
Browse through 100k 3D models - showwebgl
https://sketchfab.com/100k
======
bayesianhorse
What I have noticed on sites like these, but also blendswap, an actual
repository for ".blend" files, is that many of the models marked as "free" are
anything but.

Not only is fan-art problematically at best, there are also guns and
copyrighted material from games. And if that wasn't enough, you still can't be
sure with the rest of the models if the uploader had the right to upload.

~~~
arcatek
To be fair, there's the same issue on 'classic' artist platforms such as
DeviantArt. You can't be sure that the artist hasn't just ripped off the
picture he is displaying.

At some point you have to trust (and hit with DMCA when you notice copyright
infringements).

~~~
bayesianhorse
Yes, even when paying for art this can and does happen. I think some time ago
there was a case where someone put a photo from the phillipines on Twitter, an
agency downloaded it, and sold it on to customers, several of which had to pay
millions in restitution to the original - and probably somewhat happy -
photographer.

The more I know about copyright law the less I feel like creating anything at
all. Here in Germany I can barely publish any photo with a child anywhere in
it, and it gets only moderately easier with adults. Everything requires
consent forms.

------
chatman
Would've been wonderful if one could download these models.

~~~
kvark
Strictly speaking, they are rendered on client side with WebGL, so all the
data is already on your machine...

------
santaclaus
I'm curious if anyone has developed a plugin that is able to capture meshes
and textures displayed through WebGL? If your graphics card is rendering these
things, the data is obviously there, and one should simply be able to dump a
few vertex buffers.

~~~
sitkack
Yes, these exist.

[https://code.google.com/p/glintercept/](https://code.google.com/p/glintercept/)

[https://github.com/apitrace/apitrace](https://github.com/apitrace/apitrace)

[http://superuser.com/questions/297000/software-to-
capture-3d...](http://superuser.com/questions/297000/software-to-
capture-3d-geometry)

------
angersock
Ha, awesome:

    
    
      - 41% of models are OBJ
      - 21% of models are BLEND
      - 14% of models are DAE
    

Let's hear it for simple, awesome text formats!

~~~
Tloewald
DAE is _not_ simple. .blend is _not_ text.

~~~
angersock
And that, more than anything else, is why we should all use OBJ for static
meshes whenever possible.

In a past life, I worked on .dae import/export code--COLLADA is almost a
parody of everything you can do to overengineer (badly) a file format.

I don't understand why people fail to grasp that, for static meshes, we solved
the problem decades ago; I say this having done the exact same thing many
times reinventing a compact binary rep.

EDIT: As a colleague points out, yes, sometimes for assets OBJ is not optimal;
I contend however that for interchange it's pretty good.

~~~
Tloewald
In practical terms, right now FBX rules and we can hope that DAE will replace
it (right now most DAE support is via the FBX libraries, so let's not all hold
our breath). OBJ is great for simple geometry and UVs, but kind of hopeless
beyond that.

------
steren
Little big details: The polygon counter and its background are using a
parallax effect and a border effect to fake a 3D effect.

------
jderick
Why not put prices and sell the models? It's not clear if you can reuse these
or not.

