Viewing a 3D part

Open any 3D file (STEP, IGES, STL, GLB) to display it in the built-in viewer. No install, no CAD software: everything happens in the browser. The toolbar, at the bottom of the view, groups every function described below.

Navigating the model

Three mouse gestures are all you need:

• Orbit: hold the left button and move the mouse to rotate around the part.
• Pan: hold the right button.
• Zoom: scroll wheel forward/backward.

Double-clicking on the material recenters the pivot point on the targeted spot and frames it: handy for inspecting a detail without losing your bearings. The Fit the view button reframes the whole model in isometric view at any time.

Orienting with the view cube

At the top right of the view, a small orientation cube mirrors the part’s frame, in the industry convention of Z pointing up. Its six faces are labeled Front, Back, Top, Bottom, Right, Left; click a face to instantly align the camera on the matching orthographic view. The three colored edges recall the axes: X in red, Y in green, Z in blue.

Sectioning the part

The Section plane button (scissors icon) opens a panel above the toolbar where you choose the cutting axis (X, Y or Z) and drag the plane through the part. You then see inside the volume, useful for checking a wall thickness or an internal cavity. The button stays lit as long as a section is active; reopen the panel to remove it.

Measuring a dimension

The Measure button (ruler icon, shortcut M) activates the dimensioning tool. Click the entities to measure (a hole, a face, a point) and the dimension is worked out automatically: distance, diameter, radius, angle, face-to-face, center distance or area depending on what you selected. Dimensions you place stay displayed on screen, and a panel above the toolbar lets you restrict what each click can target (points, axes, faces) and clear everything. The Escape key clears the current selection, then exits the tool.

The display unit (mm, cm or m) is set in the Preferences panel (sliders icon), which also groups the projection (perspective or parallel) and the render mode.

The file unit (STL, GLB)

A STEP or IGES file declares its unit: Comiror reads it and converts everything to millimetres. An STL never declares one, and a GLB often gets it wrong: Comiror assumes millimetres, which is right in the vast majority of cases.

When the part’s size is implausible, for instance a part smaller than a millimetre that was exported in inches, a banner says so when you open it and suggests the likely unit: Apply, Other unit or Keep millimetres. The answer is saved on the version and applies to everyone. An invited person doesn’t see the question, but the Unit not confirmed note next to the scale bar.

While the unit remains doubtful, a dimension can’t be saved and a drawing can’t be made: that would produce a document at the wrong scale. The unit can be corrected at any time in the file’s Info tab (Change the file unit): dimensions already placed follow, and drawings made from this version are flagged for regeneration. Signed drawings stay as they are.

Don’t confuse this unit with the display unit in the Preferences panel: the first says what the file was drawn in, the second what you read dimensions in.

Exploring an assembly

For a part made of several sub-elements, two tools work together:

• The Exploded view (cubes icon) opens a panel with a spacing slider: the components progressively move apart from their assembled position, to visualize the layout.
• The structure tree lists the assembly’s component hierarchy. Sub-components don’t appear in the folder view: they only live in this tree, within their assembly’s viewer.

Adjusting the render

In the Preferences panel, the Render setting offers three displays: Standard (lit, realistic render), Wireframe (the mesh as lines, to inspect topology) and X-ray (translucent, to see through).