How to Use SimLab FBX Exporter with Alibre Design for Real-Time Visualization

Top Tips for Exporting Alibre Design Models with SimLab FBX ExporterExporting from Alibre Design to FBX using SimLab’s FBX Exporter can save time and preserve model fidelity for visualization, game engines, AR/VR, or downstream CAD/animation workflows. This guide collects practical tips and workflows to help you avoid common pitfalls, keep materials and geometry intact, and optimize performance for real-time use.

1) Prepare your Alibre model: simplify and organize first

• Clean up unnecessary geometry. Remove tiny features (fillets, chamfers, holes) that won’t be visible in the target environment; they add triangle count and increase export time.
• Suppress or hide internal components that won’t be rendered. Use assembly-level visibility to exclude fasteners, internal supports, or reference geometry.
• Use meaningful part and assembly names in Alibre. Those names will become FBX node names and help downstream scene management.
• Apply consistent units. Check Alibre units (mm/inches) and set the document units you intend to export with; mismatched units are a common cause of scale problems in the target application.

2) Check and convert materials and colors

• Alibre materials are often simple color/material assignments. Decide which materials need texture maps versus plain colors.
• Bake complex appearances into textures if your target needs PBR workflows. SimLab FBX Exporter can include textures, but Alibre’s material system may not supply full PBR maps (albedo/roughness/metalness/normal). Consider exporting diffuse/color and then authoring PBR maps in a texturing tool.
• If preserving simple colors is sufficient, ensure each part uses a distinct material rather than per-face colors, to keep the exported scene organized.

3) Export settings in SimLab FBX Exporter — key options to use

• Choose the correct FBX version your target requires (FBX 2014/2016/2018, etc.). Some engines prefer older or newer FBX versions.
• Enable “Export Textures” if you want SimLab to write out texture files and link them in the FBX.
• Use “Export Normals” and “Smooth Groups” (or equivalent) to preserve shading. This avoids flat-shaded appearance on curved surfaces.
• If available, use “Preserve Hierarchy” or “Keep Assembly Structure” to retain parent-child relationships. This is essential if you rely on component transforms or want to animate subassemblies.
• Consider enabling “Optimize/Reduce Mesh” only if you need lower poly counts; test on a copy of your model because aggressive reduction can alter silhouettes and introduce artifacts.

4) Manage pivot points and transforms

• Confirm part origins and pivots in Alibre are where you expect them. Exported FBX will use those transforms for rotation/animation.
• If you plan to animate parts in a game engine or animation package, align pivots before export (for example, set hinges at the rotation axis).
• Reset object transforms (freeze transforms) if your downstream app misinterprets scaling or non-uniform transforms.

5) Handling assemblies, subassemblies and instances

• Use instances/occurrences in Alibre where possible rather than duplicated geometry; SimLab will typically export instances and many target engines are instance-aware, saving memory.
• If instancing isn’t preserved, consider exporting repeated parts as separate objects and re-instance them in the target environment or during runtime.
• For very large assemblies, export in logical chunks (major subassemblies) and reassemble in the target application to reduce export file size and improve manageability.

6) Textures, UVs and mapping

• Alibre isn’t a dedicated UV-mapping tool. If texture mapping matters, do UV unwrapping in a dedicated app (Blender, 3ds Max, Maya) after exporting the geometry, or use SimLab’s tools if available to generate basic UVs.
• For metallic or roughness workflows, export the diffuse/opacity maps from Alibre (if any) and create or convert them into PBR maps in a texturing pipeline.
• Ensure texture file paths are relative or embedded; absolute paths often break when moving files between machines. SimLab exporter typically has options to write textures to an export folder—use that.

7) Optimizing for real-time engines (Unity, Unreal)

• Reduce polygon count: use SimLab’s mesh reduction or decimate in Blender, preserving UVs and normals.
• Combine meshes by material where possible to reduce draw calls—group parts that share the same material.
• Export with appropriate scale and axis conversion: Unity uses meters Y-up, Unreal uses centimeters Z-up. SimLab or the target engine may offer axis conversion; otherwise adjust import settings in the engine.
• Consider LODs: create simplified versions of the model and export as separate FBX files or a single FBX with multiple LOD meshes.

8) Animation and constraints

• SimLab FBX Exporter can export transforms and simple animations if you set up motion in Alibre (if supported) or apply transforms before export. Test small animations to ensure the keyframes and hierarchy import correctly.
• Constraints and advanced kinematics may not translate directly—recreate complex rigging inside the animation package or engine if needed.

9) Troubleshooting common problems

• Model appears too small/large after import: check units and axis conversion on both exporter and importer.
• Materials missing or black: ensure textures were exported, check file paths, and confirm the target app’s material expectations (some require specific shader graphs).
• Shading looks faceted: export normals and smoothing groups, or compute smooth normals in the target app.
• Missing parts: verify hidden/suppressed parts were not excluded, and check export logs for warnings.
• Performance issues: use mesh reduction, remove unseen internal geometry, and combine meshes/materials.

10) Recommended export workflow (step-by-step)

1. Clean and organize the Alibre model; hide internal parts.
2. Name parts and set correct document units.
3. Simplify geometry where possible (reduce features that won’t be visible).
4. Assign materials consistently; prepare textures if needed.
5. In SimLab FBX Exporter: select correct FBX version, enable textures, normals, preserve hierarchy, and set axis/scale conversions.
6. Export to a clean folder (ensure textures are written alongside the FBX).
7. Import into the target application, check scale/axis, relink textures if necessary, and test shading.
8. Adjust or redo export with different simplification/UV steps if issues appear.

11) Tools and extra resources

• SimLab Composer (for additional export options, UV tools, and scene prep).
• Blender (free) for UV unwrapping, mesh decimation, and material conversion to PBR.
• Texture tools: Substance 3D Painter, Quixel Mixer, or free alternatives for baking and PBR map creation.
• Target engine docs: Unity and Unreal import settings and FBX recommendations.

12) Final tips and best practices

• Always export a small test assembly first to validate settings before exporting large models.
• Keep a versioned export folder (FBX + textures) per major export attempt so you can roll back.
• Document the export settings that worked for a given pipeline so team members can reproduce them.
• If you must hand off to artists or game devs, include a short README in the export folder noting units, FBX version, and any special steps.

Exporting CAD data to FBX is often an iterative process: small tests and adjustments pay off. Use the checklist above to streamline exports from Alibre Design with SimLab FBX Exporter and preserve the look and structure your target application needs.