Autodesk 3DS Reader

3DS is a binary 3D file format provided by Autodesk. Usually 3DS files come with the .3ds extension.

Assembly

3DS being a simple 3D format, complex structures made of assemblies are not part of its specification.

B-rep

3DS files only contain tessellated data. Thus B-rep geometries are not available with this format.

Textures

Textures are fully supported when parsing 3DS.

Inside 3DS file, texture file names are stored:

• Truncated to 12 characters
• Without the containing folder
• Usually capitalized

This means the name of the texture may not match the actual texture file to load.

To load the textures upon loading, HOOPS Exchange will open the first matching file by truncating and capitalizing each file found in the search folders, considering the first match as satisfying.

The search folders are in that order:

• The parent folder of the 3DS file
• The folders specified in A3DRWParamsGeneralData.m_ppcSearchTextureDirectories

3DS and Default Unit

By default, 3DS file format stores the measurements in inches. Because PRC default unit is in millimeters a conversion is done upon reading.