COLLADA is an XML-based scene format that predates glTF as the Khronos interchange standard. It can carry geometry, materials, animations and full scene hierarchies, and remains common in older game pipelines, Google Earth assets and DCC tool exchanges.
COLLADA is exported by SketchUp, older Blender pipelines, Google Earth models and legacy game and simulation toolchains. It was the Khronos interchange standard before glTF, and large archives of assets still live in it.
Best for: Legacy game and simulation asset pipelines. There is a fuller write-up on the COLLADA format reference page.
Every format on this site also gets the same viewport tools: orbit, pan and zoom with fit-to-view, isometric and the six standard views, a perspective/orthographic toggle, shaded, shaded-with-edges, wireframe and X-ray display, hide-selected, and a PNG screenshot of the current view. The same controls are on the general 3D and CAD viewer, which accepts every importable format at once.
Worth knowing before you rely on it. A viewer that overstates what it can read wastes more of your time than one that is specific about its limits.
| COLLADA files | |
|---|---|
| Extensions | .dae |
| Geometry | Polygon mesh scenes |
| Units | Yes |
| Colors & materials | Materials & textures |
| Animations | Yes |
| Typical use | Legacy game & simulation assets |
COLLADA declares a unit and the loader converts the scene to metres with it. The readouts then label those metres as millimetres, so a 2.00 mm dimension means two metres.
COLLADA is read-only here. Moving a .dae into a modern single-file format is usually the right next step. The converter runs on the same local pipeline as this viewer, so a conversion is just as private as a preview: COLLADA to GLB is the usual choice.
This page does. The COLLADA XML is parsed in your browser and the scene graph becomes a browsable tree with section planes, measurement and per-node properties. No plugin, no SketchUp licence.
Because .dae references its images as separate files, and only the file you dropped is available inside the page. Each mesh is drawn in its material’s base color instead. Geometry, hierarchy and dimensions are unaffected.
The loader converts the scene to metres using the unit element in the file, then the readout appends a millimetre suffix. Read millimetres as metres and the numbers make sense; proportions and relative measurements are correct either way.
No. It is parsed inside your browser. Because COLLADA is XML and DOMParser only exists on the main thread, that parsing happens on the main thread rather than in a worker — but the file still never leaves your device.
Geometry: polygon mesh scenes. Units: yes. Colors and materials: materials & textures. Animations: yes. Of that, the viewer draws geometry and flat base colors; texture maps and animation are never displayed. COLLADA declares a unit and the loader converts the scene to metres with it. The readouts then label those metres as millimetres, so a 2.00 mm dimension means two metres.
Read the COLLADA format reference for the format itself, open the general 3D and CAD viewer if you have several formats to look at, or start from the 3D and CAD converter.
The mesh simplifier does not read .dae directly. To bring a triangle count down, convert to GLB first, then simplify that. If the file is headed for a 3D printer, the G-code viewer shows the sliced toolpath layer by layer once your slicer has run.