Bl
Bl
Bl
Bl
Bl
You are here:   Home »  Products »  PolyTrans|CAD+DCC  
Bl

Home > Supported File Formats > 3D Studio to PLM XML


How to convert 3D Studio (.3ds) to PLM XML (Siemens)?


PolyTrans|CAD+DCC performs mathematically precise CAD, DCC/Animation, GIS and BIM 3D file conversions into all key downstream 3D packages and file formats. Okino software is used and trusted throughout the world by many tens of thousands of 3D professionals in mission & production critical environments, backed by respectable personal support directly from our core development team.

     

3D Studio

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) replaced it. The file format is a dated, 16-bit, obsolete format. It is limited to triangle geometry, 65536 polygons per mesh, no vertex normals for accurate smoothing, 8.3 DOS filename naming and a maximum of 10 characters for object names.

Please do not confuse the .3ds format with the 3ds 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 back in the early 1990s. DO NOT use the .3ds file format to convert to/from 3ds Max but rather use Okino's dedicated PolyTrans-for-3dsMax plug-in system for 3ds Max.

     

PLM XML

PLM XML is a format created by UGS for facilitating product lifecycle interoperability using XML. Representing a variety of product data both explicitly and via references, PLM XML provides a lightweight, flexible mechanism for transporting high-content product data over the internet.

Related to PLM XML, Okino was one of the very first members of the Siemens 'JT Open' initiative and hence we provide excellent support for the import and export of JT files. "JT" is the predominant and lightweight 3D visualization file format for PLM. Due to the overlap in functionality between JT files and PLM XML files, we do support PLM XML directly but rather we rely upon JT for our PLM coverage.