​CGTrader Building a Foundation for Metaverse

World’s largest provider of 3D content revises platform to drive creation, streamline access of metaverse-ready models.

In response to growing demand for 3D models that are optimized for use in virtual reality environments, CGTrader, the world’s largest marketplace for 3D content, is building processes that will encourage creation of 3D model “building blocks” of the system and make it simpler and faster for companies developing Metaverse projects to find and purchase those models.

The metaverse is a virtual shared space that may be the next generation of the internet. It is created using a combination of technologies, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), head-mounted displays, artificial intelligence, and more.

These virtual spaces need 3D models as their building blocks, and CGTrader has started seeing a growing market demand, especially from major metaverse players like Meta, Nvidia, and others. However, different metaverses can have different requirements, and 3D assets are complex.

In response to that demand and to speed and streamline development of the metaverse, CGTrader is building dedicated listing pages for metaverse software packages and launching a process to rapidly increase the number of metaverse-compatible 3D models.

In the first phase, a marketplace model review already has populated the new listing pages with batches of 3D models dedicated to specific metaverses or use cases like Unity, Unreal and TikTok. The second phase will allow the CGTrader designer community to participate by applying for specific models to have metaverse badges, which can rapidly increase the number of models listed for specific metaverses or use cases.

CGTrader’s third phase is building an automated 3D model validation pipeline to compare and check models to specific requirements, with the ability to convert models into selected specifications.

“Combining all three of these phases, we can grow the number in each category very significantly,” said CGTrader CEO Dalia Lasaite. “This initiative also will help creators, by improving access to the tools for 3D model design for people who have an aesthetic vision but may not have yet have developed advanced technical skills”.

CGTrader’s listing structure begins with a focus on six digital platforms:

• Spark AR, an augmented reality platform from Meta, for Mac OS and Windows, that lets users create AR effects for mobile cameras;
• Snap AR, technology owned by Snapchat’s parent company that creates AR assets from existing product photography;
• Omniverse, Nvidia’s suite of cloud services for artists, developers and enterprise teams to build metaverse applications;
• EffectHouse, TikTok’s tool for creating, publishing and sharing AR effects for TikTok;
• Unity, a cross-platform game engine that is used to create interactive 3D experiences for a wide range of platforms;
• Unreal Engine, a game engine developed by Epic Games that is used to create high-quality 3D graphics and immersive environments.

CGTrader currently lists more than 42,000 metaverse-compatible models available across the six categories, with the number growing daily.

“Introducing these metaverse 3D model categories will be a good step forward to building more content compatible with all the new digital initiatives, and to initiating collaborations with the leading platforms on how to build more relevant content ready-to-use on their products,” Lasaite said. “The demand on each of the dedicated pages will indicate to us where the market is moving and what type of content our designer community should focus on.”

CGTrader’s next steps, Lasaite said, will be continued work with the designer community to increase the supply, improving the UX of the content users to find what they need, working with the platforms on building more use cases, and sharing those use cases with the 3D community.