Home > Supported File Formats > ESRI ShapeFile to LightWave

How to convert ESRI ShapeFile (.shp,.cshp) 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.

ESRI ShapeFile

The ShapeFile format was defined by Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) for storing simple vector data elements, most often used for GIS datasets and GIS flat maps.

The Okino geometry import converter reads in the point, line and polygon-area geometrical vector data from a ESRI "Shape File". These files are often created using ESRI's ARC/INFO, ARC/VIEW and ARC/GIS. The file extensions are .shp (geometry data) and .cshp (ESRI ShapeFile project file, which makes reference to other .shp files on disk).

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.

ESRI ShapeFile import converter's overview

LightWave export converter's overview