| Extension | SCAD |
| Full Name | OpenSCAD |
| Type | CAD |
| Mime Type | application/octet-stream |
| Format | Binary |
A SCAD file is a modern format used for storing 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) data and is the native file format for the OpenSCAD application. The SCAD file format stores the CAD data in the form of scripts, allowing users to modify the properties of objects quite easily by modifying the various scripted parameters.
The script contained within a SCAD file enables the creation of basic shapes such as cubes, cylinders, spheres, and other more complex shapes by using special commands to merge shapes. As this is a scripted format and is designed to be manually edited, a SCAD file stores this script in human-readable plain text format.
Support for SCAD files is largely limited to the OpenSCAD software, though there are other CAD applications that support the format. Our own SCAD converter tools can convert SCAD files to other 3D model formats, such as STL.
The OBJ file format is a 3D graphics file format used to define complex 3D models, including geometry, materials, and textures. OBJ files are text files, making them human-readable and easy to modify by hand. The downside to this ease of readability is that the files can become rather large when dealing with large or complex 3D models.
As mentioned, the OBJ format stores not only 3D model geometry but also materials and textures. These materials are usually defined in a separate file with the MTL file extension and specify geometry rendering details such as diffuse and specular colour, transparency, and much more.
The OBJ material file can also reference external texture files. These are usually JPEG or PNG files; however, these can be older formats, such as TGA. Where materials are used, the OBJ file will also contain material names preceding the geometry faces they should be applied to. If textures are referenced, the geometry will also contain texture coordinates (UV) for each vertex.
