INTRODUCTION

This page offers a WWW interface to a collection of freely available 3D object files which have been compiled for their applicability to real-time graphics applications, and virtual reality (VR) in particular. Many object models in the public domain are large, complex designs, usually generated from some kind of CAD package; however, the requirement of a real-time VR system necessitates small, compact representations. This repository is therefore an attempt to collate models which are more directly applicable to the needs of the VR community.

In addition to object files, the site is also host to some relevant documentation on the supported file formats and various utilities such as converters to transform models into different formats etc. It should be noted that the current suite of supported formats is not definitive - provision will be provided for other formats as the need arises.

Put more succinctly, the goals of this site are:

1. Maintain a repository of 3D object files, of various formats, which will be of particular relevance and usefulness to the real-time 3D graphics/VR community.
   
   
2. Hold relevant documentation on the support file formats, e.g. descriptions of the file formats, information about the various graphics systems which are supported etc.
   
   
3. Hold a collection of pertinent utilities for the supported file formats, e.g. converters, filters, viewers etc.
   
   

In addition to various individual contributions, this facility has gained industry support from a number of companies, including: Division Ltd., Criterion Software Ltd., Superscape Ltd. and Sense8. The site now also hosts a number of objects from the VR-Art gallery, maintained at the Design Research Centre.

This site is maintained on behalf of the United Kingdom Virtual Reality Special Interest Group (UK VR-SIG).