Welcome to Fractal Forums

OK so there is now a voxel bitmap stack export facility in the latest M3D beta (thanks Jesse) which makes it much easier to produce such stacks than using the animation tool but how do we go on from there to 3D meshes?

As most will probably already know since it has been mentioned a few times, it is possible to use the ImageJ 3D viewer plugin for that purpose and this is probably the easiest/most straightforward way to do it.

I've now also found this interesting MVE-2 modular program http://herakles.zcu.cz/research/projects/11/index.php (http://herakles.zcu.cz/research/projects/11/index.php) which can also produce 3D meshes out of bitmap stacks by chaining appropriate modules.

Example: VolumeImageLoader -> Mv2Array2RegGrid -> MarchingCube or MarchingTetrahedra5 or MarchingTetrahedra6 -> ObjSaver

Meshes produced with the marching tetrahedra modules will absolutely need to be post-processed in Meshlab using the the reorient faces coherently filter and remeshing/simplification/smoothing is also likely necessary for any meshes produced by MVE-2 which could be done in Meshlab, Meshman or OpenFlipper using appropriate operators.

Please post if you know of other software for bitmap stack to mesh conversion as well as mesh simplification/smoothing, etc...

Cheers.

Thanks for this post!


I think you meant:

Example: VolumeImageLoader -> MveArray2RegGrid -> MarchingCube or MarchingTetrahedra5 or MarchingTetrahedra6 -> ObjSaver

at least I couldn't find Mv2Array2RegGrid.  [I'm having trouble with the MveArray2RegGrid module "GridND do not contain point attributes with name Values."]

Yeah it's indeed MveArray2RegGrid, sorry about the typo.

And AttrName in MveArray2RegGrid and PointAttributeName in the isosurface extractor modules setups (MarchingCube, MarchingTetras) must match otherwise you get the error you get. Sorry about forgetting to mention this as well.

I can tell you it took me more than a bit of time of fiddling to figure all that out.  Hopefully you're getting there faster than I did.  

O0

All very new to me.  I tried Fiji instead (based on ImageJ) - I think it might have everything I need.  Import the image stack, then save-as and wavefront is right there in the list (instead of messing with the viewer).  Great tools to know about all of them.

I asked Aexion's help, and he wrote this article; http://www.incendia.net/wiki/index.php/Raw_Voxel_Data_Export

The second part can be applied to Mandelbulb's voxels I hope? :)

Even if 3DCoat can import a stack of bitmap, it currently costs from $99 to $249 depending on the version. :(

Considering that, I'll have to pass on even trying it.

There's a trail version of 3D coat available. Unfortunately it cannot import a model from bitmaps. It only takes a format called "RAW". I assume it includes all slices in a single file.

I struggle to get something. I used Fiji to export as RAW then tried to import into 3DCoat, without success.

I might have access to a 3D printer and they ask me for a STL or DXF format. In Fiji I found a way to see the object in 3D (plugins/3D viewer) and in that plugin I can export as DXF or STL, but it says that there is no mesh to export :(


If I use the export to Wavefront OBJ, the file is too small to be true: 108 bytes whereas my bitmap stack is 119MB big in total. Trying to import into 3DCoat gives nothing obviously.

Any tips please?

Fiji seems to take a random amount of time to actually write the file (or maybe it's a bug).  I sometimes had to close the app and still watch the file folder before the file had a non-zero size, and even then, some of the obj's didn't work, and I did the whole process over.

Yes Fiji seems quite buggy. It uses an enormous amount of RAM, as you said the time taken to export is random and the file stays empty, and when trying to close the program it makes the PC swap like crazy...

Any other solutions?

I see a lot of holes in the structure; try to reduce iterations number, maybe?
Plus a lot of ram is needed (together with a 64 bit OS).
To build a pile of 2000 pngs (2000x2000 px.)  with 1:1 ratio (full scale and maximum quality) one should run imageJ (64 bit ver.) with something like 16 gigas on board..otherwise one should decrease the scale and quality.
(http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2010/052/e/7/cinema4d_mandelbulb_by_bermarte.jpg)
this one was produced using 1000 pngs with a scale around 2:1 without 64 bit (cinema 4d was used).
Volume rendering with Blender is nice 2 [but there's no mesh] (;

All the meshes I have produced with ImageJ are full of holes though this can possibly be fixed in Meshlab which has a filter for closing holes in meshes, haven't tried it though so can't say whether it works well or at all.

Unfortunately mesh generation from stack is extremely memory demanding whatever the application it seems as MVE-2 I have linked in my initial post also chokes for lack of memory if the stack exceeds a certain size. A 200³ stack is OK but a 400³ will fail.

Here is a raw obj mesh loaded in Sculptris that was generated from a 200³ stack in MVE-2 using the marching cubes operator.

I tried MVE-2 but could not make it work (various error messages, something to do with the Save object that should have an output) Do you have a screenshot of the "process" please? My stack is 500x500x500. Is that too big? I have 8GB of RAM.

Here is a screenie as well as a test project file using marching tetrahedra5 (which you'll obviously need to edit as far as input goes).

I don't know if your stack is too big, if it chokes for lack of memory it should tell you with an error message, as it's a 32bit app I don't think it will be able to use 8GB but only 2 or perhaps 3 I guess, you've got to try.

Thanks blob. This is pretty much what I did using the above instructions. What's next? Where do I load the image stack?

When I click on Start Map, it says "Module ObjSaver1 has no connection on any if its output ports. You must connect at least one of its EvokeUpdate ports in order to update the module."

And if I click on Run Program, it says "Program line no. 0 is not defined".

Sorry, I'm really a stupid user :D

I did put everything (project file and images) in the application directory and I had to rename the images to remove all zeros at the beginning and they are named as follows

new1.bmp
new2.bmp
...
new10.bmp
new11.bmp
...
new100.bmp
etc...

And I am not using the latest version but the previous one from 22.4.2010 (as the latest requires net 4.0 which doesn't run on my WinME system). It took quite a bit of fiddling and a few error messages until I got it to work but I am sure I have seen none of the errors you report so perhaps you should be using the same version as I do if you use the project I uploaded as a basis for your trials.

Oh and btw, I've just realized you use the run program button when it is the start map button you've to click on to start the process. I am not sure what that run program button is about as it crashes the app when I try to use it here (I have just tried for the first time a few seconds ago hahaha), hopefully it doesn't work just because you are clicking on the wrong button.

Edit: the run program button also works for launching the process but only after a snapshot of the current state has been made (with the snapshot button).

Wooooooooahhhhh!!! How could I not see this long wanted feature in the latest beta???
Thank you Jesse!!!!!  :horsie:

I hope you find a good way to convert it to printable format bib! This is BIG!  :beer:

Because it came in a 2nd beta upload :)

Btw, I remember you printed some Mandelbulbs a while ago? How did you do that?

OK, not me blind then! Downloaded again, looks great!!! (see if you recognize the place from the attached image ;) )
Having some troubles getting the same result as in the preview though...

Yes I love my printed bulbs! I had a friend on this forum do them for me, I could ask him how he got the right format for the printer, I remember he had some trouble with it too...
There is a thread somewhere about it...

Isn't that your tsunami stuff?


I remember, I should try to dig it out when I have more time

Yep, the Medusa image
(http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/9/thumb_1002_18_12_11_5_04_00.jpeg)(http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9758.0;attach=6100;image)
I will also see if I can find it (when I've got time) but I don't think there was any clear info about this, I will see if I can find his email... (http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=9605)

Hey blob,

There are many versions of MVE-2 available for download, which one are you using?

I tried programs like Meshlab or Blender, it is incredible they don't have a function to load an image stack. Having to use ImageJ (=Fiji) or MVE-2 is a pain, they are not really user friendly and I can't make them work... :(

Any advice or step by step instructions appreciated!

I finally am on Vacation!

10 Days of no responsibility.  My employment is closed, and Lissa is out of state, and since this is the feature I have been waiting for and requesting since Day 1 of Mandelbulb3D, I'll be working on this.

Looking for the above mentioned software now.

I too wish importing these things was standard in 3D Apps as well.  Like Blender, the few commercial 3D Programs I own wont handle this sort of thing either.

But I'll find a way   O0

I count on you :D

OK - minimal progress, but progress none the less!

(http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step_1.jpg)
Bigger: http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step1.jpg

I used fiji  (first 32 bit windows exe file on the download page there in case version matters) and imported the voxel stack.  I tried a few different ways to export it - some made the same small files reported earlier.  But if I had the stack open and chose the 3D Viewer plug-in, then exported my obj, I got a big 120 MB file   :)

But that file would not import to any of my 3D apps except the one modeling app I paid for, Hexagon   (well, Carrara is a modeling app too, but it does so much more, I think of it as an all-around 3D app!).

I can't export it from there though...  that just causes errors.

I think I was too ambitious and need to make a smaller voxel stack of a less complicated fractal, just to get the procedure down  (I used a 400 image stack, and set the 3D Viewer to pretty high resolution).  Still not sure if the viewer settings effect anything in the export.  But I'm done for today!  I tried every free 3D app and 3D Modeler I could find.  Only Hexagon imported the file.  

Hexagon goes on sale for $1.99 at Daz3d.com quite frequently, so if this turns out to be the only tool that works, it's a good bit cheaper than 3D Coat!

More tomorrow, so stay tuned...

Did you try Bryce ? I believe many of Terry Gintz' software users import into that - and often with files bigger than you stated ;)

Though as I recall they normally use stl files.

Bryce  is from the same people who make Carrara and Hexagon, and yes - tried that too.  Byce does not handle stl files as far as I know.  Just the usual array of obj, 3ds, etc.

It's not the file size, it's something in the way Fiji creates the obj file.  I have routinely used obj's from Groboto (which can be 700 MB) in Carrara without choking it.  Here's one just to show that huge obj's work in these programs:

(http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/lissahdritestalpha.jpg)

So I'm not sure why, but there is something very strange going on here...

Hmmm - I thought that just about all of them handled stl as it's the most generic and simplest format whereas "obj" is more proprietary and has undergone so many changes that not all implementations are the same.

e.g. our old "obj" files for 3D Studio from the 90's won't even load in the current version of 3D Studio !!

Interesting...

The current reality is that most of the 3D apps can't handle stl files, and up until now have never met an obj file they didn't like!  Even obj's over 1 GB!

obj format is only proprietary in it's binary form )used in Wavefront's Advanced Visualizer application and with the .mod file extension).  The .obj extension is ascii and not proprietary.

I checked my older versions of Carrara, and C6 could indeed export an stl, but not import it.  C7 and C8, as well as Bryce 6 & 7 - no go.

Very weird!

3D Studio has always been far too expensive for me to play with, much more than Maya or Cinema 4D - which have been called "affordable" by some with more money than me...

I have made some new progress though - it was actually the Volume Viewer - not the 3D Viewer - which had to be opened before a use-able obj could be made.  Got some in the 60 or so MB range that worked, but had an odd plane at the z-start and z-end positions which had to be deleted in a modeling program.  Will include screenshots in a post later - after I get a repeatable procedure laid out!  It has something to do with the rgb channels I think, because changing those settings actually made the difference between a tiny useless file and a reasonable 3D Model.

If anyone who knows what is going on could provide a repeatable procedure, let me know!

Well "obj" *can* be ASCII but isn't always and even if ASCII the actual format and extensions are myriad from what I recall ;)

I'm watching this forum for weeks now without signing up because I thought I have nothing to contribute anyway. Today I signed up because I found a repeatable procedure to create an OBJ file from PNG slices using Fiji (in my case Fiji 64). Before listing my mini tutorial I want to thank Jesse for creating Mandelbulb3D. It's amazing and I love it as much as XenoDream.

Here is my step by step tutorial:

1. Launch Fiji and select "File/Import/Image Sequence".
2. Select "1.png" to open the Sequence Options dialog.
3. In this dialog select additionally "Convert to RGB" and "Use virtual stack" and click OK.
4. Without doing anything else select "File/Save As/PGM". This creates a file with the extension "*.pnm". Accept the offered filename or change it if you want and save it.
5. Now select "File/Save As/Wavefront OBJ" and accept what's displayed in the Triangulate dialog. Wait till the second progress bar has closed in the Fiji status bar.
6. Click "File/Quit" to close Fiji. Strangely enough that's necessary to get the object file saved. Now you can import it into any 3D application that loads the OBJ format. I'm using for instance Vue 10 Infinite.

It would be cool if those slices would somewhat keep the original colors of the fractal to get a fully textured 3D object. However, it's already a huge step forward to be able to create objects at all.

And I was just finished typing out a nice long reply full of questions about the binary form of obj files!

I knew rgb played a role, but never tried the pgm option!  Thanks Teena, and Welcome to The Forum O0

I'm off to test this now...

Thanks for the welcome! I learned so much just from reading this forum and from playing with provided files and modifying them. That's why I'm happy to give at least a little bit back.  :)

Good News!

First - It Works!

Consistent and repeatable.  And it imports into Carrara   O0

Here's the same voxel stack I posted an image of before, created in the "pgm" style:

(http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step1b.jpg)
Bigger : http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step1b.png

Since it's a new page for the thread, here's the earlier way, skipping the pmg step and doing something I forget to the RGB options  (I think I unchecked them all in an export dialog)  (gotta try to reproduce this version next!)


(http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step1.jpg)
Bigger : http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/step1.jpg

Looks like it read more of the stack or something.  Or less...  The last image in the sequence looks more like the original image, with the spider details.  Strange they come out so different.

Lots to experiment with still - no idea what changing the threshold value on export will do.  It's set to 50, so I guess I'll try changing it to zero, and one hundred, just to see what happens...

And for the record, you don't need to feel you have something to contribute just to say Hi!  All are welcome to join in   :smileylineup:

If aimed at me, I couldn't have helped anyway - haven't messed with anything relating to 3D Studio etc. for over 12 years ;)

I'm glad that it worked for you too.  :)

Maybe zooming out more in MB3D before saving the slices helps to get more of the fractal displayed. I always try different settings to see what works best. In some cases I had to use 8 instead of the pre-defined 1 while in other cases I just used 1.2.

I will definitely play with those threshold settings too. I tried to find a more detailed Fiji documentation but the documentation is mostly just about ImageJ.

Thanks a lot Teena for the tip. I'm progressing but it still does not work work smoothly for me. I follow these steps and then I open the .obj in Meshlab. Most of the times, the object is truncated.

In order to have a full object I have to make a small number of images (say 128) with a high DE value in M3D. It seems like there is a limitation in number of faces, but I don't know if the limitation is in Fiji or Meshlab.

Too many tests! I'll try further tomorrow :)

As I mentioned in an earlier post I am using the version from 10-04-22 which is the second download from the top. Still no luck getting it to work for you I guess.  ;D

I have now been able to figure out other module chains involving converting the regGridNd into an unstructured array which can then be processed by a naive ISO extractor module or a Delaunay triangulation module (which I believe would yeld nicer/smoother meshes than the marching ones) but unfortunately the process fails in the conversion to unstructured array which has no settings with an error message saying that the desired methods cannot be found in the core files.

Has anyone also managed to successfully use MVE-2 or am I the only one?

I can open and process a 1.1M vertices/2.2M faces obj file (produced in MVE-2 using marchingtetrahedra6 from a 200³ stack) in Meshlab. Haven't tried anything bigger so far.

In some cases I have to zoom out further than expected. Even if the voxel preview shows the complete fractal it can happen that it's truncated around the edges when exported as a mesh. Then I zoom out further and also increase the Z slices to keep the details. However, increasing the Z slices beyond 800 mostly results in too big meshes to be easily handled in a 3D application.

I have a fractal that I couldn't create a mesh from yet. Maybe the structure is too thin so I'll see if increasing DE will help here. It's exciting to play with this new M3D feature!  :happy:

It was possible, albeit at the expense of a bit of headaches, to produce such stacks of 2D slices since the animation feature exists which is a while. ;)

Reportedly some VTK based packages such as 3D Slicer are able to convert image stacks to meshes and there are 64bit versions for all platforms. It's very big (500MB+ once installed).

http://download.slicer.org/

Now that you mention it I understand what you mean. To tell the truth, I wouldn't have even thought of creating slices using the animation feature. Of course it's now much easier.

Thanks for the link! I'm downloading right now.  :happy:

Here is the 2.2M polygons obj mesh I mentioned above generated in MVE-2 using marchingtetrahedra6 (which seems the best/most faithful surface extractor module I have been able to use in that software) from a 200³ stack.

Rendered in Sculptris at about 4 times the size of the stack, It think it illustrates quite well, with its obvious stratification artifacts, the issues there are with rendering detailed meshes made from stacks at sizes higher than their initial resolution.

Eliminating those artifacts with post-processing in Meshlab/OpenFlipper while retaining a relatively detailed shape is proving to be very difficult to achieve.

It's been mentioned a few times here and there in the forum and it consisted in using the cutting feature (moving its position throughout an object as an animation) with appropriate color/lightning settings. Of course it's so much easier now.  ;D

If wondering about max. vertices/faces etc. vs. detail level and quality with respect to different 3D software programs then I'd suggest getting in touch with users of both Terry Gintz' software and Xenodream as they've been exporting to poly-based 3D rendering software since BM (Before Mandelbulb) ;)

I downloaded it, and had no idea what to do!  The included exe files seemed to do nothing.  I shy away from anything distributed as "Binaries" because my programming days are so far behind me I have no idea if such things need to be compiled or how to compile them  (I have been away from programming for so long I missed the whole intro of Object Oriented Programming!).

The MVE-2 help files wont open either.

So if it is a better tool, I would need to figure out how to even start the program, let alone make sense of it's modular nature...

On the other hand, I managed to drop a Mandelbulb on a Cow's head!

(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m278/sockratease/cowbulb_zpsbec7bc40.gif)

@Sockratease - Congratulations! That's soooooo funny!  :laugh:
I had downloaded and installed MVE-2 too but just didn't know what to do. Fiji is much easier to use for a dummy like me.

@David - Exporting fractals as objects is very easy using XD because the necessary tool is part of it. So once the mesh rendering, triangulation and optimization is done you just save the mesh as obj file. Since Garth added the PLY pointcloud format it's even possible to texture the resulting objects in the same colors as in XD using UVMapper and MeshLab. An illustrated tutorial about this texturing procedure is on my website.

Thanks!  I'm glad you liked it.

And, Yeah. I need a user interface of some sort (doesn't have to be a graphic interface with buttons and all - Fiji's interface is minimal and menu driven, but makes all the difference for an Old Hippy Brain!) - or a detailed help file for command line software.


I have an old version of XenoDream...  I need to find a way to upgrade mine from an old trial to the new full version!  (I'm broke until after I get married (then I'll be even MORE broke!)).

You should post a link to that tutorial!

Here is the direct link to the English tutorial http://teenabiz.de/tutorial_3.htm (http://teenabiz.de/tutorial_3.htm).

Stop treating that poor cow like that! You rude!!!! :fiery:

 :headbatting: :rotfl:

Ahhh...  She Likes It!

Didn't even blink...

I forgot to post a Thanks for the link!

Very useful information   O0

Thanks!

 :thumbsup1:

Thanks - when suggesting consulting users of Terry's software and Xenodream I really meant that such users should be able to give a good guide to the maximum number of polys (+detail level etc.) that it's possible to import from voxel/wavefront/stl/etc. sources into the various different general 3D programs such as Bryce, 3D Studio, Lightwave, Maya etc. - and how much difference things like having a 64-bit system might make including any limitations of 32-bit OSes.

I'm sure the limits of polygon count and such are dependent on your hardware more than software, but both play a role.

I posted the obj file of the bulb on a free 3D Model site, and the Lovely and Talented WendyLovesCats from Daz3D rewarded the effort with this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CldamxNv60

The program Poser was able to "clothify" the bulb file for some "soft body physics" which crashed blender, and Carrara's Physics Engines!

And I Never thought somebody would use the read-me file I included as an audio track by using a text to speech thingy!

And this is just a day or 2 after getting the process down!  Great Fun awaits these things in the future...

I had done some tests for Garth in 2009 to find the polygon count limit in XD 2.2. At that time I had 6GB RAM and the max polygon count was around 27 million polygons. Now I have 16GB RAM and I'm testing out the limit right now in XD 2.4. I'll report the result here. If I can load such a monster into Vue 10 I'll post a picture.

Looks really nice, Sockratease! Using the read-me as a sound track is a hoot! I played with different materials in Vue 10 Infinite and liked the glassy mandelbulb very much. :)

Hehehe, I love this animation!  O0
Which program did you do the bulb with?
I downloaded Slicer, but it seems to be veeeery slow at importing...

Glad you liked it!

I used Fiji to create the bulb.  It's available here:  http://fiji.sc/wiki/index.php/Downloads  I used version 1.45B if that makes a difference in the future)

And if anybody wants one, here's The Mandelbulb obj file:
http://www.sockrateaze.com/stuff/mandelbulb_obj.zip

Animated in Carrara   O0

Double thanks Sockratease, I will try Fiji!

Great!

Here's Teena's method, which works consistently.  Read back through the thread to see the whole story.


Still seeking the best way to do this.  I also need to test it out on my better computer...

Nice! How did you make *.png for stack ? Did you use MD3 "Cutting" ?
Thx

In the latest beta of Mandelbulb 3D, in the Utilities Tab, is a new feature called Voxel Image Stack.

It's all in there.

Lots of settings to explore and optimize still, but default is a good start.  I like to increase the stack to 300 from 100 default, but 400 chokes my poor test computer.  I still need to try this on my Good Computer!

I tried to go to extremes and rendered an object in XD 2.4 using a grid size of 1350. The resulting object has a polygon count of almost 36 million. After the simplification process in XD you can save the object in whatever % of quality you want without re-rendering:

100% quality = 35,879,604 polygons = 2.9 GB filesize
 50% quality =   9,130,448 polygons = 722 MB filesize
 25% quality =   2,388,072 polygons = 175 MB filesize
 10% quality =      407,640 polygons = 27.7 MB filesize

Of course this was just some extreme testing. I would recommend to start with a grid size of 500 when rendering a fractal object with many details. If it's not enough then just increase it.

Here is the rendered 25% quality object:

(http://teenabiz.de/images/quattorus25.jpg)

Cool, so you really need this voxel stuff... i thought i program everything you need in m3d as time goes by.  :dink:

Ok, with 6 formula slots it is a bit limited, could not get the bulb rotated:

(http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/9/1127_29_12_11_12_21_24.gif)

Awww! How cute and funny! :laugh:

I always thought 6 formulas would be enough, but since this new voxel frenzy you just proved we need unlimited formulas! You will never stop to surprise us Master Jesse (as waivers would tell ;))

btw I finally managed to get something out of Fiji into Meshlab. But Meshlab crashes with files bigger than 200-250 MB. And still can't import them into Blender (??)

(http://nocache-nocookies.digitalgott.com/gallery/9/1127_29_12_11_12_21_24.gif)

See?

It wasn't just me after all!

I'm getting better at making obj's from detail shots zoomed in to a fractal, but they get tricky.  Images after I get good at it   O0

I like the bouncy bulb image.  Blender?  Or other 3D Software?

And bib - I have started just skipping meshlab as most of my obj's seem to come out with few holes and that step isn't really needed.  Also, I'm getting half decent detail with smaller models  (my poor system just can't handle the large files made this way - which is weird because it handles other very large files.  Slowly, but it handles them.  These just choke the poor thing!

My guess is that this is pure Mandelbulb3D.


Do know how to you use Blender? I try to import a Wavefront OBJ file (which works in Meshlab up to a certain size) but nothing happens. The used RAM increases, but the layout stays empty.

Blender has a stupid-high learning curve.

I got along much better with Carrara than any other 3D Package.  Even Bryce makes little sense to me, but I can use it.

I have Blender, and have used it often for conversions of one format 3D Model to another.  But Hexagon  (a dedicated Modeling Program with no render engine) handles these models fine, so I left Blender out.  Importing the obj should show something though.

As for useless obj's - I get that a portion of the time.  It's got to have something to do with the creation of the obj file.  Fiji is temperamental and sometimes gives large files with no useful geometry inside.

If using Fiji the best tip so far came from Teena, after creating a file - you have to close the program so it will finish writing the darn thing!  I checked file sizes of obj's made before and after closing Fiji, and yes - they change dramatically.


Edit -


Really?  That is possible right in MB3D?

How?

OK, I'll try Bryce and Carrara if I can.

I've downloaded the latest version of Fiji and it works quite well. When saving to OBJ, I don't have to close it to get the large file, but I have to wait until the file size stops to grow, about 1 or 2 minutes after the progress bar has got to 100%. I still try to understand the effect of the 2 parameters in the saving options. Threshold seems to have very little effect on the output (I tried values like 1, 10, 25, 50 100) whereas Resampling factor has a dramatic effect on file size. With a 500^3 stack, the Default value of 2 makes a file about 50 GB big and a value of 1 makes it about 300GB.


Good question, let's wait for Jesse's answer, who knows, the man is full of resources! As he mentioned that he was limited by the 6 formula tabs, I thought he did it entirely in M3D. For sure he would have used the DE Comb Min mode to combinate the bulb with the rest (5 tabs left to make the ground and the animal using a strange hybrid). But after a second thought, that seems difficult, because to make the bulb bounce he would have had to use the _Translate formula as a pre-transform, and unfortunately it's not possible to combine 2+4 hybrid formulas, only 1+5.

I could import my 2.2M polygons bulb into Blender without problems but it was all hidden inside the default cube. Unfortunately after hiding the cube Blender crashed when I selected the bulb.

I tried to import it into Wings3D but had no luck with that, the application froze during loading.

However I could load it, move it and rotate it (both slow) and then render it without problems in Kerkythea.

Here's the Personal Learning Edition of Bryce:  http://www.daz3d.com/i/products/bryce/download?

It's free for non-commercial use only.


Never heard of Kerkythea!

Another one to try   :nastyteeth:

Uhhh...how do you hide the cube?

I usually just select it and press delete.

Yep, well examined.  It is actually not the bulb that translates, but the whole IFS thingy + the camera with it  :)

Will make these dIFS formulas available in the next (beta?), have first to change them to get also correct inside DE's so that inside rendering (and maybe transparency sometime) will be fast as outside for these formulas.


*add: dIFS are more like iterated primitives, dunno a better name for it (d for direct DE)

Yeah, it's better to delete it but if you want to only hide it, then just click on the eye icon for the cube in the scene hierarchy tree on the top right of the interface.

I thought about that, but it's so difficult to make accurate camera moves. How did you do that, by inputting directly Y mid value in the main window? If so, how did you manage to keep the same angle of view?

Kerky is very cool and addictive, here is a quick (and not too good) render of your bulb (or is it the cow?) made in it using (fractal?) procedural plugins for coloring and bump.

Yep, just changing the Mid-value, i guess it was Z, so i changed the Zstart and Zend values also the same offset.
The camera angle is not changed this way, no need for further adjustments.

That's very clever, but coming from you, not that a surprise! I can't wait to play with your new dIFS stuff :D

I generated a 600x600x600 voxel stack and decimated the resulting object in Vue 10 Infinite. So I got more details but have just about the same filesize as a 400x400x400 object. I put it in one of my Vue scenes and renamed the scene to "There's a Mandelbulb in my Garden".  :laugh:

(http://teenabiz.de/images/There's a Mandelbulb in my Garden.jpg)

You really can't wait because i already uploaded the update  :dink:

It is probably not that much to play with, formula restrictions and so.  And i have to make some better transformations maybe...

Nice garden, Teena!
I included 2 sample shrubs in the current update, maybe something you can plant.  :D

Thanks for your nice words and even more for Mandelbulb3D. You did a super job and it's so much fun to play with it.

I'll download the update in a minute and see how your shrubs grow in my garden.  ;D

How would this thing look like when you change the material to glass or crystal? Also maybe making it float in water could look nice.

As you could read my mind, stranger  :dink:
..because i already send the shrubs to holy land in overseas... no need to imigrate them in the garden anymore (i know what a mess voxelexport can be  :laugh:)

(pic attached)

Not quite that but almost, here is another quick and dirty Kerky experiment, 256 bulbs instantiated onto a glass sphere floating in the sky.

 O0

Thanks, that's limited because it's not possible to make hybrids with regular formulas, but it's already good fun to play with, M3D is becoming such a versatile program now! I have to study your examples to understand more precisely how it works, but it seems extremely promising. And I like the HeightMap too (see attachment)


Back to this thread's topic, voxel export is still needed to make real 3D prints, but Fiji seems to be doing the job. Anyway, with the new dIFS function, this is giving M3D a new set of infinite possibilities (Incendia-like fractals I guess). What a great program!

These are some cool scenes, guys. Very imaginative!

Here is my image "Julia Approaching for Rescue" textured and rendered in Vue 10 Infinite:

(http://teenabiz.de/images/m3d/Julia Approaching for Rescue.jpg)

I used a picture on the Julia fractal and made it 50% transparent. I used a light glass material on the mandelbulb.

Jesse - What did you do to my Voxel Stack Thingy?

The new version no longer produces stacks that work in Fiji.  I tried by making a stack in both betas, and only the 754 beta makes stacks which make obj files using my the same procedure in fiji.

Have you tested the new beta and made an obj file?  If so, how?

Is anybody else experiencing issues with 755 as opposed to 754?

Or have any insights into what I may be doing wrong?

 :headbatting:

On a happier note - Love that glass texture, Teena!

A glassy bulb on the sea! A burning ship fractal would be more appropriate though. :hrmm: :rotfl:

(I love it ;) )

Thank you very much, Sockratease and DarkBeam! I'm glad you like it. Hehehe! Maybe Jesse provides a burning ship fractal formula with his next update. Who knows. He's full of surprises!

BTW, these fractals were generated using the latest M3D version and Fuji. I think the new voxel export interface is much better than the old one. What's especially cool is that you can move the fractal along the x, y and z axis. That's very useful when you just want an object of a special part of a fractal.
It's now 7PM in Germany and so I say goodbye for now. I wish you all a Happy New Year 2012! May it be full of happiness and mandelbulbs! (http://teenabiz.de/images/c3d/newyear.GIF)

 

But it's simple to get a 3D burning ship;


Mandelbulb3Dv17{
V.....S....O/...w....2.....ibIrrHnh0.HVIuQQd1a2EbjfSnGq76w1XlnFZ7JRkzAbIlha3wpxD
................................wJ3fy6Elkz1........A./..................y.2.....
................/M.0/....6kI1...6/....E2.....oAjXdptU3rD/..........m/dkpXm1....U
z.EnAnQD12../..........wz..................................u1....y1...sD...../..
.w1...sDXZcvMRCMlx9BQjE9GC7Cw8t77QL3tldD70ITVESHGuPxkyTE9ydOzYW7VaD3MNqjEsKNegon
Ju9zv1syIUZNz8Yx1znWTeqj......oH..............kD.2....sD..kz0...................
.............oAnAr1...sD....z.MRf4.6qhO..Pre/.qRf4..shO.UWre/.ISf4......C....k1.
..................kz.wzzz1.U..6.P....M4...EB....W....k1....F....8/...I1.....Sl42
...U.qFG9yzb2zzzRYoWzz7lz16.mc..zXCc.El18XGQeGyDjvIRhrVAkz1..........2.28.kFrA0.
FWb96aAIVzvh1se7Umvxz0........../6U0.wzzz1................................E.0c..
zzzz.................................2U.8.kzzzD.................................
/6U0.wzzz1...................................2CcN/UvNP6.eeWCNq0.yRii.EJJUk1f..XR
S1.mx3CcN/UvNP6.QsLsUa3.ibhV..bTV1OK.sSq40.ly3CcN/UvNP6.MwLsUa3.ibhV.kqTV1OK.sSq
40.kz3CcN/UvNP6...EsUa3.eeWCNq0.IJ36wk8.wyLsUa3.................................
E....E..........I.........kLXxaPe/.F............................................
...................6./..........................................................
................................................................................
.....................2..........0....YYPoJqNZ756ExqRZ75.........................
8..............................E........kz9........wz0..........................
................................................................................
................................/....E/...E.....T3YMnd3.........................
................................................................................
................................................................................
..........................................E.....I....2....kL/7qQN/..............
................................................................................
................................................................................
........................................................}

For example. But get others changing the 1st formula to any power2 formula ;) :-* Happy new year

I can only think of different filenames, please check the new option 'Index with leading 0' to get the wanted file numbering!
Also the project name is in front of the filename, dunno if this can make problems.

Cheers!

Maybe you made it better?

My computer can't make an obj from a 400 image stack - the new one seems to only work with a 300 image stack.  Very weird because the last beta made files from 400 image stacks, but not 500.

I'd say it's my computer, not your program   O0

Thanks again, and Hippy New Year!   :toast:

This is all very exciting - don't know how I missed this thread. Thanks to everyone for posting tips. I'll have a head start when I give it a try tonigt.  :joy:

Squee!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgARGLCGCC8

So much fun. Thanks for for the step by step, Teena.  :D

Squee, indeed.

Yes, this opens up entire new worlds of possibilities!

It's hard to find the balance between making a model that can be used, and one that will choke my tired old system.  But it's real fun trying   :nastyteeth:

Looking forward to seeing what more people do with this feature.  What 3D Software are you using for renders?

This is a great animation, Don! Well done!

Okay, DarkBeam's wish is my command. So here is my new image "Julia Mandelbulbing the DarkBeam".

(http://teenabiz.de/images/m3d/Julia Mandelbulbing the DarkBeam.jpg)

You see I sat DarkBeam's fractal ship on fire.  ;D

That video was made in ZBrush - real-time rendering. The new DynaMesh and Polish features in ZB are great for cleaning up the mesh, too.

In case this information may be usefull to anyone I just mention that finally obtained very decent results for cleaning up meshes produced with MVE-2 by using the laplacian filters in either Remesh (http://remesh.sourceforge.net/) or Meshlab, and that the simplify filter in Remesh or the quadric edge collapse decimation filter in Meshlab are both good for reducing the mesh polygon count considerably while retaining detail.

That is a burning ship for sure Teena ;D

I have done some test with fiji and zbrush. Zbrush does milions of polygons without problems.
The next step would be to do it in colors.   :dink:

http://img338.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=94294951.jpg

Cool! That's a nice collection of objects, Rama! :) Vue 10 Infinite can handle billions of polygons, so that's not the problem. The problem is the filesize of an object. When I import an object with a filesize bigger than 300MB it's getting hard to move it about in a scene.

 :thumbsup1:

Yes, nice slideshow

Yes indeed.
I tried vue 10 and had the same problem.
Next I want to try optimising the mesh, unrap it and create normal maps.
I will let you know how that goes...

Those look great, Rama!

I've been using fiji and Zbrush as well. I still need to experiment to see how much detail I can convince fiji to render. So far I have had good luck with 900 pixel stacks. I'm having fun texturing and squeezing some of them down to low-poly game assets. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrC2_I474ZM

Does anyone have any tips on minimizing memory use with fiji? I'm basically using the steps that Teena described earlier. I keep thinking that the RGB versions of the images are hoggin memory. has anybody found a way to maybe do it in grayscale and save that mem for larger images?

Cool !

I have been successful at up 1250.
At 1500 the obj can be 1gb plus in size and zbrush can't take it. I have 16gb of ram .

I have a 4GB, Win7 64bit system. Largest I've managed so far was an 800 MB .obj, 23 million polys.  :o There was SO much detail inside that one. I think that Zbrush can only use 4GB of RAM, even on a 64bit OS, and maxes out at around 25 million polys in one subtool - so we are already pushing the limits there.

I like it, Don, I like it!  :happy:

I tried different things to get a mesh from the slices using Fiji. When I convert the slices to grayscale I don't get a mesh. When I save such a grayscale stack as a PGM file I get a PGM picture and no PNM file. That PNM file seems to be the only format that can be converted to a mesh in Fiji. I created a PNM file the way I described in my little tutorial and when I converted it to OBJ I selected just one of the three RGB channels hoping to decrease the filesize. It didn't work.

In some cases you seem to get a slightly more detailed mesh when for instance rendering 400x400 slices saving the final object using a resampling factor of 1 instead of using 800x800 slices with the resampling factor set to 2. The filesize is about the same. However, it doesn't always work that way.

I didn't check out the filesize limit that Vue can import without crashing but in my case it makes no sense to create monster files. I was planning to use fractal objects in some fantasy or science fiction scenes. That wouldn't be possible with an object of 1GB.

Rama's idea to create a highly detailed normal map and use it on a lower poly version of the same fractal sounds good but I don't know how to achieve that. I'm looking forward to hear more from him about this method. :D

Relatively decent ( I think) low poly bulb (viewed in meshman with flat shading). It's just around 5.6MB and 150.000 polys and processed in Meshlab (laplacian smooth and quadric edge collapse decimation) from an around 160MB and 5M polys obj mesh produced with MVE-2 using marchingtetra6 out of a 300³ png stack from M3D.

I've been trying this as well. All the objects in my video above have lo-res versions with hires textures and normal maps. I'm certainly no master at the technique, but I'm pretty happy with the results. I have some photos of those posted on my Google+ account - http://DonWhitaker.com. 

I've had some success with processing the greyscale images in Fiji. Here's what I did - same as Teena's steps except:

• When importing image stack, do not check the Convert to RGB
• When saving as OBJ. Check the R, but uncheck G and B.
• Set the Threshhold to 0

I've been able to process a 900 pixel stack using Resampling Factor at 1 - which I was not able to do using RGB.

I don't understand how can i make obj with MVE-2.
blob, can you make small tutorial ? Please :$.
Thx!

Yes, please.

I can't even start MVE-2, let alone use it!

I do ok with fiji, but would like to explore all options  O0

Sockratease, I am not sure why you can't start the application, it requires the microsoft .net framework to be installed on your machine, if you don't have this it won't run.

Anyway attached is the best/easiest tuto I could make for you guys, if you don't get it to work with that, then I don't know what more to do.

 O0

Thx! But it crashed by me :(

Description:
  Stopped working

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:   CLR20r3
  Problem Signature 01:   mapeditor.exe
  Problem Signature 02:   1.0.3764.22183
  Problem Signature 03:   4bd030bf
  Problem Signature 04:   Testing
  Problem Signature 05:   1.0.3764.22187
  Problem Signature 06:   4bd030c7
  Problem Signature 07:   52
  Problem Signature 08:   72
  Problem Signature 09:   Zcu.Mve.Core.MveException
  OS Version:   6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
  Locale ID:   1049

Sorry to hear that, all I can suggest is you reinstall dotnet and/or try other versions of MVE-2.

Each one its own issues I guess, I get ImageJ/Fiji to crash in nvopengl.dll when I use the 3D viewer, not fatal but annoying enough so that I am not using it.

Don, thanks for the R channel only tip. I was using rgb stacks too and looking for a way to use just one component.

I'm using another tool aside from Fiji, Imagevis3D, that works well with monochrome stacks, up to 800^3 in my case. It takes a folder of images as input and is able to output OBJ or PLY meshes in various levels of detail. It needs a slightly beefier gfx card than Fiji though, with OpenGL 2.0 support. The mesh export options are located in the Workspace > Isosurface settings menu.

If anyone is interested, the stable release can be found at http://www.sci.utah.edu/download/imagevis3d.html (http://www.sci.utah.edu/download/imagevis3d.html), and a development build at http://www.sci.utah.edu/devbuilds/imagevis3d/ (http://www.sci.utah.edu/devbuilds/imagevis3d/). The windows installers are down the page, named ImageVis3D-Latest-(32 or 64)bit-installer.exe. If you have trouble running the dev build, use the stable one for the time being and check back in a few days for a new version (it was crashing a lot here until a couple of days ago).

Hope it helps.

In response to a pm I got on how I made the models in zbrush.
http://img338.imageshack.us/slideshow/webplayer.php?id=94294951.jpg
After the steps quoted above all I do is import the obj in zbrush.
Flip the normals or double side view in Tools properties.



(http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/503/96252464.jpg)




I also like to run auto groups in polygroups to separate small useless parts and delete them.
Also playing with tools deformations is quite fun.
That's all folks !

I've posted a video tutorial showing the process from Voxel Stack, through Fiji, and into ZBrush or Meshlab. I use the method that Teena outlines above, but I skip the conversion to RGB images which saves some memory.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kpu-DZs9HXU

Seems like this is generating interest outside of the fractal community ;D

http://www.foundation3d.com/forums/showthread.php?p=218292

I made a M3D convert amongst my game dev contacts on Google+ after he saw some of the shapes I'd created. He mentioned that he might be able to code something that would convert the stacks to a more standard format automatically. I'll keep folks updated if he makes progress.

These shapes are so compelling I'm sure we'll see them popping up all over the place soon. I'll think I'll go sign up for that Foundation3D forum and let em know about the Voxel Stack tutorial. I love seeing what people bring out of the Mandelbulb Multiverse. The more the merrier.  (^_^)

This is really cool that more and more people use Mandelbulb3D. Your video tutorial is very helpful, Don! The first few times I tried your method I was disappointed because my objects looked as if I used a material with lots of transparent areas. Finally I realized that I used a much too low DE setting. I increase the setting and now I use only your method. :D

I said earlier that Hexagon, a great 3D Modeling Program, often goes on sale for $1.99 - and I'd post here when that happened.

Well...

It's on sale for the whole month of February, but it's not on sale for $1.99 - IT'S FREE!

I strongly recommend going to http://www.daz3d.com/i/3d-models/software?cat=1070 and grabbing that, and while you're there - BRYCE 7 PRO is ALSO FREE!  So is Daz Studio  Pro, a 3D Rendering package geared for the 3D Content they sell at Daz3D.  So people here may or may not want that one, but hey, it's Free!

This is the best price you'll see on these items  (Free)  (They ain't gonna pay you to take 'em!)  so Hurry Up!  February is a short month...

Thanks Don very much for the videos. I really appreciate the level of detail you went into otherwise I wouldn't have been able to attempt this and especially doing it with free software. I've been experimenting with it and have managed to successfully create a couple of things though not necessarily perfect yet! I am making a more complicated DIFS one and had been experimenting with using lower numbers of slices. I made one of the image with 100 but there was a lot missing....upped to 300 and most is there so I went ahead but I'm going to redo with at least 500 because it's not good enough. I'm just very impatient and don't like having to wait for all the slices ;D I did find it loads the object extremely large into Bryce3d but I guess that's good in some ways for creating landscape type pictures.


(http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7075/newom.png)

Thanks again!

I also seem to be getting loads of plain black images before and after the voxel images. I'm not sure why. It was late when I watched your videos maybe I missed something. I'll watch again.

I made my new picture....is on deviant art if anyone wants to see.

New thing I found out is fantastic!!!! On this website.... www.shapeways.com you can create an account and upload your models from Mandelbulb3d voxels and have them printed in 3d!!!! How fantastic is that?! There are several mandelbulbs and fractal pieces on there already and lots of unique sculptures.

jesse, please add an anti aliasing option to the export, some progs like to have some in between value (grey), helps out smoothing, i can bypass by rendering out in higher rez and then rescaling but that leaves me with the z (picture count) being at least double in size and thus adding unnecessary geometry which has to be rescaled or i have to delete every n'th frame and then rename... its  hassle.

thx.

Hi cccp,
Try to use image "smooth" in Fiji.
http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=10767 (http://www.fractalforums.com/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;id=10767)

Has anybody found any better solutions ?

As it is impossible to go beyond say a 1000^3 (depending on the object) since the obj file sizes become unmanageable. I tried to get higher image size and increasing the resampling factor to 3 but that gave just some scattered dots, anything beyond 2 is unworkable. So we are roughly stuck at 500^3 with a resampling factor of 1 and 1000^3 for a resampling factor of "2" and frankly "2" kills too much details for my taste, it is better to stick with "1"and slowly increase the z slices till u reach your limit. But the process is tedious one.

meshlab dies at anything bigger than 150mb correction can go higher, didnt have 64 bit version, figuring out now how high
and zbrush at 500.

I am at a loss, because in order to really get some nice fly through landscapes out of this we need higher mesh detail to generate displacement / normal maps.
This program is genius but to really make the magic happen there has to be a way to export more data or streamline the approach to give estimates of final file size, since 500 is painful but acceptable if then "stitched" together later on with continued 500mb chunks, like a panorama photo.

Ideas ?

PS: thanks to slon for the "smooth" tip
PPS: if u have a SSD drive there is no need to use virtual stack.
PPPS: i have a descent system, 2 months old, there are few that are better, so this isnt a hardware issue.
PPPPS: Jesse please, when saving a project, include the settings in the voxel export (offsets, scale, etc...)

ok had some success with 2000^3 got a 3gig file with 40 mil polys, meshlab managed it, gave it a quadric decimation to 5 mil, then HC laplacian.
Now have to figure out how to unwrap this monster, but the details are stunnig even though after reduction the poly count is the same as a 500^3 the difference is huge as it gets rid of the nasty stepping.

mind u it took about an hour for all these operations and all data had to be on my ssd sata 3 for swapping as it filled all my 32 gig ram to load it into meshlab.
and there i thought i would never use up my 32, should have gotten 64.

offtop:
Hi CCCP, I just like your name, and would go back to there for maybe few weeks.
p.s.
Just a nostalgia.

re:"be water my friend"  ;)

voxelstack+realflow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4c9-LRISsQ&hd=1

it"s voxelstack too -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reCXsppsAfA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reCXsppsAfA)
:)

Any Help? I'm currently running the Mandelbulb1.799c testfile trying to export a "voxel" stack. But all I get is a blank screen...  :-\
I followed all the tutorials... but Voxel screen stays blank...??

Hi!
Press "import parameter from main".
Try with default fractal.
br

hello fractalists!

I have been trying to export a 3d fractal from MD3d to obj, using voxel stack,  Fiji and Meshlab following the instructions of Don Whiteaker and also the one made by Nic022. The problem is that when I open the xxx.pnm.obj only grey points appear, there is no mesh at all. Does anyone know what kind of problem might be?

I copy here my parameters just in case. It is very basic, but I would like to have something similar printed.

Mandelbulb3Dv18{
g.....Y/...g2...g2...26....GCJvysRf3.HoMiVB7HL3EhpM6m7p.XwPQObvQGBk6zKcf3AWXpQzj
................................XCUAP2KGiz1........Y./..................y.2...wD
...Uz6....k4..../MU0/......U0...48....E3.....6uKtdT.MQpD/..........m/dkpXm1.OaNa
z.UaNadD12..0..........wz.................................U0.....y1...sD...../..
.z1...kDzkKWs5.4Lx1..........0yVA4S5f9cj4c5VVNjziqvDgZ6y/UlJzQfEqzR5f9cjx8YxTrlu
0uns5mMsRgiUyUBTNOT.MQpDU.....2V/.............sD.6....sD..G.0...................
.............oAnAt1...sD....z...........................................n0...k1.
.....Ksulz1.....W.kz.wzzz1.U..6.P....w/...EB....m....c3...UK....2....I1...k3SN52
...U.avrazDjTCszzzzzzzzzz16.1c..zzzz............6wyBIC4OWz1...........Y/8..GciB.
.wUmc2beYz1.dA8E5Exwz0........../EU0.wzzz1...........s/...................E.2c..
zzzz.............0...................2./8.kzzzD............8....................
/EU0.wzzz1....................................Ak.1.k.1Ak87kzzzD.gLzzzDu5Z.1h....
U0Ok/xzzz1kzmzzzlo49ZtD.4kHitGMR0p2n.A0bQmdlsxTzy1.sVvjzPfrztnD.45xyvjrSz1Dy.Mhr
yvjyzxTzy1UQOejy........H8.zIV8Yq91zw1.shL5z.kzN................................
E....6E.F2E.....I....g....EHZtqNZ75Gt/LNm/UQ....................................
..U................0./........zD........kz1........sz........6.k................
.....QGA6k85OFxDuvbOwGrYcyHnAnAnAnAvz.........zD................................
.....................2.....3....8....YoMjBLMcJ4NmxaP7NoI........................
.....MU/4MU/4........QaNaNaNatxDMTmmCfe3VzXaNaNaNaNyz6nAnAnAngxD.......Un.2.....
..CA.1.......szj........Z.2.......yD./.......6.k................................
................................}
{Titel: MENGERHYPERPLUSICO 8E}



Thank you very much once again.

Hi,

The params are not very useful because apparently the problem is in Fiji, so some screenshots would be helpful. Anyway, when you export to OBJ, try Threshold = 0 and Resampling factor = 1

Ok, thanks. I get now something better, but still a bad result.

I used 600 pngs , should I used 1000 to get a more accurate result? or what kind of parameters should I improve?

You can always make it more accurate, but remember to take into account the maximum number of faces the printer can accept. 600 PNG is good. I use between 500 and 1000. At Shapeways the max number of faces is 1 million, and here you are already at 1.8 million. You will have to use the decimation filter in Meshlab to reduce number of faces (tutorials available on Shapeways site)

Then I imagine that it is going to be impossible to print something like this, isnt it?

Thank you

Try and tell us!

I tell you now, for me it is not possible. This is the better I can get

Is the best recommended program for this still Fiji?

Can you upload your cool meshes to a mesh sharing site like thingiversse or CGtrader?

Fiji probably doesn't throw empty marching cubes from memory, so it probably uses 100X or 1000X more memory than necessary. pure black and white cubes can nomrally be thrown out.

Fiji doesnt search where the actual edges and therefore vertices are on the B/W limit of the images. We should at least blur the image, or better still rewrite a MC which measures at least from 1/10 where on each edge of a cube the vertex should be because, once it sees one side is black and one is white, it probably assumes 0.5 for every vertex postion which is very low quality marching cubes.

I was thinking of writing a special mesh generator in Unity3D, which can process the PNG's on the fly and then discard them, and which can do optimized MC, and preferably even another mesh generation sequence than MC that is higher quality. is low quality.

It's cool that we can at least theoretically throw out 99 percent of the image from memory that doesnt contain a BW limit and that we can get 10 times better vertex precision if we tell the MC edges to check where the BW limit is found on them.