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Uploading 3D Models

James
  • Updated

    Click on the Upload button that’s available on the top-right corner of any Sketchfab page. You’ll then be prompted to choose the file(s) you’d like to upload - just make sure it is one of our supported file formats!

    Or you can click, drag, and drop your file(s) anywhere on the site, like below:

    Sketchfab 3d model upload drag and drop

    ZIP Upload

    To reduce file size, you can also combine your files into a compressed archive (ZIP, RAR, 7z). Make sure to include all the necessary files.

    • Your texture files (JPG, PNG, TIFF, TGA, etc.)
    • Your material file, if you're using OBJ format (MTL)
    • Your model file

    Textures can be in the root directory or in a subfolder. It should look something like this (OBJ + MTL, for this example):

    Sketchfab 3d model upload zip format

    If you plan to allow downloading, you can also include any other files you'd like to share, like photographs of 3D prints, instructions, multiple file formats, etc.

    Uploading & Processing

    Once you have your file(s) ready:

    1. Click Upload ( or drag and drop on any page )
    2. Click Choose File and navigate to the file on your device
    3. Click Continue.
    4. Give your model a title and description, choose a category, and add some tags
    5. Once the transfer is complete, click Save or Save & Publish to go to your new model!

    Depending on the complexity of your scene, it may take some time to finish processing. Once it's finished, your model will begin in Draft Mode.

    If you have a Pro, Premium, or Enterprise account, you also have the option to make your model private and password-protected.

    draftpublish.png

    Exporter Upload

    To make uploading easier, we’ve partnered with 3D tool developers and built a number of exporters so you can upload your 3D files directly from your 3D software.

    Here is how they usually work:

    1. Download an Exporter or software with built-in support
    2. Install it on your machine
    3. Enter your API token or follow the OAuth login flow
    4. Fill in model metadata like title, description, tags
    5. Upload your model!

    For details on a specific software, check out the Exporters page or the Tutorials section.

    Upload Limits

    The number of models you can upload and publish each month depends on your Sketchfab plan, as well as certain attributes of the models. For more details, check out the Upload Limits guide.

    Uploads Page

    The Uploads page on your profile shows an overview of your uploads and their status, along with more detailed error messages in case your upload failed.

    Sketchfab uploads

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    Comments

    161 comments

    Date Votes
    • salex

      Hi James! I reported the problem early last week. Do you perhaps know what's going on? I can't save additional files to the store at all. It constantly reports an "error message". I also tried on another browser as well as on other models, it just won't save anything! There is no way I can upload models to the store.

      0
    • James

      Hi salex - Sorry about that! This issue should be solved now. Can you give it another try?

      0
    • salex

      It finally working!! Many thanks to you and also Dan from the support

      0
    • museolp 
      I have a problem. I compress a folder with a .OBJ + .MTL file. When I upload this file is in base color.

when I go to the materials menu, I can't find where the .mtl file goes.

Can you give me a hint?

Many thanks
      0
    • James

      Hi there,

      I just checked your last couple uploads, and the materials seem to be working as expected. Are you still having trouble?

       

      0
    • sibience

      There seems to be a bug when you try and upload a model you've previously deleted. If I upload a model, wait for it to finish processing then delete it, then upload the same model again a few minutes later after making some changes/fixes it will give me an error message and say it's already processing the model even though there's nothing processing in my processing list. The model doesn't exist anywhere on my account. It's likely something to do with caching either with the server or browser.

      It seems like you need to wait a long time before you it will let you upload the same model again which is a bit inconvenient.

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    • James

      Hi there,

      I did some tests but I couldn't reproduce this behavior. Are you able to make a screen recording of it happening?

      Is there a reason you're deleting the model and doing a new upload instead of reuploading if it's just a changed/fixed version?

       

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    • andreev.il

      Hi James. I tried to upload the model from Blender and I see that all my nodes are disappeared. I saw the recommendation for automatically pecking info and applying the transformation. But the result is the same. How can I upload my model with all nodes? 

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    • James

      Hello,

      I'm afraid the color nodes are not supported as we don't support such info in Sketchfab.
       
      For instance, the following nodes are not converted, and result in Sketchfab using default values of the Principled BSDF node instead:
      • The "ColorRamp" node giving the bronze texture in material "Color".
      • The "Noise Texture" node giving the relief in the material "Seat".
      • The "RGB Curves" giving the headlight color in the material "Front light"
      You will have to either use simple colors and factors, textures directly linked to the shader node inputs, or re-work the materials in Sketchfab's editor.
       
      Note that if you make your model downloadable or put it in the Store, you can include the original .blend so it's available for people downloading / buying it to get the original materials.
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    • bossposes3d

      I have tried 150 damn times to upload the MTL where your engine actually reconizes the textures ... With 0 luck  kinda over it

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    • James

      Hi,

      I'm sorry you're having trouble. Can you please share a link to an example upload, or share the files so I can have a closer look?

      You can create a new help ticket here if you prefer: https://help.sketchfab.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

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