xTool XCS & XS files: thumbnails and viewer

Updated Sep 16, 2026 · 3 min read

Meshory shows each xTool Creative Space .xcs and xTool Studio .xs file as a thumbnail, inside ZIPs too, and opens it full size, all on your computer.

An XCS file is a project saved by xTool Creative Space, and XS is the newer format xTool Studio saves. File Explorer shows both as the xTool icon, so finding one design among hundreds means opening them one at a time. Meshory indexes both next to your 3D models: every project gets a thumbnail, opens full size, and goes to xTool from a button.

Projects inside ZIP, RAR, 7Z and TAR/TGZ archives are included, so a design you bought as a ZIP download shows up without unpacking it.

Finding your projects

The flat view of your library starts on Models, so xTool projects stay out of it at first. Open the menu at the end of the scope control and pick xTool under Cut files to see only xTool projects, or pick All to see them beside your models. Search matches a project's name and folder path like any other file, and Details lets you tag a project the same way you tag a model.

Thumbnails

The thumbnail is the preview xTool saved inside the project. When a project has none, Meshory draws one from the design: shapes in their layer colors, text, and the photos placed on the canvas, with hidden layers left out. A project with several canvases shows the one that was open when it was saved.

Opening a project full size

Click a project to open it full size. Zoom with the buttons or the scroll wheel, turn it with Rotate left and Rotate right, and move to the next file with the arrow keys. Details opens a side panel with the file's type, size, path, dates and tags.

Meshory draws the full-size view from the project itself, so outlines stay sharp as you zoom in. A project over 64 MB keeps its thumbnail and shows Too large to preview here, and a damaged file shows This project looks damaged.

Opening in xTool

The Open button beside the preview hands the project to xTool. On macOS it names the app Meshory found in Applications: Open in xTool Studio, or Open in xTool Creative Space. XS files need xTool Studio 1.7 or later, so when only Creative Space is installed the button reads Open and macOS picks the app. On Windows the file opens in the app its extension belongs to, which the xTool installer sets. xTool makes no Linux app.

A project inside an archive is copied to Meshory's extraction cache, and xTool opens that copy. The archive never changes, so save any edits to a folder of your own.

Limits

• xTool projects are never counted as duplicates, the same as images and SVGs.
• Meshory only reads projects. Editing happens in xTool.
• Other programs use .xcs and .xs too (Xshell color schemes, Perl XS source). Meshory checks what is inside each file, so those get no thumbnail, and opening one shows Not an xTool project.
• The earliest versions of xTool Creative Space saved text without letter outlines, so that text is left out of the drawing.