Avalonia3DCanvas 1.0.0

Avalonia 3D Canvas Control

A .NET 9 Avalonia control library for displaying 3D models from multiple file formats (.3DS, .OBJ, .STL, .PLY, .FBX) with automatic rotation and canvas resizing.

Projects

Avalonia3DCanvas

The control library containing the Canvas3D control and multiple 3D file format loaders.

Features:

• Load and display multiple 3D model formats:
  • .3DS - 3D Studio files
  • .OBJ - Wavefront OBJ files
  • .STL - Stereolithography files (ASCII and binary)
  • .PLY - Polygon File Format (ASCII)
  • .FBX - Filmbox files (ASCII only, basic support)
• Automatic file format detection based on extension
• Wireframe rendering with customizable line color and thickness
• Automatic model centering and scaling to fit canvas
• Canvas automatically resizes based on container
• Smooth rotation animation on X, Y, and Z axes
• Configurable rotation speed

Avalonia3DCanvas.Demo

A demo application showcasing the Canvas3D control with interactive buttons.

Features:

• Generate a sample cube for testing
• Load custom .3DS files via file picker
• Start/stop rotation animation
• Reset rotation to initial state
• Real-time status updates

Usage

Running the Demo

dotnet run --project Avalonia3DCanvas.Demo

Using the Control in Your Project

1. Add a reference to the Avalonia3DCanvas project or NuGet package

2. Add the namespace to your XAML:

xmlns:canvas3d="clr-namespace:Avalonia3DCanvas;assembly=Avalonia3DCanvas"

3. Add the control to your layout:

<canvas3d:Canvas3D Name="MyCanvas3D"
                   LineColor="Cyan"
                   LineThickness="1.5"
                   RotationSpeed="0.02"/>

4. Control the canvas from code:

// Load any supported 3D model file (auto-detects format)
MyCanvas3D.LoadModel("path/to/model.obj");
MyCanvas3D.LoadModel("path/to/model.stl");
MyCanvas3D.LoadModel("path/to/model.3ds");

// Start animation
MyCanvas3D.StartAnimation();

// Stop animation
MyCanvas3D.StopAnimation();

// Reset rotation
MyCanvas3D.ResetRotation();

Canvas3D Properties

Public Methods

• LoadModel(string filePath) - Load a 3D model from file (auto-detects format: .3ds, .obj, .stl, .ply, .fbx)
• StartAnimation() - Start the rotation animation
• StopAnimation() - Stop the rotation animation
• ResetRotation() - Reset rotation to initial angles (0, 0, 0)

Getting 3D Model Files

You can obtain 3D model files from:

• The demo app's "Generate Sample Cube" button (creates a simple test .3DS cube)
• Free 3D model websites (Thingiverse, Sketchfab, TurboSquid, etc.)
• 3D modeling software like Blender (free), 3ds Max, Maya (export as .OBJ, .STL, .FBX, etc.)
• 3D scanning apps and hardware

Technical Details

Supported File Formats

3DS (3D Studio):

• Vertex data (TRI_VERTEXL)
• Face data (TRI_FACEL)
• Basic mesh structure
• Binary format

OBJ (Wavefront):

• Vertex positions (v)
• Face definitions (f)
• Triangle fan conversion for polygons
• Text-based format

STL (Stereolithography):

• ASCII and binary formats
• Triangle mesh data
• Automatic format detection
• Commonly used for 3D printing

PLY (Polygon File Format):

• ASCII format (binary not supported)
• Vertex and face data
• Flexible property system
• Stanford Triangle Format

FBX (Filmbox):

• ASCII format only (binary not supported)
• Basic vertex and polygon extraction
• Limited feature support (geometry only)
• Note: For complex FBX files, convert to OBJ for best results

3D Rendering

• Wireframe rendering using line segments
• Perspective-free 3D projection
• Automatic viewport scaling
• Center-based rotation on all three axes
• Real-time animation at ~60 FPS

Requirements

• .NET 9.0
• Avalonia 11.3.9 or later

Building

# Build the entire solution
dotnet build

# Build just the control library
dotnet build Avalonia3DCanvas/Avalonia3DCanvas.csproj

# Build just the demo app
dotnet build Avalonia3DCanvas.Demo/Avalonia3DCanvas.Demo.csproj

License

This project is provided as-is for educational and commercial use.