3D Models in Microsoft Word

Few people are aware of the functionality of placing 3D models into Microsoft Word documents. While this may not be something you do very often, this is a great way of getting high-resolution images of your models into Word without needing to take a screenshot. The best part is you can easily change the angle of your representation.

File Formats

Importing these models into Word requires the below file formats:

Of which, three file formats (Obj, Stl, Glb) can be exported from Inventor. (File > Export > CAD Format)

Inserting 3D Model

The process is fairly simple.. We need to have the Word document open, and head over to the Insert Tab, within Illustrations Panel, we have a 3D Models dropdown, where we can select This Device…

The three file types from Inventor will each come in slightly differently. Depending on what you are hoping to get from them; OBJ files will have great lighting, STL will be a very simple model, while GLB will come through with the correct texture mapping embedded onto the model with great shadowing (can you tell I have a favourite?).

View Orientation

Word gives us the ability to chose from various standard views of the model. This is great for getting the correct alignment without using view rotation controls. These settings can be found in the 3D Model tab.

The view rotation controls are quite intuitive to get the final alignment if you want a non-standard view.

Image Export

Now, probably my favourite part of this process is the ability to export a PNG of the model directly from Word. This is a great ability since PNGs export with an alpha channel meaning the image won’t have any background. Your model can then be placed anywhere with brilliant shading and no background.

We are also able to export as any of the below image formats (PNG, JPG, GIF, TIF, BMP, and SVG), by right-clicking on the model, and selecting Save as Picture…