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The PlayCanvas glTF scene viewer is blazingly fast and 100% compliant with the glTF 2.0 spec.
You can find a live version at:
https://playcanvas.com/model-viewer
The viewer can load any glTF 2.0 scene. Embedded glTF and binary glTF (GLB) can be dragged directly into the 3D view. To load an unpacked glTF scene, drag its parent folder into the 3D view.
You can also drag and drop images into the 3D view to set a background. Options are:
- Single file images are treated as equirectangular projections. Supported formats are PNG, JPG and HDR. Find high quality HDR images at HDRHaven.
- Six images are treated as cube map faces. Naming should be one of the following 5 forms, where each face name below should be incorporated in the overall filename like
name_posx.pngfor example:
| Face 0 | Face 1 | Face 2 | Face 3 | Face 4 | Face 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| posx | negx | posy | negy | posz | negz |
| px | nx | py | ny | pz | nz |
| right | left | up | down | front | back |
| right | left | top | bottom | forward | backward |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
Some URL query parameters are available to override certain aspects of the viewer:
| Parameter | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
load/assetUrl |
Specify URL to a glTF scene to load | ?load=URL |
cameraPosition |
Override the initial camera position | ?cameraPosition=0,0,20 |
Ensure you have Node.js installed (v18.0+). Then, from a command prompt, run:
npm install
npm run build
This will invoke Rollup and output the built viewer to the dist folder. To invoke Rollup with the --watch flag (which rebuilds the viewer on saving any source file), do:
npm run watch
Run:
npm run serve
Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.
Run:
npm run develop
Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000.
N.B. To load local models run npx server --cors in the directory containing the model (disables CORS).
The Model Viewer is built on the following open source libraries:
| Library | Details |
|---|---|
| PlayCanvas Engine | Powers the Editor's 3D View and Launch Page |
| Observer | Data binding and history |
| PCUI | Front-end component library |
To test the integration of these libraries use npm link. Follow these steps:
-
Create a global link from source
cd <library> npm link
-
Create a link to the global link
cd model-viewer npm link <library>