3ds

Title(s): Autodesk 3ds Max (formerly 3D Studio MAX).

Version ID: Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 (12.0).

Date released: March 24, 2009.

Date: 1990.

Creator(s): Autodesk Contributor(s): Autodesk Media and Entertainment.

Relationships: The first version was created by the Yost Group for MS-DOS and published by Autodesk in 1990. This initial release was based 3D Studio .3ds Geometry Export Converter on Tom Hudson's mid-80's "CAD-3D" Tom Hudson's CAD-3D 1.0 on the Atari platform.

• Previous Version(s):

The first version was created by the Yost Group for MS-DOS and published by Autodesk in 1990. After 3D Studio Release 4, the product was rewritten for the Windows NT platform, and re-named "3D Studio MAX." This version was also originally created by the Yost Group. It was released by Kinetix, which was at that time Autodesk's division of media and entertainment. Autodesk purchased the product at the second release mark of the 3D Studio MAX version and internalized development entirely over the next two releases. Later, the product name was changed to "3ds max" (all lower case) to better comply with the naming conventions of Discreet, a Montreal-based software company which Autodesk had purchased. At release 8, the product was again branded with the Autodesk logo, and the name was again changed to "3ds Max" (upper and lower case). At release 2009, product name changed to "Autodesk 3ds Max".

• Contains: none.

• Syntax Format(s):

.3ds files are organized into sections called chunks each of which has a header that contains a 2-byte unsigned integer chunkname and a 4-byte unsigned integer of its length. The header length field includes the 6 bytes for the header itself. All fields in a .3ds are stored in little-endian byte ordering.

• Family Format(s): none.

Description: The chunk name defines the format of what's contained in the chunk, which is potentially some data and/or some subchunks, in that order. If you don't know what a particular chunk is or don't care you can simply jump forward by length bytes from the beginning of the chunks header and arrive at the next one. Geometry is stored as one or more object chunks. The 3dschunknames.h header defines these chunk names of interest: MAIN3DS, OBJ_TRIMESH, TRI_VERTEXL, TRI_TEXCOORD etc.

History: A very good summary can be found here: 3ds Max History.

Example(s): 3ds Example

Identifier: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=5659302

Documentation: 3ds Documentation - Information in general about the engineering format.

File Extensions: .3ds, .max

Applications: Autodesk 3ds Max, Mathematica, VTK, IVCON.

• Native application(s): Autodesk 3ds Max

• Interoperable applications: Mathematica, VTK, IVCON

Magic numbers: 4D 4D (hex), MM (ASCII).

Format(s): application/x-3ds, image/x-3ds.

Rights: Proprietary license.

Typical use: CAM, a model archiving file format.

File classification:

• Type {Binary, Text}: Binary.
• Raster data:
  • Raster data 2D:
    • Is Supported: No.
    • Description: Contour data only.
  • Raster data 3D:
    • Is Supported: No.
    • Description: Contour data only.
• Geometric representation:
  • Implicit representation:
    • Implicit surfaces:
      • Is Supported: No.
      • Description: Explicit surfaces supported.
    • Implicit curves:
      • Is Supported: No.
      • Description: Explicit curves supported.
    • Point set: - Can the format support point sets? Example: A format that supports surfaces and lines that are generated by points that form triangles supports point sets.
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Mesh: - Section describes whether or not the engineering format supports mesh.
    • Manifold surface meshes: - Can the format support manifold surface meshes? Example: A format that supports surfaces that are mathematical spaces in which every point has a neighborhood which resembles Euclidean space
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
    • Manifold volume meshes: - Can the format support manifold volume meshes? Example: A format that supports volumes that are mathematical spaces in which every point has a neighborhood which resembles Euclidean space
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
    • Non-manifold meshes: - Can the format support non-manifold meshes? Example: A format that supports meshes that are not manifolds
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Parametric representation: - Section describes whether or not the engineering format supports parametric representations.
    • Parametric surfaces: - Can the format support parametric surfaces? Example: A format that can contain surfaces that are generated with parametric equations supports parametric surfaces.
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
    • Parametric curves: - Can the format support parametric curves? Example: A format that can contain curves that are generated with parametric equations supports parametric curves.
      • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
      • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Contour sets: - Can the format support contour sets?
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • NURBS: - Can the format support Non Uniform Rational Basis Splines? Examples: The engineering formats IGES, STEP, ACIS, and PHIGS
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
• Multi-resolution models: - Can the format support models with multiple resolutions? Examples: A format that supports a highly detailed and lowly detailed model simultaneously supports multi-resolution models.
  • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
  • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
• Dynamics: - Section describes whether or not the engineering format supports dynamics.
  • Kinematics: - Can the format support kinematics? Example: Does the format allow model parts to rotate?
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Assembly: - Can the format support assembly? Example: Does the format allow the assembly instructions to be explicitly specified with a model?
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Force(s): - Can the format support forces? Example: Does the format support acceleration forces?
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
• Boundary representation - Can the format support models with boundary representations?
  • Manifold surface boundary representations: - Can the format support manifold surface boundary representations? Example: The engineering format STEP
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Manifold volume boundary representations: - Can the format support manifold volume boundary representations? Example: The engineering format STEP
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
  • Non-manifold boundary representations: - Can the format support non-manifold boundary representations? Example: The engineering format STEP
    • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
    • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.
• Material transparency: - Can the format support transparency? Example: Does the format allow models to have a clear window in a car?
  • Is Supported: - Is the feature supported in the engineering format?
  • Description: - This field is used to describe the support or lack of support of the feature.

References: - A list of references regarding any aspects of this engineering format; any reading material supplemental to this page.