An Abaqus Extension, in the form of an Abaqus/CAE Plug-In, is presented that enables an easy, efficient, model-tree based approach to setup all aspects of a welding model from within Abaqus/CAE. Specifically, the paper describes the extension to 3-D of a similar capability, namely the 2-D Abaqus Welding Interface (AWI), that currently exists for automating most of the repetitive, time-consuming tasks associated with building a welding model in a traditional CAE environment to facilitate weld simulations. The tasks supported by the 3-D AWI include weld-bead definitions based on simple cross-sectional geometric entity picks, options for geometry- or element-based bead-chunking in the weld direction, automatic definition of weld passes, steps and boundary conditions for each pass, and set-up of both the thermal and stress analysis models. The 3-D AWI is expected to make the normally time-consuming welding analysis setup significantly faster. The use of the AWI is demonstrated on a six-pass plate welding problem described in the literature.