Dev:Ref/Outdated/Resources/File Formats

Here are links to file format specs or implementations, with particlar focus on those useful in DCC (Digital Content Creation); CAD (Computer Assisted Design); video/web animation/3d Display formats; game content formats; 2d image formats; and lastly sound formats

The most widely supported CAD formats are DXF, DWG, IGES and STEP

The most widely supported DCC formats are OBJ, LWO, 3DS, Collada

The most widely supported web 3d content formats are Shockwave, VRML, X3D, U3D

The most widely supported image formats are Adobe Photoshop, PNG, JPG, GIF

CAD formats

• dxf http://www.coin3d.org/lib/dime (2d/3d) and http://www.vterrain.org/CAD/ and http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/item?siteID=123112&id=5129239

• dwg spec http://www.opendwg.org/downloads/guest.htm#dwgspec

• GPL dwg parser http://www.pythoncad.org/

• non GPL compatible free library for dwg http://www.opendwg.org/

• dxflib - dxf http://www.ribbonsoft.com/dxflib_downloads.html (2D Only?)

• opennurbs http://www.opennurbs.com/

• Open Cascade (source code available but not GPL compatible) (IGES and STEP support) see also http://www.hpfem.jku.at/netgen/ and http://www.opencascade.org/org/doc/

• 3dc - iges, gts, ac (GPL licensed - very limited implementation) http://on-the-web.ch/3dc/

• BRLCAD - has IGES support http://www.brlcad.org

• IGES Spec http://cio.doe.gov/ITReform/ArchitectureStandards/standards/stdsdesc.cfm?Id=16

DCC file formats

• Collada Spec http://www.collada.org/public_forum/viewforum.php?f=9

• Blender Collada Exporter http://sourceforge.net/projects/colladablender/

• LWO format http://web.archive.org/web/20010423140254/http://members.home.net/erniew2/lwsdk/docs/filefmts/lwo2.html

• Blender LWO Importer http://uaraus.altervista.org/index.php?filename=en/content/categories/Blender/LWO_importer.html

• Cinema 4D format spec http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/cinema4d/cinema4d.pdf

• dotXSI file format spec http://www.bzuniverse.com/~fish.xsi/xsi.htm

• dotXSI file toolkit http://www.softimage.com/products/pipeline/FTK/v363/download/v363.htm

• Blender XSI Importer http://www.candointeractive.com/blender/xsi_export.py

• Electric Image and FormZ FACT format spec http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/fact/

• Ascii Scene Exporter (ASE) http://www.solosnake.com/main/ase.htm

• FBX API - there is not a format spec available that I can find only specs for the library/api:

• FBX SDK http://www.alias.com/glb/eng/products-services/product_details.jsp?productId=1900004

• FBX SDK overview http://www.alias.com/eng/products-services/fbx/file/FBXSDKOverview.pdf

• 3DS (Autodesk) Format informations http://www.the-labs.com/Blender/3dsspec.html http://www.the-labs.com/Blender/3DS-details.html http://www.programmersheaven.com/search/download.asp?FileID=929 http://www.programmersheaven.com/search/download.asp?FileID=930 http://www.programmersheaven.com/search/download.asp?FileID=931

WEB file formats

• VRML Spec http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/vrml/index.html

• Blender VRML Exporter http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/x3d/vrml97_export150.py.txt

• X3D Spec http://www.web3d.org/x3d/specifications/x3d_specification.html

• Blender X3D Exporter http://www.neeneenee.de/blender/x3d/x3d_export150.py.txt

• Bitmanagement VRML/ X3D Exporter http://www.bitmanagement.de/developer/contact/sdk-prev/doc/tools/blenderexporter/index.html

• U3D Universal3d Spec http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-363.htm

• Shockwave W3D Spec http://www.macromedia.com/software/shockwaveplayer/licensing/w3d_sdk/

• Shockwave exporter: XSI to W3D (source license isn't compatible, but could be used for testing purposes) http://sourceforge.net/projects/xsi2w3d/ http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=40584&package_id=33505
• Viewpoint Media MTX Spec: http://reference.viewpoint.com/cr/index.php
• Dassault 3D XML Spec: http://www.3ds.com/products-solutions/3d-for-all/3d-xml/overview/

Motion Capture Formats

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/animWeb/humanoid/fileFormats.html

Image Formats

• Adobe Photoshop Spec http://www.fine-view.com/jp/lab/doc/ps6ffspecsv2.pdf http://www.fileformat.info/format/psd/
• DirectDraw Surface DDS Spec http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/directx9_c/dx9_graphics_reference_dds_file.asp
• JPEG 2000 Spec http://www.jpeg.org/jpeg2000/index.html
• Understanding What is stored in a Canon RAW .CR2 file, How and Why http://lclevy.free.fr/cr2
• Canon's CR2 Raw File Format Specification http://wildtramper.com/sw/cr2/cr2.html

Vector Image Formats

• SVG http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG12/
• Tiny SVG http://www.w3.org/TR/SVGMobile12/
• Blender SVG Importer http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_import_svg_en.htm
• Flash 7 SWF Spec http://www.macromedia.com/licensing/developer/
• Blender Flash Exporter http://www3.sympatico.ca/emilio.aguirre/s2flender.html
• PDF Spec http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/pdf/index_reference.html
• PostScript Spec http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/ps/index_specs.html
• Blender PostScript Importer http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_import_eps_en.htm
• Adobe Illustrator Format http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/illustrator/sdk/topic.html
• Blender Adobe Illustrator Importer http://jmsoler.free.fr/didacticiel/blender/tutor/cpl_import_ai_en.htm

Scene Description Languages

Lectures on Scene Description languages http://www.cs.utah.edu/classes/cs6620/lecture-2005-01-28-6up.pdf http://www.cs.utah.edu/classes/cs6620/lecture-2005-01-28.pdf

PPM Format Specification http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/ppm.html

Neutral File Format http://www.acm.org/pubs/tog/resources/SPD/NFF.TXT

Polygon File Format http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/%7Epbourke/geomformats/ply/

PLY Tools http://www.cc.gatech.edu/projects/large_models/ply.html

Scene Description languages

RenderMan Interface Specification https://renderman.pixar.com/products/rispec/

Radiance Scene Description language http://radsite.lbl.gov/radiance/refer/Notes/language_BNR.html

Manchester Scene Description language http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/msdl/

POVRAY scene description language http://www.lobos.nih.gov/Charmm/Povray3/pov30019.html

YAFRAY scene description language (is there an official version somewhere??) http://download.blender.org/documentation/htmlI/ch30s03.html

Another list of format links (most of the links are broken) http://www.agocg.ac.uk/reports/virtual/36/appendix.htm

Universal translator tools

• Polytrans - universal 3d format converter - very useful table of what formats are supported by different CAD programs, also explains the strengths and limitations of different formats http://www.okino.com/conv/filefrmt.htm

• 3D Object Converter - Shareware converter which supports a huge list of formats http://web.axelero.hu/karpo/

• AccuTrans3D - provides accurate translation of 3D geometry between the file formats used by many popular modeling programs. http://www.micromouse.ca/index.html

• 3DEM - can read and write many terrain, scientific visualisation and geographic formats http://www.visualizationsoftware.com/3dem/

• This is a project for interconversion between all vector drawing and CAD formats using a 'pipes' like system and preexisting command line converters. http://scratchcomputing.com/projects/uber-converter/

Misc lists of formats and universal importers/exporters

• Large list of formats with many specs and descriptions - many are not graphics related though http://www.fileformat.info/

• Graphics File Format FAQ http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part3/

• An extremely large list of formats and specs some with sample code

(note that for some of the formats he links there are much more complete specs availabled - ie lightwave lwo) http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~pbourke/dataformats/

• Large list of libraries/programs and what formats they support http://www.tech-edv.co.at/lunix/UTILlinks.html

• Advanced Authoring Format http://www.aafassociation.org/html/specs/aafstoredformatspec-v1.0.1.pdf

• Material Exchange Format (a subset of the Advanced Authoring Format):

http://www.ebu.ch/trev_291-devlin.pdf

Useful overview of MEF http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000013.shtml

• Massive listing of formats and descriptions of the formats http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/descriptions.shtml

HOOPS Streaming File Format spec - http://www.openhsf.org/specification/index.html

Imagine IOB - code to parse it http://www.pygott.demon.co.uk/prog.htm

• Blender W3D exporter (very old and only for mesh - not related to shockwave w3d) http://www.drlukac.com/jano/fridge/w3d2.py

Misc stuff

Poser related format data

• CR2 format fairly complete description http://www.kuroyumes-developmentzone.com/poser/poserfilespec/products_poser_cr2.html
• "Cr2 autopsy" http://home.carolina.rr.com/kattman/Tutorials.htm

• Understanding the poser file format http://arcana.daz3d.com/tutorials/tj/tj01/index.htm

• This file gives information on the standard poser names used in rigs http://www.sixus1.com/TechHelp/PoserTutorial4.htm

• Delta injection morphs http://rbtwhiz.com/rbtwhiz_deltaInjection.html

• Extended Morph Control http://www.nerd3d.com/Tutorial/SuperMorph.htm

• "unembedding props" http://www.sixus1.com/TechHelp/UnEmbeddingProp.htm and http://www.poserpros.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1197

• "mat files" http://www.sixus1.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=1621

• ReadScript http://www.rbtwhiz.com/rbtwhiz_rScript.html