Importing

[Devin Johnston]

I keep having this problem when I try to import .3ds files into Max, I keep getting this message "Improper file format". It doesn’t happen all the time but it's starting to happen more frequently. The .3ds files are generated from ArchiCAD and typically when I have this problem it's because the file contains lots of faces. The way we have dealt with the problem so far has been to break up the model into pieces and import each piece one at a time. Needless to day this gets old and I'm looking for a way to get around this problem. Has anyone had this problem and have you found a way to get around it?

[Nic H]

I have had that problem alot in the past as well, we use ArchiCAD--->3DMax to. Its always related to huge amounts of geometry, often contained in things like 3000 poly door handles!

 

If we need to do this we export by story using the marquee. Apart from breaking it up there is no way around this unfortunately.

 

If we have to use Archicad geometry we generallt only use it for windows / walls / slabs and detail in max. Gets cleaner meshes and less geometry.

[Devin Johnston]

What really surprises me is that Sketchup has no problem importing the 3ds files but Max does. I mean Max should be able to do anything Sketchup can and the fact that it seems to have a poly limit when importing 3ds files really speaks to how old that importer is. Autodesk really needs to pull their heads out and realize that models are becoming much more complex and having a low poly limit is just not going to cut it any longer.