If data portability is so annoying, what format(s) are we talking about here? We asked what formats people use when sharing data with 1) collaborators, 2) clients, and 3) fabrication shops. The results were generally unsurprising, but lead to some interesting conclusions.

Sometimes when you’re weeding through your co-workers file drawers, you’ll come across a thumb-drive with all sorts of interesting files on them. Often they’ll meet your suspicions that they’ve been messing around with other 3D file formats, but what you see is strange to you. What could they be? How can you find out? File…