Quick Look
Solidly installs a Quick Look extension, so pressing Space on a 3D file in the Finder draws it with the same engine, lighting, environment, tone mapping, and anti-aliasing the application uses. The extension is registered with macOS the first time Solidly is launched.
What the preview does
The preview shows the model and nothing else. It offers navigation, with the same gestures as the viewport:
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Drag | Orbit |
| Right-drag, or a two-finger click-drag | Pan |
| Scroll or pinch | Zoom |
Your orbit style, sensitivity, and scroll inversion settings apply, because the preview reads the same preferences the application writes. Material suggestions and texture classification do not run in a preview.
Formats
The extension claims .gltf, .glb, .fbx, .obj, .stl, .ply, .usd, .usda, .usdc, and .usdz.
Settings ▸ Advanced ▸ Quick Look has a switch per format. A format switched off is declined by the extension.
Multi-file formats in the Mac App Store build
A .gltf needs its .bin and its textures, an .obj needs its .mtl, and a USD layer needs its sublayers. Reading those from a preview requires an exception the Mac App Store does not grant. In that build the extension previews only self-contained single files, .glb and .usdz, and declines the rest so the system previewer answers instead.
Taking over the formats macOS reserves
macOS ships its own 3D previewers, and for most of these formats they outrank Solidly's, so the system asks them first. Two Apple extensions are involved:
| Apple extension | Formats it holds | Formats that lose their preview if it is switched off |
|---|---|---|
| Hydra preview extension | .obj, .stl, .ply, .usd, .usda, .usdc | .abc, .mtlx |
| Reality preview extension | .usdz | .reality |
Turning on a Quick Look switch for one of those formats also asks macOS to step the corresponding Apple extension aside, after which Quick Look falls through to Solidly. The change is per user, requires no administrator password, and writes nothing outside your own preview extension registry. Turning the switch off restores the Apple extension.
The right-hand column matters: an Apple extension that steps aside also stops previewing formats Solidly does not claim, and those fall back to the generic previewer. The settings pane states this before the change is made.
If Solidly cannot read the current state of an Apple extension, the row shows a warning symbol and explains that the switch may not take effect. Opening the file in Solidly is unaffected either way.
Direct download only
Replacing an Apple previewer is not available in the Mac App Store build. The per-format switches still work in that build for formats macOS does not reserve. See The two distributions.
Settings the preview uses
The extension and the application share a preferences container, so the environment, lighting, tone mapping, anti-aliasing, texture size limit, and import memory limit set in Solidly are what the preview uses. Changing a setting changes the next preview.