For maximum performance, 3D assets should usually be converted to a custom and optimized format before packaged into applications. This currently involves running a tool to convert the assets from the source format, either from the command line (balsam) or from the standalone GUI tool.

To maximize user efficiency, the workflow should be streamlined in the Design Studio. In order for this to work, we need additional hooks in the standalone tool, so that this can be used from the GUI.

In addition, there are certain use cases where you would want to load the source files directly in the application. An example of such a use case is when the application loads third-party / user-generated content. In these cases it is unreasonable to expect the end user to convert their assets to Qt's internal format.