Import a model

Bring in STL, 3MF, OBJ, GLB, STEP, SVG, DXF, or OpenSCAD .scad/.csg.

Imported meshes and STEP solids join your document like any other object. OwlCAD detects the source units on import so the part arrives at the right scale. An SVG becomes editable extrudes, and so does a DXF — its blocks are expanded and its loose lines and arcs are joined into closed outlines first. A 2D drawing asks two things before it lands, because neither is easy to change afterwards: how deep to extrude it, and whether its shapes should be combined into one object. A drawing with several shapes — a logo, a row of letters — otherwise arrives as that many separate objects, and combining them means you can move it, or subtract it from a plate, in one go rather than selecting every piece first. A shape with holes keeps its holes either way. OpenSCAD works two ways: import a .scad script directly — OwlCAD interprets it (variables, modules, functions, for/if loops) into an editable tree of primitives and booleans — or, for scripts using features OwlCAD does not evaluate, export a .csg (openscad -o out.csg in.scad) and import that instead. A plain STL/3MF from OpenSCAD imports as a mesh. The Import submenu has two more OpenSCAD entries: OpenSCAD code… takes source pasted straight in (handy for a snippet you copied, with no file to save first), and OpenSCAD folder… loads a multi-file project, resolving its use/include against the sibling files.

Customizer options. A .scad written for OpenSCAD's Customizer brings its parameters in as variables. Import turns the script into shapes once, so an option that sets a size or a position stays adjustable, while one that shapes the script's structure — a loop count, an if branch, a rotation — is baked in at its value. The import message names those, the Variables panel marks them, and the message offers Run as live script to make every option adjustable. Run OpenSCAD script… in the same submenu does that from the start: the script is kept and re-run whenever you change a parameter, so everything stays live, but its shapes are rebuilt each time rather than edited by hand. To hand-edit a live script's shapes, right-click it and choose Bake into editable model: it becomes ordinary shapes at its current values, and the size and position options stay variables. Undo reverses either switch.

1. File → Import → Model file…
2. Pick a file; units are detected and converted to mm.
3. For an SVG or DXF, choose how deep to extrude it and whether its shapes become one object.
4. The geometry drops onto the plate ready to edit.