[PixelOz]

I took the Tie Fighter model of the screensaver and loaded it into Blender cause I also use Blender and I marked all the sharp edges and applied it the Edge Split modifier and made a few other small adjustments.

I exported it (from Blender 2.63a) with .ac 3D exporter and opened it in the screensaver and it looks much better.

I have a question with this. When you open the screensaver default Tie Fighter model in AC3D it looks perfectly smooth were it should be and sharp edged were it should be too but why when it opens in the screensaver it looses all the sharp edges? Is this a problem with the screensaver program? Or is it that the model was just not completed fully in AC3D which I suspect for reasons of speed?

Now, I id this in Blender 2.63a and exported it to .ac format and all the sharp edges look right and it looks really good. I also adjusted the colors somewhat, gave it red color on the engines surface, adjusted the color of the canopy frame. Fixed transparency of the glass, (I know about the transparency hierarchy issue and how to fix it, and it can be fixed in Blender too) and yes it does has transparency now it is just that its difficult to see in my screenshots. I capped the horrible hole at the back and made it far less deep as it should be (although all these last things I can do inside AC3D with no problems) and I also adjusted the distance of the top and bottom cockpit lids cause they were protruding a wee bit too much.

I also shrunk its size a little so when it opens at the default 1.0 scale factor it doesn't overwhelm the screen and gets out of the edges of the screen when it rotates. The file size increased only slightly so with all the changes (it was 205k and now it is 252k).

Is there a way to make the model save nicely like this from within AC3D so when it opens in the screensaver it preserves the sharp edges?

Anyway if not anybody can make some small adjustments in Blender like I did cause Blender is a completely free tool and it can be used to complement AC3D for some things.

I myself used a plethora of software for different things and I have Bryce 7 Pro, Daz 4 Pro and Hexagon 2.5 now too cause those are at the moment completely free (the full pro versions) and have been so with the offer Daz have had for several months now (in case some of you don't know it yet).

Bryce for example can be used to generate landscapes for your AC3D models cause after all AC3D exports in several 3D formats that can be imported into Bryce and it may be easier to generate landscapes in Bryce than in AC3D (or Blender too). Actually AC3D exports in a helluva lot of 3D formats.

Look at the screenshots I took of the old model (the one with the weird looking canopy frame) and look at the new model screenshots.

Are you guys at AC3D interested in the somewhat improved model? Cause I'll give it to you if you want it so you can include it with the screensaver package. No problem I don't mind at all (I'm not taking any credit at all, it is not my model).