About the obsolete 3ds format, don't mind it, it's no problem, it just won't import shaders ( Cinema shaders, or any other apps' are particular to these apps and don't translate into Vue, same goes with Vue shaders, they don't translate in Cinema, which is why Vue creates bitmaps when you export an object). About your jpegs, if PS Elements opens them fine, why don't you try and save them as bmp or tiff, and see what happens?