Sketchfab – Page 2 – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

July 11, 2019

Microsoft Is Shutting Down Its 3D Asset Platform, Remix 3D

Microsoft is getting rid of its answer to Sketchfab and Google Poly early next year.

Remix 3D, the company’s online hub for storing 3D assets, will be ‘retiring’ on January 10, 2020. A message at the top of the site’s page confirms as much. In an FAQ, the company instead suggests users turn to its OneDrive platform as the “ideal platform for sharing your 3D models.” Microsoft hopes to “streamline our offerings in this space” with this move.

“Once the Remix3D.com site is no longer available, Microsoft will delete all user-generated 3D models and associated metadata from its systems,” the FAQ reads, “and users will no longer be able download it or request a copy of it from Microsoft.”

Microsoft launched Remix 3D as part of a Windows 10 update back in 2017. The platform allows users to store their own 3D assets online and have others download them via Paint 3D. The platform even featured a basic form of integration with Microsoft’s ‘Mixed Reality’ offerings. It let you project them into the real world using a camera connected to your PC.

Crucially, you could also take saved files and open them in Microsoft’s 3D Viewer app for its HoloLens augmented reality headset.

Microsoft encourages anyone still using Remix 3D to download models before the service closes. Uploads to the platform will come to a close on August 7, 2019.

There are, however, other 3D content libraries available online. Google’s Poly features creations made inside its Tilt Brush and Blocks VR software and Sketchfab features millions of creations viewable in VR and AR. Platforms like these will likely play an important role in the rise of spatial computing in the years to come. How Microsoft moves forward without its own take remains to be seen.

The post Microsoft Is Shutting Down Its 3D Asset Platform, Remix 3D appeared first on UploadVR.

November 14, 2018

3D Model Website Sketchfab Passes 1 Billion Page Views

It has been a year since Google launched its 3D model library Poly for developers, offering models in a low-polygon style. However, for those after the best of the best, since 2012 Sketchfab has made a name for itself as one of the world’s premium 3D model libraries, recently announcing one billion page views had been passed.

Alongside the impressive 1,000,000,000 page views, Sketchfab has also divulged several other interesting stats. Its creator community has grown to over 2 million members, who have helped produce more than 3,000,000 3D models. This broad range of content has seen over 200,000,000 people enjoy content from the site.

Sketchfab began toying with virtual reality (VR) back in 2014, with a basic model viewer for Oculus Rift. Ever since then the company has accelerated its adoption and integration of immersive technologies, adding support for Google Cardboard and HTC Vive in 2016, as well as creating a proprietary app called Sketchfab VR.

Over the last couple of years, Sketchfab came to iOS and Android, added sound support and then embraced augmented reality (AR) by implementing both ARCore and ARKit. Most recently, Sketchfab announced the official launch of its online marketplace having been in beta for almost a year.

Sketchfab store

Remarking on the achievement, Alban Denoyel, Co-founder and CEO of Sketchfab said in a blog posting: “I’m thankful to our community for making this possible by creating and sharing amazing 3D content, and to my team for building an amazing product. I’m very proud of what we have achieved, but this is only the beginning. Our goal is to get every 3D model published on Sketchfab and every 3D embed powered by Sketchfab, so there is still plenty to do.”

VRFocus will continue its coverage of Sketchfab, reporting back with further announcements and updates.

November 13, 2018

Sketchfab Passes 1 Billion Views Of Its 3D Models

3D model hosting website Sketchfab announced today that it’s passed one billion page views.

Sketchfab consists of an online library of user-created 3D content, including a large portion of models and works made inside creative VR applications such as Tilt Brush and Oculus Quill. Users are also able to view uploaded models inside VR itself.

In a press release announcing the milestone the company clarified that ‘about 80%’ of those page viewers were on models themselves, whilst the site’s community has grown to over two million members (doubling in size in just over a year) and there have been over 200 million visitors overall. There are more than three million uploads on the platform. The company says this gives it ‘the widest reach when it comes to interactive 3D content on the web’, suggesting it beats out competitors like Google’s Poly platform, which we don’t have such statistics for.

“The past few years have seen amazing shifts in our ecosystem,” Sketchfab CEO Alban Denoyel said in a prepared statement. “On the creation side, anyone can now create 3D content with simple creation tools and 3D capture technologies. On the consumption side, users can now consume 3D content in 3D space, thanks to virtual and augmented reality. We have greatly benefited from those trends, leading us to these important milestones.”

Tagged with: sketchfab

The post Sketchfab Passes 1 Billion Views Of Its 3D Models appeared first on UploadVR.

June 28, 2018

Need a 3D Model? The Sketchfab Store is now Officially Open for Business

Whether you work in virtual reality (VR), normal videogame design, industrial design, or any other creative process that requires a 3D model of some sort there’s a strong likelihood that you’ve come across Sketchfab at some point. VRFocus has covered the 3D model library fairly extensively and today is no different, with Sketchfab announcing the official launch of its online marketplace.

Sketchfab Store

Originally launched in beta earlier this year the Sketchfab Store will allow the platform’s community of 1.5 million creative professionals and hobbyists to monetize their work.

One of the big features customers will have access to is the “Model Inspector” which allows every aspect of a 3D model, including textures and topology, to be reviewed in real-time. From animation and visual effects to videogames, 3D printing, virtual reality, augmented reality and architectural renderings, designers will have the opportunity to view then purchase tens of thousands of 3D models and textures. And as an added bonus the Sketchfab viewer also supports VR and AR out of the box.

“We’re extremely excited to launch the Sketchfab store after a successful open beta,” said Alban Denoyel, Co-founder and CEO of Sketchfab in a statement. “The store allows our extraordinarily talented community to easily monetize their work on a single platform, while the model inspector takes the guesswork out 3D model purchases. We cannot thank our early adopter buyers and sellers enough for sharing their thoughtful feedback and making the official store as strong as possible!”

Sketchfab store

Used by brands such as Oath, Sony, HTC, Amazon and others, Sketchfab has grown since its founding in 2012 to be one of the go-to destinations for buyers needing 3D resources. In addition the the store Sketchfab also recently announced content partnerships with Facebook at F8, integrating their AR studio platform, and with Apple at WWDC.

“Sketchfab’s store is a great place to buy assets because customers can inspect models from all angles instead of browsing through cherry-picked presentation images,” says Matthias Andre, Co-founder and Art Director of Bitgem, a team that creates 3D models and textures for game developers, “For sellers, it’s hassle-free as there is no need to create extensive presentation material. It’s easy to create great looking 3D previews and even showcase animations.”

As Sketchfab continues to grow and expand its presence, VRFocus will keep you updated on the latest announcements.

June 4, 2018

Apple Reveals USDZ – A New AR File Format Made With Pixar, Adobe Bringing Support To Creative Cloud

iOS 12 has made its official debut at Apple’s WWDC 2018 event and has brought quite a lot of new toys with it. And the team kicked off discussions by focusing on how the tech conglomerate is continuing its focus on augmented technology. It was last year at the same time, almost to the day, that Apple revealed its AR developer platform ARKit and now as then Apple’s Craig Federighi took to the stage to talk attendees through not just the rumoured ARKit 2, as reported earlier on VRFocus, but other developments.

WWDC 18 The first announcement was a brand-new file format specifically for working with AR. Something developed companies such as Pixar – “some of the greatest minds in 3D.”

“AR is transformational technology.” Federighi told the audience at San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center. “Bringing experiences into the real world? It enables all kinds of new experiences, changing the way we have fun and the way we work. In iOS12 we wanted to make an easy way to experience AR across the system.”

The new file format is called USDZ (or Universal Scene Description), which has a focus on sharing content and will be able to be used or viewed in everything from internal file views, to the web browser Safari to email. Enabling you to place 3D models into the real world. “It’s something like ‘AR quick-look’”, Federighi explained.

USDZ - Universal Scene Description Apple confirmed that they would be working with leading companies in 3D tools and libraries to bring USDZ support to their services. With Allegorithmic (developer of Substance), PTC, Turbosquid, Adobe, Autodesk, Sketchfab and Quixel all namechecked on stage.

“At Adobe we believe that augmented reality is an incredibly important technology. And with ARKit, Apple is by far the most powerful platform for AR.” Added Adobe‘s Executive Vice President and CTO Abhay Parasnis who appeared on stage to explain more about the company’s work on USDZ, something he described as “a pretty big deal” and confirming that USDZ support would be coming to Adobe’s Creative Cloud set of applications and services.

“With Creative Cloud designers and developers will now be able to use familiar apps – apps that they know and love, like Photoshop or Dimension – to create amazing AR content, and bring it easily via USDZ.”

Parasnis also confirmed a new Adobe creative app for iOS, specifically for designing AR-related content that will enable developers to bring in anything from text to images and video on Creative Cloud directly into a WYSIWIG AR editing environment.

VRFocus will bring you more news on the AR developments on WWDC shortly.

March 20, 2018

GDC 2018: Sketchfab Launches Download API, Bringing Fast 3D Model Searching To Developers

3D asset company Sketchfab is looking to stay a step ahead of Google Poly with its latest release.

Today, Sketchfab is announcing the launch of its Download API, which allows users to search through the company’s vast library of user-generated 3D assets without leaving the app they’re currently working inside.

Right now, if you were to head to Sketchfab’s website, you could use the search bar at the top of the page to look for any number of 3D assets, from objects to scenes and character models. Many of these assets have been created in software that will be very familiar to creative VR users, like Google’s Tilt Brush and Blocks or Oculus Quill and Medium as well as other more traditional software such as Blender. You can then download certain assets and use them in your own apps.

Sketchfab’s Download API allows you to do all of that within game engines such as Unity and Unreal and even when working inside VR. That means you can quickly search for any kind of object you might be looking for to build a virtual world and then just pull it straight into your existing work under Creative Commons licensing. The API allows you to search via titles, tags, categories and even polygon count to find models right for your creations.

Over the past few years Sketchfab has sought to help creators monetize their assets with a Store that charges for downloads (there are, however, many free items on the platform too). As VR moves to democratize content development, it’s easy to envision would-be developers simply purchasing a bunch of assets to use in their own games and experiences without leaving the headset from which they are working inside.

Currently the API has add-ons for Unity, Unreal and Godot along with native integration with Torch3D, Minsight, Spatial Stores, Selerio, StellarX, Holobeam, AnimVR, Plattar, Sketchbox3D and Looking Glass. Partnerships with Amazon Sumerian, Substance, Modo, High Fidelity, Sansar, The Wavr VR, Masterpiece VR and Meta are also in the works.

Tagged with: GDC, sketchfab

January 18, 2018

Sketchfab eröffnet Store für digitale 3D-Modelle

Auf Sketchfab tummeln sich etliche 3D-Modelle, die man kostenlos herunterladen kann. Die Besonderheit der Webseite ist der Viewer, mit dem sich ohne Installation zusätzlicher Plug-ins die Modelle direkt im Browser betrachten lassen können. Das funktioniert via WebVR sogar mit einem VR-Headset, für mobile Headsets erhält man einen eigenen Link, den man öffnen muss. Nun hat Sketchfab einen Store in der Beta-Version veröffentlicht, in dem 3D-Künstler ihre Modelle auch verkaufen können.

Sketchfab mit eigenem Store für 3D-Künstler

Gleich zu Beginn ist der Store auf Sketchfab gut gefüllt und bietet über 4000 Modelle von mehr als 170 3D-Künstlern an. Die Assets sind in diversen Kategorien einsortiert, außerdem stehen diverse praktische Filter zur Verfügung. So kann man beispielsweise einen Preisbereich festlegen oder das Format auswählen. Hier listet Sketchfab etliche auf, sie reichen vom Standardformat .obj bis hin zu den eigenen Formaten von Blender, Maya, ZBrush, Modo und vielen weiteren. Praktisch vor allem für Modelle, die man animieren möchte, ist die Wahl der Anzahl der Polygone. Die Ergebnisse lassen sich zudem beispielsweise nach Preis, Datum oder Beliebtheit sortieren. Außerdem stehen zwei Lizenzmodelle zur Verfügung, wobei die Stanard-Lizenz die kommerzielle Nutzung erlaubt und nur wenige Einschränkungen kennt.

Sketchfab Store

Die Preise sind in der Regel moderat, maximal können 3D-Artisten 500 Dollar aufrufen. Allerdings kosten die meisten Modelle unter 30 Dollar und beginnen schon bei einem Dollar. Bezahlen können registrierte Anwender via PayPal oder Kreditkarte, andere Optionen stehen derzeit nicht zur Verfügung. Alban Denoyel, der CEO von Sketchfab, äußert sich zum Store: „Wir sehen einen wachsenden Bedarf und einen Markt für 3D-Assets, besonders seitdem VR und AR zunehmend im Mainstream ankommen. Wir führten im Jahr 2014 die Möglichkeit hinzu, Modelle kostenlos herunterladen zu können. Heute verzeichnen wir monatlich mehr als 200.000 Downloads. Unser Store ist also eine natürliche Entwicklung.“ Ein großer Vorteil gegenüber anderen Stores wie beispielsweise der auf Renderosity ist der Viewer von Sketchfab: Mit ihm kann man die 3D-Modelle von allen Seiten sowie beispielsweise einzelne Material-Kanäle auswählen. Ausführliche liefert der Store ausführliche Informationen über die Geometrie sowie Texturen und weitere Eigenschaften des 3D-Modells.

(Via VR Focus)

Der Beitrag Sketchfab eröffnet Store für digitale 3D-Modelle zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

January 18, 2018

Sketchfab eröffnet Store für digitale 3D-Modelle

Sketchfab mit eigenem Store für 3D-Künstler

Sketchfab Store

(Via VR Focus)

Der Beitrag Sketchfab eröffnet Store für digitale 3D-Modelle zuerst gesehen auf VR∙Nerds. VR·Nerds am Werk!

January 17, 2018

Buy and Sell Your Digital 3D Models on Sketchfab’s new Store

Sketchfab is known as one of the go to websites for 3D model makers to showcase and distribute their work worldwide. Today, the company has announced a new venture, Sketchfab Store, a place where people can buy and sell assets for 3D, augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) projects.

Sketchfab VR app

Up until this point Sketchfab has allowed users to view the site and download models freely, and this will still be the case. It’s just now creators will be able to add their work to the new Sketchfab Store if they wish to make money directly through the sight.

Sketchfab’s CEO, Alban Denoyel said in a statement: “We’ve seen a growing need and market for 3D assets, especially as VR and AR have become more mainstream. We introduced a free download feature in 2014 and today see more than 200,000 downloads every month, for a cumulative total of more than 2.5 million downloads. We started Sketchfab to help creators distribute 3D content on every platform and get discovered. Our store is the natural evolution of that.”

For the beta launch today Sketchfab has over 4,000 models from over 170 creators are available for every conceivable 3D project from animation and VFX to videogames, 3D printing, VR and AR. Users will have access to a browser-based 3D player with an advanced “Model Inspector” (allowing every aspect of a 3D model including textures and topology to be scrutinized in real-time), helping them buy with confidence that what they see is what they get. Additionally, because Sketchfab generates an interoperable 3D format with every download, purchased files render consistently across many different destination applications.

Sketchfab Store

Sketchfab has been continually expanding its support for VR and AR in recent months announcing ARKit support back in September for iOS then in November doing the same for Android devices with ARCore support. As Sketchfab adds more features, VRFocus will keep you updated.

November 9, 2017

Sketchfab Adds ARCore Support to its Mobile App

Back in September, Sketchfab, one of the largest content libraries for 3D models announced ARKit support, meaning developers now had access to over two million models for their augmented reality (AR) projects. Recently, Sketchfab has seen competition emerge in the form of Google Poly, another 3D model library that supports both ARKit and ARCore. Ensuring that it stays competitive, Sketchfab has today announced AR support for Android devices, so the app now supports ARCore as well.

So with Android implemented from today, users also have access to those plus two million models through the app. While Sketchfab claims it has ‘the largest library of AR content on the planet’, it is one of the few apps to support both ARKit and ARCore.

ar-drone-header

Sketchfab co-founder and CEO, Alban Denoyel said in a statement: “Mobile AR lets you navigate 3D content in a much more natural and intuitive way than a 2D screen. You can move around any object or scene with 6 degrees of freedom, just like you would in real life, or in VR, but without the limitations of either.”

Sketchfab made it’s first steps towards supporting immersive technology back in 2015, raising $7 million USD of investment for 3D and virtual reality (VR). Six months later, just after the consumer launch of Samsung Gear VR and prior to the arrival of headsets like Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Sketchfab added a ‘VR Button’ so that users could view content on the website via mobile devices using Google Cardboard.

It was only in July this year that Sketchfab launched its dedicated app for Android and iOS users, adding both 2D traditional sound along with 3D positional sound a few weeks later.

With Google’s launch of Poly this month, the new library was built from the ground up with AR and VR development in mind, enabling anyone to quickly find 3D objects and scenes for use in their projects. As Poly fully integrates with Tilt Brush and Blocks, users can find models and adjust them to their needs which Google calls ‘remixing’.

While Stetchfab does likely see Poly as competition it certainly does have a massive headstart in terms of content. Additionally, Poly models generally feature low poly counts, whereas Sketchfab does feature some highly detailed work.

As Sketchfab continues to improve its app, VRFocus will keep you updated.