Free online BREP to TIF converter

CAD viewers, documentation systems, and print workflows may require a raster image instead of editable boundary-representation geometry. Converting a BREP model to TIF therefore means rendering the 3D shape from a chosen view and saving that view as a TIFF image.

What the BREP format is

BREP means boundary representation: a solid or surface model described by vertices, edges, faces, shells, and topological relationships, with geometric definitions such as planes, cylinders, and NURBS surfaces. A BREP file stores model geometry rather than pixels, so it can normally be rotated, measured, sectioned, and edited in a compatible CAD system.

The .brep extension commonly identifies the Open CASCADE BRep shape format. Open CASCADE Technology, FreeCAD, SALOME, and engineering applications built on Open CASCADE can create or export such files. You may encounter them when exchanging individual parts between CAD applications, testing geometric kernels, or receiving a model without the original native CAD project.

What the TIF format is

TIF, also written TIFF, is a tagged raster-image format used for technical illustrations, scanned drawings, page-layout workflows, and archival images. It stores pixels rather than CAD topology, so a TIF can be opened by image editors, document systems, and many printers but cannot preserve selectable faces, parametric dimensions, or editable solids.

TIFF supports high resolutions, grayscale and color channels, transparency in some workflows, and lossless compression such as LZW or Deflate. It is usually preferable to JPEG for line-heavy CAD renders because it avoids lossy block artifacts. TIFF files are often much larger than PNG or JPEG files at the same dimensions.

How to actually convert BREP to TIF

Using FreeCAD

1. Install FreeCAD and open the BREP file with File → Open. If the file is not listed, set the file filter to all supported formats or all files.
2. Select the required object in the model tree, press the fit-view command, and choose the camera orientation with the standard-view controls. Hide construction geometry and other objects that should not appear in the image.
3. Set the display mode, background, edge visibility, and colors in the view properties. A white background and visible edges generally produce the clearest technical illustration.
4. Use View → Save image, choose a filename ending in .tif or .tiff, and specify the output width and height if FreeCAD provides those fields. Use at least 2400 pixels on the long edge for printed documentation; choose a larger value when the image contains small features.

FreeCAD can also export the current viewport through its Python console. After opening and positioning the model, run:

Gui.activeDocument().activeView().saveImage("model.tif", 2400, 1800, "Current", 1.0)

The available image formats depend on the Qt image plugins included with the FreeCAD installation. If direct TIFF output fails, save a lossless PNG and convert it with ImageMagick:

magick model.png -alpha remove -background white -compress LZW model.tif

You can also use the built-in converter on 101convert.com for free without installing software. For a CAD-to-image conversion, verify the resulting camera angle, scale, background, and pixel dimensions because a raster conversion does not retain the original model data.

Quality and compatibility limitations

This process renders one view; it does not convert BREP geometry into an editable TIFF representation. Curved surfaces are rasterized at the selected resolution, and hidden faces, alternate views, measurements, and model metadata are not included unless they are visible in the viewport or added as annotations.

Use an orthographic camera when the image must communicate engineering dimensions without perspective distortion. Increase the output dimensions rather than enlarging a small TIFF afterward. If the target application rejects compressed TIFF files, export an uncompressed TIFF or use LZW instead of JPEG compression. Transparency may be discarded when a white background is applied, and different viewers can display anti-aliasing, line widths, and colors differently.