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Home > Supported File Formats > Vectorworks to 3D Studio


How to convert Vectorworks (.vwx) to 3D Studio (.3ds)?


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.

     

Vectorworks

Vectorworks is a computer-aided design (CAD) and Building Information Modeling (BIM) software program developed by Nemetschek Vectorworks that is used for drafting, technical drawing and 3D modeling. Vectorworks offers 2D, 3D, production management, and presentation capabilities for all phases of the design process.

Vectorworks exports to various 3D file formats with varying degrees of integrity. There are several "best conversion" methods from Vectorworks which will retain the geometry, part naming, assembly hierarchy, materials and texture map associations.

Based on real tests of complex Vectorworks models, you can export the model from Vectorworks using the Cinema-4D .c4d, COLLADA .dae, FilmBox .fbx and/or DWF-3D .dwf file formats. Please make sure to choose the correct Vectorworks export radio button option to retain the class structure (so that the part naming and assembly hierarchy is exported).

     

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.