BIMx Web Viewer vs F3D

BIMx Web Viewer lets people explore a BIMx Hyper-model in a browser without installing a program or downloading an app. A Hyper-model combines linked 2D project documents, embedded BIM data, and 3D models. Hyper-models can be created in Archicad or DDScad and published locally, to BIMx Model Transfer, to BIMcloud, or elsewhere. The Measure tool supports length, angle, and area measurements in 2D, with measurement guides in 3D. Users can play presentations based on Gallery views or Favorites, with automatic transitions between views. Favorites are saved in the browser and are not included when a Hyper-model is shared. BIMx Pro features include hiding 3D elements, controlling layer visibility, and changing the cut plane; Model Transfer access requires an eligible company membership and Graphisoft ID sign-in. Browser support varies by operating system: Windows lists Chrome, Edge, and Firefox; macOS lists Safari, Chrome, and Firefox; Android lists Chrome. The system requirements list iOS and iPadOS as unsupported. The viewer is free, and Graphisoft provides online help and a support contact.

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.