Software
Blender
A free and open-source 3D computer graphics software tool set. Blender constantly changes (usually for the better). It has support for gLTF models but export is buggy and geometry falls apart so exporting to a format that's better supported like OBJ or FBX and using other softwareto convert to gLTF is the better way to go.
Blender extensions / plugins
Generative tree setup used for generating objects for ../sections_across/networked_scultpure/../ exhibition in Jul 2023. - Albero (link to Gumroad - not free). Differential Growth was also used a lot during research for that exhibition but the models didn't make the cut.
How to fix missing materials and textures when exporting a Blender file to glTF.
Converters and tools
FBX2gLTF
A command-line tool for the conversion of 3D model assets on the FBX file format to the glTF file format by Godot engine (an open source game engine).
obj2gltf
Convert OBJ assets to glTF 2.0.
obj2gltf -i obj.obj -o gltf.gltfgltf-pipeline
Content pipeline tools for optimizing glTF assets by Richard Lee and the Cesium team.
(compress with draco)
gltf-pipeline -i uncompressed.gltf -o compressed.gltf -dAr.js
Ar.js is a lightweight library for Augmented Reality on the Web, which includes features like Image Tracking, Location based AR and Marker tracking.
AR.js is buggy. Documentation is cryptic to say in the least and examples aren't always working. Some features (like location based AR) seem to be completely broken in July 2023. Web XR used to be the big thing before big tech decided to give up on openness in general and build walls around everything, including AR / XR / VR. Now it's a community project and since developers also have to eat every now and then, development has slowed down a lot in 2023.
Official Documentation
(Better) Examples (another project on Github)
Add Draco (mesh compression) support
Draco is an open-source library for compressing and decompressing 3D geometric meshes and point clouds. Artistic experiments in 3d modelling get big very often, so adding mesh compression is a must. It will drastically shrink models and provide shorter loading times. Keep in mind that decompressing does take a toll on the machine running the browser and will add to the time it takes to load the model into the viewport.
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