From the course: AR Development Techniques 01: Basic Concepts

3D models

From the course: AR Development Techniques 01: Basic Concepts

Start my 1-month free trial

3D models

“

- [Instructor] In the last video, we added a 3D box model in our project, but we didn't really discuss much about 3D models in general. Let's learn a few things about 3D models so that when you make your own AR app, you know how to choose a 3D model directly. So first let's talk about the formats. 3D models are created in a variety of formats, such as OBJ, FBX, DAE, 3DS, GLTF, to name a few. In Unity, we use either OBJ or FBX, so whenever you are looking for a 3D model on the internet, always check before downloading if it's available in either of these formats, that is OBJ or FBX. Now we're going to get these 3D models. 3D models are developed by 3D artists, and you can get a 3D model developed exactly according to your needs. You can find 3D artists on various freelancing websites. Note that creating a 3D model is not an easy process and it takes a lot of time to develop good 3D models. So if you want to save some time and money, you can find already existing 3D models in 3D marketplaces. There are a lot of 3D marketplaces out there, but there are some that stand out and are really popular. These are TurboSquid Sketchfab, CGTrader, and Unity's Asset Store. You can get both free and paid models on all these websites. The last thing I want to talk about is poly-count. 3D models are basically made up of polygons. A high polygon-count, usually means a more smooth mesh and hence, a more realistic model. Let's look at an example. So the model on the right is made up of lower number of polygons as compared to model on the left, hence the model with more number of polygons looks more realistic as compared to model with less number of polygons. While choosing a model for your project, try to balance between poly-count and quality. Try to get best looking model, having as low poly-count as possible. A higher poly-count means that the device needs more processing to render the scene, and that leads to frame drops, heating of device, and high battery consumption. The poly-count of 3D models are usually mentioned in the model description. A poly-count up to a hundred thousand or less is usually fine for an AR app. I hope this video was helpful. This will surely save you a lot of time in choosing the best model for your project.

Contents