NEW REPORT: Top Trends in Culture Technology

NEW REPORT: Top Trends in Culture Technology

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Announcing our Integration with Sketchfab!

By katie April 24, 2020

“Our integration with Sketchfab creates a path forward for cultural organizations to launch scalable 3D content, AR, and VR experiences. Publishing on Sketchfab gives access to millions of people, while publishing in CultureConnect apps provides context and storytelling.”

– Samantha Diamond, CEO, CultureConnect

WHY IS THIS A #BIGDEAL?

Sketchfab is the world’s largest platform to publish, share, and discover 3D content for publication across web and mobile and for AR, VR and mixed reality experiences. Sketchfab’s easy-to-use platform is used by hundreds of cultural and heritage organizations worldwide in addition to millions of users across many other sectors.

The CultureConnect platform fully supports any media stored on Sketchfab. Our integration means that you can instantly import your Sketchfab model into the CultureConnect platform for use across our in-gallery interactives, online exhibitions, or mobile guides!

3D CONTENT AT YOUR ORGANIZATION

While Sketchfab is the authority for sharing your 3D collection online, CultureConnect provides the means for storytelling. Like any rich media asset, it is context that brings meaning and allows for interpretation whether it’s narrative, non-linear, interactive or featuring additional rich-media or text.

WHY OUR CUSTOMERS LOVE 3D CONTENT:

Interactive 3D content deepens engagement and lengthens dwell time
Visitors, researchers, and staff can see objects from all angles, including what’s hidden from view
Period rooms, historic homes, and gallery spaces can become immersive interactive experiences, on or off site
Zoom-in capabilities allow users to explore granular details, at any angle
Easy-to-add touchpoints provide short interpretive blurbs

VR AT YOUR ORGANIZATION

Any model uploaded to Sketchfab can be viewed in VR. These web-hosted models mean museums can provide access to a VR experience across a variety of devices including the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, or Oculus Go as well as a WebVR browser. Whether you choose to incorporate VR into a mobile experience as your museum guests explore the collection or you create a stationary seated experience, users can opt-in when they’re ready and interested. Mobile guides, audio tours, online exhibitions, and in-gallery kiosks can now elegantly live side-by-side with virtual reality for those visitors looking for a deeper dive.

To activate a VR experience, a user simply tap the “View in VR” icon available at the bottom of every model. From there, you can choose to activate the model on your mobile phone with Cardboard or a similar VR headset. Or, you can activate the experience on a desktop PC with a VR headset. Read more about VR on Sketchfab.

WHY PUBLISH YOUR 3D CONTENT ON SKETCHFAB

Publishing your 3D content on Sketchfab and using in the CultureConnect apps means you can tell stories, create context and marry it with non-3D content. And, there are also some technical benefits:

Create Once, Publish Anywhere: Upload and manage your 3D models (or VR scenes) in one location (Sketchfab) and use anywhere in the CultureConnect platform.

Optimize Load-time: Sketchfab players are optimized for fast, on-demand loading.

Feature-Rich Out of the Box: Sketchfab offers tons of interactive features that flow through right to your CultureConnect app.

Responsive Design: Quickly and easily distribute your 3D models and CultureConnect apps across all devices from mobile phones to in-gallery kiosks, to at home desktops and laptops.

HOW IT WORKS

1. Copy-paste the URL of your Sketchfab model into the CultureConnect Media Gallery.

2. Add to any media container in any application from mobile guides to digital labels to advanced interactives.

Yup, that’s all. Pretty neat, right?

EXAMPLE PLEASE?!

Check out the Lowe Museum of Art case study featuring the Sketchfab integration. Students at the University of Miami created 3D scans of the museum’s antiquity collection for scholarship and then collaborated with the museum to present these materials for visitor engagement with an in-gallery kiosk (also published online) and 3D printed replicas.

Interested in learning more about Sketchfab for your cultural institution? Check out their plans here… and then take 50% off! Sketchfab loves the cultural sector. Please note that a Business Subscription is necessary for in-gallery displays where restricting access to outbound web links in the 3D viewer is necessary for unattended kiosk use.