I think Forester is right. It is a question of what modeling "language" a program uses and wether Vue can understand it. Nurbs and splines are completely different methods to discribe a curve. Even splines do have a lot of subspecies which not all programs can handle (of course). So what happens. Vue is reading a 3DS file with a curve description that it cannot understand. It tries it's best and takes the keypoints as curve points ignoring the interpretation of the in-between. Result is a faceted cylinder. Most modeling program do offer a convertion from one curve model to another. You should look for that and try out other modes. To do an anthology. What would you do if i'll send you a tutorial written in sanscrit and you have to interpretate it. You would take the words you understand and try to bring them in a sort of context. Exactly what Vue is doing.

One day your ship comes in - but you're at the airport.