Got questions? We’re here to help. These questions are designed to give you a better understanding of Xtract3D 2.
Below-spec systems can operate with decimation and conservative render settings. Performance improves with more VRAM/RAM. For very large point clouds (> 400 million points), 64 GB RAM and at least 8 GB of VRAM is recommended for a smooth experience.
Supported imports:
Don't see the file format you need? Reach out to us - we're always open to feedback and can look into supporting additional formats based on demand.
Data is stored externally in a .pbn next to the part/assembly, removing the ~2 GB in-document barrier. Practical limits are set by your hardware. Use Adaptive Rendering, Section Views, Clip Sphere, and decimation for massive datasets.
Check out the built-in documentation (available through the '?' icon in each tool) for detailed explanations of each tool. We also have a series of video tutorials that cover the most common workflows. If you still have questions, feel free to reach out to our support team.
Xtract3D 2 is a complete rebuild of the original Xtract3D, designed to handle much larger datasets and to integrate more seamlessly with modern SOLIDWORKS workflows. Unlike version 1, which stored scan data directly in the SOLIDWORKS document and was limited by the ~2 GB file size barrier, version 2 stores scan data externally in a .pbn file. This eliminates size restrictions and enables working with meshes containing millions of polygons and point clouds with hundreds of millions of points.
Performance and scalability are major improvements. Adaptive rendering, Section Views, and Clip Sphere tools make it practical to interact with massive scan data efficiently. Hardware utilization has been optimized, so systems with more VRAM/RAM benefit significantly when handling large files.
The user experience has been streamlined with updated toolbars and documentation inside SOLIDWORKS, along with video tutorials for common workflows. Activation and licensing have also been modernized to integrate with Polyga accounts, separate from legacy Xtract3D 1 accounts.
For more information, check out our documentation.
They're the same price, but they don't directly transfer as the two plugins use different licensing systems. You'll have to transfer your subscription by purchasing Xtract3D 2 at shop.polyga.com/buy/ and then cancelling your Xtract3D 1 subscription. Contact us if you need any assistance.
If you'd like to keep access to Xtract3D 1 while you're migrating, reach out to us and we can make sure you have access to both plugins.
An Xtract3D 2 subscription also comes with PointKit's premium features included, so you get much more for the same price by upgrading.
If you have a lifetime Xtract3D 1 license purchased in 2025, you can get a free year of Xtract3D 2 on us. If you purchased in 2024 or earlier, you can get 50% off your first year of Xtract3D 2. In both cases, you will always have your lifetime Xtract3D 1 license. Contact us to get your discount.
Regardless of whether you use Xtract3D 2 or not, your lifetime Xtract3D 1 license will always be valid.
Yes. However, we do recommend disabling one or the other to ensure a smooth experience.
It continues to operate as it does today. Xtract3D 1 remains the version for SOLIDWORKS 2021 and earlier.
You will receive an email that gives you the link to download the installer. Download the installer and run it to install Xtract3D 2 on your computer. The link is also available in your account on the Polyga website under the 'Downloads' section. When you launch SOLIDWORKS, you will be prompted to login with your Polyga account to activate the software. Once activated, you can start using Xtract3D 2. Note: Your Xtract3D 2 login is the same as your PointKit account, but is separate from your Xtract3D 1.0 account.
Xtract3D 2 appears as a toolbar and panels inside SOLIDWORKS. Imported scan data is kept in an external .pbn beside your part/assembly, enabling very large datasets and fast loading. Check out our video tour to learn how to use the plugin.
Xtract3D 2 uses the same login as PointKit. It's a separate system as Xtract3D 1, so your Xtract3D 1 login information is different. You'll need to create a Polyga Software Suite account if you don't have one already.
While other reverse engineering software have automation tools that might sound great on paper, they simply aren’t effective for creating usable CAD models for most real life applications. We approach the reverse engineering challenge differently. Xtract3D 2 focuses on providing a basic yet powerful set of tools to manually extract features, sketch, and create CAD data using the 3D scan data as a template for design. This is a fool-proof way of doing reverse engineering from scan data.
No, a common misconception is optical 3D scanners directly output a CAD model. Point cloud or polygon mesh data is the output of all optical scanners. Xtract3D 2 loads that data, then you reference it to create sketches, features, and solid bodies in SOLIDWORKS. The result is a parametric CAD model you can edit, dimension, and manufacture.
SOLIDWORKS is one of the world’s most popular CAD modeling package used by 7.5 million users. We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel when SOLIDWORKS is great at building solid CAD models from scratch, so we decided to create a simple reverse engineering toolbar to complement it. As a bonus, people using SOLIDWORKS don’t need to learn another piece of software. When all the amazing tools you need are in one place for CAD modeling, it makes your work more productive.
There are limited tools in ScanTo3D to do a proper reverse engineering job quickly and to do it in the most direct way. We worked closely with reverse engineering professionals to develop Xtract3D 2. We listened to the challenges they have with existing products in the market to develop Xtract3D 2 as an alternative solution. ScanTo3D is also limited to working with low resolution scan data, whereas Xtract3D 2 can handle mesh data with millions of polygons and point clouds with hundreds of millions of points.
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