Blog
Tips, tutorials, and updates on getting more out of your 3D printing library.
The interface now speaks German, Spanish and French. OpenSCAD files join the library as fully indexed, rendered models. And 3MFs that used to refuse to open in the 3D viewer now open in the colours they will actually print in.
PLA, ABS, PETG, and TPU explained in plain language - what each one is good at, what it demands from you, and a six-question quiz to find out which one you actually are.
3D printing got faster, smarter, and far less fiddly in just a few years. Here's the honest before-and-after, and the one problem all that speed created.
Your whole curation layer - tags, collections, ratings, printers, colors - now fits in one portable backup file. Plus sidecar images as thumbnails, a tidier Actions menu, duplicate archive detection, and big speed-ups for archives on network drives.
An honest guide to the best places to download STL, 3MF, and OBJ files for 3D printing. The big free platforms, the paid catalogues, the specialised ones, and the aggregators that search across all of them.
Your slicer files now tell Modelist what they know. Printers, materials, filament colors, and print weight auto-populate from 3MFs (Bambu, Orca, Prusa, SuperSlicer), with a proper review queue and tri-state filters for all of it.
Every maker's STL folder ends up the same way - thousands of files, no structure, half of them unrecognisable by name. Here's the path I took out of it, and what I'd tell you to skip.
Most 3D printing files are STL, but that doesn't mean STL is the best option. Here's a practical breakdown of the three formats you'll run into most, and when each one makes sense.
Collections can now nest inside other collections for a proper hierarchy. Resizable sidebar. Drag folders from Finder onto Watched Folders. Multi-select for groups.
Index ZIP files without extracting them - browse, preview, and open models inside. Plus dark mode, custom Open With apps, collection-aware search, and zoom controls.
Three-method duplicate detection - exact, heuristic, and perceptual - finds duplicates that filename-based tools miss. Plus notes popovers and custom render colour.
Smart Collections that auto-update from saved searches. Full manual group management. The Banderole flag becomes customizable. Sidebar gets a UI refresh.
Modelist extends beyond the desktop. Hit Share on any 3D model link from your phone and it lands in your desktop Inbox via share.modelist.app.
Tags arrive as a new organization layer. Search and filtering get a redesign with saved searches. OBJ rendering and experimental 3MF rendering land. File indexing is 20-30× faster.
Folder structures, tagging strategies, and duplicate detection that actually scale. A practical guide for makers whose STL, 3MF, and ZIP libraries have outgrown a single folder.
The world of 3D printing is exploding! From hobbyists tinkering in their garages to professionals designing complex prototypes, more and more people are embracing this incredible technology. But with the growing popularity of 3D printing comes a growing challenge: managing the ever-expanding library of 3D printing files.
File Sharing (beta, opt-in) lets you swap models with other Modelist users. Open With now associates multiple apps per file. STL rendering bumped to 200MB and got 10× faster.
A practical guide to previewing STL, 3MF, and OBJ files. Native rendering, embedded thumbnails, what to look for before you print, and when to switch tools.
Collections bring proper organization to Modelist beyond watched folders. Open With launches files in their associated apps. OBJ and STEP files now appear in the library, and background workers keep the app responsive on large libraries.
After weeks of beta iteration, Modelist 1.0 ships as a polished cross-platform 3D model library with watched folders, gallery view, smart search, STL/3MF previews, and a built-in update system.