Fact Sheet: 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF)

General

Short description/ Transmitted information	3MF is an XML-based data format designed by the 3MF Consortium for additive manufacturing. It is including model geometry, structure, material, color and property information.
Normative document	List of several normative documents available at Specification - 3MF Consortium
Version/ Release state	2.2.0
Release date	24 August 2021
Application scope	Data exchange Collaboration
Goals	Improve data exchange in AM processes by provinding a standardized file format that can forward full digital part information.
Promoting bodies	3MF Consortium
Type	3MF Consortium Standard
IT Standard classification	Interoperability Standard Process Standard
Data format	Text Format (ASCII/XML) Geometry in tesselated representation Extensible with propriatary content
Additional available resources	https://3mf.io/ https://github.com/3mfconsortium
Relevant prostep ivip project groups	Additive Manufacturing Interfaces AMI 3D Messdatenmanagement Implementor Forum (prostep.org)

There are currently 16 Founding Members and 10 Associate Members within the 3MF Consortium.

The 3MF File format is not intended to be standardized by a standardization body.

Development efforts need to be split among several FMI versions, slowing down overall adoption rate of the standard
Users keep using older versions of the standard; therefore tool vendors have no incentive to implement newer versions for export
Releases of non-backward compatible versions cause transition overhead for users, slowing down the adaption of new releases
A simulation model using multiple FMU's from different IT tools may not leverage the full FMI capabilities if one (or more) IT tool(s) do not support all capabilities of the FMI specification. This can lead to unexpected simulation results.