STL thumbnails and other 3D printing computer optimisations
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- Опубліковано 15 тра 2024
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Viewers have been asking me how to get STL files to display a preview thumbnail rather than a generic icon. In this video, we cover that as well as another piece of software which is ideal for previewing STLs files. All software in this guide is free and easy to use.
If you have similar suggestions for Mac and/or Linux, please post them in the comments.
0:00 Introduction
0:38 Pinned folders for easy access to files
1:41 STL Thumbnails
Papa’s best STL thumbnails: papas-best.com/stlthumbnails_en
3:29 STL viewer
Papa’s best STL Viewer: papas-best.com/stlviewer_en
6:09 Customisation
6:44 Troubleshooting
7:19 Conclusion
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Not sure if you realize this, but the free and open-source Microsoft PowerToys has support for not only STL files but also for Gcode (for PNG, JPG and even QOI thumbnails!)... I know this as I wrote the support for it! 😁
I was going to say exactly that, apart from the huge amount of useful tools it has for the system
I was just going to mention PowerToys as well as I am using it myself. Well, I mostly just use the mass-renaming feature and the thumbnail addon, but still, it's a good tool.
I use power toys. It has all the thumbnail stuff plus waaaay more useful tools.
Thank you for your contribution! I was going to comment the same thing, but someone way more qualified did it for me!!
Bro I was going to comment that. The whole powertoys application is genius really.
This is awesome! I like being able to double-click and open my STL’s in Cura, but I had no way of then seeing thumbnails when working in Explorer. Bravo for sharing such a great tool! Thanks!
If you dont want to use 3rd party tools, you can also save 3d Viever as default software to open stl and that will allow for the build-in explorer Preview to display a preview of the model.
This preview can be toggled with Alt+P
perfect!
Your timing is perfect! I'm getting frustrating not being able to see previews of my STLs on Windows, but how perfect it works in MacOS. Thank you!
Thank you for this informational video. I didn't realize there was a 3D Objects folder until you made this video! Thank you.
That's pretty cool. All I did in the past was make a screenshot of the stl in 3D Builder/Cura then place that screenshot in the same folder as my STLs and have the STL and Screenshot the same name.
Then just sort by name and it will pair up all the stl files with their respective screenshot, if you set the folder settings under "view" to medium, large or extra large it will always have a thumbnail no matter where you put the STL files.
Awesome! 😊
Thanks, Michael!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Great advice, solved a problem I didn't know I even had :). Works like a charm, thanks a thou
hey man, just noticed you are approaching half a mil subs- great job, and very much well deserved!! 😍🤩
Great Video , Thank you Michael, will share on my group.
On Linux, I use stl-thumb (and there is a stl-thumb-kde for kde) to display thumbnails of STL files in the file browser.
Do you have anything for 3mf and step? Because having only STLs is getting annoying
Or freecad files.
On the Mac, use gallery or icon view in Finder. In icon view, an image of the STL is shown, and in gallery view, the STLs are displayed as a large gallery of 3D objects. You can quick look the file using the space bar and then immediately rotate and pan around the 3D object without any extra software needed.
MacOS💪
As Prusa Slicer support also STEP files, I use them mostly as they are more accurate. But I still have no solution for a preview in the MacOS Finder. Any idea?
The Preview app also acts as an STL viewer but does not have all the other capabilities of Papa's Best STL Viewer.
And for older Mac OS version, one solution is to install Meshlab, and it directly generates 3D orientable previews in whatever folder when you select and click on the space bar for a preview.
Would using meshlab on current macs reveal STEP files do you think?
Great programs! I wish I knew about these when I started 3D printing! :)
Im loving my new purple and green thumbnails!
Thankyou this was very helpful 🎉
Associating STL files with 3D viewer also has the benefit of providing an interactive preview in Explorer via the Preview pane. You just have to turn the panel on*.
I never realised there are apps for STL thumbnails. Thanks for the tips!
Great, helped me a lot thank you
Gracias por compartir estas grandes herramientas, muy muy útiles, hace tiempo quería algo así.
Thanks for posting this. I have a few terrabytes that are a nightmare to sort and this should speed up the process.
Thank you very much!
MS powertoys also is useful for adding Stl/gcode thumbnails and preview.
There are native Linux open source stl thumbnails and preview, namely fstl and stl-thumb
Thumbs up for the Linux solution. I use both of these and they work great.
Windows 3D Builder is quick, does a surprisingly good job at repairing stl files and features a scale to understand size.
Also 3D Viewer gives an excellent sense of size in the Augmented Reality view if you have a VR headset
Awesome Tool Addition .... Thx. Until now the 3D Folder was useless
for mac os, associate the .stl files with preview.....works great
cool
Thankfully on Mac, once a file type is associated with an Application, most will generate Thumbnails including the 3D images...
I need a guide to configure my slicer controls like Onshape, or can figure Onshape controls like my slicer. It's jarring that the controls are different. (Prusa or Orca)
Hi, I know that it's not in theme with the video but can I ask you if you recommend neptune 4 or ender 3 v3 ke? I'm new in 3d printing and I don't know which one is better 😭
Kayche is how it's said in Australia?
Very useful but the 3mf support kind of a deal breaker, 3mf is great for reducing file size of very complex models without any loss of detail
You should use 3MF in stead of STL.
Would love to use this for my files, however, the need to delete all my existing custom thumbnails puts me off using this software. Is there no other way of updating only a certain group of files?
Windows 11 might hide the 3D Objects folder by default. But there is a registry edit to re-enable the folder.
Can it be shown in octoprint?
The STL thumbnail plugin is cool but it really needs to support OBJ. I have exclusively switched to OBJ for anything I design.
Hello. You can just associate obj with Windows 3d Viewer and you will see an interactive preview in the preview pane of the folder you're in (works with 3mf, stl, etc as well)
@@princeofdew8980 That would work but I do not use the preview pane.
do all of these work on windows 11 as well?
Yes I think so.
4:27 - a lot of the elements that don't work are centered around artistic and gaming graphics. They would show up if you used a file format that a graphics artist would use, and they would make sense to them. Since STL is a CAD / 3D printing centric format, it doesn't store information about things like "normal" and "specular" - and honestly they wouldn't be useful for somebody who is making 3D prints. If you ever wanted to make a game, however - knowing the normals and being able to see the specular map would be very useful - and you wouldn't be using STLs, because STLs can't store information about textures, various materials, where lights are positioned, etc. In fact, even for 3D printing STLs kinda suck, because CAD software can't really edit them and they can't store information needed for AMS/MMU/etc. Yet for some reason, people still insist on STLs.
I have Windows 11 and there is no 3D Objects folder.
There's nothing special about it, so I can just create it, right?
Yes there is. It's a normal folder that is also present in your user folder (so go to your main drive>users>your name) and if you right click on it you can pin it to Quick Access.
And it's special because of the icon mostly.
@@princeofdew8980 Thanks, but not there either.
No biggie if it's just the icon.
Well, as recent slicers currently opens .step format which preserve details and overall resolution until slicing, .STL format becomes less and less relevant. I do not generate or publish this triangulated format anymore.
Funny. My windows machine does this automatically. It's brand new but I think I just had to change one setting in files. Don't ask me what it is I forgot.
I don't like to use any of the default system folders. :D
Note that Win11 22H2 has removed Quick Access
i wish there were something like this for 3mf or step files because stl is pretty outdated
There is. Associate obj and 3mf (not sure if step works too, try it) with Windows 3d Viewer then you will be able to see an interactive preview in the preview pane of the folder you're in.
I just us Microsoft Powertools
win 11 doesnt work
3MF is the future, why are you still using STL? 3MF is smaller, less error prone, and includes a thumbnail image.
2:07 Microsoft Power Toys* includes "File Explorer add-ons utility" which enables the Preview Pane to show SVG images (.svg), Markdown files (.md), Source code files (.cs, .cpp, .rs, …), PDF files (.pdf), G-code files (.gcode), QOI images (.qoi) and supports Thumbnail preview rendering for SVG images (.svg), PDF files (.pdf), G-code files (.gcode), STL files (.stl), QOI images (.qoi).
*= You can find more information on learn.microsoft (commercial site) slash en-us slash windows slash powertoys
Unfortunately YT doesn’t like links these days anymore, so you aren't getting any. (except youtube or wikipedia) Even some ways to describe them are banned.