Supported File Formats

The HOOPS/MVO file I/O architecture comes with a variety of input/output handlers that support many commonly used 3D, 2D, raster, and video formats. The file formats listed below can be imported or exported by HOOPS Visualize.

supported = supported
partialsupport = partially supported
unsupported = functionality provided as-is

3D Formats

File Format Import Export Third party package Platforms  
DWG supported unsupported RealDWG or HOOPS Exchange Windows  
DGN * supported unsupported DGN Direct Windows  
HSF supported supported n/a All  
HMF supported supported n/a All  
U3D supported unsupported Windows    
PRC supported supported HOOPS Exchange Windows  
PDF (2D/3D) unsupported supported 2D supported is native, 3D PDF requires HOOPS Exchange Windows, Linux  
OBJ supported supported n/a All  
PLY supported supported n/a All  
SKP supported unsupported SketchUp Windows  
STL supported supported n/a All  
PTS, PTX, XYZ supported unsupported n/a All  
Microstation ** supported unsupported Microstation plug-in Windows  
3ds Max ** supported unsupported 3ds Max plug-in Windows  
VRML *** partialsupport unsupported n/a All  
OpenInventor *** partialsupport unsupported n/a All  

Please see the library compatibility table in the Release Notes for the required versions of third-party packages.

* For DGN, HOOPS provides basic capabilities to directly import DGN’s CAD and wireframe information. To import fully rendered 3D information, a plugin can be used in Microstation to export an HSF file that can be read by HOOPS.

** Tech Soft 3D provides plug-ins for importing 3ds Max as well as Microstation’s DGN formats. These plugins are available on the Developer Zone.

*** The importers for these formats are no longer supported and the functionality is provided as-is. Developers who wish to use these formats and address any issues are free to refer to the MVO HIO-importer source code and modify it as they see fit.

2D Formats

File Format Import Export Supported Platforms
PDF unsupported supported All
Postscript unsupported supported All
HPGL2 unsupported supported All
CGM unsupported supported All

Raster Formats

HOOPS Visualize provides import capabilities via integration with the ImageMagick libraries. For export, Visualize handles these formats natively. Any format supported by ImageMagick can be used in HOOPS Visualize. Below is a list of the major raster formats supported by HOOPS Visualize.

File Format Import Export Supported Platforms
PNG supported supported All
JPEG supported supported All
GIF supported supported All
BMP supported supported All
TIFF supported supported All

Video Formats

HOOPS/MVO currently exports to one video format.

File Format Import Export Supported Platforms
AVI (animation) unsupported supported Windows