This article covers 5 free 3DS file viewer software for Windows.
Generally, the 3D file rendering software are large in size and require more computing power to run. When it comes to quickly viewing these types of files, you often have to wait for the heavy software to load. On top of that, most of those software are paid. So, if you just have to quickly view a 3DS file, those software do not seem to be an ideal solution.
Here are 5 free software to quickly view 3DS files. With these software, you can visualize 3DS file data from any side and angle. You can also tweak the visualization by changing the render (wireframe & solid) and shedding mode. You can add custom lighting to the render to visualize the object in different environments. Some of these software also let you export the 3DS file as HTML and 3D XML file as well. So, let’s dive into the article and check out these software.
Also read: 4 Online IGS Viewer Websites Free
Here Are 5 Free 3DS File Viewer Software For Windows:
Ad3sViewer
Ad3sViewer is a free 3DS file viewer software for Windows. It has a big canvas area with a toolbar at the top. In this software, you can visualize 3DS files from various angles. After opening a 3DS file, you can change the camera angle to view the 3D object from 6 directions. You can also interact with the object with your mouse cursor and rotate it in any direction.
This software gives you two render options; wireframe and full body render. You can open multiple 3DS files and switch from one file to another from the toolbar. The render has a black background which you can change to any other color. Apart from all that, you can take a snapshot of the current render and save it as JPG/PNG file. With this software, you can convert the 3DS file to HTML5 (WebGL, three.js) format and POV-Ray format. It also lets you publish your files directly to Google Drive. All these features make A3dsViewer a simple yet feature-rich 3DS file viewer software for Windows.
You can download this 3DS Viewer software here.
GLC Player
GLC Player is a powerful 3D viewer software that supports 3DS, 3DXML, COFF, COLLADA, OBJ, OFF, and STL file formats. The user interface of this software is divided into 3 sections. It has a preview canvas in the middle with camera angle properties on the right and 3D model files on the left. You can open an album of 3DS models here and visualize each model individually.
There is a toolbar below the menu bar from where you can visualize the 3D object from any side and interact with it. You can change the render mode from the toolbar and add custom lights as well. Here, you can render the wireframe, shading, or both, wireframe and shading, together. GLC Player supports HTML and 3D XML export means you can convert your 3DS file to HTML file and 3D XML file.
Download this 3DS file viewer software here.
LynX 3d Viewer
LynX 3d Viewer is another feature-packed 3D viewer software for Windows. When you launch this software, it opens two windows on your computer screen; one for controls and one for 3D view. You can load a 3DS file in the control window and see its visualization in the 3D view window.
With this software, you can add various tweaks to the visualization of the 3DS file. It has two render modes; Solid and Wireframe. In case of wireframe render, you have the option to choose the wireframe color. Apart from the render mode, it also has two shading modes; Flat and Smooth. The Flat shading mode shows you the hard edges whereas the Smooth mode smoothens them out. Moreover, you can also add a custom lighting effect to the render and change the camera perspective as well. With this software, you can also save your 3DS file as a 3D XML file.
Here is a link to download this 3DS file viewer software.
Teapot Viewer
Teapot Viewer is a simple 3D viewer software that supports OBJ, 3DS, SKP, DAE, IGES, BREP, IV, VRML, and more file formats. You can quickly open a 3DS file in this software and visualize its content. This software has 3 render modes; Wireframe, Lighting, and Shadow. You can visualize your 3DS file in any of these render modes. It also lets you enable all these at once which gives you a detailed view of your 3D object. Apart from the render modes, this software has perspective and orthogonal camera perspectives. You can view the 3DS file in any of those perspectives.
Download 3DS viewer software here.
Frog3d
Frog3d is yet another simple 3D viewer software that supports various 3D file formats including 3DS. This software has a simple and straightforward UI with a toolbar at the top and rendering area below. You can open a 3DS file and see its visualization here. The toolbar has two features to manipulate the visualization. One is to show/hide gridlines and another is to change the render mode. With the render mode option, you can change the visualization from solid to wireframe and vice versa. You can take the snapshot of the current render screen and saves it as a BMP image. Frog3d also has a Merge feature which you can use to merge two 3DS files on top of each other.
You can download 3DS file viewer software here.
Wrap Up
These are the 5 free 3DS file viewer software for Windows. In terms of render, all these software offer more or less same functionality. You can use any of them to quickly open and visualize 3DS files. If you are looking for more than a viewer then give GLC Player and Ad3sViewer a try.
