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I am a new user of DBPro. I have been searching the forums for information about importing a .3DS file into DBPro, and I haven't been able to find what I'm looking for (although I freely admit that as a newbie I may not have been looking in all the right places).

So far I understand how to get the file into DBPro, and that it comes in as a single object. I have seen references to "limbs", which I infer is the way I will access individual objects within the .3DS file.

Is there something I can read which will explain this process? I am interested in importing from SketchUp, but before I shell out $500 I would like to have some sense of what I can expect to be able to do with my model once I have it in DBPro.

Thank you in advance for your advice.

wow, for $500.00 there has got to be better 3-d software out there...

Go to the help section within the complier and look at the 3-d section, this should give you quite a list of options & controls that you will be able to use on your models.

Not know your specific applications of use with the models makes it a bit harder to answer your questions...

yes, please explain what you want to do with your model once you have loaded it in DBP

@Robin:
What I would like to do is use SketchUp as a "world editor". It would be my hope to create, for example, a small town and be able to walk through it with collision detection. (BTW, I don't mind doing the work myself, I am just trying to find my way through the maze of documentation, or lack-thereof, and am mostly interested in some guidance).

@Heckno:
Thank you for the pointer... I have been browsing the help files and will continue to do so.

All:
The main reason I want to use Sketchup is the large number of pre-made items that come with the software - I am not a 3D artist and never will be. I also like the simplicity of its interface, and believe it or not, the $500 isn't really the big issue (my company will buy it if I tell them we need it).

However... since my first post, I've done some experimenting with 3DS import into DBPro, and to say the least I am very disappointed with the results. It seems to take forever to import anything, and then most of the geometry and textures disappear or are drawn incorrectly. I am using the example program that came with the 6.2 extras pack, which simply loads and displays a 3DS file and then uses "control camera with arrow keys" to let you view the model, so I don't think it's the DBPro code per se... at this point I have to assume there is a flaw in the importer itself.

just use a .x converter to convert the 3ds

I agree with CF, DBP works much better with .x format than .3ds (which is a dying format anyway)...



most of us don't use a lot of pre-fabs from other people (meaning we make our own stuff / and re-use the core models to tweak into other things)... So I understand your reasoning...

Look up lithunwrap or milkshape both of which can import .3ds files and convert to .x format, there are others that are better - I only listed these two because the first one is free and the other is about $30.00

Thank you all for your help. I sent a tech support request in... but meanwhile I aree that 3DS is (after all) not the way to go. I will look into the lithunwrap solution that was mentioned.

I bought DBPro in the first place because of the user community and now I can see I chose wisely. Thanks again!