Runtime 3D Asset Delivery
glTF™ (GL Transmission Format) is a royalty-free specification for the efficient transmission and loading of 3D scenes and models by applications. glTF minimizes both the size of 3D assets, and the runtime processing needed to unpack and use those assets. glTF defines an extensible, common publishing format for 3D content tools and services that streamlines authoring workflows and enables interoperable use of content across the industry.
glTF 2.0 links and resources
glTF 1.0 Specification and Materials
Participate in the glTF Community
glTF is run as an open project by Khronos. The specification, supporting materials and source code is developed and made freely available on GitHub .
Everyone is welcome to contribute to the code and provide feedback about the specification; you do not have to be a Khronos member to participate in the glTF community. Visit the "Ways to contribute to glTF " page in main glTF project on GitHub.
glTF Demo
‘Project “Polly” was produced to introduce all new features from glTF 2.0: Skinning, morphing and Physically Based materials are used in the demo. ‘Poly’ was developed using Blender and is used to test its glTF 2.0 exporter. The original Blender file will be provided to the glTF community for free!’
glTF is the "JPEG of 3D"
glTF 2.0 Scene Description Structure
glTF 2.0 Scalable, Portable PBR
Metallic-Roughness Material model
baseColor — base color
metallic — metalness
roughness — roughness
Simple to implement - mandated in core
Specular-Glossiness Material model
diffuse — reflected diffuse color
specular — specular color
glossiness — glossiness
Slightly more resources - optional extension
COLLADA and glTF 3D Asset Formats
Industry Support for glTF
glTF™ (GL Transmission Format) is a royalty-free specification for the efficient transmission and loading of 3D scenes and models by applications. glTF minimizes both the size of 3D assets, and the runtime processing needed to unpack and use those assets. glTF defines an extensible, common publishing format for 3D content tools and services that streamlines authoring workflows and enables interoperable use of content across the industry.
Specification
Please provide spec feedback and community updates by submitting issues . For quick questions, use the #gltf channel in the Khronos Group Slack .
Quickstart
Overview
From github.com/javagl/gltfOverview/ Japanese translation by Takuto Takahashi
For developers
For artists
Preview tools
Contents
glTF Tools
Converters, Importers, and Exporters
Tool
Input
Output
Description
Khronos Group Blender Importer/Exporter Official importer/exporter, included with Blender 2.80 and higher
3DS Max Exporter —
Export glTF files using BabylonJS plugin for 3DS Max 2015 or later
Maya Exporter —
Export glTF files using BabylonJS plugin for Maya 2018 or later
Unity Exporter (Sketchfab fork) —
Unity editor wizard that exports to glTF Format
Unity COLLADA & glTF Exporter Unity 5 & Unity 2017
—
Commercial unity asset store editor extension to export COLLADA and glTF via collada2gltf
Sketchup export and import
—
Separate extensions for export and import
PBR extension for SketchUp SKPPBR Material Editor, glTF Exporter, PBR Viewport
obj2gltf OBJCommand-line converter
Kupoman blendergltf —
glTF exporter for Blender aimed at streaming scenes to other applications
ksons Blender Importer —
Blender importer for glTF 2.0 (alpha)
BlackThread.io converter Multiple Online drag and drop converter powered by three.js
Assimp Multiple General-purpose online conversion pipeline
PiXYZ Studio Multiple Interactively prepare & optimize any CAD data
FBX2glTF (Facebook) FBXCommand-line converter
FBX2glTF (ClayGL) FBX, COLLADA, OBJPython tool to convert models to glTF2.0 format, model is parsed by FBX SDK.
glTF API FBX, COLLADA, OBJWeb API to convert OBJ, FBX and COLLADA files to glTF or GLB
Simplygon Cloud Multiple Cloud based asset optimization pipeline
Verge3D —
glTF 2.0 exporters for Blender and 3ds Max
COLLADA2GLTF COLLADAOfficial command-line converter, with updates for glTF 2.0 in progress
Cesium drag-and-drop converter OBJ, COLLADAOnline drag and drop converter
Maya2glTF —
Export glTF from Autodesk Maya
batchgltf COLLADABatch converter with GUI
FBX-glTF (Cyrillef) FBXPlug-in and command-line converter
jgltf-obj OBJJava programmatic and command-line converters
Docker collada2gltf COLLADADocker container for Python web service, built on COLLADA2GLTF
collada2gltf-web-service COLLADANode.js web service, built on COLLADA2GLTF
cqparts STEPPython CAD for programmers (import / export doc ) (GLTFExporter )
FME Desktop Multiple FME lets you move data between 400+ formats and applications using a drag-and-drop interface while preserving data quality throughout the conversion process.
UModel (UE Viewer) Unreal engineUModel allows you to view static and animated mesh assets from Unreal engine games , and then export them into several formats including glTF 2.0
OPEN CASCADE CAD Assistant Multiple Freeware multi-platform 3D Viewer and converter for 3D/CAD models with glTF 2.0 export support
Adobe Dimension FBX, STL, SKP, OBJShare and Publish feature lets users export to glTF to view on the web. Prerelease build has explicit export option for glTF and GLB.
RapidCompact Multiple Optimizes and converts 3D assets for efficient online presentation.
Optimizers
Tool
Status
Description
gltf-import-export NPM package to convert between glb and gltf files
makeglb Drag and drop browser tool to convert gltf to self contained binary glb
gltf-toolkit Collection of tools and libraries to modify and optimize glTF assets for Windows Mixed Reality home
glTF Pipeline Official Node.js command-line tool for optimizing glTF assets
gltf2glb Python tool to convert glTF to Binary glTF
binary-gltf-utils Node.js tool to convert glTF to Binary glTF
Validators
Tool
Status
Description
glTF Validator Official command-line and drag-and-drop tool to validate glTF assets against the specification
glTF VSCode Extension 3D previews, built-in official glTF Validator, conversion to/from GLB
Viewers and Debugging
Tool
Status
Description
BabylonJS Sandbox Drag-and-drop online viewer for model preview and debugging, using BabylonJS
three.js glTF Viewer Drag-and-drop viewer (web and desktop ) for model preview and debugging, using three.js
three.js Editor Editor with drag-and-drop support
Clay Viewer Drag-and-drop glTF2.0 viewer with high quality rendering and PBR material editing.
glTF Animation Visualizer Frame-by-frame debugging for glTF animations.
VirtualGIS Viewer Cesium-based glTF viewer.
GLTFQuickLook macOS QuickLook plugin for glTF files
glTF Viewer Android and iOS apps for glTF 2.0 viewing and link sharing: supports embedded glTF 2.0 files and links
DirectX glTF Viewer DirectX11, C++ desktop app for loading and rendering glTF files
glTFShowcase Android and iOS app for viewing glTF 2.0 asset from local files (gltf/glb/zip): supports environment lighting change.
Hilo3d glTF Viewer Drag-and-drop glTF2.0 viewer for model preview, using Hilo3d
MeshViewer OBJ / glTF2 mesh viewer for Windows and macOS
Applications
Application
Status
Description
Blender 2.80 Khronos glTF importer/exporter ships with Blender 2.80 and higher
Paint 3D by Microsoft3D creation tool
Remix 3D by MicrosoftShare and print 3D creations
Facebook Use .glb files to create 3D Posts
Sketchfab Platform to publish, share & discover 3D online and in VR
Wordpress (plugin)Inline glTF renderer for WordPress
Modo by Foundry3D modeling, texturing & rendering tools
Substance Painter by Allegorithmic3D painting software with glTF 2.0 export
Marmoset Toolbag 3D real-time rendering, animation, and baking suite
Aspose.3D File Format APIs for creating, editing, and converting over 100 file formats
3D Slash Web-based and app-based 3D modeling imitating a stonecutter
Archilogic Web-based 3D platform for architecture and interiors
Plex.Earth Connects AutoCAD with Google Earth and the Real World.
VECTARY Online 3D content creation tool
Visual Studio Code Preview, validate, inspect, and debug glTF files
Loaders and Engines
WebGL Engines
To compare WebGL-based glTF loaders, see gltf-test .
WebGL Sample Code
Game and Rendering Engines
Embeddable Viewers
Tool
Author
Type
Description
Babylon.js Viewer BabylonJS
self-hosted
HTML web component for viewing self-hosted glTF models.
<model-viewer> Google
self-hosted
HTML web component for viewing self-hosted glTF models.
Poly Google
service
glTF models hosted on Poly may be embedded in an iframe on any site.
Sketchfab Sketchfab
service
glTF models hosted on Sketchfab may be embedded in an iframe on any site, using the embed models feature.
Languages
JavaScript / Node.js
C++
Tool
Status
Description
Tiny glTF loader Header only C++ glTF parsing library, with Alembic→glTF and CyHair->glTF converters
yocto-gltf Single file, header only, C++ glTF loading/writing automatically generated from the spec
glTF2-loader C++14 glTF (2.0 only) parsing library, by Lugdunum3D
gltfpp glTF 2.0 loader for C++14
fx-gltf A C++14/C++17 header-only library for simple, efficient, and robust serialization/deserialization of glTF 2.0
TGen Simple C++ Tangent Generator
Microsoft.glTF.CPP A C++ library for serializing and deserializing gltf/glb files. |
Qt 3D Qt 3D provides functionality for near-realtime simulation systems
Laugh Engine Vulkan PBR and IBL renderer
Lugdunum3D A modern cross-platform 3D rendering engine built with Vulkan and modern C++14
UX3D Engine Cross-platform multi-threaded Vulkan 3D Engine with glTF 2.0 import and export
Cinder Work-in-progress glTF importer
nvpro-pipeline Research rendering pipeline by NVIDIA for minimizing CPU cost
AssetKit ?
3D asset importer/exporter/util library
libgltf glTF 2.0 parser for C++11
libgltf_ue4 A third-party library for UE4.10+ to load glTF files
glTF for UE4 A plugin for UE4.10+ to import glTF files
Objective-C
Tool
Status
Description
GLTFKit An Objective-C glTF 2.0 loader and Metal-based renderer
C
Tool
Status
Description
C# glTF loader C# reference loader for glTF
Aspose.3D for .NET Import, export, and convert glTF
MixedRealityToolkit-Unity A collection of scripts and components intended to accelerate development of applications targeting Microsoft HoloLens and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
C
Tool
Status
Description
AssetKit 3D asset importer, exporter library.
cgltf Single-header C glTF loader.
Go
Tool
Status
Description
gltf go library for marshaling and unmarshaling glTF
gltf 2.0 A Go glTF 2.0 writer, reader and validator
Rust
Tool
Status
Description
Loader A crate for loading glTF 2.0
Viewer glTF 2.0 Viewer written in Rust
Haxe
Tool
Status
Description
haxe-gltf A Haxe library for reading glTF
Java
JglTF - Java libraries for glTF
Ada
Tool
Status
Description
Orka The OpenGL 4.5 Rendering Kernel in Ada
TypeScript
Swift
Tool
Status
Description
GLTFSceneKit glTF loader for SceneKit
Utilities
gltf-utilities - JavaScript utility library to help load glTFwetzel - Generate Markdown documentation from JSON Schemagltf-enum - Simple site to help work with all the different enums in glTF spec
Resources
glTF-Generator-Registry - An open registry of tools that create glTF assets, along with structured metadata such as links to documentation and bug trackers.
Formats Built on glTF
3D Tiles - An open standard for streaming and rendering massive heterogenous 3D content.
Stack Overflow
Presentations and Articles
Intros
Tutorials
All Presentations and Articles
glTF Debugging in Visual Studio Code by Gary Hsu. January 2019SIGGRAPH Asia glTF Overview and CTTF Update by Khronos. December 2018droidcon SF 2018 - The JPEG of 3D: Bringing 3D scenes and objects into your 2D Android app with glTF by Pierre LaFayette. November 2018Using the Babylon.js viewer with WebVR and Windows Mixed Reality home by Saurabh Bhatia. November 2018Behind the Scenes with Adobe Dimension Engineers: How We Built the 3D Publish Feature by Mike Bond. November 2018OGC and Khronos Form a Liaison to Improve Interoperability within the Geospatial and 3D Graphics Communities . October 2018If you build it (together), they will come...Mozilla and the Khronos Group collaborate to bring glTF capabilities to Blender by Rosana Ardila. October 2018glTF and Construction – Part 1: Secrets of the Cloud by Tim Davies. September 2018glTF and Construction – Part 2: 3D for Everyone by Tim Davies. September 2018SIGGRAPH 2018 glTF BOF video and materials . August 2018
Ecosystem update: Patrick Cozzi, Cesium
glTF for artists: Patrick Ryan, Microsoft
TurboSquid: Beau Perschall
Facebook: Pär Winzell
Microsoft: Gary Hsu and Cedric Caillaud
STK: Alex Wood, AGI
VSCode: Ed Mackey, AGI
Industrial AR with glTF: Johannes Beh, Fraunhofer
Google Draco: Jamieson Brettle
Texture transmission: Mark Callow
IKEA: Martin Enthed
glTF 2.0 – Status and Outlook by Norbert Nopper. July 2018TurboSquid adds glTF to supported formats for its StemCell initiative . July 2018Why glTF 2.0 is awesome! by Arthur Brainville. July 2018Get your glTF on with WebGL/WebVR at Microsoft - June 2018
Building the Metaverse One Standard at a Time by Neil Trevett. Web3D. June 2018Sketchfab uses glTF to bring a search bar to the world of 3D . May 2018Draco Compressed Meshes with glTF and 3D Tiles by Gabby Getz. April 2018glTF Momentum Accelerates with New Support from Facebook, Epic, Unity, and Adobe by Khronos. April 2018GDC 2018 Khronos Developer Days - WebGL & glTF video . March 2018glTF Ecosystem Update, GTC by Neil Trevett. March 2018glTF Ecosystem Update, GDC by Patrick Cozzi. March 2018Adobe Dimension & glTF by Mike Bond. March 2018Draco 3D Compression Extension to glTF 2.0 by Frank Galligan. March 2018Mixed Reality with glTF by Tom Mignone. March 2018glTF Texture Transmission Extension by David Wilkinson. March 2018glTF in Unreal Engine by Mike Erwin. March 2018glTF Asset Generator Deep Dive by Gary Hsu. March 2018GLB Tutorials (exporting from Modo, Substance Painter, Maya, and others) by Facebook. February 2018Convert FBX format to glTF format on Blender and animate it with Three.js (Japanese) by Ryosuke Sakaki. February 2018Art Pipeline for glTF by Patrick Ryan. January 2018Call for Participation: glTF Creating a Compressed Texture Extension by Khronos. December 2017Using glTF Models with A-Frame by Josh Marinacci. December 2017Creating animated glTF Characters with Mixamo and Blender by Don McCurdy. November 2017glTF - Seattle Khronos Group Meetup by Saurabh Bhatia. September 2017State of glTF 2.0 for WebVR Devs by Don McCurdy, Google. September 2017glTF Exporter in three.js and A-Frame by Fernando Serrano. August 2017SIGGRAPH 2017 glTF BOF video . August 2017
glTF 2.0 and Community Update: Tony Parisi, Unity, and Patrick Cozzi, Cesium
Microsoft update - Paint 3D, View 3D, 3D in Office and one more thing…: Saurabh Bhatia and Gary Hsu, Microsoft
glTF VSCode editor: Ed Mackey, AGI
Autodesk Forge and glTF: Nop Jiarathanakul, Autodesk
Three.js and A-Frame update: Don McCurdy, Google and Ricardo Cabello, Google
Introduction to geometry compression on the web with Draco: Michael Hemmer and Jamieson Brettle, Google
WebGL PBR reference implementation: Scott Nagy, Microsoft, and Mohamad Moneimne, Cesium
Sketchfab update: Aurelien Chatelain, Sketchfab
glTF 2.0 Export in InstantUV : Max Limper, Fraunhofer
Physically-Based Rendering in Cesium by Mohamad Moneimne. August 2017Why we should all support glTF 2.0 as THE standard asset exchange format for game engines by Juan Linietsky. August 2017Exporting glTF 2.0 from Maya LT by Don McCurdy. June 2017glTF 2.0: PBR Materials by Saurabh Bhatia. May 2017glTF Workflow for a Saturday Night by Diego F. Goberna. April 20172017 GDC WebGL/WebVR/glTF Meetup YouTube recording. March 2017Reach the Largest Gaming Platform of All: The Web. WebGL, WebVR and glTF . March 2017PBR-ready glTF in instant3Dhub / instantUV by Max Limper. March 2017Call for feedback on glTF 2.0 by Neil Trevett. February 2017Improve expressiveness of WebGL with the topic 3D file format glTF now! (in Japanese) by Yuki Shimada(@emadurandal), WebGL advent calendar 2016 at Qiita. December 2016A new 3D horizon: glTF import and export with Archilogic by Martin Splitt. December 2016Bringing 3D to everyone through open standards by Forest W. Gouin and Jean Paoli. October 2016Using Quantization with 3D Models by Rob Taglang. August 2016glTF and Mobile VR: Inclusive standards for a 3D world . Amanda Watson, Oculus, WebGL + glTF BOF. July 2016glTF Update and Roadmap . Tony Parisi, WebGL + glTF BOF. July 2016PBR in glTF: Current State . Max Limper, Johannes Behr, and Timo Sturm, WebGL + glTF BOF. July 2016glTF:// The Runtime Asset Format for GL-based Applications . July 2016glTF working group updates (slides , video ). Patrick Cozzi and Tony Parisi, WebGL + glTF BOF. March 2016FBX to/from glTF (slides , video ). Cyrille Fauvel, WebGL + glTF BOF. March 2016Khronos Group glTF Webinar . Neil Trevett, Virtual AR Community meeting. October 2015An Introduction to glTF 1.0 . October 2015The state of WebGL and glTF . Patrick Cozzi, The Graphical Web. September 2015glTF ecosystem and mesh compression update . Khronos 3D Formats Working Group, SIGGRAPH 2015. August 2015glTF and the WebGL Art Pipeline . Tony Parisi, WebGL Meetup. March 2015Writing an FBX importer / Exporter plug-in . Cyrille Fauvel. January 2015glTF Tips for Artists . Branden Coker. December 20143D for the Modern Web: Declarative 3D and glTF . Brian Coughlin. Summer 2014glTF:// Designing an Open-Standard Runtime Asset Format . Fabrice Robinet et al, GPU Pro 5. May 2014Building a WebGL Santa with Cesium and glTF . Patrick Cozzi. December 2013glTF update . Tony Parisi. August 2013How I got involved in glTF and Khronos . Patrick Cozzi, WebGL Meetup. March 2013
We believe the true usefulness of glTF goes beyond the spec itself; it is an ecosystem of tools, documentation, and extensions contributed by the community. You are encouraged to get involved !
From github.com/javagl/gltfOverview/
