not the one I meant: http://graphics.uni-konstanz.de/~luft/ivy_generator/ and that one is standalone and compatible with all 3d applications because it exports OBJ files at the end.
It actually is a problem with the .3ds format. Since it is such an old format it doesn't support smoothing properly. You're better off using the .obj format if you can.
I thought microsoft's new ribbon stuff was meant to replace the toolbar and menu not be thrown down below it. Also, why is OBJ importing a "new feature" ?
If I get weird behavior in Maya, I always delete history and freeze transformations. If it still fails, I export the mesh as an OBJ, and reimport it (though that's a rare occurrence).
Using dDo? Bake OBJ space, convert with handplane to Unity tangent space for use in the 3Do previewer. You will get perfectly matching tangents, so no shading errors.