[Meta] 3D Model Support

[zackkrida]

To bring 3d to cc search, there a few points to consider:

• storing/reading model data
• new api structure for different data types (will also apply to audio, video, etc.)
• choosing a model viewer(s)

Storing Data

[needs ticket work]

To render 3d models we would need an endpoint similar to our image proxy which provides the file of each 3d model.

New API Structure

[needs ticket work]

Model Viewers

The main thing for us to determine is if we want to use a standard 3d rendering solution for all 3d models, or use one for every non-sketchfab model and the Sketchfab viewer for sketchfab models? would we rather be consistient, or offer enhanced functionality for Sketchfab models.

Vue 3D Model

• Built on three.js and WebGL
• Supports many formats:
  • JSON Model (.json)
  • OBJ Model (.obj)
  • OBJ + MTL (.obj + .mtl)
  • FBX Model (.fbx)
  • STL Model (.stl)
  • Collada Model (.dae)
  • PLY Model (.ply)
  • glTF Model (.gltf)
• Easily extended/customized if needed (simple enough codebase to fork / copy)

SketchFab Viewer

The main con, as far as I can understand, is that only models hosted on Sketchfab can be shown in their viewer.

• Very high quality viewer
• API-based (less overhead for us)
• " All major 3D file formats are supported"
• Lots of advanced features:
  • AR support
  • PBR

[zackkrida]

@annatuma key takeaways are:

• to use the sketchfab viewer, a model has to be saved on sketchfab. it can't be used with any arbitrary 3d model data.
• the sketchfab viewer + api lets us show 3d models for sketchfab-hosted models without any changes to the catalog api.
• we have to make api changes to show 3d models for non sketchfab models and/or to use the 'Vue 3D Model' library for some or all models.

[annatuma]

Great, thanks for the preliminary research. Let's see what comes from our call with Sketchfab, and we can go from there.