Hello,
I just bought a tool that has already saved me a tremendous amount of time (time=$). It is 3D File Converter from Baren-Boyer
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For those that use SolidWorks CAD models in 3D animation programs like Lightwave 3D or 3DS Max, this is indispensible. I had been using Okino Polytrans, but this is a multiple step process (and frankly, I have never been able to get the quality of mesh that I was happy with from this program). With 3DFC, you just "Save As" the file in the target format. The nice aspect of this is that 3DFC carries the color information from SW to LWO format so that once in Lightwave, it makes it very easy to set up surfaces. Well worth the money. And no, no relation to B-B, just a happy user.
Mike Tripoli