Autodesk 3ds Reader/Writer

FME can read and write Autodesk® 3ds format files.

The 3ds format was originally developed as the native format for Autodesk 3D Studio (Releases 1 to 4). It is now commonly used as an interchange format between different 3D modeling and rendering applications.

Autodesk 3ds Product and System Requirements

Format	FME Platform			Operating System
Reader/Writer	FME Form	FME Flow	FME Flow Hosted	Windows 64-bit	Linux	Mac
Reader	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Writer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Reader Overview

The reader produces FME features for geometry data in a 3ds file. It extracts all the geometry in a 3ds file, and then presents the elements one at a time to FME for further processing. Each 3ds element will create an FME feature.

Writer Overview

The 3D model has a hierarchical structure of Nodes, which are elements of the model.

For each node, there is a corresponding mesh, which contains the geometry of the object. Feature types become Nodes. Features become Meshes that may have geometries and attributes.

The 3ds Writer does not support feature type fanout.

Note The 3ds format is limited to 32-bit precision for its coordinates and, as a result, translations involving a greater level of precision (that is, using world coordinates instead of local coordinates) may produce 3ds data where different coordinates are collapsed into a single coordinate. You can resolve this issue by offsetting the x,y,z coordinates such that the model's origin is moved to (0,0,0) or another point close to this, which has the effect of moving the model into a local coordinate system.