Marmoset Viewer

Marmoset Viewer is a WebGL 3D model viewer for sharing interactive presentations on the web. Scenes are created in Marmoset Toolbag and exported as optimized .mview packages for hosting or embedding. It supports animated scenes, refractive materials, shadowed fog, and shadow catcher objects. Web developers can embed packages with a JavaScript library and embed utility; packages can also be uploaded to ArtStation, and a third-party WordPress plugin is available for uploading and embedding. A free standalone desktop app opens .mview files locally and can be downloaded separately from Toolbag. The maker lists Windows, OS X, iOS, and Android support, while noting Android support is less robust than Windows, OS X, and iOS. Global illumination, screen-space reflections, and ambient occlusion are not supported. The maker says models and textures must be sent to the browser for rendering, so robust copy protection is essentially impossible. The standalone app is free, and Viewer is included with Toolbag versions 2.07 and newer.

Marmoset Viewer is designed for presenting and embedding interactive 3D scenes, with a free desktop app for local .mview viewing. Its missing rendering features and limited artwork protection are important constraints for some projects.

Marmoset Viewer suits artists and developers sharing interactive 3D scenes online or opening .mview files locally. The maker notes weaker Android support than on Windows, OS X, and iOS.

Overview

Marmoset Viewer is a WebGL viewer for interactive 3D scenes exported from Marmoset Toolbag. It suits artists presenting work online and developers adding 3D scenes to a website. It is a focused presentation option, but unsupported rendering effects and the exposure inherent in browser delivery rule it out for some projects.

Key features

Toolbag scenes export as optimized .mview packages for hosting and embedding. Viewer supports animated scenes, refractive materials, shadowed fog and shadow catcher objects, along with real-time and GPU rendering and a presentation mode. This makes it useful for showing a scene interactively, not for reviewing it with others: measurement tools and annotation or markup are absent.

Global illumination, screen-space reflections and ambient occlusion are not supported. A scene that depends on those effects may look different in Viewer, so artists should account for that gap when planning a web presentation.

For offline use, a free standalone desktop app opens .mview files and can be downloaded separately from Toolbag. Online, packages can be uploaded to ArtStation. A third-party WordPress plugin supports uploading and embedding, while developers can embed Viewer with its JavaScript library and embed utility.

Web delivery has a real security cost: models and textures must reach the browser to render, so robust copy protection is essentially impossible. Viewer is a poor choice for work that must be difficult to copy. Marmoset's privacy policy says it may collect contact details, usage data and cookie or tracking data; it also notes that internet transmission and electronic storage cannot be guaranteed absolutely secure. For Viewer issues, Marmoset directs users to its support email.

Pricing

The Marmoset Viewer plan costs nothing. Viewer is included with Toolbag versions 2.07 and newer, and the standalone Viewer app is free. The product also has a 30-day trial. The free viewer is a practical way to open and present exported scenes, but creating those scenes requires Marmoset Toolbag; Viewer itself does not replace that authoring workflow. Pricing for Toolbag is custom pricing.

Platforms

Viewer supports web, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and opens .mview files. Marmoset describes Android support as less robust than support for Windows, OS X and iOS, so Android should not be the first choice when broad compatibility is critical.

Who it's for

Viewer fits Toolbag users who want to share an interactive 3D presentation through a web page or deliver a local .mview file. Its animation and material support help artists show more than a static model, while embedding options give web developers a route to include scenes on a site. It is less suitable for collaborative inspection requiring measurements or annotations, projects that depend on unsupported rendering effects, and artwork that needs strong copy protection.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Animated scenes, refractive materials, shadowed fog and shadow catcher objects support richer interactive presentations.
• Pros: Free local viewing and several web distribution routes make exported scenes usable beyond Toolbag itself.
• Cons: Global illumination, screen-space reflections and ambient occlusion are unsupported, limiting scene fidelity for work that relies on them.
• Cons: Browser rendering requires models and textures to be sent to the browser, preventing robust copy protection.
• Cons: No measurement tools or annotation and markup means it is not a scene-review workspace.

Alternatives

For a broader search across adjacent tools, browse 3D Model Viewer Software, 3D Rendering Software, 3D Texturing Software or Game Texture Software.

• OctaneRender is a freemium option with a free plan and a €19.99 a year Studio+ annual plan; consider it when a rendering tool is a better fit than Viewer’s presentation-focused workflow.
• Light Tracer Render is a paid option with no free plan and a $9.99 a month three-month plan for one floating license and one computer at a time; choose it if that licensing arrangement suits your rendering work.
• Houdini is a freemium tool with a free plan and Windows, macOS and Linux support; consider it if you need a tool outside Viewer’s narrow web-presentation role.
• AMD Auto-Detect and Install Tool is a free Windows utility for supported Windows versions and AMD Radeon graphics or Ryzen chipsets.
• Corona Benchmark is a free macOS and Windows benchmark that renders for exactly one minute using the Corona 10 rendering core.
• Thea Render is a paid rendering option with a free Thea Node plan for unlimited nodes on machines on the same network as the main integration.
• ZBrush has a free iPad plan with 28 brushes and a subscription plan; consider it for a different kind of 3D work.
• Bforartists is a free, open-source 3D creation suite for Linux, macOS and Windows.

Verdict

Choose Marmoset Viewer if you already work in Toolbag and want a free way to present interactive 3D scenes online or open exported scenes locally. Its focused presentation features and embedding options are compelling for that job; look elsewhere if your scene depends on unsupported effects, needs review tools, or must be protected from copying.