Hi,

I'm new to the 3d world and am getting very frustrated by something that should be very easy to find. I had downloaded a lot of 3d models, but do not like having to open each one individually in c4d just to see what they are. I know there must be a 3d object viewer out there somewhere, but a search on google only turned up glc player, which only allows me to import one file at a time. I currently have over 200 models, so that just isn't going to happen and I know that other people cannot possibly remember every single model they have unless they have a photographic memory. So could someone please direct me to a free model viewer that supports lwo, obj, and 3ds for mac? Thank you for your help in advance!

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/browz3d.html

Real quick and easy one. Freeware.
You add and delete folders (just navigate a selector window to the folders you want to browse).
no textures, of course, but verts only, wireframe, or polygons (transparent or opaque).
You can zoom or rotate models, and sort the model list couple different ways.
That's it; but it's really fast (should be at or close to real time)
Occasionally it gets confused and really mangles the view; but it's normally pretty good.

I know it works with .obj, .dxf, and .3ds
Some others are listed (including .lwo) but I don't have any those to try it out. I'm guessing it will work; because I've never had any problems with it.

Quote - http://www.snapfiles.com/get/browz3d.html

Real quick and easy one. Freeware.
You add and delete folders (just navigate a selector window to the folders you want to browse).
no textures, of course, but verts only, wireframe, or polygons (transparent or opaque).
You can zoom or rotate models, and sort the model list couple different ways.
That's it; but it's really fast (should be at or close to real time)
Occasionally it gets confused and really mangles the view; but it's normally pretty good.

I know it works with .obj, .dxf, and .3ds
Some others are listed (including .lwo) but I don't have any those to try it out. I'm guessing it will work; because I've never had any problems with it.

Thank you for the link. I got so excited and even downloaded it, but when I tried to open it, it wouldn't allow me to. Apparently, it's for windows only :(. Unfortunately, I can't get it to work using Crossover either, but thank you anyway- you have given me a lot of hope that I will find one somehow, somewhere:).

I'm sorry, I didn't see that you were using a MAC...

Quote - I'm sorry, I didn't see that you were using a MAC...

lol, it's ok.

http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Graphics/view3dscene.shtml
http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Graphics/GLC-Player.shtml
http://www.dewantoro.net/search/obj+Viewer+for+mac

try those , they are all freeware viewers that seem to handle obj files .

Thank you for your response. I had already tried glc player and found it to not be able to open a lot of my models, and some of those it is able to open appear distorted in the program. I downloaded view3dscene, but I don't know how to use it. I am wondering about the lack of 3d model viewers. I would think there would be more of them. Is it possible to create a model library within a 3d program?

Make your own.
Poser and D|S use .png pictures to represent the figure/prop in the content menu / libraries. You can also browse them directly, if you know where to look in the runtime.
Really the only time I download other people's models is for Poser, but I think that having a little .png picture to represent 'content' models is a good idea.

Extending on that principle, make either small low quality renders, or do screen captures, of models and save them as .jpgs (or whatever) in the same directory that the models are in. Then you can just look at the pictures to get an idea of what the models are.

I do that with Wings3D model 'libraries'. I just take a snapshot when finishing up working on a model and save it.
3ds max generates a thumbnail of scenefiles (.max) automatically; but their are times when the thumbnail doesn't really do you much good, so in those instances, I use small renders and save them as jpgs.

There are lots of obj file viewers , fewer for other formats.  I use lightwave and I just load models into it to see what they look like , then save out a screen capture for a reference . I use mwsnap for the screen captures . 

If your Mac is Intel based have a look at MeshLab. Not strictly a viewer but it will handle obj and 3ds.

  meshlab.sourceforge.net/