Australian developer NCH Software has announced the release of MeshMagic 3D, a simple 3D design tool which can import and edit STL and 3DP models.

This is very much “CAD lite”. The 335KB setup file doesn’t download the real files from somewhere else, it really is all you get: a single executable plus an installer, and nothing else at all.

Drawing options are unsurprisingly basic. You can create 2D lines, ellipses or circles, then transform them into 3D shapes, or directly add cubes, spheres, toruses or icosahedrons. That’s about it.

MeshMagic can open, display and edit some (though not all) complex STL models

MeshMagic 3D is more effective as a file viewer, and can import both STL and 3DP models. We found this didn’t always work with complex models – a few appeared to open, then nothing was displayed – but most simple models appeared in a basic form (you won’t see any renderings).

If you do manage to import something then you can edit it, add or delete shapes, then save the results as an STL.

Right now MeshMagic 3D is too limited to build anything useful, but if you need a simple STL or 3DP viewer then it might – just might – be good enough.