Short answer: reaConverter automates file conversion through three layers that share the same settings engine. The Windows context menu handles ad-hoc jobs, Watch Folders convert files the moment they land in a monitored directory, and the command-line tool (cons_rcp.exe) runs scheduled and scripted jobs. Watch Folders run as a Windows service and require local storage. The command line reads network paths without restriction. All three read the same .cfg configuration files and .act action files, so a workflow you design once in the interface runs identically everywhere. Watch Folders and the command line require reaConverter Pro.

This guide covers how those layers fit together, how to build a pipeline that survives unattended operation, and six complete workflows you can adapt.

What counts as an automated conversion workflow

A conversion workflow is automated when three conditions hold:

1. The trigger is not a person. A file arriving, a clock reaching 02:00, or another program calling an API starts the job.
2. The settings are stored, not retyped. Output format, quality, resize rules, naming, and destination live in a file, not in someone’s memory.
3. Failures are visible. The job reports what it processed, what it skipped, and why.

Most conversion setups get the first condition right and ignore the other two. That is why they break quietly. The sections below treat all three as part of the design.

The three automation layers

These layers are not alternatives so much as stages. A typical production setup uses two or three at once. A common pattern: the command line converts a historical backlog over a weekend, a Watch Folder handles new files from that point on, and the context menu stays available for one-off exceptions.

Choosing a layer

• New files arrive continuously and unpredictably → Watch Folder.
• Files arrive in known batches at known times → command line plus Windows Task Scheduler.
• A one-time archive migration → command line.
• A person decides which files to convert → context menu.
• Source files live on a network share → command line on a schedule, or reaConverter installed on the file server itself.

Configuration files: the portable unit of a workflow

Before touching automation, build the job in the reaConverter interface and save it. This is the step that makes everything else reproducible.

Configuration file (.cfg) stores conversion settings: output format and its format-specific options, destination folder, file naming rules, and post-conversion file handling. Create it with Menu → Save configuration as.

Action file (.act) stores the editing operations applied during conversion: resize, crop, rotate, watermark, color adjustments, and the rest. Create it from the Image editing tab using Save actions to file as.

The split matters. A .cfg answers “what format, where does it go, what is it called.” An .act answers “what happens to the content on the way.” Keeping them separate means you can pair one action file with several configurations, for example the same watermark and resize applied to both a WebP web output and a TIFF archive output.

Both file types load into Watch Folder setup and both can be passed to the command line:

cons_rcp.exe config.cfg actions.act -f file1.jpg file2.png file3.tiff

Practical convention: keep these files in a version-controlled folder alongside your scripts, named for the workflow rather than the format. supplier-photos-web.cfg tells a colleague more in six months than webp85.cfg does.

Layer 1: context menu conversions

Integrating reaConverter with the Windows context menu turns any selection in Explorer into a conversion job. Select files or a folder, right-click, and convert with your saved settings.

Windows 11 hides third-party entries behind Show more options, which adds a click. For staff who convert dozens of files a day, that friction is a real cost, and it is usually the point at which a Watch Folder becomes the better answer.

The context menu remains valuable as the escape hatch in an automated shop. When a file arrives outside the normal channel, someone can convert it correctly without needing access to scripts.

Layer 2: Watch Folders

A Watch Folder is an ordinary Windows folder that reaConverter monitors. Any file placed there is converted using stored settings and written wherever you specify, with no interaction.

Watch Folders run as a Windows service that uses the same conversion engine as the main application. The reaConverter window does not need to stay open, and nobody needs to be logged in. You configure a Watch Folder once through the interface, close the program, and conversions keep happening.

Watch Folders require local storage

A Watch Folder must point at a volume local to the machine running reaConverter. Network locations do not work, whether you address them as \\fileserver\incoming\ or through a mapped drive letter, because Windows does not deliver file system change notifications across SMB the way it does for local disks. A Watch Folder aimed at a share will sit there quietly and never fire.

This is a topology constraint rather than a dead end. Two ways around it:

• Install reaConverter on the machine that owns the storage. The folder is local to that server even though everyone else reaches it as a share. For engineering and document control this is usually the right answer anyway, since the files already live on a file server.
• Poll the share with a scheduled command-line job instead. cons_rcp.exe reads UNC paths without restriction. Running it on a short repeating interval reproduces most of what a Watch Folder does, at the cost of restructuring the folders into a queue. This is covered in full under Polling a network folder below.

Enabling and creating a Watch Folder

Open reaConverter, go to Menu → Watch folders, and toggle the switch ON. Click Add new folder to start the setup wizard.

Step 1: select the folder to monitor. Drag a folder onto the wizard or browse to it. Two options shape the scope:

• Read subfolders monitors the entire tree below the selected folder. Use this when incoming files are organized by project, client, or date.
• Process all files without filtering converts everything that appears. Turn it off to define file masks and exclusions on the next screen.

File masks accept both wildcards and regular expressions:

Regular expression masks are the feature that makes Watch Folders viable in engineering and document control environments, where filename structure carries meaning and only approved revisions should be processed.

There is a shortcut worth knowing: the reaConverter icon button in the bottom-left corner of the wizard loads your current conversion settings from the main interface, so you do not have to rebuild them inside the wizard.

Step 2: select where results are saved. Three options:

• Same as source folder writes converted files next to the originals. reaConverter excludes the files it creates from further processing, so this does not cause a conversion loop.
• Subfolder of source folder creates a subfolder such as Converted inside each source folder. Combined with Read subfolders, this preserves your directory structure while keeping originals and outputs separate. This is the safest default for most workflows.
• Following folder sends everything to one destination folder regardless of where it came from.

Step 3: saving settings. Choose the output format under Save files as and open the gear icon for format-specific settings such as quality and compression. Apply editing operations with Load actions file by pointing at a saved .act. Enable Create log file to generate a text record of every conversion.

Click Create Watch folder to activate it. The master switch under Menu → Watch folders stops every Watch Folder at once, which is the fastest way to halt automatic processing while you investigate something.

Turning on Create log file is not optional

For any Watch Folder that runs unattended, enable the log. A Watch Folder that silently stops processing a subset of files looks identical to one working correctly, right up until someone downstream notices a gap weeks later. The log is the only cheap way to answer “did this file get converted, and when.”

Running several Watch Folders

Create one Watch Folder per workflow rather than one folder with complex rules. A folder that resizes marketing images, a second that produces PDF issue sets, and a third that generates archive TIFFs are easier to reason about, easier to hand to a colleague, and easier to disable individually when something goes wrong.

File management after conversion

reaConverter can move or delete source files once they are processed successfully. Configure this in Menu → Saving Settings → File options before creating the Watch Folder, or include it in the .cfg you load.

Moving processed originals to an archive folder is almost always better than deleting them, and it has a second benefit: the monitored folder stays empty, so at a glance you can tell whether anything is stuck.

Layer 3: the command line

reaConverter Pro installs a command-line tool named cons_rcp.exe in the program folder. It exposes the full conversion and editing feature set through parameters, which makes it the right layer for scheduled jobs, server-side processing, and any workflow that has to be scripted.

Basic syntax

Convert a single file:

cons_rcp.exe -s "C:\input.jpg" -o "C:\output.png"

Convert a folder:

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "C:\input\" -source_ext heic -dest_path "C:\output\" -dest_ext jpg

Convert with an editing action applied:

cons_rcp.exe -s "C:\input.jpg" -o "C:\output.webp" -resize 500x300px qh

Use saved settings instead of long parameter lists:

cons_rcp.exe config.cfg actions.act -f file1.jpg file2.png file3.tiff

Parameter rules are simple. Parameters begin with -, values follow the parameter they belong to, a parameter can take several values separated by spaces, and order does not matter. Quote any path containing spaces.

A note on line continuation. The multi-line examples below use the caret ^, which is Command Prompt and batch file syntax. In PowerShell the continuation character is the backtick ` instead. Pasting a caret-continued command into PowerShell silently runs only the first line, which looks like reaConverter ignoring your parameters.

Workflow parameters worth knowing

The full parameter list covers hundreds of format-specific options. These are the ones that shape automation behavior rather than output quality:

Two parameters turn a folder-wide command into an incremental one. -file_age restricts the job by age, so -file_age 0 converts today’s arrivals and -file_age 1 covers the last day. This is the shortest path to a nightly job that does not reprocess the whole archive, and it needs no state of your own.

Read the parameter literally: it selects by creation date, not by last modified date. For a folder that receives files, those are effectively the same thing, because Windows stamps a fresh creation time on a file copied or moved into a new location. For a folder where files are edited in place, they are not the same thing at all, and -file_age will not see yesterday’s edit to a file created last year.

-use_file_list is the more general tool. A script decides which files qualify, writes their full paths to a plain text file, and reaConverter converts exactly those. Any rule you can express in PowerShell becomes a conversion filter, which matters when age alone is not the right test.

Two further mechanisms cover the rest. -overwrite 0 skips any file whose output already exists, so rerunning a job over a large folder only fills the gaps. -move_files empties the source folder as it succeeds, so whatever remains is by definition unprocessed.

Silent execution and logging

Suppress the window for scheduled tasks:

cons_rcp.exe [parameters] /hide

Capture output to a log file with standard redirection:

cons_rcp.exe "C:\config.cfg" "C:\actions.act" > "C:\logs\nightly.txt"

Append rather than overwrite with >> if you want a running history. Rotate these logs, or a busy pipeline will produce a file nobody can open.

Return codes

cons_rcp.exe sets an exit code that your script should check:

Code 8 is the one that matters most in production. It means the job ran and partially succeeded, which is exactly the failure mode that goes unnoticed without explicit handling.

A minimal batch wrapper:

@echo off
setlocal
set LOG=C:\logs\convert_%date:~-4%%date:~3,2%%date:~0,2%.txt

"C:\Program Files\reaConverter\cons_rcp.exe" ^
  -source_folder "D:\incoming\" -source_ext tif -file_age 0 ^
  -dest_path "D:\published\" -dest_ext pdf ^
  -move_unprocessed_files 1 -move_unprocessed_files_folder "D:\quarantine\" ^
  /hide >> "%LOG%" 2>&1

if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 0 exit /b 0
if %ERRORLEVEL% EQU 8 (
  echo PARTIAL FAILURE, check quarantine >> "%LOG%"
  powershell -Command "Send-MailMessage -To 'ops@example.com' -Subject 'Conversion partial failure' -Body 'See %LOG%' -SmtpServer 'smtp.example.com' -From 'jobs@example.com'"
  exit /b 8
)
echo FAILED with code %ERRORLEVEL% >> "%LOG%"
exit /b %ERRORLEVEL%

Scheduling with Windows Task Scheduler

Four settings decide whether a scheduled conversion job works reliably:

1. Run whether user is logged on or not. Otherwise the task waits for a session that may never exist on a server.
2. A service account with explicit permissions on the source, destination, quarantine, and log folders. Most first-run failures on scheduled conversion tasks are permission failures, not conversion failures.
3. UNC paths, not mapped drives. Mapped drive letters belong to interactive sessions and will not exist for a task running without one. Write \\fileserver\projects\incoming\ rather than P:\incoming\. This applies to command-line jobs, which handle network paths fine. Watch Folders are the opposite case and need local storage.
4. Start in set to the folder containing your script, so relative paths behave.

Polling a network folder

Watch Folders cannot monitor a share, but a scheduled command-line job can poll one. Run cons_rcp.exe against the share on a short repeating interval and you get the same outcome by a different route: files converted shortly after they arrive, with no one watching.

The trade is that the folder stops being a location and becomes a queue. A Watch Folder tracks which files it has already seen. A polling job has no memory, so every run would reconvert everything unless processed files leave. Moving them out is what supplies the state:

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "\\fileserver\incoming\" -source_ext tif ^
  -dest_path "\\fileserver\converted\" -dest_ext pdf ^
  -move_files 1 -move_files_folder "\\fileserver\done\" ^
  -move_unprocessed_files 1 -move_unprocessed_files_folder "\\fileserver\failed\" ^
  /hide

One folder becomes four: incoming, converted, done, failed. Incoming is empty whenever the queue is caught up, which is a genuinely better operational signal than anything a Watch Folder gives you.

Four settings make the difference between this working and this hurting:

Do not start a new instance. In the task’s Settings tab, set the behavior for an already-running task to Do not start a new instance. Without it, a run that takes longer than the interval overlaps with the next one and two processes fight over the same files.

Quarantine is mandatory, not optional. In a nightly job, a file that always fails wastes one attempt per day. In a job polling every minute, it fails 1440 times a day, and each attempt reopens it across the network. -move_unprocessed_files is what turns a poison file from a hot loop into a single entry in a folder someone checks.

Partial copies get much more likely. A large file arriving over the network exists in the folder before the copy finishes, and a fast poll will find it mid-write. Have the sender write to a staging folder on the same share and rename into the queue, since a rename within a volume is atomic. If you cannot control the sender, -file_size_more and -check_files reduce the damage but do not eliminate it.

The floor is one minute. Task Scheduler’s repetition interval bottoms out at one minute in the interface, with a duration of Indefinitely. That is fast enough for nearly every workflow. If you genuinely need seconds, do not fight the scheduler: write a small loop script that sleeps and calls cons_rcp.exe, and register that as a single task triggered at startup.

Expect return code 7, no files to convert, on most runs. It means the queue was empty, which is the normal state. Treat 7 as success in any alerting you build, or you will alert constantly.

Six workflows you can adapt

Each of these follows the same template: what triggers it, what it produces, and how it is configured.

1. Nightly DWG issue sets for document control

Situation. An engineering team saves drawings throughout the day. Document control needs a PDF of every drawing revised that day, delivered to a review folder each morning, without an AutoCAD seat on the server.

Trigger. Windows Task Scheduler at 02:00. The drawings live on a share, so this is a command-line job rather than a Watch Folder.

Produces. One dated folder of PDFs per night, mirroring the project directory structure.

Command. PowerShell, because selecting yesterday’s revisions is a filtering problem before it is a conversion problem:

$stamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyy-MM-dd"
$list  = "C:\jobs\dwg_today.lst"

Get-ChildItem "\\eng\projects\" -Recurse -Filter *.dwg |
  Where-Object { $_.LastWriteTime -gt (Get-Date).AddDays(-1) } |
  Select-Object -ExpandProperty FullName |
  Set-Content -Encoding ASCII $list

& "C:\Program Files\reaConverter\cons_rcp.exe" `
  -use_file_list $list `
  -dest_path "\\eng\review\$stamp\" -dest_ext pdf `
  -dxf_dwg_layout 1 -pdf_paper 12 `
  -save_path 1 -save_path_option 1 `
  -move_unprocessed_files 1 -move_unprocessed_files_folder "\\eng\review\_failed\" `
  /hide *>> "\\eng\logs\dwg_nightly.txt"

Notes. Filtering on LastWriteTime is the point. Document control asks for drawings revised yesterday, and a drawing revised yesterday was very likely created two years ago, so any rule based on creation date misses exactly the files that matter. Build the format date string yourself rather than using %DATE%, whose output contains slashes on most locales and is not a legal path component. -dxf_dwg_layout 1 outputs model space only, which is usually what reviewers want. -save_path 1 reproduces the project folder structure inside the dated review folder, so reviewers navigate a layout they already know.

Why not -file_age. -file_age 1 is a much shorter way to say “recent”, and for most incoming-folder workflows it is the right tool. It does not fit here because it selects on creation date, and drawings under revision are edited in place: the file was created when the project started and only its modified date moves. There is a second, less obvious reason. NTFS carries the original creation timestamp forward when an application saves by writing a temporary file and renaming it over the original, which is exactly how many CAD and office applications write. Even a save that replaces the file wholesale can keep the old creation date.

If drawings instead arrive in the folder as fresh copies from elsewhere, the constraint disappears and the whole script collapses to -source_folder "\\\\eng\\projects\\" -source_ext dwg -read_subfolders 1 -file_age 1.

2. CAD handoff for CNC and non-Autodesk partners

Situation. Partners and fabrication shops need DXF. Designers work in DWG. Nobody wants to remember to export.

Trigger. Watch Folder on D:\shares\handoff\, a local path on the file server, which designers reach as \\eng\handoff\. reaConverter is installed on the server itself, because a Watch Folder cannot monitor a share from another machine. A regex mask means only released revisions convert:

/[A-Z]{4} \d{4}_Rev[A-Z]\.dwg/

Configuration. Output DXF with -dxf_version 4 for AutoCAD 2000 compatibility, which most CNC software reads without complaint. Set -dxf_text 0 to convert text to polygons if the receiving system renders fonts inconsistently, or -dxf_text 1 to keep text editable. Confirm which the partner needs before standardizing.

Notes. The regex mask is what makes this safe. Without it, every working file dropped in the folder becomes a handoff document, and partners end up cutting parts from unreleased geometry.

3. Prepress normalization for a print queue

Situation. Client artwork arrives as RGB JPEG, PDF, AI, and PSD. The RIP wants CMYK TIFF at 300 dpi with a known ICC profile.

Trigger. Scheduled every 15 minutes, or a Watch Folder if P:\ is a local volume on the prepress machine rather than a share.

Produces. RIP-ready CMYK TIFFs, with originals archived and problem files quarantined.

Command.

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "P:\artwork_in\" ^
  -dest_path "P:\rip_queue\" -dest_ext tif ^
  -tif_save_in_cmyk 1 -tif_compression 7 ^
  -dpi_option 2 -dpi_x 300 -dpi_y 300 ^
  -icc_option 3 -icc_file "C:\profiles\ISOcoated_v2.icc" ^
  -adobe_res 300 -adobe_color_res 32 -adobe_aa 1 ^
  -move_files 1 -move_files_folder "P:\artwork_archive\" ^
  -move_unprocessed_files 1 -move_unprocessed_files_folder "P:\artwork_problem\" /hide

Notes. -icc_option 3 assigns the profile, -adobe_res 300 controls the rasterization resolution when reading PDF and AI sources, and -adobe_color_res 32 reads them as CMYK directly. Splitting outputs into an archive folder and a problem folder means the operator’s morning check is a single glance at whether artwork_problem is empty.

4. Scanned document archive to searchable PDF/A

Situation. A backlog of scanned TIFFs from a document imaging project needs to become searchable, standards-compliant PDF/A for long-term retention.

Command.

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "E:\scans\" -source_ext tif -read_subfolders 1 ^
  -dest_path "E:\archive\" -dest_ext pdf ^
  -create_searchable_pdf 1 -searchable_pdf_lang eng ^
  -create_pdf_a 1 -create_linearized_pdf 1 ^
  -skip_blank 1 -skip_blank_accuracy 95 ^
  -save_path 1 -save_path_option 1 ^
  -auto_rotate d -remove_bw_noise 2 b ^
  -check_files 1 /hide > "E:\logs\archive_run.txt"

Notes. -auto_rotate d deskews pages, which measurably improves OCR accuracy on scans fed through a sheet feeder. -remove_bw_noise clears speckle before OCR runs. -skip_blank removes the empty backs of single-sided originals scanned in duplex mode. Run a 200-file sample first and check the text layer before committing the full archive.

5. Multi-frame DICOM to shareable PDF

Situation. A clinic needs to send imaging studies to referring physicians who have no DICOM viewer. Each study should become one PDF containing every frame.

Trigger. Watch Folder on a study export directory, or a command-line job invoked by the export tool.

Command.

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "D:\dicom_export\" -source_ext dcm ^
  -dest_path "D:\referral_pdf\" -dest_ext pdf ^
  -multipage_option 1 -multipage_loading_option 0 ^
  -pdf_compression 6 -pdf_paper 12 ^
  -change_to_gray24 /hide

Notes. -multipage_loading_option 0 reads every frame rather than only the first. -multipage_option 1 keeps each study as its own PDF instead of merging studies together. -pdf_paper 12 uses the original image dimensions, which avoids the letterboxing that fixed paper sizes introduce on non-standard aspect ratios.

This workflow handles format conversion only. Anything involving patient identifiers, retention, or transmission belongs to your clinical information governance process, not to a conversion tool.

6. Supplier photos to web-ready assets

Situation. Suppliers send product photography in whatever their camera or phone produced: JPEG, HEIC, TIFF, occasionally PSD. The web team needs consistent WebP at a fixed maximum dimension, plus thumbnails, plus the originals kept for reprocessing.

Trigger. Watch Folder on D:\marketing\incoming\, local to the machine running reaConverter and published to suppliers as a share. Read subfolders enabled so each supplier keeps their own subfolder.

Produces. A web subfolder beside each supplier’s originals, containing the WebP asset and its thumbnail.

Configuration. Output to Subfolder of source folder named web. Format WebP, quality tuned for your image type. Action file applies -resize 1600x0px qh to cap width while preserving proportions, and -auto_rotate exif so phone photos land right way up. -create_thumbnails 1 with -thumbnails_width 300 produces the listing thumbnails in the same pass. Originals move to an archive folder after processing.

Notes. Generating the thumbnail in the same pass rather than a second job removes an entire class of desynchronization bug, where a product has a full-size image but no thumbnail because the second job failed.

Designing a pipeline that survives unattended operation

The conversion itself is rarely what breaks. These are.

Partially written files. A large file copied over a network appears in the folder before the copy finishes. Have the sending process write to a staging folder on the same volume and then rename or move into the watched folder, since a move within a volume is atomic. If you cannot control the sender, run a scheduled command-line job instead of watching in real time, where -file_age and -file_size_more let you pick up files only after they have settled.

Feedback loops. Writing output into the folder being watched is the classic mistake. reaConverter excludes files it created when you use Same as source folder, but if a separate tool writes into that folder, or if you convert to a format that is also an input format for the same Watch Folder, you can still build a loop. The Subfolder of source folder option avoids the whole category.

Silent partial failures. A run that converts 998 of 1000 files returns code 8 and looks fine in a log nobody reads. Combine -move_unprocessed_files with a quarantine folder and check whether that folder is empty. An empty folder is a much clearer signal than a log line.

Name collisions. Different source formats converging on one output format collide: drawing.dwg and drawing.dxf both become drawing.pdf. Decide explicitly with -overwrite, and use -file_name_mask_suffix to disambiguate when both outputs must survive.

Permissions. Scheduled tasks run as a service account. That account needs read on the source, write on the destination, write on quarantine, and write on the log path. Test by running the exact command as that account before scheduling it.

Idempotency. Ask what happens if the same file is processed twice. In most workflows the answer should be “the same output, overwritten harmlessly.” If reprocessing produces duplicates or double-applied watermarks, redesign before going live rather than after.

Capacity planning

Conversion throughput varies by orders of magnitude across formats. A 2 MB JPEG resize and a 40 MB DWG raster render are not comparable operations, and no general number is useful.

Measure instead. Take 100 files representative of your real input mix, time a single run, and extrapolate. Then apply these adjustments:

• Network storage is frequently the bottleneck rather than the CPU. If sources sit on a share, test with local copies to see how much of your runtime is transfer.
• -temp_folder pointed at a local SSD helps significantly for formats that stage large intermediate data, particularly PDF, PSD, and large CAD files.
• -cpu_usage lets a background job coexist with interactive work. Set -cpu_usage 1 for jobs running during business hours and 3 for overnight windows.
• Splitting by subfolder across several parallel invocations scales better than one process for very large backlogs, provided your storage keeps up.

For a large historical migration, run the backlog once from the command line and set up a Watch Folder for the ongoing stream. Trying to push a 50,000-file backlog through a Watch Folder works, but it gives you no progress visibility and no easy way to pause.

Frequently asked questions

Can reaConverter run conversions on a Windows Server without a logged-in user? Yes. Use the command-line tool with the /hide parameter and schedule it through Windows Task Scheduler with “Run whether user is logged on or not” enabled. Grant the service account permissions on all source, destination, and log paths, and use UNC paths rather than mapped drive letters.

Does automated conversion require an internet connection? No. reaConverter processes files locally on your machine. Files never leave your hardware, which is what makes it usable for medical imaging, engineering drawings, and other material that cannot be uploaded to a web service.

Which reaConverter edition includes automation features? Watch Folders and the command-line tool are reaConverter Pro features. Context menu integration is available more broadly.

How do I convert only files added or changed since the last run? Four approaches, in increasing order of control. -file_age is the simplest: -file_age 0 selects files created today and -file_age 1 covers the last day. -overwrite 0 skips any file whose output already exists, which makes a rerun over a whole folder fill only the gaps. -move_files empties the source folder as conversions succeed, so anything left is unprocessed by definition. When age is not the right test, have a script write the qualifying paths to a text file and pass it with -use_file_list. The usual reason is that -file_age measures creation date, so files edited in place keep their original timestamp and stay invisible to it.

Can one Watch Folder produce two different outputs from the same file? Not in a single Watch Folder. Create a second Watch Folder pointing at the same source directory with different saving settings, or use a command-line job with two invocations. The thumbnail parameters are an exception: -create_thumbnails through -create_thumbnails_5 generate up to five additional sized outputs in the same pass.

What happens if a file fails to convert? The job continues with the remaining files and returns exit code 8 to indicate that not everything was converted. Set -move_unprocessed_files 1 with a quarantine folder so failed files are separated for review rather than left in place where they will be retried indefinitely.

Can a Watch Folder monitor a network share? No. Watch Folders require storage local to the machine running reaConverter, because Windows does not deliver file system change notifications across SMB. Two workarounds: install reaConverter on the server that owns the storage, so the folder is local to it, or poll the share with a scheduled cons_rcp.exe job using -move_files to move processed files out of the queue.

Can I apply different settings to different file types in one folder? Yes, by creating several Watch Folders on the same directory with different file masks, or by running several command-line invocations with different -source_ext values. Masks accept regular expressions, so filename conventions can drive routing.

Does reaConverter preserve metadata during automated conversion? Use -copy_exif 1 and -copy_iptc 1 to carry EXIF and IPTC data to the output, and -icc_option 2 to retain the ICC profile. -same_date 1 keeps the original file timestamp on the converted file, which matters for archive workflows where the file date is the record date.

Where to go next

Build your first automated workflow in this order:

1. Configure the conversion in the reaConverter interface and verify the output on a handful of real files.
2. Save it as a .cfg, and save any editing operations as an .act.
3. Choose your trigger: a Watch Folder for continuous arrivals, a scheduled command-line job for batches.
4. Add a quarantine folder and enable logging before the job goes live rather than after the first incident.
5. Run it against a copy of real data for a week before pointing it at production directories.

Related guides in this knowledge base cover Watch Folders, command-line usage, and automation in more depth. Full parameter references are available for the command-line interface, Watch Folders, and configuration and action files.

The 3MF (3D Manufacturing Format) has become one of the most modern and flexible formats in additive manufacturing. It can store not only the geometric mesh of your model, but also materials, textures, colors, print parameters, and metadata – all neatly packaged inside a compressed ZIP-based container.

However, despite its advantages, many 3D printers and slicing tools still rely on the STL format. STL remains the simplest and most widely supported geometry-only standard in 3D printing. For this reason, converting 3MF to STL is a frequent and necessary step in many production and prototyping workflows.

In this tutorial, we’ll look at how reaConverter processes 3MF files, how to control the conversion quality using Level of Detail, and how to export clean STL files ready for slicing.

Download reaConverter

Why Convert 3MF to STL?

There are several common reasons to convert 3MF files to STL:

• Printer or slicer compatibility: A number of consumer and older industrial 3D printers still do not fully support 3MF. STL guarantees near-universal compatibility.
• Geometry-only workflow: If your printing workflow requires only the mesh (triangular surface), STL is the simplest and most portable choice.
• Sharing and archiving: For many users, STL files remain the “common denominator” format that can be shared or archived without concerns about color or material data.

How reaConverter Handles 3MF Input

When you open a 3MF file in reaConverter, the software extracts the geometry of the model. Additional information such as:

• colors
• textures
• materials
• print profiles
• metadata

…is intentionally ignored, ensuring a clean, geometry-only workflow for STL export.

Supported geometry in 3MF

reaConverter interprets the following geometry types:

• Triangles
• Cylinders (converted to triangular mesh)
• Spheres (converted to triangular mesh)

If the 3MF already consists purely of triangles, conversion is straightforward.
If cylinders or spheres are present, reaConverter will tessellate them into triangles during the conversion.

Level of Detail (LOD): Controlling Mesh Quality

When converting curved surfaces (such as cylinders or spheres), reaConverter allows you to control the precision of the output mesh using: Loading settings → 3D formats loading settings → Level of Detail

This setting influences how finely curved shapes are tessellated.

• Higher Level of Detail
  • More triangles
  • Smoother curves
  • Larger STL file size
  • Best for visual precision or small curved objects
• Lower Level of Detail
  • Fewer triangles
  • More faceting on curves
  • Smaller STL files
  • Useful for rapid prototyping

If the source 3MF contains only triangles, this setting will have no effect, as no tessellation is needed.

How to Convert 3MF to STL in reaConverter

Follow these steps:

1. Add your 3MF files

Drag and drop files into reaConverter, or use the “Add Files” button.

Batch conversion is fully supported.

2. Adjust 3D format loading settings

Go to:
Menu → Loading Settings → 3D Formats Loading Settings → Level of Detail

Choose the detail level appropriate for your model:

• Low detail 1-3: Creates simplified models, perfect for quick previews, protecting design details, or reducing file sizes.
• Medium detail 4-5: Balanced quality for most general purposes.
• High detail 6-7: Maximum precision for manufacturing, detailed 3D printing, or when you need every curve and surface captured accurately.

3. Select the output format

On the “Save As” panel, choose STL.

4. Start the conversion

Press Convert and wait for reaConverter to generate STL files.

3MF to STL conversion workflow can also be automated using:

• Right-click conversion
• Watch Folders
• Command line interface

Pros and Cons of 3MF → STL Conversion

Advantages

• Maximum compatibility with 3D printers and slicers
• Clean geometry-only export
• Flexible detail control during tessellation
• Batch processing and automation via reaConverter

Limitations

• Loss of non-geometric data (colors, textures, materials)
• High LOD settings may produce large STL files
• Low LOD may result in faceted curves or loss of smoothness

Best Practices for High-Quality STL Output

• Choose a balanced Level of Detail for your specific model geometry.
• Visually inspect the STL after conversion to ensure surface smoothness.
• For production workflows, keep a record of which LOD level works best for different object types.
• Use Watch Folders to automatically process incoming 3MF files with predefined settings.
• If your slicer includes STL repair tools, run a quick validation of the mesh before printing.

When You Should Keep the File as 3MF

Although STL is more widely supported, you should avoid conversion when:

• You need to preserve color, texture maps, or material assignments
• Your printer or slicer natively supports 3MF
• You are working with workflows where metadata or print settings must remain intact

In these cases, 3MF is the superior format.

Conclusion

Converting 3MF to STL using reaConverter is an efficient and reliable way to prepare 3D models for printing on devices that do not support 3MF. By adjusting the Level of Detail, you can achieve the ideal balance between surface accuracy and file size. Whether you’re processing a single model or automating large-scale batch conversions, reaConverter provides a powerful toolkit for generating clean, ready-to-slice STL files.

Install reaConverter

reaConverter can easily transform complex 3D models into clean 2D projections. This powerful feature
converts three-dimensional CAD files into flat technical drawings or illustrations, perfect for
documentation, manufacturing, and presentation purposes.

Download reaConverter

What are 2D Projections?

A 2D projection is a flat image of a 3D object, such as a machine part, building, or product. It works like a shadow on the ground or a sketch of a 3D scene on paper. This makes it easy to show the shape and details of a model without needing special 3D software.

reaConverter can easily and automatically generate standard engineering views from your 3D models:

• View 1 – Isometric: 3D perspective showing width, height, and depth
• View 2 – Top: Plan view looking down from above
• View 3 – Front: Elevation view from the front
• View 4 – Side: Profile view from the right side

You can also choose whether hidden edges should be displayed as dashed lines for a technical look, or removed for a simpler, cleaner result.

How to Convert 3D Models to 2D Projections

Easily generate 2D projections from your 3D models using reaConverter. Follow these steps:

1. Add Files

Drag and drop your 3D model files into reaConverter. You can process even large batches at once to quickly create multiple 2D projections.

2. Configure 3D Settings

Configure how your 3D models will be converted into 2D projections by choosing view types and display options.

• Go to Loading settings → 3D formats loading settings
• Enable “Create 2D projection”
• Choose projection type (Views 1-4)
• Set hidden line visibility

Preview result:

3. Select Output Format

Choose the output format for your 2D projections. reaConverter supports many options, including JPG and PNG for images, or DXF and DWG for CAD drawings, giving you the flexibility to use and share your files however you need.

You can also set quality options, adjusting resolution, DPI, or vector precision to get the results you want.

4. Convert

Convert your 3D models into 2D projections with a single click. Just hit Convert, and reaConverter quickly generates your images or CAD drawings, ready for use or sharing.

Practical Use Cases

reaConverter turns 3D models into 2D visuals for technical drawings, CNC/laser cutting, e-commerce product images, educational graphics, and design documentation.

Technical Documentation and Manufacturing

Convert 3D CAD models into standard orthographic projections for technical drawings, assembly
instructions, and manufacturing documentation. Generate front, top, side, and isometric views
automatically – the same views typically created manually in CAD software like AutoCAD or SolidWorks.

Laser Cutting and CNC Machining

Extract 2D cutting profiles from 3D parts for manufacturing processes. DXF output provides precise
toolpaths for laser cutters, waterjet machines, and CNC routers. The vector format preserves exact
dimensions and geometric relationships required for accurate manufacturing.

Product Marketing and E-commerce

Create clean product illustrations for catalogs, websites, and marketing materials. Generate consistent
product views without complex 3D rendering software. Particularly useful for technical products, furniture, machinery, and consumer goods where clear geometric representation is more important than
photorealistic rendering.

Educational Materials

Develop technical drawings for engineering education, showing cross-sections, elevations, and standard
views that help students understand 3D geometry through traditional 2D engineering graphics principles.

Design Documentation

Integrate into CAD workflows where 3D models need accompanying 2D documentation. Automatically
generate drawing views for design reviews, client presentations, and regulatory submissions.

Automation

reaConverter makes 2D projection creation even easier with automation. Use command line options or Watch Folders to automatically generate 2D projections from 3D models, perfect for batch processing or integrating into production workflows. With simple command parameters, you can enable 2D projection mode, choose the view type, and decide whether to show hidden lines – all without manual intervention.

Conclusion

The 2D projection feature in reaConverter makes it easy to turn 3D CAD models into traditional 2D technical drawings. It automatically generates standard orthographic and isometric views, removing the manual effort usually needed to create professional technical illustrations.

Whether you need manufacturing drawings for CNC machining, product illustrations for marketing, or
educational diagrams for training materials, the 2D projection feature provides professional results with
minimal setup. The combination of multiple projection angles, industry-standard output formats
(DXF/DWG), and command-line automation makes this tool valuable for both individual designers and
production environments processing hundreds of models.

For CAD professionals already working with STEP, IGES, and other 3D formats, this feature integrates
seamlessly into existing workflows while dramatically reducing the time required to generate 2D
documentation from 3D designs.

Install reaConverter

STL is an image format mainly used in a type 3D printing technology called stereolithography, involving the production of three-dimensional models, patterns and prototypes with polymers. The STL format was initially launched in the 1980s by 3D Systems, the first company to introduce and develop stereolithography, and it is nowadays supported by several computer-aided design (CAD) programs.

STL files store black-and-white 3D objects, including only geometry data and no color, texture or other attributes usually featured by images created with CAD software.

In comparison, AutoCAD’s native interchange format DXF tends to have more popularity and offer more complex object descriptions than STL. DXF supports both 2D and 3D object rendering, and its features can vary according to the AutoCAD release to which the format is associated.

With reaConverter’s latest edition you can automatically convert 3D STL files into 3D DXF, while customizing the AutoCAD release with which you want the output file to be associated.

Open Files

Add one or more STL images that need to be converted. reaConverter allows you to handle groups of images fast and easy by offering you a handy drag-and-drop tool and the possibility to add entire folders.

Plus, there is the Advanced file select option, by which you can automatically add certain files according to their size and/or extension from a folder with mixed content.

DXF Saving Settings

Go to the Menu button and click Saving settings – Format saving settings

In the DXF tab here you will find a list with all AutoCAD releases supported by reaConverted.

Save the Result

In the Saving options section, select a location for the output DXF files. Next, don’t forget to make sure the DXF button is checked in the Convert to area. In case you don’t see the button there, click Plus and get a full view of all the output formats supported by reaConverter.

Then simply press Start and your newly converted DXFs will soon be ready!

Video Tutorial

Advanced users can perform 3D STL to 3D DXF conversions using command line interface or DLL in manual, automated or scheduled mode. You are welcome to contact our technical support when you have any questions about reaConverter.

However, not all enjoy a lot of popularity and some provide more advantages than others. For this reason, converting between 3D extensions might be a great way to improve the accessibility of your files while at the same time preserving their quality content intact. And it can be done in no more than a few clicks using reaConverter’s latest edition.

For example, conversion from STL to DWG formats can not only be done fast and easy, but also includes a series of handy customizable features. STL is a computer-aided design (CAD) 3D format used in model prototyping through stereolitography, 3D printing and computer-aided manufacturing. While supported by several software packs, STL enjoys less popularity than DWG, which is probably the most widely used format for CAD modeling. A native format for Autodesk software, DWG is supported by most CAD programs, including AutoCAD, Caddie, IntelliCAD and many others.

reaConverter’s latest edition offers several options for customizing both input and output images when converting between 3D formats, including features such as 3D image rotation or selecting the desired release of AutoCAD for the resulting image.

Install reaConverter

Start reaConverter and Load Your STL Images

Load one or more STL images into reaConverter. When dealing with lots of images, you can avoid the hassle of picking them one by one from a folder and use the “Advanced file select” option. This way you can automatically select all files with the STL extension from a folder which consists of several others as well. reaConverter also allows you to add entire folders, browse manually or use the drag-and-drop tool.

Tune 3D Formats Loading Settings

Go to the Menu button and select Loading settings → 3D formats loading settings

Here you can opt for rotating the 3D image by a desired number of degrees for each of the 3 axes. X is the horizontal axis, Y is the vertical one, while Z allows you to move the object clockwise or counterclockwise.

Choose DWG Saving Settings

Next, go back to the Menu button and select Saving settings → Format saving settings

Then pick the DWG tab and decide which release of AutoCAD you would like your output 3D files to be compatible with.

Save Your Result

Go to Saving options and decide on the destination of the output DWGs. Pick one of the handy choices for offline storage — same as source folder, subfolder or customized folder. Finally, don’t forget to select DWG as the desired output format from the buttons conveniently placed in the lower part of the window.

Then simply press Start and your newly converted 3D images will soon be ready!

Command-line interface and DLL

If you are a developer interested in including STL to DWG conversion as part of a customized software solution, reaConverter allows you to operate this feature via command-line, using a tool called cons_rcp.exe. For example, for automated batch conversion of STLs to DWGs, using different source and output folders, you can use this code line:

cons_rcp.exe -source_folder "C:\Path_to\input_folder\" -source_ext stl -dest_path "C:\Path_to\output_folder\" -dest_ext dwg


A full list of configuration parameters is available on Command Line Interface Reference Guide

Video Tutorial

You are welcome to contact our technical support when you have any questions about reaConverter.