File Formats for Conversion to XAML

As WPF application development continues to pick up steam, it's becoming more and more important to consider which file formats make the most sense for conversion to XAML. Just based on discussions I've had with many of you regarding my Illustrator export plug-in, I know that there are other formats out there that—due to lack of tool support—are very difficult or next-to-impossible to convert to XAML.

So, I'd like to identify a list of "top x" file formats that would help ease the pain for both WPF designers and developers. What tool does your company use to create 2D or 3D content? What file format(s) does it make the most sense to convert? If you don't have an opinion (possibly because you don't work with those tools), please forward this to your design staff. I'm very interested in feedback.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2006
  For applications I work with having a converter for EMF/WMF as a callable utility would be great. This would allow copy/paste with Office, Visio, and many other tools. Ideally anything that supports OLE should be something that can be converted to XAML for inclusion as content in a FlowDocument or FixedDocument.

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 30, 2006
  SVG is one obvious candidate... there are a plethora of XML-based UI layout schemas out in the wild. Not sure which, if any, are truly popular enough to invest in a converter.
  
  Heck, it would also be nice to have a forward-port ability for RC files and WinForms designer-generated CS/VB files!
  
  

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2006
  I would like to see a XHTML 1.0 Strict + CSS 2.1 to XAML converter. Seeing that WPF has many HTML-like elements/classes, e.g., http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref30/html/T_System_Windows_Documents_Paragraph.asp, this should be possible.

• Anonymous
  January 31, 2006
  I would really like to see X3D/VRML2 support, it will be great to see all the wonderful scenes I've got render in a XAML3D window

• Anonymous
  February 01, 2006
  WMF/EMF would be great.
  
  Corel Draw files too.

• Anonymous
  February 02, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 05, 2006
  We use Corel products for graphics design. The import/export functions for collaboration with Corel formats would be great.
  
  Support for wmf/emf files would be very usefull too.

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2006
  Thanks for the insight so far, everyone. If you have an opinion, please provide feedback (or use the Email link to send me something directly). I'd like to collect as much information as possible regarding the formats that would provide the biggest benefit.

• Anonymous
  February 06, 2006
  Michael, How about the ability to translate an existing Form1.Designer.cs file or .vb file? I am guessing this will be baked into the IDE at a pretty low level. -A

• Anonymous
  February 11, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 12, 2006
  Suggest support for native Rhinoceros (Rhino) 3D files;3dm.   www.rhino3d.com

• Anonymous
  February 12, 2006
  Given the designerdeveloper interaction I can see the most common being the most common 3D file formats and designer tools such as PhotoshopIllustrator.

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2006
  I'd love to see a plugin for 3D Studio MAX which provided an export-to-xaml capability.

• Anonymous
  February 13, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 14, 2006
  I want more Universality / layman operability of transparent layers. So I can make my dancing monkeys stand out better.

• Anonymous
  February 15, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 15, 2006
  A quick'n'dirty solution for 3D interop might be a w3d/u3d importer. The two are very similar Intel formats, used in Shockwave, Acrobat 7 and other programs (see 3dif.org).
  
  Exporters for Max, Maya and Lightwave already exist for w3d, and at least u3d is well documented.
  
  
  2D: Photoshop PSD

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2006
  curious what can be done with the autocad and civil3d formats.

• Anonymous
  February 16, 2006
  I feel there is a definite need for the AutoCAD (DWG, DXF) file formats to be converted to XAML. We use SharePoint for our document management but the bulk of our business documentation is in DWG format. Therefore the bulk is not managed with anything other than network shares. It would be awesome if we had the ability to utilize our existing document management system (Microsoft SharePoint Portal) for all of our business documentation. If I could utilize SPS for AutoCAD as well as other documents, I would personally teach the monkeys how to dance.

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2006
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  February 26, 2006
  You may recall my post last month titled File Formats for Conversion to XAML. In that post, I asked which...

• Anonymous
  April 07, 2006
  I love working with Cinema 4D, it's easy to learn and has a superior interface. I would like support for the C4D file format.

• Anonymous
  April 29, 2006
  A9Converter Pro - converts DWG or DXF files to various raster images, support bi-directional DWG/DXF conversion, autocad 2006.
  
  http://www.yaodownload.com/video-design/imageauthoringtools/a9converter-pro_imageauthoringtools.htm

• Anonymous
  May 13, 2006
  Cinema 4d is really a great tool, which is gaining wide acceptance amoung the upcomming generation of 3d-designers, because it is easy to use and more intuitive than maya and alternatives.
  
  for 3d design a Corel-Draw support is a must-have. as it is equally important as Illustrator is.

• Anonymous
  May 19, 2006
  AutoCad

• Anonymous
  August 19, 2006
  I would love to see a Cimema 4D converter too

• Anonymous
  April 04, 2007
  I've heard tons about a visio to XAML converter... I guess it makes sense if you use Visio as your UI design tool... we go the other way though, Visio is a diagramming tool and we use Expression / VS.NET as our UI tools - so I find myself wanting to export XAML into Visio, not the other way around...

• Anonymous
  May 18, 2007
  Adobe Illustrator (AI) and CorelDraw (CDR) are a must have, for vector graphics.

• Anonymous
  June 28, 2007
  I would like to see an exporter for Cinema 4D. I have to export my c4d files to FBX format, then import it to Maya. Maya can export to XAML. Problem is, some of my textures and animation gets lost in the FBX file... I say, XAML exporter for Cinema 4D please!

• Anonymous
  September 18, 2007
  c4d aswell, especially suppport for splines. right now C4D only opens .ai as splines i think..

• Anonymous
  February 09, 2008
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• Anonymous
  February 11, 2008
  XHTML text(font size, family, style, etc...) to XAML for textblock elements at least.  Rich text from XHTML should be a basic requirement to convert to XAML textblocks.

• Anonymous
  February 20, 2008
  The comment has been removed