U3D Reader
| U3D Format | |
| File Extension | U3D |
| Supported Versions | ECMA-363 |
| Platforms | |
| B-rep | N/A |
| PMI | N/A |
| Tessellation | |
| Views | |
| Visualization | |
The U3D (Universal 3D) file format was developed by a consortium called the 3D Industry Forum (3DIF), spearheaded by Intel Corporation, and later standardized by Ecma International (as ECMA-363) in the mid-2000s to facilitate sharing 3D CAD data, especially within PDF documents.
Our U3D Reader provides access to the visualization data stored within a U3D file. The most common file extension for U3D files is .U3D.
HOOPS Exchange geometry access for U3D includes:
- Tessellation: Mesh or polygonal geometry is imported directly.
- B-rep: Not supported by this format - HOOPS Exchange treats it as tessellation only.
How to Import From U3D
If you are new to reading models with HOOPS Exchange, see the basic load workflow </guide/basic_operations/load_model>` section of the Programming Guide.
To load a U3D file, use A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromFile().
Below, the A3DParamsLoadData structure is used to customize the loading behavior. See our API reference manual for more information about this important data type.
A3DAsmModelFile* pModelFile = 0;
A3DRWParamsLoadData sReadParam;
A3D_INITIALIZE_DATA(A3DRWParamsLoadData, sReadParam);
sReadParam.m_sGeneral.m_bReadSolids = true;
// ... set other A3DRWParamsLoadData fields as necessary
A3DAsmModelFileLoadFromFile("path/to/file.u3d", &sReadParam, &pModelFile);
See Simple Load and Export for general information about loading model files.
Assembly
This concept is not supported by U3D. However, U3D files may contain multiple components or objects. HOOPS Exchange represents these as a model tree that you can traverse using the standard structure APIs.
To learn more about how HOOPS Exchange handles assemblies, see our tutorial about assembly traversal.
B-Rep
This concept is not supported by U3D.
Visualization
This concept is not supported by U3D.
Views
HOOPS Exchange does not currently support U3D views.
PMI
This concept is not supported by U3D.
Miscellaneous
Construction geometries are handled by the reader.
Limitations
The animation stored within a particular file is not exposed to developers. However, if you are providing a U3D file to Advanced Publishing to put into a PDF document, then the U3D remains unchanged and the animation remains available and can be exposed in the PDF document.
