Blender fbx import from ascii format

Question

I have a FBX model which I would like to open in Blender but when I try to import the model it says: ASCII FBX files are not supported. Is there a way to import the model to Blender somehow? I don't have access to any Autodesk software.

Fearsome

Answer 1

For some reason Blender import doesn't support FBX models that are serialized to text.

As a workaround the model can be changed to binary FBX model and imported to Blender. At least I am able to use Autodesk FBX 2013.3 Converter even I don't have any other Autodesk software installed.

Other option that might work is to use Bos FBX Importer.

PS. If you want to export FBX models from Blender and be able to import them again, you can choose version: FBX 7.4 binary not FBX 6.1 ASCII in the export settings panel.

Bathulda

Both links are broken. – Samite

See this answer below for an archived Autodesk Converter link. It did not work properly for me using an animated rig with no mesh. – Neustria

The outdated FBX Converter did not work correctly for me using newer FBX files. I was able to convert the file successfully with Jeff Ward's solution – Archeozoic

Answer 2

If you have Visual Studio installed try to open the original file then save it and import in Blender. This should work.

Illness

I couldn't believe this could actually work. The autodesk converter messes up the normals badly for me. This worked very nice! – Kuykendall

Is it because I am using mac...? – Epirus

I was astounded to find this worked for me (in VS 2019) – Organzine

Didn't work. Why would it work when it's still ASCII? – Riggle

This doesn't work and there's no explanation for why it would possibly work. – Roscoe

This works. Opened my fbx file in Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019 Version 16.10.0, then saved it (Save as...). Then imported the new file to Blender 2.91.2. – Ebon

Opened as a text file, only option for SaveAs was also text file. – Taryntaryne

Answer 3

Unfortunately I can't comment yet but here's an update to maZZZu's answer:

The Bos FBX Importer will also not open ASCII .fbx files, however Autodesk's FBX Converter still does. Here's the updated URL: https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

Tacket

This worked great, I unchecked all "Import XXX" in blender, unless I did that, it crashed. But now the armatures and everything is imported. Great! – Tybalt

This tool also works under Linux using wine. Tested now on Fedora 34 and Wine 6.12 (Staging). – Espalier

Answer 4

This simple commandline tool worked for me to convert an ASCII FBX to a Blender-compatible binary FBX: https://github.com/BobbyAnguelov/FbxFormatConverter/releases/

It can convert between binary and ascii - see usage info, for example:

# ASCII to Binary
FbxFormatConverter.exe -c in_ascii.fbx -o out_binary.fbx -binary

# Binary to ASCII
FbxFormatConverter.exe -c in_binary.fbx -o out_ascii.fbx -ascii

It's for Windows, but I used it fine with wine under linux.

If you use the pre-compiled version, technically you should agree to the FBX SDK license agreement.

Hower

Answer 5

I tried Audtodesk converter - useless because of UV destroying.

I use Paint 3D (if you have win10 of course). Works fluent. Just open it then save in fbx again.

p.s. have a nice day!

Hiltonhilum

Answer 6

Fastest way I found: https://convert3d.org

Simply convert the ASCII-FBX to any file format that Blender can open, e.g. OBJ, but not to FBX. Worked for me in seconds.

Magree

Answer 7

What really works is this: https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-sdk-2020-0?us_oa=akn-us&us_si=9066be5d-863a-4cd3-b98f-87bda034316b&us_st=fbx%20sdk

there you can download sdk for all common used os.

You can compile the ConvertScene sample with: cmake, gcc, libxml2-dev

The resulting binary can be used to convert ascii fbx to bin fbx that can be imported in blender.

Jacobin

Answer 8

You might be find that a lot of the solutions produce corrupt files when you open them in Blender (Paint3D, Autodesk Converter, etc) if they contain animations and armatures. The bones might look all messed up and the polygons can be broken.

I found that Unity can open both ASCII and binary files. It can also export to a format that works perfectly in Blender... with animations.

Just use the built in FBX importer and the FBX exporter package that can be installed with Unity package manager. It is supported by Unity. https://docs.unity3d.com/Packages/[email protected]/manual/exporting.html .

Hijoung

Answer 9

This site has a good explanation. It says that ASCII format is human readable, contains all the model's info, but it's not Blender-readable. We need Binary format, and whoever makes the model needs to choose ASCII to give customers all the data, or they choose binary to make it importable to Blender. When they choose ASCII, we need to covert it ourselves. Supposedly there's a free tool for converting this using the Autodesk. I'm still looking around the Autodesk site for a free tool, but it may require some trial software. https://www.blender3darchitect.com/modeling-for-architecture/import-ascii-fbx-files-blender/.

Update: I found this page with links to Autodesk tools, including the FBX 2013.3 Converter for Windows 64-bit mentioned earlier in this thread: https://www.autodesk.com/developer-network/platform-technologies/fbx-converter-archives

Update 2: It* worked! I converted my ASCII FBX to Binary, and I imported successfully into Blender 2.80. (*It = FBX 2013.3 Converter for Windows 64-bit)

Vestryman