Is there a way to export in 3mf file format?

HelloAll · February 12, 2026, 7:05am

Hi. I’m new to 3D Slicer. Is there a way to export files in 3mf format to make printing different segments with different colors easier?

pieper · February 12, 2026, 3:00pm

Not that I’m aware of, but it probably would not be hard for someone to add.

lassoan · February 14, 2026, 5:28am

You can ask any modern AI chatbot to write the Python script for you that writes a model node in Slicer to a 3mf file. The prompt can be something like this: Generate Python code that writes a 3mf file from a model node in Slicer.

To make this file format conveniently available in the scene save or node export options then you can ask the AI chatbot to create a “scripted file writer plugin” using this file as an example. If the file writer works well and you share it with us then we can add it to an extension, such as the Sandbox so that anyone can install it by a few clicks.

lassoan · February 14, 2026, 6:48am

I went ahead and implemented this. If you install the Sandbox extension tomorrow or later then you will be able to save model nodes in .3mf format.

github.com/PerkLab/SlicerSandbox

ExportModelTo3mf/ExportModelTo3mf.py

master

import logging
import os
import vtk
import qt
import ctk
import slicer
from slicer.ScriptedLoadableModule import *


class ExportModelTo3mf(ScriptedLoadableModule):
    """Uses ScriptedLoadableModule base class, available at:
    https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/blob/main/Base/Python/slicer/ScriptedLoadableModule.py
    """

    def __init__(self, parent):
        ScriptedLoadableModule.__init__(self, parent)
        self.parent.title = "Export Model to 3MF"
        self.parent.categories = ["Surface Models"]
        self.parent.dependencies = []
        self.parent.contributors = ["Andras Lasso (PerkLab)"]

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Is there a way to export in 3mf file format?

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