File types
Orbit saves scenes, objects and presets in four formats of its own and exchanges meshes with other 3D software as Wavefront OBJ. It also writes pictures, animations and a diagnostics text file. The File menu and the IMPORT and EXPORT menus in the toolbar reach most of them.
| File | Extension | Kind shown in Finder | Double-click in Finder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scene | .orbit | Orbit 3D Scene | Opens the scene in place of the one in the window, after asking about unsaved changes. |
| Object | .orbitobj | Orbit 3D Object | Adds the objects to the open scene. |
| Material preset | .orbitmat | Orbit 3D Material Preset | Copies the preset into the MATERIAL BROWSER. The scene is unchanged. |
| Environment preset | .orbitenv | Orbit 3D Environment Preset | Copies the preset into the ENVIRONMENT BROWSER. The scene is unchanged. |
| Wavefront OBJ | .obj | Set by macOS | Does not open in Orbit. Use IMPORT instead. |
| Pictures, animations and diagnostics | .png, .jpg, .tif, .gif, .mp4, .txt | Set by macOS | Open in the app macOS assigns to each. |
When Orbit is not running, double-clicking a scene or object file starts it with that file and skips the WELCOME sheet. The four Orbit formats are JSON text, so any text editor can show their contents.
Scene files
A scene file, .orbit, holds one scene. File ▸ Save Scene (⌘S) and SAVE in the toolbar write it, and File ▸ Open Scene… (⌘O), OPEN, File ▸ Open Recent and the RECENT list on the WELCOME sheet read it.
| Part of the scene | In the file |
|---|---|
| Objects | Yes, each with its settings, material, deformers, mesh edits and array. |
| Lights and groups | Yes. |
| Environment | Yes, with the name of the environment preset applied to it. |
| Camera | Yes, with its position, aim, field of view and tilt. |
| Camera view | Yes. The scene reopens in perspective, TOP, FRONT or SIDE, whichever was showing. |
| Camera snapshots | Yes, with their thumbnails. |
| Loop Studio | The lanes. LOOP under DURATION and FRAMING are saved only while the scene has at least one lane. A scene whose only motion is water has no lanes, so it reopens with the default loop length and framing. |
| Presets | The material presets saved in the MATERIAL BROWSER that the scene's objects use, and the saved environment preset applied to it. Presets built into Orbit are recorded by name. |
| Images | Copies of the images used by materials, by the environment's IMAGE and by the GOBO of a light, reduced to at most 1,024 pixels along the longer side. |
| View mode | No. The scene opens in the Shaded view whichever mode was showing. |
| Render look, render settings and export settings | No. They stay with Orbit on the Mac, and a scene opens in the look chosen at the time. |
| SETTINGS | No. |
| Undo history | No. |
| ISOLATE | No. A scene opens with isolation off. |
For each image the file records the file name alone, with no folder path. A PNG is stored as PNG and a JPEG as JPEG, and other formats, such as TIFF, are converted to one of the two. The copy leaves out the original's metadata, such as the place a photo was taken. A reopened scene shows its images at the reduced size, on this Mac or any other. An image that was moved or deleted before saving cannot be copied, and Orbit names it in a message after the save.
Opening a scene that carries presets adds them to the MATERIAL BROWSER and ENVIRONMENT BROWSER, where they stay after the scene is closed.
Orbit reads scene files written by the same or an earlier version. A file saved by a newer version in a newer file format either opens with a message that settings this version does not know will be dropped when saved, or does not open and asks for Orbit to be updated. File and purchase problems covers both messages, and Save, open and recover scenes covers saving and opening.
Object files
An object file, .orbitobj, carries one or more objects from one scene into another, still as Orbit objects. Each keeps its type and settings, deformers, material and smoothing, so its controls in the INSPECTOR work as before. Images used by the materials are copied into the file as in a scene file.
| Action | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Export | EXPORT ▸ SELECTED AS OBJECT… in the toolbar, or File ▸ Export Selected as Object… | Writes each selected object and each member of a selected group. Groups themselves, lights, the camera and the environment stay out. Needs the full version. |
| Import | IMPORT ▸ OBJECT (.ORBITOBJ)…, File ▸ Import Object… or a double-click in Finder | Adds the objects at the positions they were exported from, selected, as one step that ⌘Z removes. An object whose name is already in the scene gets a number after it, so a second Torus becomes Torus 2. Works in the free and full versions. |
Imported objects arrive ungrouped; group them again with ⌘G. For the procedure, see Import and export objects.
Preset files
A material preset file, .orbitmat, holds one material preset, and an environment preset file, .orbitenv, holds one environment preset. Each file is named after its preset and carries copies of the images the preset uses.
Orbit keeps every preset saved in the MATERIAL BROWSER or ENVIRONMENT BROWSER as one of these files, in preset folders of its own that match the folders shown in the browser. Presets built into Orbit have no file. REVEAL IN FINDER shows the file of the selected saved preset in the MATERIAL BROWSER, or of the applied saved preset in the ENVIRONMENT BROWSER, and the file can be sent to someone else. When a file in those folders changes outside Orbit, the browser picks up the change.
Double-clicking a preset file, or dragging it onto the presets in its browser, copies it into Orbit's presets without applying it. A file whose name is already taken is copied under a numbered name. Save your own presets covers saving, organizing and sharing presets.
Wavefront OBJ
OBJ is a plain text mesh format that most 3D software reads and writes. Orbit uses it for meshes going to and coming from other programs. One unit in an OBJ file is one meter in Orbit.
| Direction | Where | What Orbit reads or writes |
|---|---|---|
| Import | IMPORT ▸ WAVEFRONT OBJ (.OBJ)… or File ▸ Import Wavefront OBJ… | Only the corner positions and the faces. The whole file becomes one editable object resting on the ground, and its faces keep their number of corners. Normals, texture coordinates, .mtl material files and groups in the file are ignored, so the object takes Orbit materials. Lines Orbit cannot read are skipped and counted in a message. |
| Export | EXPORT ▸ SELECTED AS OBJ (.OBJ)… or File ▸ Export Selected as OBJ… | The selected objects and the members of selected groups, as triangles with normals, one named object each. Positions are in world space, with deformers, arrays, rotation and scale applied to the mesh. No texture coordinates and no .mtl file. Water, emitters and hidden objects are left out, and a message names them. Needs the full version. |
A face of more than three corners that bends inward can fill incorrectly, because Orbit fills each face as a fan of triangles from its first corner. Before importing a model of 100,000 triangles or more, Orbit asks for confirmation, since editing, undo and saving slow down as a mesh grows. Import and export objects gives the steps.
Images Orbit reads
| Use | Formats |
|---|---|
| A texture in a material | PNG, JPEG or TIFF |
| The environment's IMAGE and a light's GOBO | Any image format macOS opens |
| A photo to trace in the CURVE EDITOR | PNG, JPEG, HEIC or TIFF |
Pictures and animations
Orbit writes pictures with SAVE IMAGE in EXPORT RENDER, and animations with EXPORT TURNTABLE (⇧⌘E) and EXPORT LOOP in Loop Studio. In the free version every one of them carries the watermark. With WIREFRAME MODE on in RENDER SETTINGS, each is drawn as lines.
| Output | Extension | Made by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| PNG | .png | EXPORT RENDER | The only format that can have a TRANSPARENT background. |
| JPEG | .jpg | EXPORT RENDER | Compressed as set by QUALITY. |
| TIFF | .tif | EXPORT RENDER | |
| GIF | .gif | EXPORT TURNTABLE and EXPORT LOOP | Plays at 24 frames per second and repeats forever. Each frame has its own set of at most 256 colors, so a frame with more colors is dithered. |
| MP4 | .mp4 | EXPORT TURNTABLE and EXPORT LOOP | H.264 video, tagged with the color standard of HD video (BT.709). |
| PNG frames | A folder | EXPORT TURNTABLE and EXPORT LOOP | One PNG per frame, named frame_0000.png, frame_0001.png and so on, at the render size with no PIXEL SCALE enlargement. |
A picture's suggested name starts with orbit-render- followed by the date and time. Export settings lists the sizes and options of each export.
Diagnostics file
EXPORT LOGS in the DIAGNOSTICS section of SETTINGS writes one plain text file, with a suggested name such as orbit-diagnostics-20261002-091544.txt made from the date and time. The file starts with the versions of Orbit and macOS, the kind of processor, the amount of memory and the purchase status, followed by up to three recent crash records, newest first. The activity log comes last, oldest entry first. In the crash records, the path of the home folder appears as ~.
The log itself is kept as orbit.log and up to four older files, orbit.1.log to orbit.4.log, in the folder that OPEN FOLDER shows. App settings describes the three buttons, and Report a problem covers sending the file.
Files Orbit keeps for itself
Orbit runs in the App Sandbox, so macOS gives it a private folder of its own, apart from your documents. Orbit keeps its autosave copy, preset files and logs there.
The autosave copy is a single scene file, autosave.orbit, which Orbit writes while the scene has unsaved changes and replaces as the work goes on. Saving, opening a scene, quitting normally and choosing Discard in the save prompt delete it, so it survives only when Orbit stops without quitting normally. The next start offers to recover it. When it cannot be read, Orbit renames it autosave-unreadable.orbit and the message shows where it is.
The preset folders hold the .orbitmat and .orbitenv files described above, and the log folder holds the activity log. REVEAL IN FINDER in the browsers and OPEN FOLDER in SETTINGS open them in Finder. Settings and render settings are kept in Orbit's macOS preferences.
Related: Save, open and recover scenes, Import and export objects, Save your own presets and The free and full versions.