Command line options
F3D behavior can be fully controlled from the command line using the following options.
Application Options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --input=<input file> | string - | The input file or files to read, can also be provided as a positional argument. |
| --output=<png file> | string - | Instead of showing a render view and render into it, render directly into a png file. When used with --ref option, only outputs on failure. If - is specified instead of a filename, the PNG file is streamed to the stdout. Can use template variables. |
| --no-background | bool false | Use with --output to output a png file with a transparent background. |
| -h, --help | Print help and exit. Ignore --verbose. | |
| --version | Show version information and exit. Ignore --verbose. | |
| --list-readers | List available readers and exit. Ignore --verbose. | |
| --list-bindings | List available bindings and exit. Ignore --verbose. | |
| --list-rendering-backends | List available rendering backends and exit. Ignore --verbose. | |
| --config=<config file path/name/stem> | string config | Specify the configuration file to use. Supports absolute/relative path but also filename/filestem to search for in standard configuration file locations. |
| --no-config | bool false | Do not read any configuration file and consider only the command line options. |
| --no-render | bool false | Do not render anything and quit just after loading the first file, use with --verbose to recover information about a file. |
| --max-size=<size in MiB> | int -1 | Prevent F3D to load a file bigger than the provided size in Mib, leave empty for unlimited, useful for thumbnails. |
| --watch | bool false | Watch current file and automatically reload it whenever it is modified on disk. |
| --frame-rate=<fps> | double 30.0 | Frame rate used to refresh animation and other repeated tasks (watch, UI). Does not impact rendering frame rate. |
| --load-plugins=<paths or names> | string - | List of plugins to load separated with a comma. Official plugins are alembic, assimp, draco, exodus, occt, usd, vdb. See plugins for more info. |
| --scan-plugins | Scan standard directories for plugins and display their names, results may be incomplete. See plugins for more info. | |
| --screenshot-filename=<png file> | string{app}/{model}_{n}.png | Filename to save screenshots to. Can use template variables. Supports relative paths as described. |
| --rendering-backend=<auto|egl|osmesa|glx|wgl> | string auto | Rendering backend to load, auto means to let F3D pick the correct one for you depending on your system capabilities. Use egl or osmesa on linux to force headless rendering. |
General Options
| Options | Type Default | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|
| --verbose=<[debug|info|warning|error|quiet]> | string info | Set verbose level, in order to provide more information about the loaded data in the console output. If no level is provided, assume debug. Option parsing may ignore this flag. | |
| --progress | bool false | Show a progress bar when loading the file. | |
| --animation-progress | bool false | Show a progress bar when playing the animation. | |
| --multi-file-mode=<single | all> | string single | When opening multiple files, select if they should be grouped (all) or alone (single). Configuration files for all loaded files will be used in the order they are provided. |
| --up=<[+|-][X|Y|Z]> | string +Y | Define the Up direction. | |
| -x, --axis | bool false | Show axes as a trihedron in the scene. | |
| -g, --grid | bool false | Show a grid aligned with the horizontal (orthogonal to the Up direction) plane. | |
| --grid-unit=<length> | double - | Set the size of the unit square for the grid. If not set (the default) a suitable value will be automatically computed. | |
| --grid-subdivisions=<count> | int 10 | Set the number of subdivisions for the grid. | |
| --grid-color=<color> | vector<double> (0,0,0) | Set the color grid lines. | |
| -e, --edges | bool false | Show the cell edges. | |
| --armature | bool false | Show armature if present (glTF only). | |
| --camera-index=<idx> | int - | Select the scene camera to use when available in the file. Automatically computed by default. | |
| -k, --trackball | bool false | Enable trackball interaction. | |
| --animation-autoplay | bool false | Automatically start animation. | |
| --animation-index=<idx> | int 0 | Select the animation to show. Any negative value means all animations (glTF only). The default scene always has at most one animation. | |
| --animation-speed-factor=<factor> | ratio 1 | Set the animation speed factor to slow, speed up or even invert animation time. | |
| --animation-time=<time> | double - | Set the animation time to load. | |
| --font-file=<font file> | string - | Use the provided FreeType compatible font file to display text. Can be useful to display non-ASCII filenames. | |
| --font-scale=<scale> | ratio 1.0 | Scale fonts. | |
| --command-script=<command script> | script - | Provide a script file containing a list of commands to be executed sequentially. Allows automation of multiple commands or pre-defined tasks. |
Material options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -o, --point-sprites | bool false | Show sphere points sprites instead of the geometry. |
| --point-sprites-type=<sphere|gaussian> | string sphere | Set the splat type when showing point sprites. |
| --point-sprites-size=<size> | double 10.0 | Set the size of point sprites. |
| --point-size=<size> | double - | Set the size of points when showing vertices. Model specified by default. |
| --line-width=<size> | double - | Set the width of lines when showing edges. Model specified by default. |
| --backface-type=<visible|hidden> | string - | Set the Backface type. Model specified by default. |
| --color=<R,G,B> | vector<double> - | Set a color on the geometry. Multiplied with the base color texture when present. Model specified by default. |
| --opacity=<opacity> | double - | Set opacity on the geometry. Multiplied with the base color texture when present. Model specified by default. Usually used with Depth Peeling option. |
| --roughness=<roughness> | double - | Set the roughness coefficient on the geometry (0.0-1.0). Multiplied with the material texture when present. Model specified by default. |
| --metallic=<metallic> | double - | Set the metallic coefficient on the geometry (0.0-1.0). Multiplied with the material texture when present. Model specified by default. |
| --hdri-file=<HDRI file> | string - | Set the HDRI image that can be used as ambient lighting and skybox. Valid file format are hdr, exr, png, jpg, pnm, tiff, bmp. If not set, a default is provided. |
| --hdri-ambient | string - | Light the scene using the HDRI image as ambient lighting. The environment act as a light source and is reflected on the material. |
| --texture-matcap=<texture file> | string - | Set the texture file to control the material capture of the object. All other model options for surfaces are ignored if this is set. Must be in linear color space. Model specified by default. |
| --texture-base-color=<texture file> | string - | Set the texture file to control the color of the object. Please note this will be multiplied with the color and opacity options. Must be in sRGB color space. Model specified by default. |
| --texture-material=<texture file> | string - | Set the texture file to control the occlusion, roughness and metallic values of the object. Please note this will be multiplied with the roughness and metallic options, which have impactful default values. To obtain true results, use --roughness=1 --metallic=1. Must be in linear color space. Model specified by default. |
| --texture-emissive=<texture file> | string - | Set the texture file to control the emitted light of the object. Please note this will be multiplied with the emissive factor. Must be in sRGB color space. Model specified by default. |
| --emissive-factor=<R,G,B> | vector<double> - | Set the emissive factor. This value is multiplied with the emissive color when an emissive texture is present. Model specified by default. |
Window options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --background-color=<R,G,B> | vector<double> 0.2, 0.2, 0.2 | Set the window background color. Ignored if hdri is set. |
| --resolution=<width,height> | vector<double> 1000, 600 | Set the window resolution. |
| --position=<x,y> | vector<double> - | Set the window position (top left corner) , in pixels, starting from the top left of your screens. |
| -z, --fps | bool false | Display a rendering frame per second counter. |
| -n, --filename | bool false | Display the name of the file on top of the window. |
| -m, --metadata | bool false | Display the metadata. |
| --hdri-skybox | bool false | Show the HDRI as a skybox. Overrides --background-color and --no-background. |
| -u, --blur-background | bool false | Blur background. Useful with a HDRI skybox. |
| --blur-coc | double 20 | Blur circle of confusion radius. |
| --light-intensity | double 1.0 | Adjust the intensity of every light in the scene. |
Scientific visualization options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -s, --scalar-coloring | bool false | Enable scalar coloring if present in the file. If --coloring-array is not set, the first in alphabetical order will be picked if any are available. |
| --coloring-array=<array_name> | string - | The coloring array name to use when coloring. Use --verbose to recover the usable array names. |
| -y, --comp=<comp_index> | int -1 | Specify the component from the scalar array to color with. Use with the scalar option. -1 means magnitude. -2 or the short option, -y, means direct values. When using direct values, components are used as L, LA, RGB, RGBA values depending on the number of components. |
| -c, --cells | bool false | Specify that the scalar array is to be found on the cells instead of on the points. Use with the scalar option. |
| --range=<min,max> | vector<double> - | Set the coloring range. Automatically computed by default. Use with the scalar option. |
| -b, --bar | bool false | Show scalar bar of the coloring by array. Use with the scalar option. |
| --colormap-file=<name> | string - | Set a colormap file for the coloring. See color maps. Use with the scalar option. |
| --colormap=<color_list> | string - | Set a custom colormap for the coloring. This is a list of colors in the format val1,red1,green1,blue1,...,valN,redN,greenN,blueNwhere all values are in the range (0,1). Ignored if --colormap-file option is specified.Use with the scalar option. |
| -v, --volume | bool false | Enable volume rendering. It is only available for 3D image data (vti, dcm, nrrd, mhd files) and will display nothing with other formats. It forces coloring. |
| -i, --inverse | bool false | Inverse the linear opacity function used for volume rendering. |
Camera configuration options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --camera-position=<X,Y,Z> | vector<double> - | Set the camera position, overrides –camera-direction and camera-zoom-factor. |
| --camera-focal-point=<X,Y,Z> | vector<double> - | Set the camera focal point. |
| --camera-view-up=<X,Y,Z> | vector<double> - | Set the camera view up vector. Will be orthogonalized. |
| --camera-view-angle=<angle> | double - | Set the camera view angle, a strictly positive value in degrees. |
| --camera-direction=<X,Y,Z> | vector<double> - | Set the camera direction, looking at the focal point. |
| --camera-zoom-factor=<factor> | double - | Set the camera zoom factor relative to the autozoom on data, a strictly positive value. |
| --camera-azimuth-angle=<angle> | double 0.0 | Apply an azimuth transformation to the camera, in degrees, added after other camera options. |
| --camera-elevation-angle=<angle> | double 0.0 | Apply an elevation transformation to the camera, in degrees, added after other camera options. |
| --camera-orthographic | bool - | Set the camera to use the orthographic projection. Model specified by default. |
Raytracing options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -r, --raytracing | bool false | Enable OSPRay raytracing. Requires OSPRay raytracing to be enabled in the linked VTK dependency. |
| --samples=<samples> | int 5 | Set the number of samples per pixel when using raytracing. |
| -d, --denoise | bool false | Denoise the image when using raytracing. |
PostFX (OpenGL) options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| -p, --translucency-support | bool false | Enable translucency support. This is a technique used to correctly render translucent objects. |
| -q, --ambient-occlusion | bool false | Enable ambient occlusion. This is a technique used to improve the depth perception of the object. |
| -a, --anti-aliasing | bool false | Enable anti-aliasing. This technique is used to reduce aliasing. |
| -t, --tone-mapping | bool false | Enable generic filmic Tone Mapping Pass. This technique is used to map colors properly to the monitor colors. |
| --final-shader | string - | Add a final shader to the output image. See the dedicated documentation for more details. |
Testing options
| Options | Type Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| --ref=<png file> | string - | Render and compare with the provided reference image, for testing purposes. Use with output option to generate new baselines and diff images. |
| --ref-threshold=<threshold> | double 0.04 | Set the comparison threshold to trigger a test failure or success. The default (0.04) correspond to almost visually identical images. |
| --interaction-test-record=<log file> | string - | Path to an interaction log file to record interaction events to. |
| --interaction-test-play=<log file> | string - | Path to an interaction log file to play interactions events from when loading a file. |
Rendering options precedence
Some rendering options are not compatible between them, here is the precedence order if several are provided:
- Raytracing (
-r) - Volume (
-v) - Point Sprites (
-o)
Options syntax
To turn on/off boolean options, it is possible to write --option=true and --option=false, eg --points-sprites=false.
As documented, only the --option=value syntax is supported. The syntax --option value is not supported.
All options are parsed according to their type, see the parsing documentation for more details.
Filename templating
The destination filename used by --output or to save screenshots using --screenshot-filename can use the following template variables:
{app}: application name (ie.F3D){version}: application version (eg.2.4.0){version_full}: full application version (eg.2.4.0-abcdefgh){model}: current model filename without extension (eg.foofor/home/user/foo.glb){model.ext}: current model filename with extension (eg.foo.glbfor/home/user/foo.glb){model_ext}: current model filename extension (eg.glbfor/home/user/foo.glb){date}: current date in YYYYMMDD format{date:format}: current date as per C++’sstd::put_timeformat{n}: auto-incremented number to make filename unique (up to 1000000){n:2},{n:3}, …: zero-padded auto-incremented number to make filename unique (up to 1000000)- variable names can be escaped by doubling the braces (eg. use
{{model}}.pngto output{model}.pngwithout the model name being substituted)
For example the screenshot filename is configured as {app}/{model}_{n}.png by default, meaning that, assuming the model hello.glb is being viewed, consecutive screenshots are going to be saved as F3D/hello_1.png, F3D/hello_2.png, F3D/hello_3.png, …
Model related variables will be replaced by no_file if no file is loaded and multi_file if multiple files are loaded using the multi-file-mode option.