Extract text from Stereo CAD-3D images (3D4)
To convert 3D4 3D images to another format, you need Stereo CAD-3D 2.0 or other 3D software.
To convert other file formats to the "Legacy 3D Image File" file type, you need software like Stereo CAD-3D 2.0 or a similar tool.
The .3D4 file is an extremely old, legacy 3D image format created by Stereo CAD-3D 2.0, an early 3D modeling program designed for the Atari ST computer system in the mid-1980s. Developed by Antic Software, it can store up to 40 individual 3D objects, along with basic lighting data (three lights plus ambient) and a color palette.
As a relic of the retro-computing era, the .3D4 format comes with severe modern disadvantages. It is a proprietary, closed format that uses fixed-point integer math to store vertex coordinates - a trick used in the 1980s to save precious floppy disk space. Consequently, it completely lacks support for modern 3D concepts like complex textures, skeletal rigging, or advanced materials. You cannot open a .3D4 file natively in standard current generation 3D software such as Blender or Autodesk Maya.
If you need to use this vintage 3D geometry today, your best bet is converting the file into a universally readable format like OBJ, STL, or 3DS. Note that during conversion, any specific lighting setups or color palettes tied to the Atari hardware will likely be lost, leaving you with just the bare polygon meshes.
Because .3D4 is so rare and undocumented, standard online converters will fail to process it. We can instantly identify the file format, safely inspect its internal binary structure, and show you any embedded text or metadata. If our analysis detects a supported underlying or embedded format, viewing or conversion may still be possible.
Convert.Guru analyzes your 3D4 file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted MBK, DOO, A52 and 3D3 files.
If you want to convert 3D4 file to OBJ, FBX, DAE, 3DS, MAX, BLEND, MA, MB, C4D, STL, PLY or WRL, you can use Stereo CAD-3D 2.0 or similar software from the "Legacy 3D Object Storage" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert DWG, DAE, X3D, IGES, WRL, JT, SKP, 3DS, 3DM, OBJ, STEP or FBX files to 3D4, try Stereo CAD-3D 2.0 or another comparable tool in the "Legacy 3D Object Storage" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our 3D4 converter.