| Extension | 3DS |
| Full Name | 3D Studio Mesh |
| Type | 3D Model |
| Mime Type | N/A |
| Format | Binary |
| Opens With | MeshLab |
A 3DS file is a legacy 3D graphics format originally created for use with the 3D Studio software. Although widely supported at the time, 3DS files have fallen in popularity and have been replaced as the 3D format of choice by more capable formats.
There are considerable limitations when working with 3DS files. One major limitation is the format's use of 16-bit values, which limit the total number of vertices and faces to 65536. This number was plenty large enough when the format was created in the early 1990s but has since become a limiting factor with modern 3D models containing millions of vertices and polygons.
Despite its limitations, a significant number of 3DS models still exist, and there are many 3D modeling packages out there that offer support for importing these files.
3DS Converter Capabilities
Our 3DS 3D Model/Mesh tool does not support any color material data contained within 3DS files, so the converted file will not contain any color information.
The OBJ file format is a 3D graphics file format used to define complex 3D models, including geometry, materials, and textures. OBJ files are text files, making them human-readable and easy to modify by hand. The downside to this ease of readability is that the files can become rather large when dealing with large or complex 3D models.
As mentioned, the OBJ format stores not only 3D model geometry but also materials and textures. These materials are usually defined in a separate file with the MTL file extension and specify geometry rendering details such as diffuse and specular color, transparency, and much more.
The OBJ material file can also reference external texture files. These are usually JPEG or PNG files; however, these can be older formats, such as TGA. Where materials are used, the OBJ file will also contain material names preceding the geometry faces they should be applied to. If textures are referenced, the geometry will also contain texture coordinates (UV) for each vertex.
OBJ Converter Capabilities
Our 3D conversion tool does not support color or material information in OBJ files, so your file will not contain any color information.
