3DC is an excellent low budget object modeller and animator for making your Viewpoint objects, avatars and animations.
You must export your scene to DirectX, using the File | export menu: this makes a text X file of the objects and animation.
Using my program x2mtx, you can convert objects and animations from a (text) X file to a Viewpoint compatible format (MTX + OBJ + MTL) and load them in Viewpoint Scene Builder for further processing. Bones are not supported.
x2mtx:
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NOTE 1: texturing (uv-mapping) must be done with the Flat Wrap option, Cylindrical and Spherical mapping is not supported.
NOTE 2: for compatibility with other systems when making animations, it is advisable (but not essential) to straighten the frames in the hierarchy, i.e. child frames should be oriented in the same way as the parent frame all the way up the hierarchy. You can use the ‘Straighten Frames.CS’ script provided in x2mtx.zip to do this. See the instructions in the zip file.
NOTE 3: all textures have to be converted to progressive JPGs (ordinary JPGs work but won’t stream) and copied to the folder where you saved the MTX file.
NOTE 4: only one texture per material may be used (texture blending does not work in Viewpoint). Alpha mapping is not read properly by Viewpoint Scene Builder from the MTL file, BUT you can add the alpha map easily there later on, and you can adjust quite a few parameters.
NOTE 5: it is recommended to texture all objects, even if you use a uniform colour to do so. Viewpoint treats non-textured materials differently to textured ones, and is less flexible. You may want to experiment first with textured and non-textured objects before taking a final decision.
Alex