# f3d-app/f3d

Fast and minimalist 3D viewer.

Repository: https://github.com/f3d-app/f3d
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/f3d
Homepage: https://f3d.app
Language: C++
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: stl-viewer, gltf-viewer, vtk, 3d-viewer, raytracing, physically-based-rendering, volume-rendering, command-line-tool, 3d, graphics, gltf, rendering, 3d-graphics, step, fbx, dxf, obj, glb, usd
Last push: 2026-08-26T14:42:40+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 88/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 66, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2389, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 150, "gap_med": 83, "n_releases_24m": 8}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4650, forks 442 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:55.624404+00:00)

## What it is
F3D is a fast, minimalist open-source 3D viewer desktop application supporting many formats (glTF, USD, STL, STEP, OBJ, FBX, Alembic) with real-time PBR, raytracing, volume rendering, and animation playback. It is fully scriptable from the command line and ships with libf3d, a C++17 rendering library with Python, Java, and JavaScript bindings.

## Use cases
- view stl and step 3d models quickly
- preview gltf/glb assets with physically based rendering
- render 3d files to png from the command line
- inspect cad engineering models
- visualize volumetric scientific datasets
- generate file manager thumbnails for 3d formats
- embed 3d mesh rendering in a python or C++ application
- play gltf animations with skinning

## When to choose
- you need a lightweight, scriptable viewer for many 3D formats without a heavy DCC tool
- you want headless/offscreen rendering of meshes to images in CI or pipelines
- you need a simple library API to render meshes in C++, Python, or Java
- you want PBR, raytracing, or volume rendering for quick previews

## When to avoid
- you need full 3D modeling, sculpting, or scene editing (use Blender)
- you need a game engine or real-time application framework
- you need collaborative 3D review or asset management workflows

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: graphics, image-processing, cli, gui
- domain: graphics, computer-vision, developer-tools, cross-platform
- platform: windows, cpp, python, browser, cli
- tags: 3d-viewer, gltf, stl, step, usd, raytracing, physically-based-rendering, volume-rendering, cad, scientific-visualization, gaussian-splatting, libf3d, vtk, thumbnailer, linux, macos, android, desktop

## Member repositories
- f3d-app/f3d (main) score 88

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:55.624404+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:19:30.310443+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/f3d-app/f3d (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:55.624404+00:00, sha 727b20fdeacb)
  - homepage: https://f3d.app (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.841415+00:00, sha 19dc85a21dd7)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/user/QUICKSTART (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.845979+00:00, sha a584416ec7aa)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/libf3d/OVERVIEW (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.848218+00:00, sha e83a8a292e12)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/next/user/QUICKSTART (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.850118+00:00, sha 6b9db9eea852)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/3.4/user/QUICKSTART (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.852318+00:00, sha f749cac18b4c)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/3.3/user/QUICKSTART (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.853927+00:00, sha c6129462001c)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/docs/next/libf3d/OVERVIEW (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.855550+00:00, sha 279c169d8733)
  - site_page: https://f3d.app/CHANGELOG (fetched 2026-08-29T09:04:09.857487+00:00, sha 606b0c153a21)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.