We’re eagerly anticipating the next release of Rhino and hope it will include a crucial new feature: DAE (Collada) import functionality. While Rhino already boasts robust support for various 3D file formats, the absence of DAE import creates a significant hurdle for many users.
Collada is a widely adopted interchange format, especially prevalent in game development, architectural visualization, and various DCC (Digital Content Creation) workflows. Integrating DAE import would dramatically streamline our projects, allowing seamless transfer of models, scenes, and animations from other software into Rhino. This would eliminate the need for cumbersome workarounds and third-party converters, saving valuable time and reducing potential data loss. Adding this feature would greatly enhance Rhino’s interoperability and strengthen its position as a central tool in professional 3D pipelines. We believe this addition would be immensely beneficial to the entire Rhino community.
Thank you for the heads-up regarding Blender’s decision to drop Collada support. We understand that the landscape of 3D file formats is constantly evolving, and some formats may see reduced support over time.
However, we still have a very significant and immediate need for DAE (Collada) import functionality in Rhino. This is particularly critical for our workflows involving ContextCapture-generated LOD trees (Level of Detail trees). The internal data structure for these complex models inherently uses DAE.
Currently, without direct DAE import, we face a major bottleneck. We’re unable to directly bring these essential files into Rhino for editing. Having to rely on other third-party software for conversion introduces a high risk of data loss and fidelity issues, which can be detrimental to our projects.
Therefore, the ability to directly import DAE files into Rhino is not just a convenience but a crucial necessity for maintaining data integrity and efficiency when working with sources like ContextCapture. We sincerely hope the Rhino development team can consider this ongoing and vital requirement for users like us.