How to create huge amounts of 3D models

Cesium ion
1

Hi everyone,
I am working on a project and the goal is to visualize huge amounts of trees (in four different categories) using Cesium.
From my understanding, I have to create a tileset (with .i3dm files from 3d models) for that? is this correct?
Is there a way to do this using Cesium ION? If yes, how? I’ve looked at several tutorials but did not find anything suitable! Is there a useful tutorial?

Thanks,

2

You have a few options. If you already have a collection of 3D models of trees we support 3D model instancing. You can upload your tree models to Cesium Ion and convert them to glTF for rendering. If you have a large scan of a forest already you can upload it to Ion and choose to convert it to 3D tiles. Both of these should help you with rendering performance. Cesium Ion will create the tileset on your behalf from 3D data, no need to create the i3dm on your own locally first.

I suggest starting with the CesiumJS quickstart guide if you’re stuck. Let us know if you have any further questions.

3

Is there a file size threshold or standard which decides whether to tile a model or simply convert it to gltf for visualization? How do I decide between the two, and maybe what is the maximum file size for converting to gltf for 3d models?

Thank you!

4

Individual models (a single tree, a car, a chair) should be converted to glTF for visualization. 3D Tiles are useful when your model is exceptionally large and you need multiple level of details to view it with acceptable performance. A 3D model of an entire city would be an appropriate candidate for converting to 3D tiles. We don’t have explicit file size limits for individual models, but Cesium ion accounts do have overall storage limits, more information on that is available here.