# About Asset Transformer Studio

> Overview of Asset Transformer Studio's capabilities and key features


[Asset Transformer Studio overview](https://www.youtube.com/embed/27uDjFv9DxE?si=8wXJPEAIJgDJt1dg)

Asset Transformer Studio is a standalone application dedicated to interactive **3D data preparation**, that makes it easy for 3D artists and 3D specialists to **convert, prepare and optimize CAD/3D models** so they can work with them in Unity or in any other 3D application.

> **Note:**
>
> See the [typical data preparation workflow](./data-preparation-fundamentals/typical-data-preparation-workflow.md) when preparing a model for an industrial use case, and [this whitepaper](https://create.unity.com/optimizing-cad-data-for-real-time-3d-visualization) about CAD data optimization for Real-Time 3D Visualization.

It is the perfect tool for bringing complex data from the CAD-engineering world to the visualization world, helping companies leverage their CAD/3D data, by preparing it for [Real-time 3D](https://unity.com/solutions/architecture-engineering-construction) use, and for any visualization scenario.

Traditional DCC tools like Blender can natively read 3D files containing tessellated objects (meshes) like FBX, OBJ and GLTF files. However native CAD files, created for engineering, manufacturing and interoperability purposes in professional CAD solutions (CATIA, NX, SolidWorks, Revit…), are not well handled. Asset Transformer Studio provides best-in-class CAD optimization and tessellation algorithms, enabling the transformation of CAD models from any industry-leading CAD/3D solutions into lightweight, optimized meshes, ready to be exported.

Asset Transformer Studio is agnostic: you can export the 3D model you imported, prepared and optimized in the application into multiple standard formats like FBX, glTF or USD.

### Key features

| Feature                                                                                                | Availability                                                                                                         |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Interactive user interface                                                                             | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Convert (import/export) [any CAD/3D file](./supported-file-formats.md)                                 | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Source [CAD/3D information](./data-preparation-fundamentals/about-3d-models-types.md) preservation     | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Algorithms for CAD/3D data preparation                                                                 | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Algorithms for CAD/3D data optimization                                                                | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Powerful 3D viewer to manipulate large/complex models                                                  | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| [Python scripting interface](./working-with-asset-transformer-studio/scripting-with-the-python-api.md) | ✔️                                                                                                                   |
| Import/Export python functions for automatic batch processing                                          | ❌ *See [Asset Transformer SDK](https://www.pixyz-software.com/documentations/sdk/latest/) for batching capabilities* |

## Integrated Python API

Asset Transformer Studio features a [Python API interface](./working-with-asset-transformer-studio/scripting-with-the-python-api.md), enabling developers to extend its out-of-the-box capabilities, with scripts or plugins.

> **Warning:**
>
> Please note the API cannot be used for **batch/automation data preparation scripts**: [Asset Transformer SDK](https://www.pixyz-software.com/documentations/sdk/latest/) is the solution for this, and the supporting tool for developing scripts is the [Asset Transformer SDK UI](https://www.pixyz-software.com/documentations/sdk/latest/manual/pixyzui/pixyzui.html).

## Related topics

* [About Asset Transformer SDK](https://www.pixyz-software.com/documentations/sdk/latest/)
* [Typical data preparation workflow](./data-preparation-fundamentals/typical-data-preparation-workflow.md)