3DS Import for Inventor is a 3D Studio (.3ds) file import add-in for Inventor®. This add-in gives Inventor the ability to import polygon data from 3DS files.
3DS Import for Inventor reads polygon mesh data stored in 3DS files and imports it into Inventor. A polygon mesh in a 3DS file is comprised of a set of triangular faces. 3DS Import for Inventor creates trimmed planar surfaces for each triangle and knits them together to create a body. If the polygon mesh is closed (i.e. it does not contain boundary edges) then 3DS Import for Inventor will create a closed body feature, otherwise an open surface will be created.
3DS Import for Inventor is very easy to use. Once installed, it automatically loads itself into Inventor and adds a new submenu called "3DSImport" to the Inventor menu.
The '3DSImport' submenu consists of the following commands:
Import - Imports an 3DS file
Help - Displays the 3DS Import for Inventor help file
Register - Registers your copy of 3DS Import for Inventor
About - Displays the 3DS Import for Inventor About box
The 3DS File Format
The 3DS file format is the native file format of 3D Studio. 3D Studio has now been replaced by 3ds Max whose native file format has a .max file extension. However, 3ds Max is still able to read and write .3ds files. 3ds Max is one of the most widely-used off the shelf 3D animation programs. It has strong modeling capabilities, a flexible plug-in architecture and a long heritage on the Microsoft Windows platform. It is mostly used by video game developers, TV commercial studios and architectural visualization studios. It is also used for movie effects and movie pre-visualization.