3D Tool WikiA structured directory of 3D software and workflow guideshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/Blender to Godot: GLB, .blend or FBX, and What Each One Keepshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-import-blender-models-into-godot/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-import-blender-models-into-godot/We sent the same Blender scenes into Godot 4.7 as .blend, GLB and FBX. GLB and .blend kept every material; FBX lost roughness and metal, and turned one idle into twelve animations.Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTRepairing an AI-Generated Model: Which Fixes Work, and Which Make It Worsehttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-fix-ai-generated-3d-model/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-fix-ai-generated-3d-model/We ran six repairs on nine generated models. One-click repairs closed holes but filled nothing. Voxel remesh fixed three hollow models, shattered one, and damaged a healthy mug.Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Edit a 3MF File Without Losing Its Plates and Settingshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-edit-3mf-file/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-edit-3mf-file/We opened and re-saved one Bambu Studio project in four programs. Only Bambu kept everything; two refused it. Plus what Replace with STL keeps, from its source code.Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTCan You 3D Print an AI-Generated Model? What We Found Inside 16 of Themhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ai-generated-stl-printable/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ai-generated-stl-printable/We sliced 16 image-to-3D models. All 16 made G-code, and that proved nothing: 4 were hollow skins 0.16 mm thick, one mug was solid, and several stood on a point.Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTBlender to Unity: Why the Materials Break, and Whether GLB Fixes Ithttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/blender-to-unity/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/blender-to-unity/We sent ten Blender materials into Unity 6 URP by FBX and by GLB. FBX kept roughness and lost metallic, transparency and roughness maps. GLB kept everything, with one catch.Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Split an STL Into Parts That Fit Your Printerhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/split-stl-into-parts/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/split-stl-into-parts/We cut four models with five methods and checked every piece. Three methods gave clean pieces on every closed model. None could fix a model that was open before the cut.Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTCanon Dual Pixel 3D: What's in the File, and How to Print Onehttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/canon-dual-pixel-3d/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/canon-dual-pixel-3d/Nine exports from Canon's Dual Pixel 3D Converter, measured: none is a closed solid. One Blender modifier made eight printable, if you leave one setting off.Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT3MF to STL: What 9 Converters Kept, Dropped and Inventedhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3mf-to-stl/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3mf-to-stl/We sent ten test files through nine 3MF to STL converters. Simple files mostly survive. A Bambu Studio project file did not survive any of them intact, Bambu Studio included.Fri, 09 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat Size Is an AI-Generated 3D Model? Four Generators, Two Formats, Three Slicershttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ai-generated-model-scale/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ai-generated-model-scale/Image-to-3D generators give a model no real size. We measured four: the same figurine is 2 m tall as a GLB and 2 mm as an STL, and three slicers each guess a different size.Wed, 30 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhy the Same PLY File Opens in One Program and Not Anotherhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ply-file/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/ply-file/A PLY header is a schema, so two files with the same extension can have nothing in common. Here is how to read the header, and what each kind of PLY actually is.Sun, 27 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTCan You 3D Print a GPT-6 Astra Model? We Measured 1,304 Fileshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/gpt-6-astra-3d-models/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/gpt-6-astra-3d-models/The geometry GPT-6 Astra builds in Blender is closed and clean. What breaks it is the export: a 1.63 m model that lands in the slicer at 1.63 mm, and a stray cube one round trip away.Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhen a Broken Mesh Is Worth Repairing, and When You Are Just Making It Worsehttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/repair-or-rebuild/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/repair-or-rebuild/Auto repair can produce a closed, single shell mesh that is eleven times further from the correct volume. The watertight tick is not the finish line, and here is what to check instead.Wed, 23 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat an MTL File Is, and Why Your Textures Vanished Without Ithttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/mtl-file/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/mtl-file/A textured OBJ is three files, not one. We measured the chain: two hops, both by bare filename, and zero image bytes in the model file. Nothing warns you when it breaks.Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Check a Model You Did Not Make, and Why the Order Mattershttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/check-a-model-before-printing/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/check-a-model-before-printing/One repair setting, one mesh, three apparent scales. It fixed the model, destroyed it, or did nothing. Checking size before topology is not a habit, it decides the outcome.Thu, 17 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat GLB to STL Conversion Actually Throws Away, Measured Field by Fieldhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/glb-to-stl-loss/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/glb-to-stl-loss/Two named parts, a texture, UVs, a PBR material and vertex colours go in. One unnamed blob of triangles comes out, in a file nearly twice the size. Measured field by field.Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat "Same Vertex" Means in an STL, and Why Four Tools Answer It Differentlyhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/stl-same-vertex/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/stl-same-vertex/An STL never says two triangles share a corner. Each tool works it out its own way, so one reports a watertight mesh and another reports 5,120 shells. Measured, with the documented defaults.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhy a 3D Model Imports at the Wrong Size: Only One Mesh Format Stores a Unithttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3d-model-wrong-size/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3d-model-wrong-size/Measured across five formats: STL, OBJ, PLY and GLB write no unit of length into the file. Only 3MF does. That one missing field is why a model lands 1000 times too small or too big.Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Reduce STL File Size: Measured Results for Every Method, Including the Free Oneshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/reduce-stl-file-size/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/reduce-stl-file-size/Saving an STL as binary instead of ASCII makes it 5.8 times smaller with no geometry change. Measured results for that, decimation, zip and Draco, with what each costs in millimetres.Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMTRetopology in 2026: When You Need It, When You Do Not, and What AI Can Actually Dohttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/retopology/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/retopology/Retopology is recommended far more often than it is required. What each destination actually demands, the order that keeps auto-retopology from failing, and which AI tools have shipped.Tue, 25 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTOBJ vs STL: What Each Format Stores, and Why One Direction Costs Morehttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/obj-vs-stl/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/obj-vs-stl/STL does not share vertices and OBJ does, which decides file size, what survives conversion, and why an STL converted to OBJ arrives shattered. With measured figures.Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTNon-Manifold Edges: Why Sealing Every Hole Does Not Clear the Errorhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/non-manifold-edges/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/non-manifold-edges/Non-manifold and not watertight are different properties, so a sealed model can still throw the error. What the number counts, when you can print anyway, and the exact fix in each tool.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Convert STL to STEP: The Route Depends on Where the STL Came Fromhttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/stl-to-step/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/stl-to-step/A mesh from CAD and a mesh from a scan need opposite algorithms, and using the wrong one fails predictably. Exact menu paths for FreeCAD, Fusion 360 and SolidWorks, plus which methods are paywalled.Mon, 17 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTFBX vs OBJ: What Survives the Conversion and What Silently Does Nothttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/fbx-vs-obj/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/fbx-vs-obj/FBX carries rigs and animation that OBJ cannot. On PBR materials the ranking flips, and the reason is built into the FBX SDK. What each format stores, and how to convert without losing textures.Fri, 14 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTSTEP vs STL: Converting Both Ways, and Why One Direction Barely Workshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/step-vs-stl/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/step-vs-stl/STEP to STL is routine. STL to STEP is not a conversion at all, it is a rebuild. Here is what each format stores, what the converters actually output, and the tool limits nobody mentions.Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTWhat Is a GLB File? How to Open One, Look Inside It, and Convert Ithttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/glb-file/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/glb-file/A GLB is a whole 3D scene in one binary file: geometry, materials and textures together. Here is how to open one without installing anything, what is actually inside, and when to convert it.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT3MF vs STL: What Changes When You Switch, and What Nobody Warns You Abouthttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3mf-vs-stl/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/3mf-vs-stl/3MF carries units, colour, objects and print settings that STL cannot. It also overwrites your slicer profile, breaks between vendors, and has a real security history. All four, with sources.Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTHow to Repair a Broken STL File: Holes, Non-Manifold Edges and Flipped Normalshttps://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-repair-stl-files/https://3dtoolwiki.com/articles/how-to-repair-stl-files/A practical guide to fixing STL errors that break 3D prints, from one-click auto-repair to MeshLab, plus why AI generated meshes need it most.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT