"Can poseray convert the newer 3ds format files?"

I'm not sure what you mean by newer 3ds format. The only .3ds format I know of is the one originally used by 3D Studio for DOS. AFAIK, when Kinetix (now AutoDesk) moved to Windows (Win95 I've read), the product became 3D Studio Max and adopted the new .max format. As far as I can find in looking around the web, the .3ds format hasn't changed in some years. Confusion may arise because sometimes, the .max format may be referred to as "3ds format" because the program is called 3ds (3D Studio) Max. I know I've downloaded files which said "3ds format," only to find a .max file in the .zip.

So, too long story short, if the file has a .3ds extention, PoseRay should read it fine (barring the occasional anomalies that occur with all formats). It is probably better at this than Poser's .3ds import which sometimes seems to get funky. So, if you have a .3ds file that Poser won't read, PoseRay may handle it.

If the file has a .max extention, then you absolutely need the appropriate version of 3D Studio Max installed to read it. I've heard it suggested you can use the demo. There are converters that say they will handle .max but in the fine print, you see that you still need 3DS Max installed.

The files at Scifi3d seem to be well labled from what I saw, e.g. "Max and 3ds" or "Max 5." I saw a couple that only had .max or the new Alias .fbx format available. I haven't tried it, but Alias has a free .fbx converter (link attached) that may be able to get the latter into .obj format if you want one of those models.

The three main 'can't get there from here without the program' formats seem to be .max, .obp (Bryce), and .vob (Vue). Most everything else can generally be converted.

Message edited on: 12/10/2005 18:35

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