From the artist's standpoint, the components of 3D content creation are modeling, texturing and UVW mapping, (character) animation setup, and animation. 3D files also include substantial information about asset organization. This "scenegraph hierarchy" is the glue that binds most of the scene assets in the W3D file: it specifies how objects exist in the scene, and how the scene is laid out, lit, and viewed.

To get these components into a file that Director can work with (W3D format), the artist must export the 3D content using the Shockwave 3D exporter. The exporter allows a certain level of control over the assets that are written to the W3D file, their level of detail, and their compression. The artist can export assets to one or more W3D files.

Decisions of what to export and when should be deferred to the Lingo programmer, as in the past, when a 3D artist would prepare assets to meet the specifications of the project's programmer. You can think of Director as the second authoring environment, and Shockwave 3D as the game (playback) engine.

 
Managing file size
Success in real-time 3D is determined by the speed of screen updates, measured in frames per second (fps). The smaller or "lighter" the model, the textures applied to it, and the animation data contained in the W3D file, the faster Shockwave 3D can process and update, resulting in a higher frame rate.

Shockwave 3D uses polygons to represent 3D geometry, and the number of polygons you use affects file size. Shockwave 3D also allows you to work with sophisticated character animation (including motion capture data). When you export your 3D scene's assets, the exporter makes many changes to your content in the course of writing to the W3D file. Some of these changes you can control; others you cannot.

Before creating anything, familiarize yourself with the 3D Studio Max Exporter User Guide, then evaluate the proposed content in terms of an overall polygon budget, the size and number of any bitmaps used to texture-map the models, the amount and nature of animation data, and any special ordering or streaming requirements.

 
Naming files
Devise sensible naming conventions at the beginning of your project: every exportable object in Shockwave 3D (for example, model, material, texture map, camera) needs a distinct name. Even if two objects with the same name can coexist in your 3D creation tool, the Shockwave 3D compression functions will discard duplicate objects based on name. The project team should agree upon naming conventions so that any team member can discern which textures belong on which models without having to ask the 3D artist.