cant you export your files to smth like .obj or .fbx from autocad? (never worked with autocad)

Originally posted by Mantas T:

cant you export your files to smth like .obj or .fbx from autocad? (never worked with autocad)

what is the native format for importing models into VR then?

Originally posted by FrozenFood:

Originally posted by Mantas T:

cant you export your files to smth like .obj or .fbx from autocad? (never worked with autocad)

what is the native format for importing models into VR then?

i don't think there is something as "native vr format" but if you are creating envinronment using valves hammer editor - then it imports both .obj and .fbx that are comon file formats in any 3d industry (well not cad apperantly :) more 3ds max, maya, cinema4d, softimage, houndini, blender ... etc. if you cannot export to these formats from autocad see if it supports .3ds (very old 3dmax format) and this .3ds you should be able to import anywhere (above mentioned tools and many free ones as well) and reexport to obj, fbx https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/converting-an-autocad-drawing-to-obj-format/td-p/6535201

Are you looking specifially to import your model into SteamVR Home, or just viewing it with any application?

For steamVR Home, the Source 2 tools support importing to .fbx .obj and Valves propietary .dmx format.

If you don't need SteamVR Home, there are a ton of options available. One is setting your own Unreal Engine 4 or Unity game, both should have readily made VR templates you can import models into.These options are likely a lot easier to get started with than Source 2, and have a large amount of tutorials and documentation available.

Another alternative if you don't mind the model being public is to upload it to http://sketchfab.com, which has a VR mode in its web based viewer. There are also various VR model viewer software available (possibly ones that can view CAD models directly), but I don't have any experiece with them.

In general, the workflow is generally the same. You need to export the CAD model into a polygon mesh, apply materials to the faces so you can set how it is rendered, and export it to a format that the software you want to view it in can import from (such as .fbx). I'm not sure how much of that a CAD software can do, so it's likely you will have to first export the model into a modeling tool like Maya or Blender.