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How to convert AVEVA (PDMS,Marine,E3D) to FBX (FilmBox v5/v6/v7,.fbx)?

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.

AVEVA

AVEVA is the world's leading engineering IT software provider to the plant, power and marine industries.

Okino has a long direct and indirect relationship with AVEVA and its customers. One of Okino's core competencies & specialties is in the conversion of super-ultra-massive 3D models to downstream programs which simply cannot handle those models (such as 3ds Max, Cinema-4D, Maya, Unity, Unreal, etc.).

Connection from AVEVA PDMS, AVEVA Marine or AVEVA E3D to Okino software is best handled either via the DWF-3D file format or the ZGL file format. Please refer to either of these importers and their corresponding tutorial on 'How to Import from Ultra-Massive AVEVA PDMS & AVEVA Marine Models'.

As another secondary method of converting AVEVA PDMS .rvm, PDMS DGN and Intergraph PDS/DGN/DRI files, you can load those file types into Autodesk Navisworks, convert to DWF-3D files, and import into Okino software via our DWF-3D importer. This works very well and is a highly optimized + highly refined Okino conversion pipeline.

FBX

FBX is a 3D 'digital asset interchange' file format that had been pushed on the 3D industry by Autodesk after they acquired it from the bankruptcy assets of its prior owners, Alias Research and Kaydara of Canada. FBX has its placed in the DCC/Animation world but it does have its limitations, given that it is a closed and proprietary file format of Autodesk.

Note: if you are one of the many people who use FBX to convert data out of Navisworks, Revit, AutoCAD or Inventor then please use DWF-3D file format and Okino's DWF-3D import converter instead. It is a night and day difference but little known except to our core Okino users. Likewise, use our native program support for 3ds Max, Maya and Cinema-4D rather than use FBX.

FBX supports all the common attributes of a DCC/Animation file format such as mesh geometry with vertex normals and vertex colors, non-solids NURBS ('old school NURBS'), lights, cameras, hierarchy, bones and mesh skinning (deformations), materials and textures. In basic terms, it is similar to the capabilities of the COLLADA and VRML2/X3D file formats, and to Okino's long standard BDF data translation file format.

Okino has a very long history associated with FBX as it created the very first and fully implemented set of FBX import and export converters in 2002, with full animation, skinning and trimmed NURBS support. This was long before anyone had much heard of FBX. And to this very day we are still the only company that actively ships and supports FBX v5 (Kaydara), v6 (Alias) and v7 (Autodesk). However, FBX was just one of many 'not invented here' file formats which came to glut the 3D market in the 2005-2007 era, many of which petered away over time.

A key reason for its early adoption, throughout the 3D industry, was the availability of a free and officially supported (but closed) FBX SDK from Autodesk.

The downsides of the FBX file format is that (1) it has stagnated in recent years, (2) it is based on a legacy material model and not on modern PBR, (3) it is based on legacy lighting models and not on physically based lighting, and (4) it is a closed file format which only Autodesk can update or change. Otherwise, these restrictions have made it easier for software developers to implement FBX just once and then not have to worry about costly yearly revisions.

Vist the AVEVA WEB Site

DWF import converter's overview

FBX export converter's overview