BIMx Desktop Viewer vs F3D

BIMx Desktop Viewer is a free Windows and macOS application for exploring BIMx Hyper-models alongside linked 2D project documentation and embedded BIM data. Markers and hyperlinks connect locations in documents with the 3D model and are created during export. Smart Measure provides length, angle, and area measurements in 2D, plus measurement guides in 3D. Users can export a current layout, an entire layout book, or a 3D view to PDF. Display controls include field of view, perspective or parallel projection, shading, sun position, and anti-aliasing. Hyper-models can be generated in Archicad or DDScad and published locally, to BIMx Model Transfer, BIMcloud, or another location. They can also open in a browser through a web link without installing an app. Graphisoft says BIMx Issues support markup of 2D and 3D views and BCF compliance. Facility managers and owners can access Facilities Management databases through the BIM model. Minimum desktop requirements are 4 GB RAM and 5 GB free disk space; Windows 11 or macOS 10.15 are listed.

F3D is free software for viewing 3D data, browsing models, and generating renderings. It supports lighting and materials for realistic rendering, animations with GPU-accelerated skinning for character rigs, and visualization tasks such as CAD, Gaussian splatting, volume rendering, and scientific work. Its supported formats include VTK, STL, DICOM, STEP, OBJ, glTF, FBX, USD, IFC, and Gaussian splat files, among many others. Packages are available for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, and a browser viewer can open or accept dropped files and provides rendering and display controls. Developers can use a Python package, a beta JavaScript/WebAssembly package, or the libf3d C++ library with Python and Java bindings. F3D is distributed under the BSD 3-Clause License. Some capabilities have specific limits: FBX PBR materials and Alembic materials are unsupported, while Gaussian splatting requires OpenGL 4.3, which macOS does not support. Documentation also says volume rendering and HDRI need a decent GPU. Plugins can vary by package.