How To Voxelize 3D Models With Binvox And Poly2Vox
Tutorials
By Tim Wesoly, developer of Qubicle Constructor
What you need: Qubicle Constructor v1.0.12.0+ Master or Education Edition
In this brief tutorial you will learn how to use the voxelizer tools Binvox and Poly3Vox to voxelize 3D meshes, what the pros and cons of both tools are and finally how to import and use the results in Qubicle Constructor.
Resources
Binvox is a tool written by Patrick Min which got famous lately because it can export to Minecraft .schematic. Just google “Binvox Minecraft” and you know what I mean. By the way: Qubicle can export to Minecraft .schematic too. Read the tutorial How to Export Models Made with Qubicle to Minecraft to learn more.
Poly2Vox is a tool written by Ken Silverman who is famous for Duke Nukem 3D and his voxel-driven graphics engine Voxlap.
Binvox vs. Poly2Vox
Both Binvox and Poly2Vox are command line tools meaning you don’t have a fancy user interface to edit settings and preview things. The main difference is, Binvox doesn’t read material information while Poly2Vox does. So by using Binvox you will only get a single colored object. The other difference is the filetypes that are supported. Binvox supports the common Wavefront OBJ format (*.obj) while Poly2Vox supports the 3DS Max format (*.3ds).
Using Binvox
Download Binvox and unzip it, then download my little batch file and unzip it to the same folder. So now binvox.exe and run_binvox.bat are in the same folder (if not make it so). Now double click run_binvox.bat. A console will open and you will be asked to enter an OBJ filename and the maximum dimension. The OBJ file contains the model you want to voxelize. Copy this file to the folder containing the binvox.exe (so you don’t have to enter the complete path to the file here). The maximum dimension defines the max size of the width, height and length of the resulting matrix. The max value accepted by binvox is 1024 but I don’t recommend to use a higher value than 256. After entering those two values binvox will voxelize your model and output a file with the same name as your OBJ file and the file extension “.binvox”.
Using Poly2Vox
Download Poly2Vox and unzip it, then download my little batch file and unzip it to the same folder. So now poly2vox.exe and run_poly2vox.bat are in the same folder (if not make it so). Now double click run_poly2vox.bat. A console will open and you will be asked to enter an 3DS filename and the maximum dimension. The 3DS file contains the model you want to voxelize. Copy this file to the folder containing the poly2vox.exe (so you don’t have to enter the complete path to the file here). The maximum dimension defines the max size of the width, height and length of the resulting matrix. The max value accepted by poly2vox is 1024 but I don’t recommend to use a higher value than 256. After entering those two values poly2vox will voxelize your model and output a file with the same name as your OBJ file and the file extension “.vox”.
Importing the results with Qubicle Constructor
Now that’s the easiest part: just run Qubicle and drag and drop the result file on the work area (Or use File > Import, or one of the corresponding speed buttons). If you import a binvox file set your foreground color first because the voxels imported will have that color.
Tip: If you didn’t obey to my recommendation and entered a max dimension larger than 256 (and if you have enough RAM to really import the file) it’s probably a good idea to divide the imported object into smaller pieces using the Divide modifier. Afterwards select empty matrices with Select > Select empty matrices and then delete those. If Qubicle is still a bit slow hide some of the remaining matrices with Edit > Hide.