I’m trying to export a model as 3ds because I need the file size to be as small as possible.
To export as 3ds is there any requirements as size of the model? I can export my model just fine, but when I add a mirror modifier( and apply it) I get an error : “object %r can’t be written into a 3DS file”
Anyone know why? and how I can fix it? 
I have a big script that import models as 3ds. so I really want it to work. Have tried using .obj but then the script don’t work as it should.
please help
To export as 3ds is there any requirements as size of the model?
Shortcomings
It has been pointed out that, despite its popularity, the format may not be the most suitable for 3D data exchange. Some of the disadvantages mentioned are:[SUP][2][/SUP]
- All meshes must be made of triangles.
- All texture filenames are limited to the 8.3 DOS format.
- The number of vertices and polygons per mesh is limited to 65536.
- Accurate vertex normals cannot be stored in the .3ds file. Instead “smoothing groups”[SUP][note 1][/SUP] are used so that the receiving program can recreate a (hopefully good) representation of the vertex normals. This is still a hold-over legacy for many animation programs today which started in the 1980s (3DS MAX, Lightwave and trueSpace still use smoothing groups, and Maya did up to v2.51).
- Object, light and camera names are limited to 10 characters. Material names are limited to 16 characters.
- Directional light sources are not supported.
Have you tried with a simple model ?
Have tried using .obj but then the script don’t work as it should.
In what way ?
What version of blender are you using ?
Does the model have vertex groups or animations ?
Post link to example blend file that raises this error
Thanks for the info!
I’m using blender 2.67 (have tried other)
Have tried simpler model and it works. but the one i want is not very complicated, so I don’t know
No vertex group or animation.
Have a look at the sample file
I’m using blender more as a viewer, I import a file and then I do transformations on it based on data in a file that I parse with python.
When i tried using obj, nothing worked the way it should. but that’s because of the code, I used obj before, but it was getting to slow, so I rewrote the script to handle 3ds, and it runs fast.
But now i need this new model and I can’t export it!
Onerebar.blend (6.23 MB)
Looking at the mesh I assume you never made it in blender as the mesh is quite horrible.
You need to reduce the poly count.
Add a decimate modifier, set it to Planar and set the angle to something like 5 degrees. Check the mesh for any errors and if ok then apply the modifier and export. In this case the export does not fail for me.
Still fails for me?
hehe. okey, what makes it horrible and how can I make it better?
You need to reduce your triangle count such as
You will have a balance between poly count and detail. It’s up to you where i this balance you want to be.
hehe. okey, what makes it horrible and how can I make it better?
You have vertices all over the place, having a triangulated mesh makes it difficult to remodel. The key is to make it simple, simple and simple again. You only want to have vertices where you need to have vertices. In your model you have vertices and faces contributing nothing so are not needed.
Okei, thanks. wierd that export is not working for me? I did what tou said. I’m new to blender and modeling. so yeah. I just made half and mirror modifier and then array. Probably a lot of verts that i can remove. Any tips on how to do this? My plan is to delete most of the mesh, then remove verts and use array on it to get it to look like the one i have
But can i make all the triangles into squares without running into problems exporting to 3ds?
If I start whit this sample file and remove and then use array modifier
OneRebar_s.blend (479 KB)