Viewing a 3DS file in Blender

Support Basics & Interface
1

Hi,
I have just imported a 3DS file in to Blender (4.1). This is a 3d drawing that a colleague has made and I simply wish to view it and take some measurements from it. It is quite a large drawing. The file size is 127MB. I think I have used the Autodesk 3DS Format addon ti import the file.

Now, it has imported and I can view the drawing, but it seems that it is only able to display a certain portion of the drawing at any one time. It is as if there is a narrow, horizontal mask over the drawing and I can only see the bit within the mask. If I pan and scroll around I get to see different parts.
This also applies to the floor/grid overlay. I can only see a narrow horizontal section.

Does that make sense? I am wondering if this behavior is normal or if there is something I can do about it.

I have attached a screenshot to try to show the issue. I don’t want to provide a full screenshot as this is a private design. But, I think you can see the example. You can see the grid/floor, and also a portrait shaped rectangle which is clipped.

Thank you.

Screenshot 2025-01-03 133451
Screenshot 2025-01-03 133451688×554 29.3 KB

2

The object might be to large and you hit some clipping limits ?? Try to change on the camera or view setting (N-panel ) → Clip Start and also End (defaul ? 0.01m to 1000m … so maybe 2000 or 5000 ?)

1 Like
3

Ah, you are amazing! I was starting to wonder if it was a size issue. I saw that an object was hundreds of metres larger than it would be in reality. But, I was not aware of the clipping parameters.

Mine was set to 0.1 - 10000
I just adjusted it to 0.1 - 50000

Now the drawing is not clipping. Thank you very much! Still the most helpful forum I have ever been on!!

4

Just one further question; is there a way to select every object and scale everything down? I’m just curious about this, it is not necessary at the moment.

Thanks

5

You can also import 3DSmax files using blender Addon.

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6

I’m not sure what you mean by this… maybe parent all object to an empty and then scale the empty…

7

Hotkey is A to select everything, then use the scale tool.

I believe you can also just choose a scale factor when you import the 3DS, and adjust it at that moment.

3ds
3ds1005×856 56.4 KB

2 Likes
8

Oh yes… there was/is (?) this problem when several opjects are selected and you want to scale all of them to a precise value via the Transfom properties ony the last (?) one selected gets scaled but using the scale tool or S MouseWheel works… as expected…

I think i need a break :sweat_smile:

1 Like
9

Yes, I seem to remember having a problem when previously trying to scale multiple objects. I can experiment here, perhaps try parenting to an empty.

Also, I will try Thorns suggestion and look for the scale when importing.

Thank you again for everyone’s help!

10

Edit…

  1. When exporting a modeling, include one 1m box.

  2. Parent all objects in the file imported into the blender in a 1m box.

  3. Enter the 1m box as 1m in the dimension of the N panel.

This adjusts all objects at once.

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11

With hierachies and similar, it can get weird. Has been years since I had to import a 3DS file, but - yeah, wouldn’t suprise me if something undesired happened.

So, hopefully adjusting the scale factor at import will work for you.

Kim/oki’s suggestion of ‘create a master parent, scale that’ is also a solution i’ve used successfully.

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12

Ohh… whats reference dimension object ?? The parenting i mention above or something else ?

13

I’ve just re-tried this on my desktop. The default scale factor is set to 10. I lowered it to .3 and with the clipping value to 1000 I can see everything comfortably, and things seem to be at the correct size also This works for me.

Thanks everyone.

1 Like
14

Translator translation is weird :sweat_smile: :sweat_smile:
So I modified it.