3D Model File Types

@ Brian Kim (3/14/2023)

OBJ

About

These are the most commonly used 3D file types, created by Wavefront Technologies in the 1980s, and any 3D model user should be familiar with this file type. For instance, it is the most popular file type on Free3D.

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FBX

About

FBX files were designed to be used with a film capture tool made by Kaydara in 2005, but have since become one of the most popular and best-suited file types for high-end gaming rendering, working particularly well with Unity. This is my recommended format for students working with Unity.

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gITF

About

gITF stands for GL Transmission format, and is a close competitor with FBX for the most popular model type in sophisticated modeling. It is open source and was first developed by the Khronos collective in 2015, and it was designed to act as a lightweight 3D file format for the web and web browsers.

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usdz/usd

About

USD and USDZ files were originally developed by Pixar for their animated films and were subsequently picked up by Apple for their AR software. USD stands for Universal Scene Distribution and the "Z" in USDZ just indicates that the file has been zipped.

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Blender

About

Blender is an open-source modeling and animation software maintained by the Blender Foundation. It uses its own file type, .blend, to store information about scenes and projects, which can be imported into Unity and certain other VR development softwares. However, I recommend instead exporting scenes as a direct model in a specific model format before pulling the objects into Unity or a similar setup.

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STEP

About

STEP (Standard for the Exchange of Product Data) files are designed for CAD modeling, and in that area, are one of the most successful file types. These files might come up for VR developers if they are looking for specialized models online, but they should know that these are not designed for 3D graphics and will probably have to be processed through Blender into another file format before going into a system like Unity.

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