glTF Research Scenes

glTF 2.0 versions of commonly used graphics research scenes, with conversion metadata and documented limitations.

A preview of selected glTF scenes included in the repository.

Many well-known research scenes are distributed in renderer-specific formats such as PBRT. Those formats are useful for offline renderers, but less convenient to use in real-time engines, and web experiments.

This repository provides glTF 2.0 adaptations of those scenes so they are easier to inspect, load, and reuse. The glTF outputs are close approximations of the original scenes.

Each scene includes the generated glTF assets and metadata describing how the conversion was done. The scenes were converted with Python scripts, then manually checked against the original files and reference renders.

glTF scenes are validated in GitHub Actions with the Khronos glTF Validator.

glTF variants

Each scene includes two generated glTF variants:

• *_core.gltf: standard glTF 2.0 material model, for easier loading in engines.
• *_extended.gltf: a richer material mapping using supported glTF extensions.

For basic importer and engine testing, use the core version. And use the extended version for richer material representation.

Download

Download the v1.0.0 release if you only need the packaged .glb files.

Clone the repository for the full asset set: sources, .gltf files, textures, metadata, and licenses.

Scenes

Scene	Reference	License	Notes
breakfast-room		CC-BY-3.0	Textured interior with metallic fixtures, environment map data, and distant-light data
bathroom		CC0-1.0	Large bathroom interior with glass, alpha masking, and emissive mesh lighting
bathroom2		CC-BY-3.0	Bathroom interior with textured coated wood, rough glass, mirrors, and emissive mesh lighting
bmw-m6		CC0-1.0	Vehicle scene with clearcoat paint, dielectric glass, aluminum metals, coated conductors, and environment map data
classroom		CC-BY-3.0	Classroom interior with textured wood, clearcoat materials, metals, environment map data, and distant-light data
coffee-maker		CC-BY-3.0	Compact appliance scene with coated plastics, glass, metal, and emissive mesh lighting
cornell-box		CC0-1.0	Small diffuse box scene with emissive mesh lighting
cornell-caustic		CC0-1.0	Cornell Box caustics scene with dielectric water and emissive mesh lighting
dragon		CC-BY-3.0	Dense dragon model scene with diffuse materials and distant-light data
glass-of-water		CC0-1.0	Transparent glass, water, ice, and emissive mesh lighting test
house		CC0-1.0	Large Victorian house with glass, environment map data, and distant-light data
kitchen		CC-BY-3.0	Detailed kitchen with textures, glass, metals, and emissive mesh lighting
lamp		CC0-1.0	Desk lamp with coated plastic, metals, bulb glass, and emissive mesh lighting
living-room		CC-BY-3.0	Textured interior with leaf cutouts, mirrors, glass, and environment map data
living-room-2		CC-BY-3.0	White living room interior with textured props, clearcoat materials, glass, and emissive mesh lighting
material-testball		Mixed; see scene license	Compact material ball with baked checkerboard and environment map data
modern-hall		CC-BY-3.0	Modern hallway interior with textured surfaces, volumetric glass, and disk emissive mesh lighting
pontiac-gto		CC0-1.0	Vehicle scene with clearcoat car paint, glass, chrome, and environment map data
spaceship		CC0-1.0	Sci-fi model with metals, glass, emissive mesh lighting, and environment map data
staircase		CC-BY-3.0	Wooden staircase interior with portrait camera and emissive mesh lighting
teapot		Mixed; see scene license	Teapot with baked checkerboard and environment map data
teapot-full		Mixed; see scene license	Teapot and liquid scene with volume, medium settings, and environment map data
veach-ajar		CC0-1.0	Veach lighting scene with transformed meshes, glass, and emissive mesh lighting
veach-bidir		CC0-1.0	Small bidirectional-lighting scene with emissive mesh lighting
veach-mis		CC0-1.0	Compact MIS scene with tessellated emissive mesh lighting
vintage-car		Mixed; see scene license	Vehicle scene with clearcoat car paint, glass, chrome, rough steel, and environment map data

Limitations

Some PBRT scene features are outside the current conversion scope because glTF cannot represent them directly and a practical approximation is not always available. B-spline curves used for fur, hair, or carpet fibers are the main example: converting them to triangle meshes can make the generated assets too large, so scenes that depend on them are not currently included.

The included scenes were selected because their important geometry, materials, textures, lighting, cameras, and render settings can be represented in glTF or approximated with supported glTF features. PBRT-only details are recorded in glTF extras and conversion.yaml.

The generated glTF files do not use explicit light objects. Base glTF 2.0 has no light object, and KHR_lights_punctual only supports directional, point, and spot lights. This repository does not emit that extension. PBRT area lights are converted to emissive mesh geometry using the source emitter shape and size, which better matches how path tracing engines model finite-area emitters. PBRT distant and infinite lights are preserved as metadata.

Generated Outputs

Each scene's gltf/ directory contains:

• scenes/<scene-id>/gltf/<scene_id>_core.gltf
• scenes/<scene-id>/gltf/<scene_id>_extended.gltf
• scenes/<scene-id>/gltf/<scene_id>.bin
• scenes/<scene-id>/gltf/conversion.yaml

The conversion.yaml report may include:

• source files and license
• generated outputs
• geometry statistics
• material mapping
• light mapping
• render presets
• unsupported and approximated features

References

• Benedikt Bitterli Rendering Resources is the main source for most scenes in this repository. Thanks to Benedikt Bitterli for collecting and publishing the resources behind many of these conversions.
• mmp/pbrt-v4-scenes is another source for some of the PBRT v4 scenes used in this repository.
• glTF 2.0 Specification: target asset format for the core outputs.
• Khronos glTF Extension Registry: reference for optional glTF extensions used by richer outputs.
• PBRT v4 File Format: source format reference for PBRT scene parsing.
• Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation, 4th Edition: rendering reference for PBRT concepts and behavior.

License

Project-authored docs and metadata are MIT licensed.

Third-party scene assets keep their original licenses. Converted glTF assets are derivative scene assets and retain the source scene license unless a scene-specific note says otherwise.