j3d is a graphical application for viewing three-dimensional meshes and point clouds. It provides a straightforward environment for inspecting geometric models stored in several common file formats.
The application uses software rendering rather than relying on hardware-accelerated rendering for its main graphics pipeline. This allows it to work in situations where GPU access is limited, including remote desktop sessions.
j3d is particularly interesting for working with large geometric datasets. Its memory requirements scale with the complexity of the loaded model, allowing very large meshes to be examined on systems with sufficient RAM.
Beyond viewing geometry, the software provides file conversion capabilities, including a way to produce voxel models suitable for further work in MagicaVoxel.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Displays polygonal 3D meshes and point clouds through a graphical interface.
- Supports PLY, STL, OBJ, OFF and MagicaVoxel VOX files.
- Partial support for glTF and GLB models, with limitations in texture and material handling.
- Uses a CPU-based rendering engine that works without relying on conventional GPU-accelerated graphics rendering.
- Designed to handle large triangle meshes, with approximately 39 bytes of RAM required per triangle for models without textures or vertex colours.
- Uses a bounding volume hierarchy to accelerate rendering of complex geometry.
- Can convert loaded meshes into voxel models and save them in the MagicaVoxel VOX format.
- Supports the TRC mesh format, which provides lossless compression of geometric data.
- Allows conversion between supported mesh formats, making it useful for preparing models for other applications.
- Supports multithreaded operation using standard C++ threads, with an optional Intel oneTBB backend.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: github.com/janm31415/j3d
Support:
Developer: Jan Maes
License: MIT License
j3d is written in C++. Learn C++ with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| 3D Model Viewers | |
|---|---|
| ParaView | Data analysis and visualization application based on VTK |
| F3D | Fast and minimalist 3D viewer desktop application |
| MeshLab | Processes and edits 3D triangular meshes |
| Online 3D Viewer | Browser-based application for inspecting 3D models |
| Mayo | 3D CAD viewer and converter |
| fstl | Viewer for .stl files. It uses Qt |
| Castle Model Viewer | Supports 3D and 2D model formats |
| fstl-e | Fork of fstl with some fancy enhancements |
| Exhibit | 3D model viewer for the GNOME desktop |
| Tatlin | 3D STL and Gcode viewer |
| voxcii | Terminal-based ASCII 3D model viewer |
| dcat | Terminal-based 3D model viewer |
| Trophy | Terminal 3D model viewer |
| term3d | Terminal-based 3D model viewer |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.