Consider adding more file formats support

[mwestphal]

Context
F3D supports many file formats, but they are many that F3D does not support, lets add supports for these formats!

Help wanted
Not an usual help wanted issue, but if you are familiar with any of these formats and want to add supports for it, please say so and we will create a dedicated issue with all needed information.

Formats

• .fbx : Must have Add FBX support #37

Formats to consider sorted by reddit upvotes:

• .usd 9: USD Format support #780
• .3DXML 9
• .dae (collada) 7
• .x (directx) 7 : Add X support using assimp plugin #1124
• Parasolid (.x_b, .x_t) 7
• ACIS (.sat) 7
• .blend 7: Add BLEND support using assimp plugin #1125
• .3mf 7: Add 3MF support using assimp plugin #1126
• .ifc 5
• .ma 4
• .jt 4
• .ipt/.iam 3
• .dwg 3
• Navisworks .nwd 2
• .dwx/.dwfx 2
• .ztl/.ztr 2
• vdb 2 : supported by VTK ! VDB Support #181
• .las 2
• Revit formats RVT, RFA, RTE, RFT. 2
• .laz 2
• .spz 2 Gaussian Splatting
• .ply 2 Gaussian Splatting
• .skp 1
• .wire 1
• e57. 1
• .ztl 1
• .pcd 1
• .skp 1
• .brep 1 : OCC BRep format #946
• .3dm : Add support for 3DM file format? #1489
• point clouds: Add a pdal plugin relying on vtkPDALReader #201
• Quake MDL 1 : Add support of Quake 1 MDL files. #1310

[mwestphal]

https://gitlab.kitware.com/f3d/f3d/-/issues/219

[gerroon]

I am voting for VDB as well, it is super common in VFX pipelines.

[mwestphal]

added the vote and moved it up. We would need someone willing to work with OpenVDB. library.

FYI @Meakk

[runxel]

Also please consider supporting more point cloud formats.
.pts is already available, but tbh I've never come across one single pts file. e57, ply, and even simple xyz are much more common.

[mwestphal]

Hi,

.ply is supported already. .xyz has no real standard for point clouds. Ill take a look at e57

[mwestphal]

About e57: http://www.libe57.org/

Looks like there is a lib.

[astandarduser]

Would be amazing to have ztl, maya ascii, 3DXML, and the ability to open 3dPDF files albeit that may be out of the scope of this project

[mwestphal]

Pretty much all proprietary formats, i'd not get my hopes up.

• https://drawing.wiki/skills/whats-the-difference-between-ztl-and-zpr-files-in-zbrush/
• https://autodeskmaya.fandom.com/wiki/ASCII_File (may be doable since it is text based)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3DXML

[astandarduser]

I figured ztl was a stretch, and the models will be super heavy too generally. 3DXML is supported by many apps so I assumed it wasn't but I guess not. Some other software imports maya ascii too for example Zbrush

[drtrigon]

+1 for .3mf

I would also very much like to se support for .3mf as all major software packages around 3D print add it recently. It is supposed to have some advantages over .stl, see e.g. https://blog.prusa3d.com/3mf-file-format-and-why-its-great_30986/ .

[mwestphal]

Added your vote and a note for vdb (which has its own issue : #181 )

[crafthive]

USD is pretty essential. It will very soon be the core 3d format imo

[mwestphal]

Added your vote @crafthive ! I hope someone who knows the format could go ahead and implement support,

[mrpurest]

+1 for USD is the upcoming standard.

[mrpurest]

also - I think opensource, multi-application formats should get priority over proprietary/application specific formats

[mwestphal]

Added @H4kunaM4tata vote for .3mf

[mwestphal]

@mrpurest : tbh it is more about finding contributors willing to add support for specific file formats

[mwestphal]

@mrpurest : added your .usd vote

[HakunMatat4]

Thank you @mwestphal , happy 3D printing.

[mwestphal]

For anyone following this, please note that since plugins are now supported, anyone can develop their own plugin, as @YangShen398 did for abaqus !

https://github.com/YangShen398/F3D-ODB-Reader-Plugin

[mwestphal]

added a few votes for USD as it was mentionned on reddit multiples times

[mwestphal]

more usd votes, we definitely should consider it.

[OloOcki]

First of all - an excellent project!

I'd like to vote for an open formats:

• 3D Models: CityGML in .gml encoding (specs: https://www.ogc.org/standard/citygml/), even without semantics and jsut geometry could be nice
• Point clouds: .pcd (https://pointclouds.org/documentation/tutorials/pcd_file_format.html) ; LAS/LAZ (https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000418.shtml)

[Meakk]

Added your votes to the list.
Thank you for the links.

Note that it's still possible to open-source a plugin using a proprietary library. It has already been done for the ODB format: https://github.com/YangShen398/F3D-ODB-Reader-Plugin

[mwestphal]

added 3dm, suggested by @zohozer in #1489

[zohozer]

I do vote for 3DM support.

[mwestphal]

Added a .las vote after discussing with a potential user :)

[runxel]

Revit families (.rfa) would be nice.

[mwestphal]

@runxel : I've added your vote.

[mwestphal]

@Diegovsky @Nokse22 I've added the .skp format

[mwestphal]

Adding an .ifc vote from discord

[hadess]

+1 for 3MF (see Nokse22/Exhibit#39)

[Nokse22]

+1 for 3MF (see Nokse22/Exhibit#39)

It's already supported by f3d

[mwestphal]

I confirm the 3MF is already supported, by the assimp plugin.

[Macgregorius]

+1 for IFC.

It will be helpful for architects, Bim managers and plant conception

I don't have the competences myself, but I saw some open source library that can help translate 3D data from IFC to other format (step for example)

IFCopenshel and IFCplusplus for example.

[mwestphal]

Added an .ifc vote.

[drtrigon]

+1 for .laz

[mwestphal]

Added .laz votes

[Meakk]

Added .spz Gaussian Splatting format. See https://github.com/nianticlabs/spz

[pbsds]

Could you add .ply gaussian splats?

[Meakk]

Could you add .ply gaussian splats?

That's possible in theory, but it may be tricky to distinguish between regular PLY and gaussian splats.

[drtrigon]

Could you add .ply gaussian splats?

That's possible in theory, but it may be tricky to distinguish between regular PLY and gaussian splats.

What about Magic Bytes/Numbers? (better than relying on file extensions)
e.g. libmagic: https://github.com/file/file

[pbsds]

3dgs ply files are like normal point cloud ply files, but with covariance matrices and spherical harmonics for each vertex

[drtrigon]

Maybe these covariance matrices and spherical harmonics leave a signature that is detectable easily? E.g. looking at the first or last point in the file?

[Meakk]

Yes it's possible. Currently the reader is determined by file extension only but we have plans to change that.

[drtrigon]

Actually this approach even allows you to restore/recover missing or wrong extensions. This is an additional benefit.

[jo-chemla]

Regarding 3dgs splats formats currently listed (spz & ply), here is a quick discussion listing some more formats and associated links to implementations/formats description, not all yet standardized, like:

• playcanvas .compressed.ply
• mkkellog/ksplat
• already implemented antimatter15/.splat, already listed nianticlabs/spz
• and upcoming cesium gltf extension KHR_gaussian_splatting(.splat universal format discussion mkkellogg/GaussianSplats3D#47 (comment))

Here is a longer discussion regarding splat formats standardization.

[Meakk]

If KHR_gaussian_splatting gets merged, I'm definitely interested in adding its support.
For the initial .ply format, we need some internal work to differentiate gaussian splatting from regular meshes / point clouds.
About .spz, it's on hold, I've submitted a PR upstream but received little support from its maintainers, so I'm a bit skeptical about the future of the format.