Skip to main content

Building a configurator

Dan
  • Updated

    Using the Sketchfab Viewer API, you can create a 3D model configurator for your model(s).

    What's a 3D configurator? A 3D configurator is an interactive tool that allows others to experience your models in 3D and perform a number of actions, like hide or show objects, or edit materials and textures in real time.

    Getting started

    To build your own configurator, you’ll first want to make sure you have a good model to work on. For configurator-ready models, it’s best to prepare the following:

    • Avoid merging objects and materials that’ll need to be configured
    • Give human readable names to your model’s materials
    • Group objects under a single parent for easy manipulation
    Not all models can be used in configurators. For example, 3D scans don’t often work.

    Viewer API functions

    Once you have your model prepared, you’ll want to decide what others can do with it. The Sketchfab Viewer API offers a number of functions and we are always working to offer more.

    Using the the Viewer API, you’ll basically be assigning functions to buttons you or your developer create with code. For example, configurators can be made so that clicking a button changes the color of a select material on the model.

    You can find a number of example functions and the code to create them in our Developers section.

    In addition to using the Sketchfab Viewer API, you’ll need to build a full-featured web application that interacts with it, including a user interface (buttons, menus, etc.) and operations to dynamically update the model.

    Need help?

    If you or your business is new to 3D or you're just looking to hire an external developer to build your configurator, Sketchfab can help. We offer consultations for free and configurator services for a fee.

    Related articles

    Comments

    1 comment

    Date Votes
    • LEEFORDS

      Dear Sir, 
      I am happy to say I was able to create a "test Configurator" using the Sketchfab Configurator.
      however when I tried to share it I only found that people could only View the original 3D model and not interact with it as I had created with your Sketchfab Configurator.
      PLEASE NOTE I have the Pro subscription Plan (do I really need to upgrade to premium in order to be able to use the configurator feature)

      OR must I ask a program developer to create the user interface?

      My goal is first to make a simple test using a configurator to see how people respond to some of my past projects using this media.
      Knid regards
      Leeford

      0

    Please sign in to leave a comment.