Forma3D vs Preview3D

Forma3D is a professional 3D mesh editor for iPhone and iPad — built for makers, 3D printing enthusiasts, and anyone who needs to create, fix, or modify 3D models on the go. No laptop. No cloud. Everything runs locally on your device, offline, with desktop-grade mesh editing. ▸ PAINT & MULTI-FILAMENT 3MF EXPORT Paint with a brush directly on your model, then export a 3MF file with per-face color data ready for multi-filament printing. Bambu Studio and Creality Print read the embedded colors automatically — your paint job travels to the slicer intact. ▸ SCULPT MODE Sculpt meshes with a gesture-based brush — push, pull, and smooth with falloff presets and Apple Pencil support. ▸ SKETCH MODE Draw a shape or import an SVG and turn it into 3D geometry in one tap. ▸ LITHOPHANE GENERATOR Turn any photo into a printable lithophane — a depth-mapped relief that comes alive when backlit. ▸ SPLIT WITH JOINTS Split meshes along edge loops into printable parts with built-in joints — cylinder, square peg, cone, or ball. Perfect for models bigger than your build plate. ▸ EDGE LOOP TOOLS Select entire edge loops and fill them with clean topology: Grid Fill for quad surfaces, Bridge for connecting boundaries. ▸ MESH EDITING AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Switch between Object Mode and Edit Mode. Select and edit vertices, edges, and faces with Single, Rectangle, Oval, or Brush selection. Move, rotate, and scale with a transform gizmo or numeric input. ▸ PROFESSIONAL MODELING TOOLS • Extrude — live preview with direction toggle • Inset — adjustable depth • Bevel — custom segments and profile control • Boolean — Union and Subtract (Manifold CSG) • Cut — Line, Circle, Ellipse, Rectangle, Polygon, Freehand • Mirror — across X, Y, or Z • Revolve — lathe geometry from a profile • Subdivide / Simplify — resolution where you need it • Remesh — uniform quad topology with quality control • 3D Text — extruded text objects ▸ PRIMITIVES & FILE FORMATS Cube, Sphere, Soft variants, Cylinder, Torus, Pyramid, Plane, Tube, Bolt, Nut. Import STL, 3MF, OBJ, PLY, DAE, ABC, USD, FBX and GLB — plus native Blender .blend scenes with mirror modifiers and object transforms applied. Export to STL, 3MF (Bambu-ready), OBJ, FBX, GLB or USDZ — with colors. ▸ 3D SCANNING (LiDAR) Scan real objects and edit the mesh immediately — scan, fix, print without switching apps. ▸ PRECISION & MEASUREMENT Ruler in millimeters, 20 mm build-plate grid, snap-to-grid, keyboard numeric input. ▸ VISUALIZATION Orthographic view cube, X-Ray mode, wireframe (triangles/quads), custom lighting and viewport colors. ▸ UNDO / REDO & PROJECTS Full history, native .forma3d projects, objects list panel. ▸ APPLE PENCIL Hover tooltips and precise component editing optimized for Pencil. ▸ 21 LANGUAGES English, Deutsch, Français, 日本語, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Español, Italiano, 한국어, Português, Русский, Українська, Nederlands, Polski, Türkçe, Svenska, العربية, हिन्दी, ไทย, Tiếng Việt, Bahasa Indonesia.

Preview3D is a fast, native iPhone and iPad viewer for the 3D formats you actually use — from CAD to mesh to 3D printing — in one clean window. Open a STEP file from a vendor, a painted 3MF from your slicer, or an STL someone sent you, and see it instantly — in the app, or right in the Files app with Quick Look and 3D thumbnails. No web uploads, no account, no clutter. SUPPORTED FORMATS • STEP / STP, STL, OBJ, PLY • glTF / GLB, USDZ / USD, COLLADA (DAE) • 3MF — including painted multi-material prints • FBX, 3DS, X3D, LWO, MS3D, AC, AMF, OFF and more (via Assimp) • G-code and PrusaSlicer binary G-code (.bgcode) REAL STEP SUPPORT Preview3D reads STEP with a pure-Swift B-rep kernel: watertight tessellation and crease-aware normals straight from the exact geometry, so cylinders stay smooth and edges stay crisp. Files that carry colors (STYLED_ITEM) render each part in its assigned color. INSPECT Open the info panel for bounding-box dimensions, volume, surface area, watertightness and structure — solids, faces, edges, triangles and vertices. 3D-PRINTING FILES Open your slicer's G-code or PrusaSlicer .bgcode, orbit the print toolpath in 3D, flip to the embedded preview image, and read the print stats — time, filament, weight, layer height and material. 3MF, IN FULL COLOR Multi-material painting from PrusaSlicer and Bambu Studio is decoded and rendered in its filament colors — including fine sub-facet brush detail — so you can preview a finished multi-color print before it leaves the slicer. Colors written into a 3MF by CAD tools and converters show too. SEE IT IN YOUR ROOM View your model in AR with AR Quick Look — place it on your desk or the floor and walk around it. QUICK LOOK & THUMBNAILS Preview supported files right in the Files app, and get real 3D thumbnails — including STEP, painted 3MF, COLLADA (DAE), FBX and 3DS that iOS can't render on its own. Keep your models in the Preview3D folder in Files and reopen them anytime. SHARE Send a PNG snapshot of the current view to any app. Placing a model in AR? Share it as USDZ right from there. BUILT FOR IPHONE AND IPAD A real native app built on SceneKit and Metal — quick to launch, quick to orbit. Fully offline: everything runs on your device, no account, no network. iOS and iPadOS 17 or later. BUY ONCE, USE EVERYWHERE Preview3D is a universal purchase: one purchase covers the iPhone, iPad and Mac apps. The Mac version adds PMI / GD&T (AP242) reading, assembly trees with per-part isolation, and one-click conversion to STL, OBJ, GLB and USDZ. Note: measurements are produced by automated tessellation and are provided for convenience — always verify against your authoritative CAD source for manufacturing-critical work.