collada.js

collada.js is a parser of collada format (DAE) in javascript. It parses the common geometry info like:

• node properties (name, id)
• transformation (matrix4x4) using glMatrix
• geometry (vertices, normals, texture coords, skinning weights and matrix index, morph targets)
• basic light and camera properties
• scene structure (children)
• basic material info (multimaterial not supported yet)
• animation (only transformation animation)

Returns an object with all the info ready to use. The data arrays are in typed-arrays. The geometry is packed in indexed buffers ready to be uploaded to the GPU.

Due to the opennes of DAE every 3D authoring tool tends to exports data in a different way, thats why not all DAEs will work, but it has been tested with DAEs from Cinema4D, 3D Studio Max, Maya and Blender, although animation is still a problem with Cinema4D.

It can work in the main thread or inside a worker, but it doesnt work in nodejs (it relies in the XML capabilities of the browser).

It comes with its own function Collada.loadInWorker that does the HttpRequest and the parsing inside the worker to avoid blocking the main thread, and uses transferables when possible.

When using a worker you need to have installed the XML for script (supplied in the folder external/). Check the demo to see how to pass the relative folder to all the libraries to the worker.

It can be imported as a module.

Demo & Benchmark

A demo is included in demo folder, you can test it here, drag any DAE to check the result.

Usage

Include the library and dependencies

<script src="js/gl-matrix-min.js"></script>
<script src="js/collada.js"></script>

Fetch the file and parse it:

//callback receives one unic parameter with all the scene
Collada.load( "myfile.dae", callback ); 

Or if you already have the data and only want to parse it:

var scene = Collada.parse( my_dae_data );

If you want to use a worker then you need to configure it:

Collada.init({ dataPath: "../demo/", workerPath: "../src/", libsPath: "../external/" });

Where:

• dataPath is the folder(path) where to fetch data when using XMLHttpRequest inside the worker
• workerPath the folder where the collada.js is located
• libsPath the folder where glmatrix and tinyxml libraries are located

Then

Collada.loadInWorker("myfile.DAE", callback );

Or to parse only:

Collada.parseInWorker( data, callback );

Feedback

This has been tested with collada files exported from Cinema4D, Blender, Maya and 3DS Max, if you have one DAE that doesnt seem propertly supported, send it to me so I can see the differences.

You can write any feedback to javi.agenjo@gmail.com