Serious CAD, in your visual library.
HEXOstpEngine is HEXO's purpose-built STEP/STP technology. It turns engineering files into thumbnails, previews and interactive 3D, right on your Mac.
Engineering geometry, not a picture of it.
A STEP file carries a model as precise surfaces, edges and solids. Finder shows it as a blank icon. HEXOstpEngine reads the geometry itself.
- QUEUED
- PROCESSING
- PROCESSING COMPLEX GEOMETRY
- PREPARING PREVIEW
- READY
One STEP file. Five ways to see it.
Every STEP file shows its model on its library card, not a blank icon.
Select a file and its model appears in the preview panel.
Open it full screen and explore it in interactive 3D.
The file's own record: source system, author, schema, structure, geometry and extent.
Solids the designer coloured keep their colours. Uncoloured ones render in a clean neutral.
Every file, with its own record.
HEXOstudios reads what a STEP file says about itself and lays it out beside the model.
- Size
- 4.8 MB
- Schema
- AUTOMOTIVE_DESIGN
- Created
- 2026-09-12
- System
- Mechanical CAD
- Preprocessor
- STEP AP214 export
- Author
- Design Engineer
- Organisation
- Workshop
- Description
- Impeller, 7 + 7 blades
- Solids
- 1
- Faces
- 386
- Entities
- 52,410
- Triangles
- 23,280
- Vertices
- 12,224
- X
- 152.5
- Y
- 152.5
- Z
- 75.2
Processed where your files live.
STEP and STP files on a Mac, answered.
How do I open a STEP or STP file on a Mac?
Add it to HEXOstudios, free on the Mac App Store. HEXOstpEngine turns the file into a thumbnail on its card and a 3D preview when you select it, in the file’s own colours; with Pro, Full Preview opens it full-screen. You don’t need CAD software just to look at a STEP file.
What’s the difference between STEP and STP files?
There is none: .step and .stp are two file extensions for the same STEP format, and HEXOstudios opens both.
Are STEP previews free?
HEXOstudios Free previews your first 12 unique STEP/STP files, for life. Pro previews unlimited STEP files and adds Full Preview. Pro is $24.99 once, with a 14-day free trial inside the app.
Are my STEP files uploaded anywhere?
No. HEXOstpEngine processes every file on your Mac, inside HEXOstudios. Your STEP files never leave your machine.
What is the STEP Passport?
File Passport for STEP files, part of HEXOstudios Pro: what the file says about itself, such as its schema, source system, author, structure, geometry, colours and extent, laid out beside the model.
Can I edit or convert STEP files in HEXOstudios?
No. HEXOstudios is a library and viewer: it shows STEP files as thumbnails, previews and 3D, with their STEP Passport, but doesn’t edit them. HEXOforge converts STL, OBJ, PLY, 3MF and AMF files; STEP files aren’t converted.
Built for more.
Today, HEXOstpEngine powers STEP/STP inside HEXOstudios. HEXO intends to make this purpose-built technology available for licensing and integration, so companies and developers can explore it in the future.
Part of HEXOstudios.
HEXOstpEngine is built into HEXOstudios, alongside Preview, Passport, Health and HEXOforge.
