Models

The Models library is meant to ease loading, storing, and getting 3D models. The existing Three.js model loaders work well, but do not support promises or async/await. Additionally, loading many models can be cumbersome, and loading models when they're needed can be slow.

The Models library is a singleton instance, meaning you'll need to call Models.get() to access it.

Loading

Before using your models, ERA loads and stores them in a "storage" mechanism for easier access by the user later. There are a couple of ways to load your 3D Models:

Many Models
If you want to have a set (or all) of your models loaded at once, say, before starting the render loop, you can call

await Models.get().loadAllFromFile('path/to/models.json');

Where models.json is a file containing a manifest of all your models:

{
  "example": {
    "scale": 1,
    "extension": "obj"
  }
}

Individual Model

If you want to load a single model, you can call

const model = await Models.get().load(directory, name, options);

Accessing Models

After your models have been loaded, you'll want to access them and load them into your scene. To do this, call

const mesh = Models.get().createModel(name);

This is a synchronous function, as ERA simply creates a clone of 3D model in memory. A clone is created in order to prevent accidentally using the same mesh instance for multiple entities.

Notes

• The ERA Models library only supports obj and gltf models. New model formats can be supported easily, just send a PR.