quick-look-win-3d

English | 日本語 | 한국어

A QuickLook plugin that previews 3D models in Windows Explorer with the spacebar.

It renders .glb / .vrm / .vrma / .fbx using Three.js inside WebView2.

Features

Select a file in Explorer and press Space to view the model. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom, and right-drag to pan.

An info panel in the top-left shows the format, file size, triangle count, vertices, meshes, materials, textures, bones, animations, and VRM metadata. Toggle the panel with the i key.

The view follows QuickLook's light/dark theme. The info panel labels switch between English, Japanese, and Korean based on the OS display language (English by default).

Supported formats

Format	Description	Status
.glb	glTF binary (static / animated)	Supported
.vrm	VRM avatar (@pixiv/three-vrm)	Supported
.vrma	VRM animation	Supported
.fbx	Autodesk FBX	Partial

.fbx renders, but models that rely on external texture files may appear dark (texture handling is a work in progress).

Install

1. Install QuickLook (the host app)

This plugin runs inside QuickLook, so install QuickLook itself first. Choose one method:

• Microsoft Store: search for "QuickLook" (easiest, with automatic updates).
• Installer: download the latest release from the QuickLook releases page and run it.
• Scoop: run scoop bucket add extras, then scoop install quicklook.

After installing, start QuickLook. It keeps running in the system tray (notification area). Confirm it works by selecting any file in Explorer and pressing Space.

The WebView2 runtime is also required. It is preinstalled on Windows 11 and on most Windows 10 machines (it ships with Microsoft Edge); install it from Microsoft if it is missing.

2. Install this plugin

1. Get QuickLook.Plugin.Model3DViewer.qlplugin (build it from source below, or download it from the releases page).
2. With QuickLook running, select the .qlplugin file in Explorer and press Space. QuickLook shows a small panel with the plugin name and an Install button.
3. Click Install.
4. Restart QuickLook so it loads the new plugin: quit it from the system tray icon, then start it again.
5. Select any .glb / .vrm / .vrma / .fbx file and press Space.

Requirements: Windows 10/11.

Build from source

Prerequisites: Node.js 20 or later, the .NET SDK (Windows).

# 1. Build the web renderer (produces renderer/dist)
cd renderer
npm ci
npm run build

# 2. Build the plugin
cd ..
dotnet build QuickLook.Plugin.Model3DViewer.sln -c Release

# 3. Package into a .qlplugin
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File Scripts/pack-zip.ps1

Install the generated QuickLook.Plugin.Model3DViewer.qlplugin as described above.

QuickLook.Common is consumed as a NuGet package (no git submodule required). Pushing a tag that starts with v (for example v0.2.0) makes GitHub Actions build the .qlplugin and attach it to a release.

How it works

Explorer --(Space)--> QuickLook --> Plugin (IViewer, C#)
                                          |
                                          v
                                  WebView2 control
                                          |
                                          v
                      Three.js renderer (Vite build) <-- model file

The C# plugin implements QuickLook's IViewer and hosts a WebView2 control. Inside it runs a small Three.js and Vite app that loads the selected model and renders it. The renderer is vendored from sawa-zen/quick-look-3d (the macOS counterpart).

Credits

The whole idea for this project comes from sawa-zen/quick-look-3d, the macOS version of a 3D-model Quick Look viewer. This plugin is the Windows counterpart, and it reuses that project's renderer. Many thanks to sawa-zen for sharing the original work (MIT, © sawa-zen).

• Scaffolded from the QuickLook.Plugin.HelloWorld template (MIT, © Paddy Xu).
• QuickLook itself is by Paddy Xu and its contributors.
• VRM support uses @pixiv/three-vrm.

License

MIT.