Home > Supported File Formats > ACIS SAT to LightWave

How to convert ACIS SAT (.sat,.sab) to LightWave (.lws,.lwo)?

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.

ACIS SAT

ACIS 'SAT' (ASCII) and 'SAB' (binary) are the native 3D file formats of the Spatial ACIS solids modelling toolkit. Spatial licenses this toolkit to third party developers upon which they can develop their own 3D software and/or converters.

From Okino's own perspective, the ACIS SAT file format was more prevalent and popular in the late 1990s and into the early 2000s. However, thereafter, several major software vendors moved off of the ACIS platform and onto other alternative platforms to build their software. We really do not have any of our customers utilize the SAT file format anymore as there are better or more native methods to source such MCAD data (such as STEP, IGES and Parasolid).

LightWave

LightWave is a well known and respected DCC/Animation system which has been around since the early days of the Amiga. It continues to be developed by Newtek Inc.

Okino implemented the main system to read and write LightWave .lwo and .lws files as of 1993, with the peak demand for our LightWave converters being throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s, after which other animation systems became more popular (3ds Max, Maya and Softimage).

Fortunately a copy of the LightWave software is not needed to convert to/from the .lws and .lwo formats (as otherwise is the defacto case for the 3ds Max and Maya animation systems). The general scene data is stored in the ASCII .lws scene file whereas the binary .lwo file contains the geometry and material information.

ACIS SAT import converter's overview

LightWave export converter's overview