3D model file
converters software

available
on Linux

Notes and Code

source
and/or
binaries

The Wings3D modeler
'Import' file menu.

Poke this image to see the
Wings3D 'Export' file menu.

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This 3D CONVERTERS notes-and-code page

! Note !
More notes and code-links
( for source and/or binaries/packages )
may be added, if/when I re-visit this page.

< Go to the Table of Contents (menu), below. >
(Skip the Introduction)

INTRODUCTION :

This is a page of links to 3D software files --- files that can be used to install (or develop) 3D CONVERTER programs --- on Linux systems --- especially on Ubuntu (around version 9.10 = 2009 Oct, Karmic Koala - and beyond).

Many of the links are to locally stored files (source and/or binaries/packages).

The code is stored locally both for convenience (especially mine), AND because some of the 3D-converter authors are going on to other projects (or to other worlds) --- and it is questionable whether the code will be preserved for future generations to build upon.

Furthermore, the info on 3D converters for Linux is consolidated (to a great extent) on this one page --- instead of in many bookmarks in my web browsers on my various machines.

This is a great convenience for me --- and may also be to others.

In addition, many software sites go dead (or, at least, move).

Trying to keep up with moving 'external' links and trying to find replacements for dead 'external' links can be a time-robbing pain.

So this page, with a lot of locally stored content, is intended to reduce the pain and the wasting of time.

The 3D converter programs that I am talking about are meant to convert (on Linux) between 3D file formats like the following :

  • 3ds (3D Studio files)

  • ac (AC3D files)

  • dae (Sony COLLADA files)

  • dwg (Autodesk DWG files)

  • dxf (Autodesk DXF files)

  • igs (IGES files)

  • iv (SGI Inventor files)

  • lwo (Lightwave object files)

  • md2 ( Quake MD2 files)

  • md3 (Quake MD3 files)

  • obj (Alias/Wavefront Object files)

  • off (Object File Format)
    Reference:
    Geomview at U. Minnesota Science & Technology Center

  • ply (Ply format files)
    References:
    Stanford, GaTech, P. Bourke

  • pov (POV ray tracer files)

  • stl (Stereolithography files)
    (suffix '.stlb' is sometimes used for binary STL files ---
    and suffix '.stla' is sometimes used for ASCII STL files)

  • stp (STEP files)

  • vrml (VRML1 files)
    (a subset of the SGI Inventor file format)

  • vtk (Visual Tool Kit files)

  • wrl (VRML2 = VRM97 files)
    (common file suffixes: '.wrl', '.wrl.gz', '.wrz')

    NOTE:
    Sometimes people name VRML1 files with the '.wrl' suffix.


'mm3d' Open-Model dialog window

Note that 'mm3d' appears to be able to read
'.obj', '.lwo', '.md2', and '.md3' files ---
according to file-types at bottom of window.

(Poke this image, to see the
'mm3d' Export dialog window.)

Note that 'mm3d' appears to be able to
export '.obj' and '.dxf' files ---
according to the Export window.

3D 'multi-converters' :

It was pointed out on the parent page of this page (an intro to 3D files, viewers, and converters) that, on Linux (Ubuntu), I was able to quite easily install the following programs for converting some of these 3D files --- thanks to the 'gcc' and 'gfortran' compilers, used on 'ivcon' and 'ivread' source, respectively.

  • ivcon
    (C code)
    which converts among 3ds, obj, stl files
    and several other formats

  • ivread
    (FORTRAN90)
    which converts among 3ds, obj, stl files
    and several other formats

  • admesh
    (C code)
    which converts stl files to obj or VRML1

In addition, there are several 3D modeller programs that import and export several 3D file formats, so they may be used to import a 3D file format and then immediately export a different 3D file format.

You can see an example of the Import and Export dialogs of the Wings3D modeler at the top of this page.

Also see the 'mm3d' Open-Model and Export-Model dialogs, just above --- and the Blender Import and Export menus just below.

The following 3D modellers were easily installed on Ubuntu 9.10 Linux.


Blender Import Dialog
(Hold mouse cursor over this image,
to see the Blender Export Dialog.)

Additional 3D converters - 'one-to-one' converters :

It was pointed out on the parent page of this page (the 3D files, viewers and converters intro), that there are many one-format-TO-one-format 3D converter programs that may be more or less easily installable on Ubuntu.

I am talking about from-to combinations such as

  • 3ds-to-iv
  • dxf-to-iv
  • dxf-to-3ds
  • iv-to-pov
  • obj-to-wrl
  • obj-to-iv
  • stl-to-pov
  • vrml1-to-vrml2
  • vrml-to-pov

If the C or C++ or FORTRAN source is available and easily compilable, for some of the 'one-to-one' converters, I intend to make the source, the compile script, and the compiled program (the 'binary') available via this 3D converters web page.

For those that are scripts, script code is available on this page, but I may not have tested it.

For those scripts that I get around to testing, I will indicate the ones I tested --- and provide the changed code, if I had to make changes to get the script working.

Content of this page :

On this page (below), there are install notes and links to install files (source code and/or compile scripts and/or compiled binaries) for many of these 3D converters --- in particular, for the 'multi-converters':

'ivcon', 'ivread', and 'admesh'.

The install files can be downloaded to your computer by clicking or right-clicking on the links below and choosing an option (in the pop-up menu that appears) to save the file to a local directory.

    In the Seamonkey web browser (a Mozilla.org web browser, descended from Netscape), when I click on a compressed install file, such as a '.gz' or '.zip' file, I get a popup window that gives me two options --- save the file to disk, or, first, look at the contents with the Gnome-Nautilus 'Archive Manager'.

    If the file is a '.deb' file, I get the option to do the install with 'Gdebi' --- or save it to disk.

For some of the software, I have not done an Ubuntu install, so I have not provided any Ubuntu install notes.

But the software may be available as source, so I have provided links to the source (stored 'locally' or 'externally') --- or links to packages that may take some work to install on your Linux distro.

Most of this software is free and open source.

There is much commercial, non-free 3D converter software available on Macroshaft Windohs, but there is not nearly as much commercial 3D converter software available on Linux.

Essentially all of the software links on this page are for free, open source software.

Binaries availability:

For 3D file converters, there do not seem to be many Linux install 'packages' (Ubuntu or Debian) for 3D file converters --- other than for the 3D GUI modelers.

For example, there do not seem to be any Debian or Ubuntu packages for 'ivcon' or ivread', so I compiled them myself --- and I make source, compile scripts, and Ubuntu (9.10) binaries available here.

These 'ivcon' and ivread' binaries will probably run for many future releases of Ubuntu --- and if they do not, you can probably use a little LD_LIBRARY_PATH trickery, in a wrapper script, to provide the appropriate (old) binary shared objects (like DLL's) to the main binary.

Intent of this page:

I made this page so that I can access these files on any of my computers --- desktops or netbooks --- either at home or away. But others may find these files useful as well.

I may try to develop my own 3D viewer(s), with built-in converters, someday, so I am interested in 3D converter source code --- to browse for code snippets of use, or snippets that are at least instructional.

Browsing code may help me decide what languages, techniques, and GUI API's I want to avoid.

How to use this page :

You can use the Table of Contents, below, to jump to a particular group of files.

Or simply scroll down this page.

Of course, you can use the 'Find text' option of your web browser to look for keywords such as 'ivcon' or 'ivread' or 'admesh' or 'source' or 'tar' or 'deb' or '3ds' or 'stl' or ...

Table of Contents:

(links to notes and code-links below, on this page)

End of Table of Contents.

The software notes and code links are below.

The John Burkhardt 3D file converters
IVCON and IVREAD :

3D converter 'ivcon' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

Burkhardt's 'ivcon.C' source code proved to be easy to compile on Ubuntu 9.10 and it seems to work nicely on some test conversions of '.obj' to '.iv' --- and '.iv' to '.3ds'.

ivcon_2004.c (C source code)

ivcon_2004_ORIG.csh (Burkhardt's sample c-shell script to compile IVCON)

I converted this csh script to a bash script, and here it is ... ivcon_2004_gccNew.sh

Below is the gcc-compiled 'ivcon' program --- the 'binary' executable, compiled on Ubuntu 9.10.

Since it is calling relatively few dynamically shared objects, you can probably download it and run it on almost any Linux OS, in the 2008-2012 era.

If you get a message about a missing shared object, you can probably work around it with some LD_LIBRARY_PATH trickery.

ivcon_2004 (binary)

I tried to gcc-compile this newer, de-bundled version of ivcon but got lots of errors. Bad upgrade?

ivcon_src-cpp_3d_conversion_rel1-17_2008apr.zip

I may try again sometime, on the newer 'ivcon-tl' source from sourceforge.net, USA.

3D converter 'ivread' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

I was able to compile Burkhardt's 'IVREAD.F90' source code after installing the 'gfortran' compiler on Ubuntu 9.10 with 'sudo apt-get install gfortran'.

ivread_2002.f90 (Fortran source)

ivread_2002_ORIG.csh (Burkhardt's sample c-shell script to compile IVREAD)

I converted this csh script to a bash script that uses 'gfortran' ... ivread_2002_gfortran_New.sh

Below is the gfortran-compiled 'ivread' program --- the 'binary', compiled on Ubuntu 9.10.

Since it has relatively few dependencies on '.so' objects, you can probably download it and run it on almost any Linux OS, in the 2008-2012 era.

If you get a message about a missing shared object, you can probably work around it with some LD_LIBRARY_PATH trickery in a calling script.

ivread_2002 (binary)

3D converter 'admesh' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

admesh_0.95.orig.tar.gz (C source)

'admesh' does stla2stlb, stl2vrml, stl2dxf, stl2off conversions.

Although 'admesh' (binary) is not available through the 'Ubuntu Software Center', it is available via the 'Synaptic Package Manager' (on Ubuntu 9.10, Karmic).

If you do not have that option, you can try to install from this source.

NOTE:
After the 'admesh_0.95.orig' release, 'admesh' has gone through some updates, titled 'admesh_0.95-6', 'admesh_0.95-7', etc.

You may want to get a newer release, although newer is not necessarily better.

3D converter '3ds2iv' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

3ds2iv_src_merlin-fit-vutbr-czSwiki.zip
(C++ source)

See the bottom of this 'merlin' page of projects, for the source of the '3ds2iv_src.zip' file.

3D converter '3dstoobj' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

3dstoobj_src-perl_globalfilesearch-net.zip
(perl script code)

'3dstoobj_perl.zip' is near the top of the 'globalfilesearch' page.

3D converter '3ds2ogre' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

3ds2ogre_src-cpp_quantumg-net.tar.gz
(C++ source)

The 'quantumg' page has the source in the '3ds2ogre.tar.gz' file.

3D converter 'OBJSRC' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

OBJSRC_src-c_readsOBJfiles_wotsit-org.zip
(C source)

Reads OBJ files - might be helpful for the logic in the source code.

See the Steve Britton download-line near the bottom of the 'wotsit' page.

3D converter 'dxftoobj' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

dxftoobj_src-perl_globalfilesearch-net.zip
(perl script code)

'dxftoobj_perl.zip' is about a third of the way down the 'globalfilesearch' page.

3D converter 'iv2pov' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

iv2pov_scrc-cpp_hammerve-com.c++

See download links at the bottom of the 'hammerve' page.

3D converter 'lwtoiv' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

lwtoiv.tar_src-cpp-inventor_1996jan_amber-rc-arizona-edu.gz
(C++ source)
(converts LightWave 3D files to Inventor)

See the lw2iv link at the bottom of the 'arizona.edu' page - the source of the file above.

3D converter 'obj2wrl' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

obj2wrl_src-perl_Moreland_koders-comSperl.pl.txt
(perl script)

I tried a Moreland 'obj2wrl' perl script on some '.obj' files back around 2004.

It did not work on certain types of '.obj' files.

I believe there were multiple, separate groups of tri and face recs in the not-able-to-process '.obj' files.

Be forewarned.

3D converter 'ply-pgms' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

ply_obj2ply_ply2iv_src-c_cc-gatech-edu.tar.gz
(contains ply2iv.c, obj2ply.c, convertply.c, and others)

See the Download link at the top of the 'gatech.edu' page - source of the file above.

ply-1.1_src-c-read-write_stanford-eduSdataS3Dscanrep.tar.Z

(This '.Z' compressed file contains plyfile.c and plytest.c source code and a ply_docs file.

Check for comments in the C files, to see what the programs do.)

See a download link near the bottom of the 'stanford.edu' page - source of the file above.

3D converter 'stl2pov' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

stl2pov-2.4.4_scrc-c_xs4all-nlSTrsmithSsoftware.tar.gz
(C source)

See the stl2pov link near the top of this 'xs4all' page - source of the file above.

3D converter 'vrml2pov' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

vrml2pov_src-cpp_chemicalgraphics-comSpaul.zip
(C++ source)

See the download link at the bottom of the 'chemicalgraphics' page - source of the file above.

3D converter 'ivTools' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

ivTools-2.0_src-cpp_ivview_ivinfo_ivvrml_ivfix_etc_merlin-fit-vutbr-cz.zip
(C++ source)

See the zip file links in the 'Download' section near the top of the 'merlin' page - source of the zip file above.

NOTE:
'ivTools' includes source for a program called 'ivvrml' whose comments say that it is a convertor between Inventor/VRML file formats.

The following formats are supported:

  • ASCII Inventor
  • Binary Inventor
  • VRML1
  • VRML2 (VRML97)

'ivTools' also includes the source for 'ivview' and 'ivinfo'.

Also source for 'ivcat', 'ivfix', 'ivgraph', 'ivnorm', and 'ivperf'.

3D converter 'inventor-src-sgi' :

< Go to Table of Contents, above. >

inventor-2-1-5H10_src-cpp_ivdowngrade_gview_SceneViewer_qmorph_etc_...
(C++ source)

This 'oss.sgi.com' ftp directory, of the distressed SGI (Silicon Graphics) company, was the source of the 'inventor-2.1.5-10' tar.gz file above.

This may be the last reservoir of this source code.

I am glad to preserve a copy here --- to try to avoid the disappearance of some programming history.

'inventor-2.1.5-10_src' includes source for 'ivdowngrade' (= 'iv2toiv1'), some example '.iv' files, and some 'demos' :

    'gview' (a precursor of 'ivview'?), 'drop', 'maze', 'noodle', 'qmorf', 'revo', 'SceneViewer' (looks like 'ivview'), and 'textomatic'.

'inventor-2.1.5-10_src' also includes C++ source for some programs/routines called :

    'BarChart', 'Decal', 'GeneralizedCylinder', 'Triangulator', 'NurbMaker', 'fview', 'ivclock', 'LineManip', 'linkages', 'details', 'constrainManip', 'menu', 'spaceball', 'viewerTest', 'vortex', and 'componentTest'

--- as well as source for 'ivcat', 'ivfix', 'ivinfo', 'ivnorm', 'ivper', and 'ivview' (in addition to the copy in the 'ivTools' archive file above).

ADDITIONAL LINKS on 3D converter software :

Wikipedia list of 3D graphics software
(look for 'linux' on this page and in link pages)

Wikipedia page on 3D computer graphics software
(look for 'linux' on this page and in link pages)

Open Inventor Tools - Merlin Wiki (nice descriptions)

much 3D-file-reading source code (and useless non-Linux binaries) at pudn.com (Japan?)

3D formats supported by IVCON

More links may be added.

I will try to avoid ones that will likely go dead within a few years, such as home directories of students at '.edu' sites.

When I find sites like that, I may preserve code here.

In the meantime, you can try WEB SEARCHES on keywords such as:

Bottom of this
3D converters software - on Linux
- Notes and Code page.

To return to a previously visited web page location, click on the Back button of your web browser, a sufficient number of times. OR, use the History-list option of your web browser.
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above. >

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Page history:

Page was created 2011 Feb 12.

Page was changed 2015 Feb 28.
(Changed a single URL.)

Page was changed 2018 Dec 18.
(Added css and javascript to try to handle text-size for smartphones, esp. in portrait orientation.)

Page was changed 2019 Jun 20.
(Specified image widths in percents to size the images according to width of the browser window.)