Guides
Some conversions cannot be done in a browser by anyone, and a few cannot be done at all. Rather than offer a button that fails, these pages show you the menu in the software that can do it — and say plainly where our own converters take over.
Getting a file ready to print
An STL is not something a printer can run. Here is what stands between the two, and how to choose the software that bridges it.
- STL to G-codeAn STL cannot be printed directly. Here is what G-code actually is, an honest comparison of Cura, PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer and Bambu Studio, and the printer profile step that decides whether your prints come out well.STL · 3MF · G-code
- How to convert an STL file to G-codeThe twelve minutes from downloading a slicer to having a printable G-code file: install, add your printer, load the STL, set four things, slice, and check the preview before you print.STL · G-code · 3MF
Exporting from Blender
A .blend file is Blender’s own memory and only Blender can open it or save it. These guides cover both directions — out to a file we can read, and in from one we can make — and fix the scale and axis problems on the way.
- Convert BLEND to OBJHow to export an OBJ from Blender, with the exact menu path, the axis settings that stop your model arriving on its side, and the unit scale that stops it arriving a thousand times too big.OBJ · STL · GLB
- Convert BLEND to STLThe exact steps to get a printable STL out of Blender, including the unit scale setting that decides whether your part comes out the right size, and how to check the mesh is actually solid first.STL · 3MF · OBJ
- Convert BLEND to GLBHow to export a GLB from Blender with the textures packed in and the scale correct, including what survives from a Principled BSDF and what quietly does not.GLB · glTF · OBJ · USDZ
- Convert BLEND to FBXHow to export FBX from Blender with the scale and axis presets that stop your model arriving 100 times too large in Unity, and what to do about the rotation Blender bakes in.FBX · GLB · OBJ
- Import an OBJ into BlenderHow to import an OBJ into Blender: File, Import, Wavefront (.obj). Fix the scale and rotation in the import dialog rather than afterwards, reconnect the textures the .mtl lost, and save it as a .blend.OBJ · STL · GLB
- Convert GLB to BLENDBlender opens GLB and glTF files natively. Here is the import, the scale problem that only appears with models made for printing, where the textures go, and how to save the result as a .blend.GLB · glTF · OBJ
Exporting from CAD software
SolidWorks, Inventor, SketchUp and CATIA all keep their files closed. The export is usually two menus deep and the settings in it decide the quality of everything downstream.
- Convert SLDPRT to STLThe exact menu path to export STL from SolidWorks, and what the deviation and angle tolerance settings actually do to your printed surface. Plus what to do if you do not have SolidWorks.STL · STEP · 3MF
- Convert SLDASM to STLHow to export an assembly from SolidWorks as one STL or as one file per part, and why a .sldasm on its own is not enough even for SolidWorks.STL · STEP · 3MF
- Convert SLDPRT to STPHow to export a STEP file from SolidWorks, which application protocol to choose, and why STEP is almost always the right thing to send instead of a native part file.STEP · STL
- Convert SKP to STLHow to export STL from SketchUp, and the solid-group problem that makes most SketchUp models unprintable until you fix it. Includes the free extension for older versions.STL · 3MF · COLLADA
- Convert IPT to STLThe menu path for exporting STL from Autodesk Inventor, the resolution settings that decide surface quality, and what to do without an Inventor licence.STL · STEP · 3MF
- Convert CATPart to STLHow to save a CATPart as STL in CATIA V5, the display setting that secretly controls the mesh quality, and how to get an STL out of a CATProduct assembly, which cannot be saved as one directly.STL · STEP · IGES
Getting a mesh or a STEP file into CAD
The other direction. A STEP file arrives as exact geometry with no history; a mesh arrives as a mesh, or at best as a solid with a flat face for every triangle. What each program does with one, and the step before the import that we can do here.
- Convert STEP to SLDPRTHow to turn a STEP or STP file into a SolidWorks part: the open dialog, the 3D Interconnect link you probably want to break, how to repair a bad import, and what FeatureWorks can recover.STEP · STL · IGES
- Convert STL to SLDPRTTurning a mesh back into a parametric SolidWorks part is not something any tool can do properly. Here is why, what the faceted-solid workaround gives you, and when it is good enough.STL · STEP
- Convert STL to IPTHow to bring an STL into Autodesk Inventor and save it as an .ipt, why it arrives as a mesh you cannot edit, and the two ways to turn it into a solid body you can work with.STL · STEP · 3MF · OBJ
- Convert STL to SKPHow to import an STL into SketchUp and save it as an .skp, the import options that stop it arriving as a mass of triangles at the wrong size, and why a heavy mesh should be thinned first.STL · 3MF · OBJ · COLLADA
DWG, Revit and Fusion
The formats nobody can convert for free, and what to do instead. DWG needs a paid membership to read; Revit and Fusion are closed. These are the honest routes through.
- Convert DWG to STLDWG is mostly 2D and reading it legally needs a paid membership, so no free converter exists. Here are the three routes that actually produce an STL from a DWG.STL · DXF · STEP
- Convert STL to DWGWriting DWG needs a paid library, and an STL has no geometry a CAD drawing wants. Here is what people actually need when they search this, and how to get it.STL · DXF · SVG · STEP
- Convert RVT to DWGHow to convert RVT to DWG: the export path in Revit, the layer mapping setting nobody configures, and the honest options when you have an .rvt file and no Revit to open it with.DXF · STL
- Bring a DWG into RevitHow to bring a DWG into Revit, the difference between linking and importing, and why importing a CAD file is the thing experienced Revit users tell you never to do.DXF
- Convert F3D to STEPHow to export STEP from Fusion 360, why the file may be in the cloud rather than on your disk, and what STEP keeps that a mesh export does not.STEP · STL
- Convert F3D to STLHow to export an STL from Fusion 360: the right-click that most people never find, the refinement settings that decide surface quality, and what to do with an .f3d file when you do not have Fusion.STL · STEP · 3MF
CAD and models for the web and AR
A CAD model becomes web-ready 3D in two conversions here — STEP to GLB, then GLB to USDZ for Apple AR — with no code. The other direction is harder: we write USDZ but cannot read one back, and Blender can.
- How to convert a CAD model to web-ready 3D, without codingTurn a STEP or IGES model into a GLB for the web and a USDZ for iPhone AR, free in your browser — no code, no upload. Then put it on a page or a store.STEP · IGES · GLB · USDZ
- Convert USDZ to STLUSDZ holds its scene in a binary encoding no browser can read. Blender imports it free, and there is a trick with the archive itself that gets you the textures in ten seconds.USDZ · STL · GLB · OBJ
Exporting from Cinema 4D
A Cinema 4D scene is built to be rendered, not printed. The export is one menu entry; turning overlapping objects and paper-thin surfaces into one solid is the rest of the job.
Making an FBX file
No browser can write FBX — the format is closed and the one open WASM library has no exporter. Blender does it free, in about a minute.
- Convert GLB to FBXNo browser can write FBX, so the real answer is Blender: import the GLB, export the FBX, about a minute. Here are the exact settings, including what happens to materials and animation.GLB · glTF · FBX · OBJ
- Convert OBJ to FBXConverting OBJ to FBX needs desktop software — Blender does it free. The materials are the part that goes wrong, because an OBJ keeps its textures in files beside it.OBJ · FBX · GLB
- Convert glTF to FBXConverting glTF to FBX needs Blender. The one extra step over GLB is gathering the companion files, because a .gltf usually keeps its geometry and textures beside it.glTF · GLB · FBX
Files that are not models
A RAR is a packed folder and a PDF is a page. A RAR now opens right here in the browser, models and all; a PDF needs one export first. Both end at a tool that works.
- RAR to STL: open the archive and get the modelDrop a .rar and the models inside open in your browser: see each one in 3D, pick it, and download STL, 3MF or OBJ. Free, nothing uploaded, nothing to install.RAR · ZIP · STL
- How to turn a PDF into an STLA PDF is a page, not a model. Export the drawing as an SVG or a DXF from the program that made it, or trace it, then give it a thickness. Free, in your browser.SVG · DXF · STL
When the conversion does work here
Most of the site is not guides. If your file is one we can read, one of these does the job in the browser instead of in someone else’s software.
Tools
- Gridfinity generator: bins, baseplates and drawer layouts
- Turn text into an STL
- Turn an image into an STL
- Lithophane generator
- Repair an STL that will not slice
- Reduce the size of an STL file
- Check whether an STL is ready to print
- G-code viewer
- 3D printing cost calculator
- Filament calculator: how much filament is on a roll
- STL file viewer