MeshCache Studio is a fast, flexible viewer for 3D mesh caches
Tools developer Jasper Brekelmans has released MeshCache Studio, a lightweight new application for previewing animation and simulation caches.
The software – currently free in beta – is intended to open heavy 3D mesh cache files faster, and preview them more flexibly, than DCC applications like Blender, Houdini or Maya.
Users can also review and annotate caches, compare caches from different versions of a shot, and convert caches to other standard formats for export.
A fast, lightweight 3D cache viewer for VFX, animation and game development
MeshCache Studio is a new departure for Brekelmans, who is best known for developing motion capture and 3D scanning tools based around consumer hardware like game sensors.
It’s a dedicated viewing tool for animation and simulation caches – specifically, 3D mesh caches like cloth simulations or character animations.
It reads data in a range of standard file formats, including Alembic, USD and OBJ sequences, plus MDD and PC2 point caches, and Vertex Animation Textures.
Provides advanced options for visualizing, reviewing and batch-converting caches
As well as providing a quick way to open caches, MeshCache Studio provides more options for visualizing and reviewing them them than standard DCC applications.
Playback features include the option to step through animations frame by frame, and to vary playback speed between 0.1x and 10x via frame interpolation.
There are also a range of visualization options, including velocity heatmaps to show per-frame displacement; and support for ACES tonemapping for VFX work.
For shot review, users can play back different versions of a shot side by side, or in overlay mode, and add drawn annotations and text-based notes.
The software can also convert caches between formats, or render them to video, including turntable previews, and has a headless mode for batch processing on render farms.
Price, system requirements and release date
MeshCache Studio is compatible with Windows 10+ and macOS (on Apple Silicon Macs only).
It’s currently free in public beta until the end of May 2026. Brekelmans hasn’t announced commercial pricing yet, but it will be a perpetual license.
Read more about MeshCache Studio on Jasper Brekelmans’ website
(Includes a download link for the public beta)
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