Open, save, import and export

ModelCraft reads and writes files on your computer. Nothing is uploaded: a file you open is read inside your browser, and a file you save is a download. See Where your files go.

Formats at a glance

File formats in detail lists exactly what each format keeps and leaves out.

The ModelCraft file

A .modelcraft file keeps the whole model: geometry, groups, components, guides, scenes, the units, and the camera and style you were using when you saved. It does not keep the undo history.

Open a model

1. Click Open in the File group, or press ⌘OCtrl+O.
2. If the model on screen has unsaved changes, ModelCraft asks: "This model has changes that are not saved. Save a copy first?" Choose Save a copy, Discard changes or Cancel.
3. Pick the .modelcraft file.

The model opens in the units it was saved in, with the camera it was saved with. You can also drop a .modelcraft file onto the 3D view.

Save a model

Click Save or press ⌘SCtrl+S. The browser downloads <name>.modelcraft, where the name is the file you opened, or "Untitled" for a new model.

• There is no Save As. To give a new model a name, rename the downloaded file. The next save after you open the renamed file uses the new name.
• Each save is a new download. Depending on the browser's settings, it goes straight to your downloads folder or asks where to save. If a file with that name is already there, most browsers add a number, such as Untitled (1).modelcraft.

Start a new model

Click New. If there are unsaved changes, ModelCraft asks first. A new model starts empty, in your locale's unit (feet and inches in the United States, millimeters elsewhere), with no scenes.

Import

Importing adds a file to the model you have open; it does not replace it.

1. Click Import in the File group, or drop the file on the 3D view.
2. Pick a Collada, OBJ, glTF, DWG or DXF file.

The file arrives as one group, selected, and the view zooms to show it. The status bar says what came in, and lists anything it could not import, such as "Not imported: 2 texture".

1. To work on its geometry directly, double-click the group to edit inside it, or click Explode.

Some things to know:

• Size and up direction: Collada files say their unit and which axis is up, and ModelCraft converts them. glTF is always in meters. OBJ files carry no unit: ModelCraft reads them as meters, with Y up. If an OBJ comes in 1000 times too big or too small, use Scale with a factor such as 0.001 or 1000.
• DWG and DXF come in as lines (edges) on the ground, not as faces. If the drawing does not say its unit, a dialog titled "Drawing units" asks what one drawing unit is. See Model on a site plan.
• Limits: files over 300 MB are refused for import, and over 200 MB for opening. Files with more than 2 million vertices or faces are refused as too big.

Export

1. Click Export in the File group.
2. Choose a format: glTF binary (.glb), Collada (.dae), OBJ (.obj), STL for printing (.stl, millimeters) or IFC for BimCraft (.ifc).

The browser downloads the file, named like the model. The whole model is exported, not just the selection. An empty model is not exported: "The model is empty: draw something first." See Export a model for other programs.

Online and offline

Everything in ModelCraft runs on your computer, so modeling, opening, saving, importing and exporting all work without a connection once the app is loaded.

To open ModelCraft with no connection at all, save it for offline use while you are online:

1. Click Save for offline in the app bar at the top.
2. The button counts up ("Saving 40 of 212") while it saves. ModelCraft saves its own files (its DWG reader among them), this help and the 3D library, so it can take a minute.
3. When the button reads Offline ready, ModelCraft opens from the same address with no connection, and DWG import works offline too.

Click Offline ready later for Save again (get the newest version) or Remove the offline copy. If the button reads Could not save, some files did not download: check the connection and click it to try again. Offline not available means this browser window cannot keep a copy (private windows and some managed computers). See Working offline.

Cloud saving is not available yet. Every model lives where you save it.

Desktop app