Material Workflows
xeokit-sdk support several types of materials, from physically-based materials for realistic rendering, to non-realistic Phong and Lambertian materials for higher memory and rendering performance when viewing large models.
Click the image below for a live demo.
Physically based rendering, or PBR, is a shading model in computer graphics that seeks to render graphics in a way that more accurately models the flow of light in the real world. PBR uses real world values for material attributes, to provide results that are more accurate and consistent under all lighting conditions.
For an introduction to PBR concepts, check out the Allegorithmic PBR Guide.
xeokit supports both the metallic-roughness and specular-glossiness PBR workflows, within the same scenes. Metallic-roughness is best for rendering conductors, while specular-glossiness is best for rendering dielectric materials, such as glass and plastic. In practice, however, metallic-roughness is usually expressive enough for all purposes.
At the lowest level within the SDK, xeokit's 3D engine supports these workflows with its MetallicMaterial and SpecularcMaterial components.
At a higher level, xeokit loads glTF 2.0 models containing these workflows via its GLTFLoaderPlugin.
While physically-based materials are great for rendering realistic previews of things like building interiors, they are inefficient for rendering the large numbers of objects typically found in the likes of mechanical, engineering and plumbing (MEP) models.
WIP