Hi!
I'm not sure if this hleps, but here are my 2 cents:
First, in the readme of the 3ds2unr converter it says that you defenitly lose some detail when converting 3ds files.
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quote:
Models must be made up of a single 3D Studio object, which lives within the 256x256x256 coordinate space centered on the origin. (Setting the grid extents to –128..128 and turning on the grid is helpful here.) The model itself should be centered on the origin (0,0,0) because of how Unreal specifies the collision cylinders used to determine when objects are touching.
Models will lose some precision when imported. Specifically, X and Y coordinates are truncated to the nearest 1/8th (0.125) unit, and Z coordinates are truncated to the nearest 1/4th (0.25) unit.
One 3DS coordinate equals 6" in Unreal X and Y coordinates, or 12" in Unreal Z coordinates. You generally don’t have to worry about this scaling, as the model can be rescaled when it’s imported into Unreal.
Object polygons shouldn’t intersect. The hardware supported by Unreal gets confused when polygons intersect, resulting in an unpleasant shimmering.
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dunno if this is any help for you....
cheers