3D Viewer is a free application included with Windows 10 (and 11). It lets you view a 3D model in 3D space, letting you move around it to get varied perspectives.
Use in Education
An example of 3D Viewer use could be to view models of human organs, and point of specific parts of it. This has advantages over using existing 2D images as it gives the students a more realistic perspective of how it would look in the real world, and it will let the teacher change the perspective to better illustrate their point.
For example, this model of the human heart (included with 3D viewer for free, as are some other models) could help students view this organ from multiple perspectives.
As there are many overlapping components it might be difficult to convey in a 2D format. The teacher could then rotate the camera to get another perspective while explaining these elements.
While the included models are not necessarily anatomically correct, they do provide a useful perspective change, and help put things into perspective for students, and therefore might be beneficial.
Using the 3D Viewer
When opening the program, a welcome screen will display. You can close this by clicking ‘Ok’.
Once in, it will usually have a 3D model open already as default. You can choose your own 3D model to open by clicking the ‘3D Library’ button on the top right of the screen. And it will open a new window as shown below.
Then you simply search for the object and click on it. When you do that, it will open the model in the viewer. In this example we’ll use the heart as above.
To rotate the camera, use the left mouse button and drag. To zoom in on the model, scroll the mouse wheel upwards, and scroll it back to zoom out. Hold down the right mouse button to pan around. These controls will take some getting used to, but once you’ve worked them out, you’ll be able to navigate around the model easily.