Tinkercad For Dummies

Chapter 18

OBJ Files

IN THIS CHAPTER

Defining an OBJ file

Figuring out when to use an OBJ file for a Tinkercad design

Outputting a Tinkercad design to an OBJ file format

When you’re ready to print, it’s important that you export your design to the appropriate file format to get it 3D printed.

In this chapter, you find out what an OBJ file is and how to export one out of Tinkercad based on one of your designs.

What Is an OBJ File?

The original OBJ file was first developed by a company called Wavefront Technologies. It is a geometry definition file format that was created for use with the Advanced Visualizer animation package created by Wavefront Technologies. It is an open file format, which has been adopted by several 3D modeling software vendors.

An OBJ file represents 3D geometry only in a simple data format in the file. In the file itself, you will find the geometry and coordinates of each point (known as a vertex), along with texture coordinate vertex UV position (for material surface mapping), vertex normal, and the faces of each polygon. Each polygon face is defined in the OBJ file as a list of vertices (plural of vertex), as well as a list of vertices for textures. The coordinates ...