3DS format was created by Autodesk for 3D Studio. It has become very popular,
and is now supported by many programs. Also, the new versions of Autodesk's
3D Studio Max can still support this old format.
The format is now quite obsolete, because it is 16-bit based, but it is still
widely used. Note that this format has not changed since its very beginnings,
so there are no version conflicts with these files.
3DS format information and examples from John Burkardt
Author: John Burkardt
Created: 23 Sep 1998
Change: 15 Mar 2003 Philippe Guglielmetti correct material handling
according to http://www.the-labs.com/Blender/3DS-details.html
Change: 01 Mar 2007 Tomasz Lis material saving, fixed texture reading
Discussion:
The style of functions in this file may seem obsolete or unclear for some
people. There is a lot better 3DS library in c++ - lib3ds. You may ask:
why won't you use this library? And the answer is simple: to be different.
This code is based on completely different conception. Also, it will be
better if there will be more than one 3DS support function for open-source
applications.
A list of supported elements follows. Please modify if you'll enhance something.
Format support note - reading:
- Max vertices 65535
- Max faces 65535, max face order 3
- Full meshes support
- Max materials/textures 65535; texture name must be in 8.3 format
- Full material support - colors, alpha, one texture per material
- Texture UV supported
- Default view point supported, possible to add cameras support
- No Environment or lights support (possible to add)
- No shapes/lines support (but possible to add)
Format support note - writing:
- Max vertices 65535
- Max faces 65535, max face order 3
- Full meshes support; free vertices are exported too
- Max materials/textures 65535; texture name must be in 8.3 format
- Full material support - colors, alpha, two textures per material
- Texture UV supported
- Default view point supported, possible to add cameras support
- No Environment or lights support (possible to add)
- No shapes/lines support (but possible to add)
Copying and copyrights:
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.