Exporting sculpties from existing model

I have an existing (fairly complex) 3D model of a vehicle that I would like to get into SL. I currently have it in a 3DS file, but I can easily convert it to just about any file format needed. I also have access to a variety of 3D modeling applications, including 3DS Max and Maya. Is it possible for me to convert my existing model to something I can load into SL? Like I said, I'm open to using just about any program (yay research budgets!), I just need to know if it is even possible. It isn't clear to me with everything I've read if I can use an existing model or if I have to start from scratch to export to sculpties. Thanks!

It is possible to do though often will be more work than remodelling with sculpties in mind. Basically you will need to split the model into sculptie sized chunks. Then UV map each chunk into a square map with a particular sculptie type in mind. For example a door might be best as a torus type if you want an opening window - the hole in the torus would be where the glass is. So in that case you would mark the inner edge of the window as a seam plus a line cutting around the mesh from one point on the window edge as a seam. You'd then unwrap so that the inner window seam was at the top and bottom of the UV map and the other seam at left and right edges. If the application has a "minimise stretch" option (ctrl v in Blender for eg) you could use that at this point, otherwise you'd perhaps need to manually tweak the UV map for minimum distortion. You'd then bake the door using a sculptie material to the new UV map. Repeat for each chunk and eventually you have a sculptie version of the vehicle.