Attendees at the Khronos Fast Forward Birds of a Feather Session at SIGGRAPH 2023

At SIGGRAPH 2023, Khronos hosted a series of packed-house Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions exploring the latest updates and future developments for glTF, the open-standard 3D format that allows content creators to build an asset once and use it everywhere. Standing-room-only gatherings of content creators, platform providers and tool vendors discussed new glTF capabilities spanning materials, complex scenes and interactivity, physics, real-time asset delivery for metaverse applications, and skeletal-facial anchoring for virtual try-on and its widespread and key use in e-commerce.

The lively conversations at SIGGRAPH demonstrated how much our industry needs opportunities to share resources and discuss best practices and emerging requirements. In this blog, we offer a quick reference to the tools and presentations shared at SIGGRAPH.

New PBR Extensions

Eric Chadwick of DGG demonstrated two new PBR extensions at SIGGRAPH: Anisotropy, which allows artists to represent fine grooves, such as found on brushed metal, hair, or fur; and Iridescence, such as on a soap bubble or pearlescent surface. The results are another big step forward for photorealistic 3D assets on the web.

The full presentation slides are available, including links to a wealth of tools, samples and how-to resources, or get started by reviewing the specifications:

• KHR_materials_anistropy
• KHR_materials_iridescence

This session will also be presented at the glTF Virtual meetup on September 19, 2023 at 13:00 EDT. Join live or access the recording.

glTF Tutorials

The 3D Format Working Group shared the first installments in a series of video tutorials at SIGGRAPH. These 5-15 minute videos are designed to help content creators get the most out of glTF. Topics include:

• What is glTF and How to Use It (5 minutes)
• How to use the “Clearcoat” PBR extension (6 minutes)
• How to use the “Transmission” PBR extension (10 minutes)
• How to use the “Volume” PBR extension (13 minutes)

The Working Group will be creating additional videos over the next few months; all videos will be available on YouTube in the glTF Tutorial Series playlist. 3D artists, if you have a topic you would like to request, the 3D Formats Working Group wants to hear from you. Add your request to the YouTube video comments, or email marketing@khronos.com

Sample Asset Repository and Sample Viewer

Khronos has upgraded its Sample Asset Repository of glTF 2.0 models. Each model now includes detailed information with respect to copyright, license, and credits. These updates will make it much easier for artists to find and share sample models, helping them communicate with clients, benchmark projects, and offer training presentations without having to create novel assets from scratch.

Each of the models in the Sample Assets Repository include a direct link to render them live in Sample Viewer, Khronos’s reference glTF model viewer. Sample Viewer supports all ratified and final stage glTF extensions, making it an ideal platform for developers to build upon.

glTF-Compressor

During our BoF on optimizing glTF assets, Andreas Vasilakis of Phasmatic demonstrated a new interactive exploratory tool for artists allowing them to apply KTX and DRACO compression to optimize assets for web delivery. glTF-Compressor lets artists make side-by-side comparisons between the original and compressed asset and adjust settings to achieve the optimal balance between efficiency and realism.

Learn more about glTF-Compressor in our deep-dive blog on this new open-source tool.

The Future of glTF

Khronos also hosted a series of discussions on how glTF is evolving to meet emerging industry requirements, including complex scene composition, physics, virtual try-on, and real-time asset delivery. These in-development extensions and capabilities will allow glTF to meet the needs of rich, collaborative applications. With highly capable, realistic, portable 3D on the web, we’ll be able to do more, reach farther, and work faster.

Khronos would love to hear more about your emerging requests for glTF functionality and tooling. Share your use cases and questions using our glTF User Feedback form, and join us for our regular glTF virtual meetups for demos and discussions of what’s next for the JPEG of 3D!