This variability may also be the reason why IEEE advocates for the use of X3D standard for “serious” applications (from a talk in 3DBody.Tech), although I don’t agree that stability equates with seriousness.
But that means constantly having to update your software. Since FBX is a proprietary format, the best way to access it is through the FBX SDK, which gets updated every year. FBX is also widely adopted, but applications like Blender don’t always support the latest version.
In this article I will be showing examples of both FBX and COLLADA (DAE files), but with a stronger focus on COLLADA for two reasons: 1) it has been around for a long time, so it’s widely supported by lots of modelling software and game engines (check the list in Wikipedia) 2) its specification hasn’t changed since 2008 (version 1.5), so one can assume pretty stable support across different software. blend files, and Autodesk has developed FBX, a proprietary file format. That’s probably why 3D modelling software like Blender and Autodesk Maya have developed their own file formats. 3D file formats like COLLADA or glTF, for instance, are good for renderers, but not necessarily good for content creation software for artists. The short answer is that existing standard file formats do not match the requirements of their applications. Why do developers create their own file formats? GLASCOE III on Skeletons & 3D File Formats: Why do developers create their own? Phil Chu on Skeletons & 3D File Formats: Why do developers create their own?.Sam on Introduction to Colour Spaces and DCI-P3.David Gavilan on Introduction to Colour Spaces and DCI-P3.paul on Skeletons & 3D File Formats: Why do developers create their own?.Introduction to Colour Spaces and DCI-P3.Introduction to Skinning and 3D Animation.What’s wrong with that pixel? The backward journey of light.