3ds Files

[CraftyCat]

How and why do people use 3ds files in Vectorworks? 

[RickR]

"Because that's what you have." 

 

I have mostly exported them, to specialty software. Importing symbol stuff comes to mind; furniture, fixtures, musical instruments...

One project I did import an entire building (small) as that was before VW imported Sketchup files. 3DS files contain much better rendering information than DWG.

[Kevin McAllister]

3ds files are usually used as an intermediary between VW and another program - either too or from. As mentioned above its a file format that will retain texture information and objects are brought in or exported as mesh/3d polygon objects. Note that while these objects are useable in VW it doesn't handle them efficiently so they will tend to slow down your file. As far as I know 3ds is technically a legacy file format though its widely used for transferring polygon mesh geometry between programs.

 

Kevin

[Art V]

In the past I used 3DS files to export the Vectorworks 3D model to an external rendering program to create 3D PDF files, but now that Vectorworks can generate 3D PDF's this is no longer necessary. So the only other reason for me to use it is to import 3D objects/models that cannot be imported in another way (usually because there is no other more suitable compatible file format available).  As Kevin mentioned, the 3DS format is considered  a legacy file format, but it can still be useful for certain purposes he mentioned.