How to open a 3D model with 3DVieweronline?

3D models are nowadays part of our professional and personal lives, being used in virtually any field including manufacturing, 3D printing, healthcare, education, architecture, marketing, advertising, science, gaming and entertaining just to mention some.

Despite their widespread use and popularity however, dealing with 3D models is still a difficult task as they tend to be software restricted, with no easy way to access them, or even when software is available, it’s either too heavy or difficult to be used or too limited to be useful.

How to open a 3D model with traditional 3D software?

Currently, before you can open a 3D model you need to choose a 3D modelling and visualisation software that is compatible with the type of 3D model you have. Some popular 3D modelling software options include:

  • Autodesk Maya
  • Autodesk 3ds Max
  • Blender (a free and open-source option)
  • Cinema 4D
  • SolidWorks (for engineering and CAD models)
  • SketchUp (for architectural and simple 3D models)

When you identify the correct software for your project, you will need to download it and install it on your local machine, making sure you have the minimum system requirements and administration rights to run it. Work computers for instance, do not usually let you install new software by yourself. 

After the installation is complete, you can then import the 3D model, however you might need to adjust the import settings or scale, rotation, and other properties to properly view and work with the 3D model. The less you know about 3D modelling software and the more this initial step can become complicated and time consuming. 

Why opening a 3D model with the 3D Viewer is much easier?

In order to simplify this whole process at 3DVieweronline we created the 3D Viewer, an extremely simple and powerful web platform which allows anyone with a 3D model to quickly view, inspect and interact with the information contained in the 3D model itself. The process is simple:

  1. Log in (or create a free account) and upload the 3D model
  2. Click on the 3D Viewer page created 

No training needed, no heavy software to install, no admin rights or license issues, the 3D Viewer is immediately available after the upload with a set of intuitive tools designed to cover all you might need from the 3D model. 

You can easily view, rotate, zoom, navigate, inspect, measure, section, and explode your 3D model right after you upload it. You can also share your 3D model with customers and collaborators by simply sending them a URL. The 3D Viewer also provides a set of collaboration tools that allows you to create comments and pictures of your 3D model with markups made of text, lines, arrows and more, so you can highlight possible issues on your 3D model with much more clarity.

The 3D Viewer works directly on any recent browser on Laptops, PCs, Tablets or Smartphones, without the need of being installed. It can be used from the office or when you are on the move to improve your productivity.