Because I’m a longtime veteran of Autodesk Inventor, I use that as my primary modeling software, and then import to MAX to clean up the mesh, bake normal maps, texture, etc.

However, sometimes I need to add geometry to a mesh that someone else has created in MAX.  I need to get that MAX file into Inventor, and I cannot find a solution for this other than to buy an importer for $200.  I have tried the trial, and I don’t like the results.

I figured since they are both Autodesk products, there might be a solution I’m missing.

It’s nice that Autodesk provides a way to import Inventor files to MAX, but it’s not so nice they don’t allow me to import .3ds or .fbx into Inventor.

I don’t understand…

If I save a mesh as .dwg and open it in Inventor, it opens it in the 2D mode of inventor, it does not build a surface model and knit them together… Actually, I tried it on a mesh and I get a blank sheet of paper, so I must totally be missing something.

Maybe you can share exactly how you did it?  Screenshots of dialog boxes or something?