3D files no browser can open, and what to do.
Blender, SketchUp, 3ds Max, SolidWorks and other programs keep their own files closed to everyone else. Which file to export instead, and what opens here.
By Suraj Kumar4 min read
Every 3D program saves its work in a format of its own, and many keep it closed: only that program can read it, in a browser or anywhere else. The way out is the export every one of them has.
Which files cannot be opened.
Blender's .blend, SketchUp's .skp, SolidWorks parts and assemblies (.sldprt, .sldasm), 3ds Max's .max, Cinema 4D's .c4d, Inventor's .ipt, Revit's .rvt and Maya's .ma and .mb. Their makers do not publish them, so no viewer outside their own programs reads them faithfully. Dropped on the 3D viewer, each is named with the export to use instead.
Export first, then open.
From Blender, File, Export, glTF 2.0 (.glb). From SketchUp, STL, OBJ or COLLADA. From SolidWorks or Inventor, STEP or STL. From 3ds Max, Cinema 4D or Maya, FBX, OBJ or glTF.
Each of those opens in the 3D viewer, and can be turned into the others there.
What does open here.
GLB and glTF, STL, OBJ, PLY, 3MF, Collada, USD and USDZ, FBX, 3DS, OFF, X, LightWave, AC3D, Quake and Doom models, AMF, X3D, VRML, VTK, ASE, MilkShape, Blitz3D and Valve SMD. STEP, IGES, IFC and Rhino files come in a later update.
Further reading
Topics: open blend file online · open skp file online · open sldprt online · max file viewer · c4d file viewer
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