The .3ds file format was the native file format of the old Autodesk "3D Studio R1-R4" software, which was popular up to about 1996 before its successor (3ds max, or 3D Studio MAX) replaced it. Having been around since the very late 1980's, it has grown to become an industry standard for transferring models between 3D programs, or for storing models for 3D resource catalogs (similar in status to Wavefront OBJ as a model archiving file format).

Please do not confuse the .3ds format with the 3D Studio MAX .max format. You will find throughout the 3D industry that some companies refer to .3ds as the "3DS MAX file format" but this is not true. The native file format of 3DS MAX is the .max format, whereas .3ds is just a legacy import/export file format ported over to 3DS MAX by Tom Hudson during the transition from 3D Studio R4.

Suggestion: Do not use the .3ds format to transfer data to/from 3DS MAX (especially for huge CAD datasets). There are many people who continue to do this. The best method is to use the directly integrated PolyTrans-for-MAX plug-in system.

However, .3ds is no longer an ideal file format as it once was. The .3ds format has several serious shortcomings, many of which probably stem from the fact that 3D Studio R1 grew out of Tom Hudson's mid-80's "CAD-3D" on the Atari platform:

• All meshes must be triangles.
• All texture filenames are limited to 8.3 DOS character lengths.
• The number of vertices and polygons per mesh is limited to 65536.
• Accurate vertex normals cannot be stored in the .3ds file. Instead "smoothing groups" are used so that the receiving program can recreate a (hopefully good) representation of the vertex normals. This is still a hold-over legacy for many animation programs today which started in the 1980's (3DS MAX, Lightwave and trueSpace still use smoothing groups, and Maya up to v2.51).
• Object, light and camera names are limited to 10 characters. Material names are limited to 16 characters.
• Directional light sources are not supported.

Okino was the first to fully reverse engineer the .3ds file format by 1993 and it became one of the most fundamentally important converters in our software, along with Lightwave support by 1994. Okino's .3ds importer reads in and converts every aspect of a 3D Studio file including all geometry (+ proper smoothing group recognition and processing), all camera and object animation data (plus the ability to animate 'instances' of 3D Studio objects), all material attributes (including the proper translation of edge fall-off transparency), lights, cameras, view data, background color schemes and all other auxiliary data from a .3ds binary file. In addition, it handles all (u,v) texture coordinates and uniquely imports all of the 3D Studio texture mapping methods (2 texture color maps, bump maps, opacity maps, shininess maps, automatic planar & cubical environment maps, spherical environment maps and luminosity maps).

As much as the .3ds file format is dated, you will find that the import of .3ds data into Okino software is one of the most reliable, robust and highly refined import pipelines available (from meshes right up to all of its animation data).

Starting in 1997, with several generation of versions thereafter, Okino has developed a special native plug-in version of PolyTrans (referred to as "PolyTrans-for-MAX") which allows the 3DS MAX & VIZ programs to read and write all the 3D file formats supported by NuGraf and PolyTrans. This is the only formal method in which the .max file format can be read/written by the NuGraf/PolyTrans software.

Please note that it is not possible to import or export .max files directly from inside the NuGraf or PolyTrans stand-alone software itself (see below for explanation); The .max file format is not a pure 3D file format (as is the .3ds file format) but rather it contains a "state snapshot" of how the various plug-in modules with 3DS MAX interact with each other to produce the final displayed mesh model.

If you do not own a copy of 3DS MAX then please have someone load a .max file into 3DS MAX and export out either a .3ds file or a .wrl (VRML2) file (VRML2 is preferable). These can then be easily loaded into your copy of PolyTrans. Better yet, if that person owns a copy of PolyTrans, have them install the special PolyTrans plug-in module to 3DS MAX and then export out an Okino .bdf file for you to load into your copy of PolyTrans.

In order to read/write .max files we must run PolyTrans directly inside 3DS MAX itself. This is because we need to have 3DS MAX evaluate its "stack" of plug-in modules that operate on the base mesh. The evaluated output mesh is then sent to PolyTrans. Vice versa, we need to gain access to the core of 3DS MAX to import data from PolyTrans and save it to the 3DS MAX internal database.

Please note that these special plug-in modules operate INSIDE 3DS MAX itself and not inside the stand-alone NuGraf or PolyTrans software. These modules are NOT to be placed in the Okino 'vcplugin' directory.

If you wish to transfer a 3DS MAX .max file to NuGraf or PolyTrans, execute 3DS MAX and export a scene file as an Okino ".bdf" file then execute NuGraf or Polytrans and load the .bdf file. The reverse direction can also be done by importing a .bdf file into 3DS MAX.

This import converter reads in motion capture data from the Acclaim (.amc and .asf) file format. This file format describes animated skeletons in terms of bones, hierarchy and angle constraints.

This geometry import converter reads in Alias triangle binary files which can be output from Alias Power Animator/Studio/AutoStudio/Designer. This is an old file format from the early 1990's; however, history has shown that there are still some programs which can import/export this file format.

These files basically just contain raw geometry data in triangular format with normals/colors/texture-uv coordinates per vertex. In addition the file contains the texture filename associated with each polygon and the structure of the file describes the hierarchy of the original scene.

The 3DMF file format was created by Apple Corp. in the early to mid 1990's as the standard file format for their QuickDraw-3D real time graphics library (which was competing with early versions of DirectX and the .X file format from Microsoft around that time). It was quite an amazing file format for the time, verbose and rich with primitives, attributes and other elements. It appeared that this would become the dominant file format for the 3D industry (as was .3ds and .obj up to that time). Okino was quick to jump into the development of its 3DMF importer (and then exporter) in 1995, but in the end the importer would end up being one of the most daunting to develop due to non-conformality of 3DMF files written by the 3D packages of that time (it is an open file format that uses 'containers' to allow semi-free-form file layout). The 3DMF file format was primarily used by the Mac-based 3D programs of the time (Strata, Infini-D, RayDream Designer, etc) and waned in popularity probably due to the non-conformity of 3DMF files written and read by these programs (Okino's importer was actually heavily developed for about 2 years to handle all of these different variations). However, the 3DMF file format is still used today by Artifice's Design Workshop program, and used as the primary file format for the Great Buildings WEB site.

This geometry import converter read in Apple QuickDraw 3D binary and ASCII files. It imports geometry, hierarchy, inherited state attributes (including texture (u,v) coordinates, U/V tangent vectors and normals), lights, cameras and embedded bitmaps (which are displayed onscreen during the extraction process).

Supported attributes include, but are not limited to:

• Meshed polygons with MeshCorners, VertexAttributeSetList and FaceAttributeSetList,
• Box, cone, cylinder, disc, ellipsoid, polygon, torus, triangle and trigrid primitives,
• GeneralPolygons with holes,
• Extraction of geometry hierarchy,
• NURB patches,
• Unsupported primitives are: ellipse, line, NURBS curve 2D & 3D, polyline.

Sub-attributes are supported including: ambient coefficient, diffuse color, highlight state, vertex normal, shading (u,v), specular color, specular control, surface tangent and transparency color.

QuickDraw 3D files allow bitmap texture images to be stored within the object file itself rather than externally. This converter extracts these embedded images and stores them on disk as TIFF files.

This import converter reads in motion capture data from the Biovision .bvh file format. This file format describes animated skeletons in terms of joints, hierarchy and angle constraints.

The .X file format is the basic geometry format used by Microsoft's DirectX-3D real time rendering engine and it quite prevalent and popular in the 3D game development market. From our own recollection of history, RenderMorphics from the U.K. was one of the first and best real-time gaming engines in the early 1990's and thus was bought out by Microsoft; that technology was renamed and became Direct-3D. The .X file format followed from that point onwards. Okino was probably one of the first companies to pester Microsoft to gain access to the .X file format specification, which ultimately led to our full .X exporter released in 1996. We had great hopes for the evolution of the .X file format but it never matured beyond its rudimentary support for meshes, basic material colors, hierarchy (and later) mesh skinning (probably because the 3 RenderMorphics originators left Microsoft, as told to Okino by the same 3 RenderMorphics developers). Nevertheless, we consider the .X file format a widely accepted industry standard for basic mesh models.

This import converter reads in ASCII and binary DirectX (.x) formatted files. Mesh data (with vertex normals, vertex uv texture coordinates and vertex colors), materials, texture references, hierarchy and object animation are all imported. In addition, vertex weights used for mesh/skeleton deformation skinning are imported and can be played back or re-exported via PolyTrans.

The DirectX file format does not have support for lights, cameras or NURBS. It also has rudimentary material and texture mapping support.

DXF can be considered the 'lowest common denominator' for 3D data file translation. DXF (ASCII) and its binary cousin (DWG) are the standard and native file formats of Autodesk's AutoCAD program. It has a very long history, starting in the early 1980's. Many 3D programs and modelers have some level of basic DXF import and export support, so if all else fails you can transfer mesh data to/from these programs using DXF (DXF does not support uv texture coordinates, vertex colors, materials, lights, texture maps, animation, etc.; just basic mesh geometry data).

Okino's DXF importer was finished in 1995 and has been completely rock solid (without error) since that time. If you wish to import from the most recent versions of the DWG file format (including embedded ACIS solids) then please use Okino's DWG import converter available in the "CAD/Pack" add-on.

This import converter reads in raw FACT files from the Electric Image animation system (now called 'Universe'). FACT files are also a common format to move scene data in and out of the Form/Z modeling program.

The following are some of the features of this import converter:

• All geometry is read in including the simple/complex geometry sub-data types, vertex normals, uv texture coordinates, vertex colors and tangent vectors,
  
  
• The complex hierarchy of the FACT file, including the preservation of linkage information and child/parent transformation information. Pivot points are properly derived from the linkage information.
  
  
• Material definitions (ambient/diffuse/specular colors, index of refraction, shading model, Phong highlight size and face opacity).
  
  
• Texture mapping information (filename, u/v scale, crop window information).
  
  
• All Electric Image texture projection methods (flat, cubic, spherical and cubical) are converted to equivalent NuGraf/PolyTrans texture projection methods.

This geometry import converter reads in Game Exchange v2.0 ASCII files. Game Exchange was originally developed and maintained by IZware, and Nichimen prior to that. The GameExchange file format is rich with content and this import converter handles the most important aspects of such content, such as geometry, instancing, materials, textures, lights, cameras and a subset of keyframed animation.

This import converter reads in Houdini GEO files. Houdini is a popular, high-end 3D effects and animation program. The importer handles ASCII GEO files This importer was developed over a period of several years, with help and feedback on its implementation coming from Side Effects (Toronto), the developers of Houdini.

This is a rather different and unique import converter in the long list of Okino importers. This converter can be used to import high quality 2D vector spline shape data from such page design programs as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, Micrografix Designer, or any other 2D design package which can output Adobe Illustrator (.ai) vector files.

For example, this .ai import converter can be used to import 2D vector logos, 2D text, bezier and linear spline shapes, and have them converted into a 3D polygonal representation ideal for instant rendering in a 3D software rendering package, or for subsequent export to another file format.

Thus, ideal uses of this import converter include:

• Import of logos and text, in spline form, from popular 2D design packages into Okino's NuGraf package for rendering in 3D, or export to another 3D file format for rendering in another software package.
• Conversion of complex spline shape data (curves within curves, such as the letter B) into a polygonal representation which can be accepted by any major 3D software package.
• Import of one form of 2D spline curve data (such as Cardinal curves from the OpenFlight file format) and conversion to another 2D spline format for subsequent output as 2D spline curves again (such as Bezier curves output to 3DS MAX).

This geometry utility imports Imagine or TTDDD binary geometry files. All geometry, surface attributes, hierarchy information, lights and cameras are properly extracted from the file. This is another one of the "Load and Render" import converters which sets up the imported scene so that it can be rendered with little or no tweaking required. Of particular interest is the converter's ability to recreate the complex geometry hierarchy used by the Imagine file format.

This import converter handles a significant aspect of the SGI Inventor 2.x and VRML 1.0 file formats. This version of "Inventor" is not to be confused with the native file format of the Autodesk Inventor solid modeling package; rather, this it is the native file format of the SGI (Silicon Graphics) OpenInventor toolkit. The SGI Inventor file format is quite common and popular on the SGI IRIX hardware platform, and it has been made popular on the Intel PC platform via the TGS (Template Graphics Software) port and maintenance of the OpenInventor toolkit to PC.

The VRML 1.0 file format is a direct sub-set of the SGI Inventor 2.0 file format, hence this import converter can equally handle VRML 1.0 files as an added benefit. A full list of features is provided here.

This geometry import converter reads in Lightwave binary object files (.lw) and ASCII scene files (.scn). It is a very complex converter, and one of the most developed in PolyTrans since 1994. This Lightwave importer, and its corresponding exporter have long been two of the most important converters in PolyTrans and NuGraf for many of our dedicated game development, animation and content development users. These converters, for example, allow data to be moved from Lightwave, into 3ds Max, and back again with little or no degradation in scene content (including hierarchy, object and camera animation, bones and skinning, automatic bitmap conversion and so forth).

The converter is actually composed of two distinct sub-converters: a Lightwave v4-5.6 importer, and a Lightwave 6.0 or newer importer. Lightwave 6 was released in the 2000 by Newtek and introduced a completely revamped .lwo and .lws file format, as described below. This importer takes advantage of many of the major new features of the Lightwave 6 file format. Please note: there is no need for Okino to quality this importer for each successive new version of Lightwave (such as V7, V8, V9, etc). Lightwave is pretty well the only 3D program which has a file format that can, and has, remained stable and unchanged for close to adecade. It is an IFF chunk-based file format and hence the version of the file format has little or no bearing on the version of Lightwave itself. The Okino Lightwave importer is always compliant and supported up to the current version of Lightwave.

This MilkShape-3D geometry import converter reads in the complete contents of a MilkShape-3D .ms3d binary file, including:

1. Mesh geometry with vertex normals and vertex uv texture coordinates
2. Materials
3. Texture maps
4. Skeletons (bones)
5. Mesh skinning weights and associations (deformation of meshes by bones)
6. Animation (rotations imported as Euler or Quaternions)

MilkShape-3D is a popular low polygon-count modeler and gaming file converter written by chUmbaLum sOft of Zurich, Switzerland.

Okino's Milkshape-3D importer is most beneficial as a bridge between the large selection of import converters supported by the Milkshape-3D program and the large selection of export converters supported by Okino software.

This Minolta geometry import converter imports camera (.cam) and element (.vvd) files that were scanned using the Minolta Vivid 3D Scanner. Once read into memory, a polygonal mesh is created to represent the data that was scanned by the camera.

The converter will also extract any embedded image maps from within the Minolta files and convert them to standalone TIFF images. Texture coordinates will then be computed and assigned to the polygonal mesh so that the new texture map will overlay the geometry data in its correct location.

If this importer does not execute for you, then please copy the "wnaspi32.dll" file from the "vcplugin" directory to your Windows\system32 directory.

This import converter reads in ASCII files based on the MOL Molecular Database format.

The MOL Import Converter was designed to allow MOL users to bring their models into the Okino NuGraf software, or to any other 3D rendering/modeling package. Once imported, the model data can be manipulated, renderings can be generated and the data can be re-exported to various other 3D formats.

The Okino .bdf file format is the native format used by Okino's PolyTrans and NuGraf products. It is a "snap shot" of the core Okino 3D scene graph database and in essence is a super-set of the capabilities of most 3D files formats. It is the preferred and best file format to use when converting data between 3ds max (via the PolyTrans-for-MAX native plug-in system) and Maya (via the PolyTrans-for-Maya native plug-in system).

This geometry import converter imports and processes SLP ("Render") files which are typically exported by PTC's Pro/Engineer program. Once the SLP file has been imported it can be automatically exploded into separate objects, and each object can have its vertices welded together. The resulting optimized polygon mesh can then be rendered with no changes necessary using such programs as Okino's NuGraf or Autodesk's 3DS MAX.

In order to use this file format successfully, you will need to tag each part inside Pro/Engineer with a different color. This is because all triangles exported to the SLP file format are thrown into "one large pot", and the color of a triangle is the only salient feature which can be used to segment the model back into different parts upon re-import.

For more complex assemblies, it is recommended that you use Okino's IGES importer to transfer data from Pro/Engineer (this works very well), or via the native Pro/Engineer importer available in Okino's "Granite/Pack".

This import converter reads in ASCII files based on the PDB (Protein Database) file format.

The PDB Import Converter was designed to allow PDB users to bring their models into the Okino NuGraf software, or to any other 3D rendering/modeling package. Once imported, the model data can be manipulated, renderings can be generated and the data can be re-exported to various other 3D formats.

This import converter reads in geometric and scene data from the OpenNURBS .3dm file format. This is the main file format used by the Rhino-3D NURBS modeling package by Robert McNeel and Associatesand is also an open standard for the transfer of NURBS based surface and curve data.

The following data is imported from the OpenNURBS .3dm file format:

1. Meshes with vertex normals, vertex uv texture coordinates and vertex colors are imported.
   
   
2. Breps are imported as multiple distinct NURBS surfaces (with optional trim curves) parented to one new grouping node/folder.
   
   
3. Independent NURBS curves and composite curves are imported as-is.
   
   
4. Layers which are hidden in Rhino become hidden objects upon import (they are not ignored).
   
   
5. Materials are created and assigned per layer or per object. Ambient, diffuse and specular colors are the basic entities imported from a Rhino material.
   
   
6. The texture map associated with a material definition is imported as a texture reference.
   
   
7. Ambient, spot and point light source are supported as well as their light color and intensity.
   
   
8. Each Rhino layer is converted into an Okino grouping folder, and all related geometry is attached to one of these grouping folders.
   
   
9. The 3D Viewport is imported as a default camera definition.
   
   
10. Points and point clouds are ignored.

This geometry import converter reads both binary and ASCII versions of StereoLithography STL files which are typically sent to 3D stereolithography (prototyping) machines. These are very primitive files, with just pure polygon data and vertices (no normals, uv texture coordinates, etc). The polygons are typically triangles. Many 3D CAD programs output STL files, so this could be considered one method to transfer data from a modeling program (however, XGL, IGES and others are becoming more common these days). All the polygons are read into a single object since there is no object information contained within a .stl file.

This geometry import converter reads files which are in the older Strata StudioPro v1.50 and v1.75 file format. For newer versions of Strata, please use the QuickDraw-3D, VRML1 or VRML2 file formats for inter-program data transfer.

This converter is probably one of the most complete Strata StudioPro v1.75 file readers next to that of the one included with Strata StudioPro itself. You will find that most StudioPro models are of quite high quality, with good use of bezier patches (for high resolution modeling) and good use of shading + texture mapping to give realistic rendered results. Of particular note, this converter completely recreates the complex geometry hierarchy typically found in most StudioPro files; it also has the unique feature of extracting PICT texture images that are embedded within StudioPro files and converting them to stand-alone TIFF images. The converter also imports Bezier and meshed Bezier patches which are quite common in StudioPro files.

Strata .vis 1.75 format does not use uv texture coordinates. Instead, it uses the oldesr concept of uv texture projections to map the textures onto objects. This is fully supported and emulated.

This geometry import converter reads in Caligari trueSpace '.cob' and '.scn' binary scene files. The following are some of the features of this converter:

• All geometry is read in including the local axes and all material assignments.
  
  
• Holes within polygons are also properly converted into Okino compatible meshed polygons with holes.
  
  
• All (u,v) texture coordinates are read in and stored along with the meshed polygon data.
  
  
• All three polygon faceting modes are properly handled: faceted, autofacet and smooth. This allows proper smoothing of the data as per the Caligari trueSpace smoothing conventions.
  
  
• The original scene hierarchy is completely recreated, including all groupings and their related transformations.
  
  
• The directional, point and spot light sources are properly imported as well as the light color and shadow mapping parameters.

This geometry import converter import converter imports, manipulates and converts digital elevation model (DEM) data as well as GTOPO30 DEM data. It has been a popular import converter since its original release in 1996. With the help of the public domain SDTS2DEM.EXE program, this importer can also read in the new SDTS DEM file format .

The USGS DEM data is provided as a service of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). Each data set describes the elevation of semi-square regions of land for various locations across the U.S.A., Alaska, Hawaii and some surrounding areas of Mexico and Canada. The most accurate DEM data sets are sampled every 30 metres (7.5 minute DEMs) while the least accurate are sampled every 3 arc seconds (for 1:250,000 scale DEMs).

This geometry import converter imports, manipulates and converts digital elevation model (DEM) data in the VistaPro format. This is an older program from the mid to late 1990's, and as such Okino provides this converter with no further support.

This import converter handles a significant aspect of the VRML 1.0 file format. The VRML 1.0 file format is a direct sub-set of the SGI Inventor 2.0 file format, hence this import converter can equally handle Inventor2 files as an added benefit. A full list of features is provided here.

In the realm of writing import converters this VRML 2.0 import converter was one of the more delicate and difficult to implement. VRML 2.0 is a very verbose and extensive 3D scene description language that provides much freedom of expression to write complex files. The development of this import converter has concentrated on implementing a proper and exacting import of complex VRML files, including nested PROTOS, keyframe animation and even the extraction of embedded bitmap data to stand-alone TIFF files. While there are many 3D VRML browsers, there are few stand-alone data conversion programs which properly implement the import of VRML files; we hope that making this carefully coded VRML import converter available will satisfy the many requests from our users who have long sought a good VRML import solution.

Many people consider VRML2 a "dead" file format, or a file format used primarily for WEB publishing of interactive worlds and scenes. This is far from the truth in terms of Okino customers. VRML2 is an excellent method to transfer mesh models out of many CAD modeling packages, and it is also a secondary method (after Okino's own .bdf file format) to transfer data (as well as animation) our of Discreet's 3ds max product.

This geometry import converter reads in Wavefront 'OBJ' format files in their entirety, including vertex, normal and texture coordinates, as well as grouping and smoothing information. It also parses the full Wavefront NURBS file format, allowing trimmed NURBS data to be imported from such programs as Rhino-3D; when imported into PolyTrans or NuGraf, the NURBS data remains as true trimmed NURBS, allowing the data to be exported as trimmed NURBS to such supported file formats as Renderman RIB, SoftImage or IGES. when outputting to a polygonal file format (Lightwave, MAX, etc.) the PolyTrans or NuGraf export converter will tessellate the trimmed NURBS patches to optimized indexed polygon lists prior to export.

The Wavefront OBJ file format itself does not include any capabilities for vertex color information, lights, cameras, NURBS, animation or skeleton/skinning information. Even so, it's a very standard and good format for general 3d mesh model conversion and archiving.

This import converter is a complete and accurate implementation of the Wavefront OBJ file format, including the parsing of all attributes in a Wavefront material ('.mtl') file. The converter has been under constant and refined development since 1992; it is one of the 'must have' import converters of game developers and others requiring easy transport of indexed polygon data or NURBS data amongst most of the 3D software programs currently on the market. Many companies which sell 3D models provide their datasets in the OBJ file format, so you can use this converter to read in these data files and be guaranteed nice rendered results.

An important feature of this import converter is its ability to break apart the imported polygonal data according to assigned object name, group name, smoothing number, material name or texture mapping name. Likewise, new materials definitions (inside NuGraf/PolyTrans) can be created based on one of these Wavefront OBJ file attributes.

The converter will also read material definitions from a Wavefront material file (typically which has a file extension '.mtl') if the material file is referenced within the Wavefront geometry file (typically which has a file extension '.obj') using the 'mtllib' keyword. If one or more Wavefront material files are listed on a single line then all will be read into memory for possible reference by the geometry file.

Please note: if you were not given a ".mtl" file along with the ".obj" files, then you will not get any material or texture maps after import.

Okino's X3D importer (and corresponding exporter) are one of the first set of production-quality X3D and Classic VRML converters to come to market, just as Okino had provided the first industry standard set of re-purposing converters for VRML1 and VRML2 in 1996 and 1998 respectively (and which are still two of our most popular file formats today, a decade later). They were developed in full cooperation with the Web3D Consortium and the U.S. Navy.

"X3D" is the next generation standard, a superset of the VRML2 specification. It is an Open Standards XML-enabled 3D file format to enable real-time communication of 3D data across all applications and network applications. It has a rich set of features for use in engineering and scientific visualization, CAD and Architecture, Medical visualization, Training and simulation, multimedia, entertainment, educational, and more. Where VRML1 and VRML2 dominated the 3D market for the last decade, it is expected that X3D will become the successor and replacement for the next decade. More information about the X3D file format and initiative can be found at www.web3d.org.

As mentioned by Robert Lansdale, President & CEO of Okino, "I would like to impress on our Okino customer user base the importance of this new generation of X3D import/export converters. Almost every month a new 3D file format is introduced to the market, often because the developers of the file format do not believe that existing file formats are acceptable. Typically this is internally motivated by company politics or the common 'not invented here' mentality. The current 3D market is becoming glutted with an overabundance of similar 3D file formats, yet that does not need to be the case. One of the longest standing and most successful 3D file formats since 1996 has been VRML2, as it was designed to be an extensive, open and standards-based data transfer file format. VRML2, and its new X3D XML-based successor, are stable and well established file formats that will most likely outlast many of today's existing 3D formats. Okino's customers have had great success with our bi-directional VRML 1+2 conversion pipelines since the 90's and hence we decided to collaborate with the Web3D Consortium and the US Navy to extend these capabilities to include production-quality X3D and Classic VRML support. VRML2 and X3D are very verbose file formats, with many nuances, which made the implementation and testing of our second generation converters very time intensive."

The following are some of the features of this X3D import converter:

• Object, camera, light and material animation using keyframe data.
  
  
• Indexed face sets (meshes), indexed line sets, 3D point sets, extrusions, height field, box, cone, cylinder and sphere geometry is supported.
  
  
• Triangle primitives: TriangleSet, IndexedTriangleSet, TriangleFanSet, IndexedTriangeFanSet, TriangleStripSet and IndexedTriangleStripSet.
  
  
• Unique support for importing of X3D NURBS surfaces and NURBS curves.
  
  
• Vertex normals, vertex texture coordinates, vertex colors, per-face colors and material assignments are supported for the indexed face set geometry.
  
  
• For IndexedFaceSets and IndexedLineSets geometry, colors (in addition to X3D Materials) can be assigned on a per-vertex or per-face basis. If assigned on a per-face basis, the face colors are converted to polygon-assigned NuGraf/PolyTrans materials. Any inherited texture maps will be assigned to these per-polygon materials as well.
  
  
• User options are available to import a specific sub-child of LOD (level of detail) nodes.
  
  
• X3D hierarchy is recreated, including support for DEF/USE and nested PROTOs.
  
  
• Unique support for the X3D CAD working group extensions: CADassembly, CADpart and CADface.
  
  
• External references are supported, whereby external X3D files are inserted into the main hierarchy tree of the source file.
  
  
• If geometry is DEFd then USEd more than once in the X3D file (ie: the geometry is instantiated multiple times), then this converter will create one object definition internally and create multiple instances of the object definition (to replicate the behaviour of VRML).
  
  
• Each Material parameter is imported and stored, including diffuse & specular colors, ambient intensity, luminous color, shininess and transparency.
  
  
• The directional, point and spot light sources are properly imported as well as their related parameters.
  
  
• File-referenced bitmaps and embedded texture bitmaps are supported.
  
  
• Bitmaps which are embedded within the X3D file are automatically extracted and converted to TIFF files on disk. The images are also displayed on the screen as they are being imported.
  
  
• The various fields of the Transform node (scale, rotation, translation, center, scale orientation) are imported and converted to an equivalent 4x4 transformation matrix.
  
  
• Fog and Backgrounds (color only) are imported and converted to equivalent forms.
  
  
• Viewpoint nodes are converted to perspective cameras.
  
  
• An optional optimization algorthm can be enabled after import is completed to remove redundant nodes from the scene graph and hierarchy.
  
  
• Global and per-node metadata. WorldInfo imported as user-data.

This import converter reads in ASCII XGL formatted files as well as their ZGL compressed equivalents. Triangular mesh data (with vertex normals and vertex uv texture coordinates), basic material properties, embedded texture images and object hierarchy are imported from the XML-style XGL file.

XGL is an ideal file format to export data from various supported 3D programs (see here, primarily CAD packages) to an XGL viewing program, be it on a local machine or across the Internet. XGL is also an ideal file format to move data from these CAD packages into Okino's NuGraf software for viewing, visual editing and photo-realistic rendering.

The Autodesk Inventor import converter module allows geometry, hierarchy and materials (assembly data) to be imported from native disk-based Autodesk Inventor files or from a running copy of the Autodesk Inventor 3D solid modeling application using the Autodesk Inventor automation API. No intermediate files are used in the translation.

This import converter allows data to be directly imported from Autodesk Inventor into any Okino compliant program, such as NuGraf, PolyTrans, the 3DS MAX native plug-ins, the Autodesk Maya native plug-in module, the Softimage XSI native plug-in module or the Macromedia Director plug-in module.

If you do not have a copy of Autodesk Inventor installed on your computer then you will need to install the Inventor "Apprentice Server" COM component module. This module allows Okino's Inventor importer to import data from .iam assembly files and/or .ipt part files without need for a full resident copy of Autodesk Inventor. This "Apprentice Server" is distributed by Autodesk in an installer called "Design Tracking". References to this page can be found on the Okino demo downloads WEB page.

Features of the Autodesk Inventor importer:

• Import from a live running copy of Autodesk Inventor, or from native Autodesk Inventor .iam and .ipt files on disk (no copy of Autodesk Inventor required for this latter feature).
  
  
• Imports and retains: assembly hierarchy information and assembly names, as well as BREP structure of the source model (bodies and faces). Can query accurate vertex normals, uv texture coordinates and UV tangent vectors from Autodesk Inventor directly.
  
  
• The quality of the model (the number of polygons) can be controlled when importing from Autodesk Inventor or from disk-based files.
  
  
• Okino's "CAD Scene and Hierarchy Optimization System" has been integrated right into the Autodesk Inventor importer. This is most important when importing large CAD models into 3DS MAX, Maya or Lightwave. These animation packages tend to have performance problems then the source CAD model is large, and/or has a large number of individual parts (which is often the case with the BREP model topology of data provided by Autodesk Inventor).
  
  
• The native PolyTrans plug-in systems for 3DS MAX (PolyTrans-for-MAX) and Maya (PolyTrans-for-Maya) have been refined since 1998 specifically for importing large CAD assembly models from Autodesk Inventor. This has come about partly from our good software users, and also from the main Okino CAD programmers who have been specializing in CAD to non-CAD conversion software since 1988.
  
  
• Complete control over material parameter modification on an automatic basis. Many CAD systems like Autodesk Inventor have basic material parameters (like color, ambient + diffuse shading coefficients, opacity, etc) but when they are transferred over to a rendering and animation system they often look "too bright" or "highly ambient". This can be expected and is quite normal. The material tweak parameters easily allow such saturated shading values to be automatically compensated.

The DWG import converter is an intelligent and complex converter which will read in DWG/DXF files containing 2d, 2-1/2d or 3d entities and transform them into optimized, grouped meshes of 3d polygons.

Highlights of the converter are as follows:

• Conformance to the AutoCAD 2.5, 2.6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15/2000, 2002, 2004 (and newer) specifications.
  
  
• Reads both ASCII and binary versions of the DXF/DWG format.
  
  
• The 'scan mode' option allows the DXF/DWG file to be pre-scanned for color numbers, layer names and block names.
  
  
• Retains blocks and instances within the imported database (no object replication).
  
  
• Creates cameras from the VIEW entries found in the DXF/DWG file. The cameras are compliant with the unpublished AutoCAD 'VIEW' algorithm for perspectivecameras.
  
  
• Reads in the most popular and important DXF/DWG entity and converts them into optimized 3d polygon meshes by a variety of means.
  
  
• Allows 2d entities with no width or thickness to be intelligently converted into 3d polygons of very narrow width. This allows, for example, 2d drafting diagrams to be imported and rendered in 3-dimensions. It can also be used, for example, to import GIS data that consists of DEM terrain and simple 3d polylines (very powerful!). This feature is quite useful since 3D AutoCAD diagrams often use 2d lines and 2d arcs to add fine detail to a scene; without this feature such detail would be non-existent within the 3d imported scene.
  
  
• All adjoining polylines which have been assigned "width" are properly mitred. The only other 3d DXF/DWG converter that is known to have this capability is that provided with Autodesk's 3D Studio. Mitring adjusts the angle of abutting polygons so that they fit together snuggly (as with the corners of a picture frame). The mitring code handles every possible case, including 2d mitring (widened polylines) and 3d mitring (widened polylines which are subsequently extruded upwards).
  
  
• The converter is extemely memory efficient.
  
  
• If ACIS solid entities are stored in the DWG file then they will be decrypted and turned into polygon meshes prior to import.

This complex geometry import converter reads in IGES ASCII files including the most used NURBS entities, their related trim curve information, geometry hierarchy connectivity and polygonal data.

This IGES importer is also included with the "Granite/Pack" add-on license since it complements the PTC solids-based IGES importer quite well.

Features of this IGES import converter:

• Above all other features, the most important aspect of this IGES importer is the decade (and more) of R&D placed into this importer. Over these years we have received hundreds of IGES files and have tweaked this importer to handle bad data exported from other popular CAD packages. In particular, the tessellator which converts the trimmed NURBS surfaces into triangles has been refined to handle all sorts of bad trim curves or tolerance issues (and these abound in IGES files).
  
  
• All of the major 3d geometry entities, such as tabulated surface, surface of revolution, parametric spline surface and all NURB entities are imported and converted to clean and legal trimmed NURB patches.
  
  
• The reader fully recreates the geometrical hierarchy of an IGES file via entities 308 (subfigure definitive) and 408 (subfigure instance) in an efficient manner using the instance/object capabilities of the NuGraf/PolyTrans internal database manager. This allows the IGES reader to define an object once (such as a bolt) then have it instanced many times; thus, there only has to be one copy of the geometry in memory even though there are many virtual copies of it in the scene.
  
  
• The IGES specification does not provide an efficient method to store meshed polygonal data. Rather, each single polygon is typically written to an IGES file within its own entity (#106, copious data). When reading in an IGES file, this converter will flag all of these polygons which belong to a single subfigure definition and accumulate them into an efficient 'Indexed Polygon' mesh primitive rather than create a new object for each polygon read in.
  
  
• All polygons which do not belong to a subfigure definition will be accumulated and stored in a single indexed polygon mesh with an instance name of 'lone polygons'.
  
  
• If a circular arc is not subordinate to another entity (ie: it is not used as a trim curve on a NURB surface) then it is turned into a planar NURB patch surface with a circular boundary. The same holds true for composite curves and conic arcs which are closed.
  
  
• External file references are handled, in a recursive manner. This allows sets of IGES files, hierarchically linked via one main "root" IGES file, to be imported and its hierarchy recreated. This is most often used for files coming from Pro/Engineer.

The Solid Edge import converter module allows geometry, hierarchy and materials (assembly data) to be imported from native disk-based Solid Edge files or from a running copy of the Solid Edge 3D solid modeling application using the Solid Edge automation API. No intermediate files are used in the translation.

This import converter allows data to be directly imported from Solid Edge into any Okino compliant program, such as NuGraf, PolyTrans, the 3DS MAX native plug-ins, the Autodesk Maya native plug-in module, the Softimage XSI native plug-in module or the Macromedia Director plug-in module.

Features of the Solid Edge import converter:

• Import from a live running copy of Solid Edge, or from native Solid Edge .asm and .prt files on disk (no copy of Solid Edge required for this latter feature).
  
  
• Imports and retains: assembly hierarchy information and assembly names, as well as BREP structure of the source model (bodies and faces). Can query accurate vertex normals, uv texture coordinates and UV tangent vectors from Solid Edge directly.
  
  
• The quality of the model (the number of polygons) can be controlled when importing from Solid Edge (but not when importing from files directly on disk).
  
  
• If one part is instantiated N times in the Solid Edge assembly tree then this importer will recognize such a situation and use Okino's core database master/instance capability to import the part just once and instantiate it N times.
  
  
• The native PolyTrans plug-in systems for 3DS MAX (PolyTrans-for-MAX) and Maya (PolyTrans-for-Maya) have been refined since 1998 specifically for importing large CAD assembly models from Solid Edge. This has come about partly from our good software users, and also from the main Okino CAD programmers who have been specializing in CAD to non-CAD conversion software since 1988.
  
  
• A good number of important options that can be (optionally) set prior to import, to control most situations that could be encountered with Solid Edge data import. Many options have come about from end-user requirements or situations.
  
  
• Complete control over material parameter modification on an automatic basis. Many CAD systems like Solid Edge have basic material parameters (like color, ambient + diffuse shading coefficients, opacity, etc) but when they are transferred over to a rendering and animation system they often look "too bright" or "highly ambient". This can be expected and is quite normal. The material tweak parameters easily allow such saturated shading values to be automatically compensated.
  
  
• If you are importing the Solid Edge data into Okino's PolyTrans or NuGraf software then it