Export Type

The Export Type drop down list specifies which type file format to export. Currently supported types are: Autodesk DXF (2D and 3D), 3D Studio, Wavefront OBJ, VRML (1&2), IGES, OpenNURBS/Rhino, StereoLithography, RAW, Maya Script format, and Google Earth’s KML and KMZ, Max Script, FilmBoX and SVG:

See the table below for a list of how objects are handled by each format.

The DXF file format is supported by virtually every 3D package so it is a good format for sharing geometry but it is limited in the type of data it can transfer. You cannot export texture maps, nor fully-defined materials in the DXF format.

3D Studio, OBJ, VRML and Rhino file formats all handle fully-defined object materials and photo-derived textures.

The 2D DXF format is a sub-set of normal 3D DXF in that it has no Z coordinates. PhotoModeler produces these files by projecting the 3D model data onto a specified plane thereby making it 2D. This can be useful if you are moving data from PhotoModeler into a 2D CAD package or if you are not concerned with the 3rd dimension (such as creating the map of road for skid marks). See the DXF Options section below for how the plane is defined for the 2D projection.

The IGES format is used by high end CAD and graphics packages. IGES, Wavefront and Rhino are the only formats that currently support NURBS curves and surfaces in their native format.

The RAW format is a simple table of 3D coordinates of points, lines or faces. There is no extra topological, structure or material information included. This format is useful for import into various math analysis packages and spread-sheets. A single space delimits each item in the export.

Export of point and camera data in a Maya .ma script format is also available. Maya does not create 'locators' when importing other 3D formats from PhotoModeler so this export option can be used to bring point data into Maya. Maya export support camera data that is useful in matching perspective to background plates. Lines and Curves are also exported. Other data types (surfaces, etc.) can be exported to Maya using one of the other formats.

The two Google Earth export formats (.kml and .kmz) are for putting 3d models into Google Earth. KML is the basic format that supports points, lines, curves and surfaces and works in most Google Earth versions. KMZ is a compressed format based on the DAE Collada format and works in Google Earth 4 and later. KMZ adds supports for textures. See the Setting Geographic Multi-point Transform section below for further information.

Note 1: If exporting smoothed models to 3DS format with photo-texture maps you should note that 3DS has a limitation. It is not possible to describe a fully smoothed photo-textured object in 3ds when there are different photo-texture files. If you are using 3D Studio Max* you can get around this by importing the 3DS model generated by PhotoModeler into Max and then do Mesh Modifier and weld all the vertices. Once the vertices are welded you can render properly smoothed across boundaries that have different texture files.

Note 2: Some format types specify the units of all 3D coordinate data. VRML files are always in meters and 3DS files are always in inches. If your project is using another set of units, the 3D coordinate data will be converted to the specified units during export.

Note 3: There are ways to combine exports too. For example, if you wanted a model showing photo textured surfaces along with camera positions in Maya, you could export textures using the .obj format and then add cameras using the .ma format as a separate export, and then import both files (.obj and .ma) into Maya.

The standard file extensions for these files by type are: 3D DXF (.dxf), 2D DXF (.dxf), 3D Studio (.3ds), VRML 1.0 (.wrl), VRML 2.0 (.wrl), Wavefront (.obj), raw coordinates (.raw), IGES (.igs), OpenNURBS / Rhino (.3dm), Stereo Lithography (.stl), Maya (.ma), Google Earth (.kml or .kmz), Max Script (.ms), CSV Total Station, Filmbox (.fbx), SVG (.svg), and ASPRS (.las).

The following tables list all the types of objects exported by PhotoModeler and how they are handled in various formats. If a cell in the table shows "✓", this means the object is exported natively (i.e., Points export as POINT objects in DXF). If a cell is blank then that object type is not exported in that format (usually due to a limit of that format). If a cell has a footnote reference this means the object is exported as a non-standard entity – see below table for explanation.

	2D DXF	3D DXF	3DS	VRML	OBJ	Text	IGES	3DM
3D Points	✓¹⁷	✓			✓	✓¹⁸	✓	✓
SmartPoints	✓	✓			✓	✓¹⁸	✓	✓
Point IDs	✓¹⁴	✓¹⁴						✓⁹
Offset Points	✓	✓			✓	✓	✓	✓
Lines	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓¹⁵	✓	✓
Edges	✓¹³	✓¹³		✓¹³	✓¹³	✓¹⁵	✓¹³	✓¹³
Curves	✓⁴	✓⁴		✓⁴	✓⁵		✓⁸	✓⁵
Surfaces	✓¹	✓¹	✓¹	✓¹	✓²	✓¹⁵	✓	✓²
Bent Tubes	✓⁶	✓⁶			✓⁶		✓⁷	✓⁶
Cylinders	✓⁶	✓⁶	✓⁶	✓⁶	✓⁶	✓	✓⁷	✓⁶
Surface Draw	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓¹⁵	✓	✓
Photo-Textures			✓	✓	✓³			✓³
Cameras	✓	✓		✓¹¹
Imports				✓	✓	✓	✓
Cloud/Meshes			✓	✓	✓	✓¹⁸	✓
Orthophoto								✓
	STL	Maya	Google	Max	CSV	Points	LAS	FBX	SVG
3D Points		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓¹⁸	✓	✓
SmartPoints		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓¹⁸	✓	✓
Point IDs					✓		✓
Offset Points		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Lines		✓	✓	✓					✓¹⁹
Edges			✓
Curves		✓	✓	✓
Surfaces	✓¹		✓					✓
Bent Tubes	✓¹	✓		✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Cylinders	✓¹		✓					✓
Surface Draw			✓	✓	✓¹⁶	✓¹⁶	✓¹⁶	✓¹⁶	✓¹⁹
Photo-Textures			✓¹⁰					✓
Cameras		✓		✓				✓
Imports		✓	✓	✓	✓¹⁶	✓¹⁶	✓	✓
Cloud/Meshes	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓^{12, 18}	✓¹²	✓
Orthophoto

1 Surfaces are exported as tessellated triangular faces.

2 Surfaces can be exported as either tessellated triangular faces or as NURBS Surfaces, controlled using the Export Surfaces as setting. The surface ID is exported as the name of the surface in Rhino, which helps match surfaces in the two applications.

3 Photo-Textures are only output for surfaces output as tessellated triangular faces. NURBS Surfaces are not textured.

4 Curves are exported as tessellated line or poly-line segments.

5 Curves can be exported as either tessellated line segments or as NURBS Curves, controlled using the Export Curves as setting.

6 Cylinders are exported as tessellated triangular faces that look like a cylinder, as a centerlines, as a cylinder (VRML), or as NURBS surfaces controlled using the Export Cylinders as setting. Not all types available in all formats.

7 Surfaces are exported as NURBS surfaces in IGES type 128.

8 Curves are exported as NURBS curves in IGES as type 126 form 0.

9 Point IDs are output in the object name field. If the point has a user name it is output as “123:User name”, where 123 is the point’s ID.

10 Textures exported with the Google Earth .kmz format only.

11 VRML 2 format only.

12 Point Clouds only

13 As lines

14 As text

15 xyz’s

16 Points only

17 2D form

18 Can optionally include RGB color data per point

19 Polyline between the points defining lines, curves and surface draw lines/curves. Exported model is 2D with Z values at 0.0.

Note 1: the tolerance of surface and curve tessellations can be controlled on the Preferences dialog.

Note 2: in the past the Wavefront OBJ file format was exported in a rotated coordinate system for use with older Alias/Wavefront software. This is generally not needed now and since version 4.0c PhotoModeler exports OBJ in the same coordinate system defined by the user. There is a Preference setting called "WavefrontRotated" that provides the capability to use the former rotation export method.