StepViz

A WebAssembly-based 3D STEP file visualizer built with Rust and WebGPU. This tool parses and renders STEP files directly in the browser (CSR).

Live Demo

=======> https://mtb0x1.github.io/stepvisualizer/ <=======

Or

=======> https://mtb0x1.github.io/stepvisualizer/?tracing=on&level=trace <=======

and check browser Web console.

Current Status

This is an experimental project. The visualization works for basic STEP files but may fail or crash with complex models. Performance and stability are not guaranteed.

Features

• Web-based 3D visualization of STEP files
• View part hierarchy and metadata
• WebGPU-accelerated rendering
• Works entirely in the browser (no server processing)

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant App as App (lib.rs)
    participant Workspace as Workspace Hook
    participant Storage as Storage
    participant Render as Render Module
    participant Camera as Camera
    participant Canvas as WebGPU Canvas

    User->>App: Load STEP file
    App->>Workspace: on_file_change callback
    Workspace->>Storage: Read and hash file
    Workspace->>Render: step_extract_wsgl_reqs
    Note over Render: Tessellate → vertices/indices
    Render->>Storage: Cache render parts
    Workspace->>App: Update metadata, step_model
    App->>MainPanel: Pass step_model
    MainPanel->>Camera: compute_eye_position
    Camera-->>MainPanel: Eye position [x, y, z]
    MainPanel->>Canvas: render_wgpu_on_canvas
    Canvas->>Canvas: Render pass, draw calls
    Canvas-->>User: Display geometry

Loading

Requirements

• A modern browser with WebGPU support : check https://caniuse.com/?search=webgpu
• Enable WebGPU in the browser (Chrome: chrome://flags/#enable-webgpu, Firefox: about:config -> webgl.webgpu.force-enabled)

Getting Started

1. Install dependencies:

   cargo install trunk

2. Run the development server:

   trunk serve

3. Open http://localhost:8080 in a modern browser

Known Limitations

• Complex STEP files may cause crashs or rendering issues
• Large models may experience performance problems
• Some STEP file features may not be fully supported

Dependencies

• Rust (latest nightly)
• wasm-bindgen
• wgpu (WebGPU implementation)
• truck-* crates for geometry processing
• and some more ...

TODO

• Tessellation : reduce precison to save memory and time.
• Tessellation : allow user to select preferred precision (this need to be in range of allowed tolerance)
• Few FIXME and TODO are in the code, some are critical.
• Add support for STEP file features that are not currently supported.
• Clean up :
  • panic should be replaced with error notification instead (on UI).
  • constants are in a separate file but not used.
  • deduplicate code (some are in common, some are in rendering, alot of repetitve patterns).
  • alot of clone and are most probably adding to perf issues.
  • regorg components to make it more maintainable.
  • some callbacks are not needed and/or triggred too often.
  • Alternative to Yew : less conveluted and more performant ?

Screenshots