I know it's possible to import models from surten 3D formats (or whatever it's called). And so today I downloaded one of the free 3D models from 3dattic.com. Because I never ever worked in 3D before I have no idea what format is best. So I downloaded the 'country workshop' in dxf format. I couldn't get that to work. It wasn't a zip file and I couldn't open it in Vue. So then I tried the lwo format. I managed to import the workshop, but no textures, and the model was one piece, so I couldn't put any texture on the different parts myself. Now I'm trying the obj format. Apparently with this one I can texture the different parts. So I'm going to try some things with that. My question is though. What format is best for importing in Vue. And why do some models not work the way they should? In the Vue guide it says it supports all those formats. Thank you, Rynn.

I'm a business guy at e-on so take my advice with a grain of salt. Id go with 3DS or OBJ. When I work with Vue, I usually select OBJ because its speedier than 3DS and does what I want it to do, especially with Poser imports. I cannot say Ive been happy with DXF imports with any 3D product Ive used. Best regards, Lynn Fredricks e-on software US Business Unit

I have been working a bit with that OBJ model, and I found out I can texture every single part of it. Very cool. :) Thank you so much for your advice, atleast now I know I stumbled onto the right format. :)

Rynn, There seems to be a bit more to it than that though. For one thing, DXF format has no UV coordinates, which is why you can't texture it. Also, there appear to be many various different types of DXF, at least one of which is not compatible with Vue. But don't worry...DXF seems as though it's being phased out in favor of 3DS, and OBJ. There's also always the possibility that a file may have been corrupted during the download. It seems to be almost rare, but it happens. And then again, people screw up from time to time. (yes, believe it or not!) As Lynn said, .OBJ is a VERY good bet in terms of Vue compatibility. As far as I can tell, the most common 3D file formats are, .OBJ, .3DS, .LWO (somewhat rare), and .DXF. There are also various offshoots, such as .prj, .MAX, etc.. There are many freeware and shareware apps which can make conversions from one format to another, such as 3D Explorer and 3D Win, , to name a couple. In the case of DXF files, I personally like to convert them to .OBJ and then run them through Steve Cox' freeware app, UV Mapper, which can be used to then apply UV coordinates to them, and make them easy to texture, and very Vue-friendly. .OBJ is definitely the way to go, but 3DS seems to work well, too. I have some models which are 3DS, which I have had far better results with, rather than converting them to .OBJ. As far as DXF goes, I don't even bother...that is, if it's a DXF file I've downloaded, the first thing I'll do is to convert it to .OBJ, then send it through UV Mapper, save it again as .OBJ (UV Mapper can only open a .OBJ file), and take it from there. UV Mapper seems to somehow "fix" problems with .OBJ files also, by the way. You can find these apps here: UV Mapper: http://home.pb.net/~stevecox It's free, and there are some great tutorials at his site. Plus, Steve Cox is more than willing to answer any questions, through emails, and very quickly. :) 3D Exploration: http://www.xdsoft.com/explorer/ It's shareware and fully functional (it saves), but you have 30 days to check it out and decide if you like it. Most people seem to, and it works pretty well. 3D Win: http://www.stmuc.com/thbaier/index.html 3D Win is also shareware. Personally, though, I find the 3D Exploration/UV Mapper combination to be the best. One other thing I might mention, though, if you find some cool .3DS files you like, you might have trouble with them even with 3D Exploration: It seems some of them are enclosed in a 3D sphere, or are grouped with a semi-enclosed cube, kind of like a display case, or something. There's another freeware app called Anim8or ( http://www.anim8or.com ), which is very good for eliminating the excess stuff. I hope this info helps, and if you need more, please feel free to ask! :) Cheers, Mike

Mike, thank you so much for your explanation. Like I said before, I never worked with 3D before, so your whole explanation is really interesting for me. Thank you Rynn

One additional to all the above said. After importing an obj/lwo/3ds, convert it into a Vue native vob format by using "save obj". Delete the one you import and reimport the vob one now...its cleaner, faster to load and last but not least, Vue crashes less when playing with some of its editing function....just my personal experience. Bill

hey tesign... i did that once with an xfrog pinecone obj... changed it to a vob.... and it lost the three different material sections on it! they all became one group/material. :/ that's unusual, isn't it?

You know something, Bloodsong?....I am scratching my head and some hair is dropping....LOL! Vue is funny :) Bill