How to import in a scene from FormZ? I am going to work together with an architect who works in FormZ.

The idea is that I take his output and make 3D visualisations in Blender.
FormZ can export .obj, .dfx and .3ds files. Those file formats can be imported into Blender right? Are there any (dis)advantages in using either one of those file formats (or put more simple; what is the preferred format) when my objective is to create 3D visualisations of architectural designs ?

Aliasguru commented:


  It depends on what version (free, jr or pro) and what OS your contact
  is using, but seen from the Blender side, OpenCollada and FBX would be
  the neatest choices.


As Aliasguru pointed out I should have included FBX and OpenCollada. So my question should be: FormZ can export .obj, .dfx, .3ds, .fbx and OpenCollada files. Those file formats can be imported into Blender right? Are there any (dis)advantages in using either one of those file formats (or put more simple; what is the preferred format) when my objective is to create 3D visualisations of architectural designs ?

After reading the answers on my question and doing some more research myself it seems that OBJ and FBX are the best candidates for exchanging 3D models. It is my understanding that OBJ is only able to exchange geometry data and FBX can do that but also exchange materials/textures data. So it looks like that FBX is the best candidate for archviz workflow with OBJ as a second best. Are the experts supporting this view ??

As advised I am now testing the files created in formZ. It appears that with OBJ and DXF you can only exchange geometry data and not materials/ UV's/ textures. I am not sure If I would want that but now I cannot see how the architect thinks the building should look like. 

It appeared that the client was using a very old version of formZ and therefore no FBX export was possible. After testing I was most satisfied with the DXF format as it did exchange the geometry data the best. 

As regard to the bounty ... in fact everybody helped me with their advises but the best advise was to do a lot of testing.
3Ds is mostly considered an aging and hopelessly outdated file format it has intrinsic limitations and is therefore not a good format overall.

There are caps on the number of vertex an object can have, it only supports triangles (no quads or ngons), naming is also limited.

That being said it is still commonly used and relatively well suited for small models and simple objects.

DXF is an exchange file format mostly created for CAD data consisting of lines, arcs, hatches, etc.. It has support for meshes and 3D geometry but is mostly inadequate format for mesh based data since it's focus is on 2D CAD drawing data, paper spaces, layouts, etc.

It may work well if you are importing only 2D drawings like elevations, plans, sections etc, to use as reference for modelling directly in Blender. Otherwise for actual mesh based 3D data it is not the best format.

From the three available, OBJ seems to be the most suited for what you seem to want to achieve. OBJ is also considered an old file format, but has less limitations, and is more versatile than 3Ds and very widely supported in most modelling applications.

Should suit your workflow well enough.