I am currently working on a project where I would need to display a scene full of navy surface ships moving in real-time based on data from a database. Each of these ships will each contain specific features like weaponry and other machinery that would be selectable. Thanks to the community members here, I realize I can use 3D tiles to implement this. However, I still need clarification on some of the aspects to 3D tiles.
Are the 3D tiles able to move/ be dynamic? Most of the examples of 3D tiles that I’ve seen so far are stuck to a specific location. I would like to have the ships move to different locations in real-time while keeping their property of having clickable features.
How would I go about serving these tiles without using the Cesium ion 3D tiling pipeline? I understand it is an amazing tool, however licensing is a major consideration for me so unfortunately I am bound to free options. Could I simply use a static Apache HTTP server and serve all of the 3D tiles from there? Or could I use the server from the 3d-tiles-sample repo?
I truly appreciate all of the help that you guys have done for me thus far. Thanks in advance!
Thank you for sharing some details on your project! This sounds like an amazing application. I am looking forward to seeing your progress I am going to do my best to answer your questions.
It is possible to move 3D tiles! For instance, in this sandcastle demo we showcase how to adjust the height of a 3d tileset. However, I suggest moving Entity objects using CZML. In this case, each Entity would be your 3d model and a CZML dataset would dictate the position of each model.
Here is our CZML spec. This should help you get familiar with CZML.
Here is our documentation for Entity. I recommend reading this over carefully so that you understand the capabilities of this object.
Also, check out this sandcastle demo. I believe that it showcases a lot of the functionality that you will need for your application. It should help you get started.
My biggest concern with using CZML is that I have never used it to track objects in real-time. It is possible that there are other formats that are better suited for real-time tracking. Suggestions from the community would be welcomed. However, I did find this thread about CZML that begins to address the issue.
For this application, I strongly recommend using Cesium ion. In terms of workarounds, exploring a static Apache HTTPS server seems like a great starting place.
Let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. I would love to see some demos of what you have so far! Even seeing your 3D battleship models would be cool. Looking forward to learning more.
I am going to do my best to answer your questions.