Saving and Exporting

Save keeps your design as an MCX file, MatterCAD’s own format, with every part and setting still editable. Export writes a copy in another format (STL, 3MF, OBJ, AMF, STEP, SVG or DXF) for other programs.

On a Mac, press ⌘ (Command) wherever this page says Ctrl.

Save Your Design

The Save button is in the design’s toolbar, right after Add to Bed. It reads Save • while the design has changes you have not saved.

  • Save (Ctrl+S) writes the design to its MCX file. A design that has never been saved asks for a name and a folder first, as Save As does. So does a design you opened from an STL, a picture or any other file that is not an MCX: Save never writes your design over the file it came from.
  • Save As (Ctrl+Shift+S, or the arrow beside Save) saves the design under a new name or in another folder:
    1. Pick a library folder, on your computer or in your Cloud Library.
    2. Type a Design Name.
    3. Click Save.

Save and Save As are also on the right-click menu of the empty bed. A part’s right-click menu has Save As too, which saves just that part.

An MCX file also remembers the view you saved it with - the direction, zoom and perspective or orthographic setting - so it opens looking the way you left it. Moving the view does not count as a change, so it never asks you to save just because you looked around.

Recover Unsaved Work

While you work, MatterCAD keeps a recovery copy of every open design that has parts on its bed. It does not save your design file for you.

If MatterCAD closes before you save (for example, if it crashes), the next time it starts it asks Recover Design: “Unsaved work was found for … Recover it as an unsaved design?”

  • Click Recover to open your unsaved work in a tab. It opens as an unsaved design: click Save to keep it. Your saved file is not changed until you do.
  • Click Discard recovery to throw the unsaved work away and open the design as you last saved it.

Export to Another Format

  1. Click the arrow beside Save and choose Export (it is also in the Bed menu). To export one part, right-click it and choose Export.
  2. Pick the format. A format that can’t export your design is greyed out and says why.
  3. Set the format’s options, if it has any.
  4. Click Export and choose where the file goes.

The formats are listed most faithful first:

Format What it keeps Use it when
MCX Everything: every part, setting and operation, still editable You want to keep working on the design, or share it with someone who uses MatterCAD
3MF Each part as its own shape, with its position and colors You want to send a design with several parts or colors to another program
STL The shape as triangles, with no colors or settings A program only needs the shape; almost every 3D program reads STL
OBJ The shape as triangles You want to open the design in another 3D program, such as Blender or a game engine
AMF The shape as triangles A program asks for AMF
STEP Each part as a solid with its name and color You want to open the design in a CAD program
SVG The design’s 2D paths as a flat drawing You need an outline for a laser cutter, a cutting machine or a drawing program
DXF The design’s 2D paths as a flat drawing A CAD or CNC program asks for DXF

SVG and DXF are offered only when the design has a 2D path (a flat shape such as those in the library’s 2D Primitives). Otherwise they show No 2D Path Was Found.

Export options

  • STL, when the design has more than one part: Perform Union merges them into a single shape before exporting; Save by Color writes one file for each color.
  • STEP: Faceted B-rep (for older CAD) writes a larger file that older CAD programs can read.
  • MCX: Include computed meshes writes every mesh into the file, which makes it much larger.

Tips

  • Save an MCX copy of your design before you export it, so you can change it later.
  • Holes are cut for you when you export to STL, 3MF, OBJ, AMF or STEP. Those formats can’t say “this shape is a hole”, so MatterCAD subtracts each hole from the parts it overlaps and leaves the hole itself out of the file. Your design is not changed - only the exported copy.
  • Hidden parts are left out of an export to STL, 3MF, OBJ, AMF or STEP. An MCX file keeps them.
  • You can save designs to your Cloud Library to reach them from any computer.