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Quickstart Guide

This guide will help you get started using F3D.

As an overview, you'll learn how to run F3D and open files, configure basic scene constructions, interact with them, and play animations.

Prerequisites

To use F3D, you'll need to install F3D. See the Installation page for the latest release package supported by your system.

Running F3D

Once F3D has been installed, you should be able to open a file in any of the following ways:

  • Open a file directly from your file manager.
  • Open the F3D application directly, then drag and drop a file into the application window.
  • Run F3D from the terminal with a set of command-line options.
  • Configure F3D as a thumbnailer for supported file formats with certain file managers.

If you choose to run F3D from the terminal, you can open your file by running the following:

f3d /path/to/file.ext

Optionally, you can also save the rendering into an image file:

f3d /path/to/file.ext --output=/path/to/img.png

If you need help, specify the --help option:

f3d --help
man f3d # Linux only

Once you've opened your file in F3D, you're all set to start visualizing! Press H to open a list of shortcuts to help you interact with your scene.

See the supported file formats page for the full list of file types that F3D can open.

Constructing scenes

Certain formats are listed as full scene formats (.gltf/.glb, .3ds, .wrl, .obj, .fbx, .dae, .off, .x, .3mf, .usd) which means these files contain not only geometry but also some scene information like lights, cameras, actors in the scene, as well as texture properties. By default, all this information will be loaded from the file and displayed. For file formats that are not full scene, a default scene is created.

For default scene formats, certain default values are set automatically:

  • texture-*: ""
  • line-width: 1.0
  • point-size: 10.0
  • opacity: 1.0
  • color: 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
  • emissive-factor: 1.0, 1.0, 1.0
  • normal-scale: 1.0
  • metallic: 0.0
  • roughness: 0.3

They will be overridden when using corresponding options.

Interacting with your scene

Once you've loaded your scene in F3D, you can interact with it by using your mouse and certain hotkeys.

Moving the camera

  • Click and drag with the left mouse button to rotate around the focal point of the camera.
  • Click and drag vertically with the right mouse button OR move the mouse wheel to zoom in/out.
  • Click and drag with the middle mouse button to translate the camera.

Other shortcuts

  • Press Enter to reset the camera.
  • Press Space to play animation, if any.
  • Press G to toggle the horizontal grid.
  • Press H to display a cheatsheet of hotkey interactions.

For more information, see the Interactions page.

Playing animations

F3D can play animations for any supported files that contain them.

With your file loaded into F3D, press the W hotkey to cycle through available animations. Then, press Space to play your selected animation.

Alternatively, you can use the command line to play animations. Use the --animation-index option to specify which animation you want to play. To play all animations at once, use --animation-index=-1 (.gltf/.glb only).

For more information, see the Animations page.

Further Reading