, and could no longer open old files without corrupting the textures. It’s like they decided halfway it wouldn’t be a product/transportation tool anymore and it would be only for Archviz so they threw away a bunch of materials and made the legacy materials incompatible.
After that I had it - uninstalled it, switched to Keyshot (which still irritates me in a lot of ways, but it has gotten much better over the years) and never looked back.
Slightly different topic, but perhaps you can shed some light on my question as well… I have been using Alias In combination with Showcase for several years and have been more or less happy with the workflow. Recently, my office decided that Alias is too expensive and have opted for Rhino. Long story short, having to save files in multiple formats is a pain in the a**.
Does anyone know if Showcase 2014 or 2015 support the native Rhino files or should I think about moving to Hypershot? Thanks in advance!
Direct connect does not support .3dm files, but will work fine with .iges or .stp files.
Not wanting to save a duplicate file for rendering is kind of silly as a reason to switch. I always save rendering files out anyways as separate files because I don’t want all of my junk construction geometry clogging up my rendering pipeline.
With that said, Showcase is a discontinued product. So if there is any reason to switch - that would be the biggest one IMO. (Plus Showcase releases after 2012 suck IMO)
Thanks for the input Mike. You’re right, saving multiple files is not an issue or problem. Exporting as a step or iges works like a charm, but there are occasions when something goes wrong and gets lost in translation. Guess I just miss the simplicity of opening an Alias wire file in Showcase…
With that said I didn’t realize that Showcase was actually being phased out! Hypershot is looking tastier by the moment…
Also a heads up that Hypershot is now Keyshot. Bunkspeed split to make their own product and Luxion now makes Keyshot which is most close to what Hypershot used to be.
After Autodesk pulled the plug on Showcase I made the transition to Keyshot and have been quite happy with it. They’ve also done a good job of addressing major annoyances in each new release which is good and the network rendering functionality is a life saver.
Carl Bass was visiting my office this week, the guy is really hands-on with Autodesk products. He just closed on some property where he’ll build his new man cave.
Ha, we had a Bass visit as well. He really is a technocrat. Detractors should pay no attention to the suit and tie; dude knows his stuff (maybe not everything, but more than you’d guess.)
