Import and export¶

Import¶

Import lives in the sidebar Manage section, which opens a shared panel where you pick the format before upload.

Opening a whole .n3xd instead (Manage → Load project) replaces what is on screen rather than merging into it. If the file carries a project id you already have, the app asks first: Replace overwrites your copy, Import as copy opens the file under a fresh id. A file whose id belongs to another account can only be imported as a copy.

A few things worth knowing:

• The model is always in millimetres. STEP and IGES are normalized on import and the source-unit scale is kept on the import feature. STL is treated as already-mm because the format has no reliable unit, and you can correct that after import.
• STEP / IGES / STL parsing runs in a sandboxed, resource-limited subprocess, so a malformed file cannot hang or crash the backend. Oversized uploads are rejected.
• Imported geometry can be healed (sew, ShapeFix, shell to solid) and reports best-effort validity diagnostics.

Adding standard components¶

Bolts, washers and other standard parts come from the component library rather than being modelled again in every project. Open Manage → Import and switch to Add: a browser opens over the model with the public catalog's categories, your own published library, and a search box matching names, descriptions, tags and authors.

The catalog ships three categories: Fasteners (hex bolts and nuts, socket head cap screws, plain washers), Profiles (aluminium T-slot rails with their slot nuts and button head screws) and Bearings (deep groove ball bearings). Bearings are simplified on purpose: the bore, outside diameter and width are the catalogue's, so anything you seat one in will fit, but the balls and cage are not modelled.

Picking a component asks for its size first. A standard component is one parametric model whose configurations are its sizes, so choosing "M6" and "20" selects the M6x20 configuration and the part arrives named after it. For a rail the two axes are the series and the cut length, 4040 and 1000. Components whose sizes do not split into two axes offer a single list instead.

The component is inserted as a derived part locked to the revision it was taken from, so a later correction by the catalog's maintainers never changes a model you have already built. Its parameters stay in the catalog project rather than being copied into yours.

The tab only appears when you are signed in, since the library lives there.

Derived and linked parts¶

Instead of a deep copy, you can derive a part from an existing part or body, in the same or another project. A derived part starts from a snapshot of its source and stays editable, so you can add features on top of it.

Open Manage → Import, switch to Derive, and choose a part or sketch under Source. Source project starts on the current project, so deriving from another part of the model you have open needs no extra step; switch it to pull from a different project. Components published to a library or the public catalog live under Add instead. N3XD snapshots the source geometry into the current project and inherits the source parameters (clashing names get an _imported suffix), so expressions keep resolving.

Target picks where the result lands, always inside the current project. Deriving a part creates a new part, so the target is an assembly (or a new one). Deriving a sketch can add it to an existing part, create a new part in a chosen assembly, or start a new assembly with a part in it. The target starts on whatever the tree selection implies, so selecting a part and deriving into it works without touching the field.

You can also derive by dragging in the model tree: drop a part on another assembly, or a sketch on another part (hold Ctrl to copy instead). See Projects and the parts tree.

Each derived part keeps a link back to its source, in one of three modes:

• Follow latest (default): tied to the source revision it was taken at. If the source moves on, the part is flagged stale and Refresh re-snapshots it and pulls the updated parameters.
• Locked: pinned to the snapshot revision, never refreshed.
• Broken: the link is severed and the snapshot becomes an independent frozen base.

A derived part is not live-linked: a follow-latest part in another project updates only when you refresh it, since the rebuild never reaches into the source project. A source in the same project is the exception and re-snapshots automatically when it rebuilds. The tree shows a link badge, a jump-to-source icon on hover for cross-project links, and a stale or broken indicator.

Export¶

Export opens from the sidebar Manage section. Every tab shares a layout: pick a format at the top, adjust its settings, then use the tree of assemblies and parts below to choose what to export. The tree mirrors the sidebar, so you can export the whole model, one assembly, or a single part.

• 3D model (STEP / STL / 3MF): STEP resolves full parametric history to B-Rep, STL exports with a configurable facet tolerance (the Mesh quality slider), 3MF keeps each part a separate object with its colour and material. The All row exports everything, an assembly row exports that assembly with its placements, a part row exports just that part in its own coordinates.
• Image (PNG): client-side capture at 1x / 2x / 4x with MSAA and a transparent, white or theme background. All captures the whole viewport; a part or assembly row isolates that geometry for the shot, temporarily hiding the rest, then restores what was visible.

The CAM and slice tabs use the same tree. Slicing additionally lets an assembly row set up and download G-code for the whole assembly printed as one plate (see Slicing and printing); CAM stays per-part.

Configurations can be batch-exported, one file per configuration in a single archive.