Here is my hypothesis: the digital world is moving rapidly from 2D to 3D. In light of that transformation, I expect that there will be an increasing demand for 3D images to be used in games, 3D printing, VR and AR, marketing and general communication.
Someone will need to fill that demand. I submit that we have not yet seen the best in this category and that there is still room for additional entrants. This post discusses the obstacles and opportunity in the business area of 3D digitizing the world.
Someone will need to fill that demand. I submit that we have not yet seen the best in this category and that there is still room for additional entrants. This post discusses the obstacles and opportunity in the business area of 3D digitizing the world.
Defining the Problem
If you spend much time looking at what current 3D image collections have to offer (see the competitive landscape discussion below) you quickly get a sense that there is significant room for improvement. I believe there is an opportunity to create the kind of 3D image catalog that rivals what Getty Images and Corbis Images have developed in the 2D photography space.
As we look at the market for 3D images, it is worth asking what market needs exist that aren't already being adequately addressed by the players currently in the space. Options could include:
Currently the greatest demand for 3D images is in games and films. In the future it will likely be in product marketing, AR/VR and 3d printing as well. When I'm being impartial, it does not feel like demand for high quality 3D images is all that large yet and certainly not in comparison to the 2D photography market. But I don't see any reason why there wouldn't ultimately be as much demand for such images as there is for 2D now; after all, a 3D image simply provides more information to the viewer and is a better facsimile of reality than 2D. I expect demand to continue to grow, but believe that there will need to be improvement in the product available to the market, as well as additional development of the ways that people view these images. 3D capability is only just now starting to be available on most computing platforms. Its availability, for example using WebGL among other approaches, has grown a great deal even in the last year and there is little reason to think it won't continue to grow and be even more easily accessible by mobile as well on tablets and other computers in the coming months.
Competitive Landscape
There are a number of companies currently providing 3D models either for free or on a fee for use basis. Representative players in this space include:
Steps in a Digitize the World Project
Say that you wanted to get in on the action and start to build your own 3D image collection. What would you need to do? As you might guess, creating the world's largest 3D image database is no small task. After identification of the target market, deciding on the intended uses of the images and any resulting image quality or format standards, there will be a number of key steps as the collection is built.
One of the biggest opportunities in coming years will be in a move toward photorealistic 3D images. Many of the current sites do not even attempt photorealism for any of their models. Some of Turbosquid's models are pretty good, but nearly all of them start out as drawings rather than taken from scans or high res photos of real world objects. I did an earlier post regarding reality capture in the context of VR which describes the current state of bringing environments into 3D game engines. There are a number of expensive scanners that can capture 3D objects. They generally cost $25-50,000 or more and require some significant post-processing but can produce a pretty good image. Many companies are trying to create cheaper 3D capture devices, but they currrently lack the quality required to add to a professional 3D image collection. Some people are working to improve the quality provided by photogrammetry software. Once someone does create an affordable, high quality, production-oriented 3D capture system, it will make the creation of this world's largest 3D collection an easier proposition.
Conclusion
While there are clearly advantages that companies like Getty Images, Corbis Images and even TurboSquid bring to this market based on their experience with rights management and working with the creative community, I do not think anyone has yet closed the door on the opportunity in this space. I believe that there will be additional successful entrants in this space. I would be very surprised if once the industry figures out how people will want to use 3D images, there wasn't a concerted push by existing players and new entrants to put together comprehensive, useful, rights-based 3D image collections. Further, as soon as some key players start to develop interesting collections focusing either on type of content, use of the content or intended audience, I expect there to be considerable consolidation (i.e., acquisition) by the larger companies as they look to expand their offerings.
To me, success in this opportunity comes down to making a solid judgment as to when 3D image demand will justify investment (but being ahead of it enough to have some first mover advantage), making the correct choices on the intended uses (and therefore the necessary image specifications and rights to be collected) and then ultimately really getting right the basic blocking and tackling execution exercise on assembling the images, collecting and recording the necessary rights and assembling an appealing package of 3D images. Let me know what you think.
If you spend much time looking at what current 3D image collections have to offer (see the competitive landscape discussion below) you quickly get a sense that there is significant room for improvement. I believe there is an opportunity to create the kind of 3D image catalog that rivals what Getty Images and Corbis Images have developed in the 2D photography space.
As we look at the market for 3D images, it is worth asking what market needs exist that aren't already being adequately addressed by the players currently in the space. Options could include:
- Need for single stop access to a larger database of images
- Availability of some key missing image categories
- Some unmet need of the community of users -- say, an easier way to take images and modify them to suit individual requirements
- Better segmentation and differentiation of models by intended use such as properly tessellated and decimated models for game use and appropriate file formats for 3D printing
- Simplified, cheaper access in the pay-for-use world
- Uniformity of quality of the downloads
- Higher quality, more extensive universe of 3D printable object models
Currently the greatest demand for 3D images is in games and films. In the future it will likely be in product marketing, AR/VR and 3d printing as well. When I'm being impartial, it does not feel like demand for high quality 3D images is all that large yet and certainly not in comparison to the 2D photography market. But I don't see any reason why there wouldn't ultimately be as much demand for such images as there is for 2D now; after all, a 3D image simply provides more information to the viewer and is a better facsimile of reality than 2D. I expect demand to continue to grow, but believe that there will need to be improvement in the product available to the market, as well as additional development of the ways that people view these images. 3D capability is only just now starting to be available on most computing platforms. Its availability, for example using WebGL among other approaches, has grown a great deal even in the last year and there is little reason to think it won't continue to grow and be even more easily accessible by mobile as well on tablets and other computers in the coming months.
Competitive Landscape
There are a number of companies currently providing 3D models either for free or on a fee for use basis. Representative players in this space include:
- GrabCAD This is an on-line community founded by mechanical engineers to develop a free library of 970,000+ CAD models. It was purchased last year by Stratasys (a 3D printer manufacturer) because "By increasing the collaboration and accessibility of 3D CAD files, we believe we can further accelerate the adoption of 3D printing solutions and Stratasys’ product offerings.” The scope of ambition is not clear; i.e., do they plan to use the CAD files for more than facilitating the engineering and product development process? At this point, GrabCAD is not mentioned on the Stratasys site.
- Turbosquid TurboSquid is a digital media company that sells stock 3D models used in 3D graphics to a variety of industries, including computer games, architecture, and interactive training. Tubosquid is a pay for use site with 300,000+ 3D models available for download in categories like aircraft, architecture, characters, hobbies, weapons and armor, vehicles, industrial, animals, food, science, technology, containers and watercraft. The 75 person company’s offerings which are aimed primarily at creative professionals include per download fees of $50-100+. Turbosquid appears to collect 3D images primarily through a community of 30,000 3D modeling professionals. Turbosquid has a significant head start on the technical problems of establishing the type of collection described in this post.
- Thingiverse Consumer-oriented collection of basic 3D printable objects. They have indicated that they want to create a large open-source database of printable items.
- 3d4medical.com Beautifully crafted 3D stock images and animations of medical anatomy subjects used in medical learning and apps, magazines, advertisements, news and other media. Currently offer 40,000 high resolution images.
- Trimble 3D Warehouse The 3D warehouse is a free online repository to store and share 3D models. Generally contains consumer-oriented 3D images, not all of which are printable and which generally do not meet uniform standards of quality / utility at this point. Database includes buildings, geo-modeling, some products. The 3D Warehouse apparently contains over 2.7 million models primarily drawn in Sketchup.
- Getty Images The Getty collection which is huge on the 2D side of the house, has some 3D images. Interestingly, when you type "3D images" into the search box on the site, you are sent to images of 3D printing, 3D movie goers and the like but not actual 3D images. The site also describes Getty's working with Oculus as being driven by 360 degree photos (basically a 2D wrap around canvas) to create "immersive" VR. Getty Images launches 360° View by Getty Images for the Oculus™ Platform It is not overly easy to find 3D images on the Getty site.
Steps in a Digitize the World Project
Say that you wanted to get in on the action and start to build your own 3D image collection. What would you need to do? As you might guess, creating the world's largest 3D image database is no small task. After identification of the target market, deciding on the intended uses of the images and any resulting image quality or format standards, there will be a number of key steps as the collection is built.
- Image collection. There are two basic ways to create a 3D image database: either do it by hand yourself by scanning every item you can get your hands on and/or via acquisition (i.e., licensing deals with or acquisition of existing image collections or directly from producers of 3D content).
- Image and File quality control. Need to establish and adhere to standards for image and file quality control which will include appropriate standards for each intended use. It will be important to decide on and clearly articulate the standards up front so those working on the first step of image collection bring them into the Collection the right way the first time. I believe that the successful collection will need to be about quality and breadth of offering as product differentiators.
- Permissions / Rights issues. Identify and distinguish among generic and public domain items as well as copyright, trade dress and other protected items. Create a protocol for making the determination whether some special permission may be necessary. Record that determination in a Rights Database. A determination of necessary rights at the initial image collection phase requires identification of the permitted end user image use (e.g., use in a film, 3D printing, etc.). It will be critical to create a standardized approach for the collection of rights, a clear articulation of the necessary rights and finally it will be prudent to create a Proof of Rights Database documenting proof of rights.
- Market definition [This might well be considered step 1]. Determine target market. For example, will the primary focus be on the 3D Printing community or other creative-based users (such as game developers, VR/AR, advertising, museum, educational and entertainment/movie companies).
- Sales and marketing. Decide on the business model. Will you segment by permitted use, e.g.: for personal use 3D printing only or for use in a single 3D game only or for use in a movie or for use in a non-profit virtual museum collection? Whatever you do will inform the rights you will need.
- Massive data storage. You will probably use a low-cost, scalable, secure cloud-based storage option. Will need scalable storage/processing, both for pre-processing working library needs as well as the Collection's customer-facing portal.
- Create file delivery mechanisms. Create image file delivery mechanisms, develop file security protocols, confirm access rights/payment before delivery.
- Create website for the Collection. Based on what is currently available in this space, a clean, clearly segmented, easily searchable database will be an advantage.
One of the biggest opportunities in coming years will be in a move toward photorealistic 3D images. Many of the current sites do not even attempt photorealism for any of their models. Some of Turbosquid's models are pretty good, but nearly all of them start out as drawings rather than taken from scans or high res photos of real world objects. I did an earlier post regarding reality capture in the context of VR which describes the current state of bringing environments into 3D game engines. There are a number of expensive scanners that can capture 3D objects. They generally cost $25-50,000 or more and require some significant post-processing but can produce a pretty good image. Many companies are trying to create cheaper 3D capture devices, but they currrently lack the quality required to add to a professional 3D image collection. Some people are working to improve the quality provided by photogrammetry software. Once someone does create an affordable, high quality, production-oriented 3D capture system, it will make the creation of this world's largest 3D collection an easier proposition.
Conclusion
While there are clearly advantages that companies like Getty Images, Corbis Images and even TurboSquid bring to this market based on their experience with rights management and working with the creative community, I do not think anyone has yet closed the door on the opportunity in this space. I believe that there will be additional successful entrants in this space. I would be very surprised if once the industry figures out how people will want to use 3D images, there wasn't a concerted push by existing players and new entrants to put together comprehensive, useful, rights-based 3D image collections. Further, as soon as some key players start to develop interesting collections focusing either on type of content, use of the content or intended audience, I expect there to be considerable consolidation (i.e., acquisition) by the larger companies as they look to expand their offerings.
To me, success in this opportunity comes down to making a solid judgment as to when 3D image demand will justify investment (but being ahead of it enough to have some first mover advantage), making the correct choices on the intended uses (and therefore the necessary image specifications and rights to be collected) and then ultimately really getting right the basic blocking and tackling execution exercise on assembling the images, collecting and recording the necessary rights and assembling an appealing package of 3D images. Let me know what you think.