Import meshes and other formats
Bring STL, OBJ, 3MF, IGES or BREP files in — as a mesh you can measure, or a solid you can model on.
Import ▾ (top bar, or Ctrl+I) reads eight formats. You can also drag a file straight onto the viewport, or open one from your file manager.
| Format | Comes in as |
|---|---|
STEP (.step .stp) | a solid — see STEP import |
IGES (.iges .igs) | surfaces, sewn into a solid where they close |
BREP (.brep) | a solid, exactly — this is the kernel's own format |
STL (.stl) | a mesh, or a solid if you convert it |
OBJ (.obj) | a mesh |
3MF (.3mf) | a mesh |
| DXF / SVG | a sketch — see Import a DXF profile |
Mesh or solid?
STL, OBJ and 3MF describe triangles, not shapes. A mesh body:
- renders, measures, exports to STL, and takes a sketch on a flat face;
- cannot be filleted, shelled, drafted or booleaned, and cannot appear in a drawing view.
The STL dialog offers Convert to solid (sew), and shows the triangle count so you can judge it. Sewing works well on meshes exported from CAD — a 12-triangle cube becomes a 6-face solid — and is disabled above 50,000 triangles. That limit is not the sewing itself: a sewn mesh becomes a solid with roughly one face per triangle, and everything downstream then has to carry that.
Rule of thumb: scanned or sculpted meshes stay meshes. CAD-exported meshes are worth sewing.
Units
Mesh formats carry no units, so the dialog asks. 3MF is the exception — it declares its own unit and that is applied for you. Getting this wrong makes a part 25.4× too big or too small, so the setting is remembered between imports.
IGES
IGES is a surface format: most files are a bag of trimmed faces rather than a solid. Sewing is on by default and closes them into a solid where it can; when it cannot, you get a surface body and a message saying so — knit or thicken it from the Surfaces tab.
Staying linked to the file
When your browser allows it, an import remembers where it came from. The import's property panel then offers Reload from source: re-read the file after the supplier sends a revision, without redoing your modelling on top. If the bytes are unchanged it tells you so rather than rebuilding.
Related: STEP import · Import a DXF profile · Saving, opening & exporting