Pedestal (Archived)

Pedestal3D is an online, 3D-object management and sharing system, ideal for use in curricula that rely on 3D-file sharing to deliver content.

What is Pedestal 3D?

Pedestal 3D is an online 3D object management and sharing system, ideal for use in learning and teaching curricula that rely on 3D file sharing to deliver content.

As a visualisation tool, the system is capable of allowing users to measure, screenshot, annotate and view objects without downloading, while minor manipulation of the object scene may also be performed using custom tools provided by the online interface.

The easy accessibility of the program allows for 3D objects to be easily incorporated into semester activities; tasks referring to specific objects for quick ideation and documentation may be streamlined by the incorporation of Pedestal3D.

The example below is from a soon to be published ABP Library collection.

 

When to use Pedestal 3D?

Some instance where the use of Pedestal 3D is encouraged include:

  • Sharing of large quantities of 3D objects over the semester;
  • Sharing of large file sizes of 3D objects (i.e. site models, building models);
  • 3D scanned mesh objects;
  • Iterative documentation of 3D objects.

Account and Accessibility

Students and staff may browse and access all features of the Melbourne School of Design Pedestal 3D gallery without creating an account. Browse the MSD Pedestal 3D gallery by following this link: https://unimelb.pedestal3d.com

The ability to upload content will require creating an account. To set up an account, you will need to contact a university Pedestal administrator (see list of admins below). Once access is granted, Pedestal may be entered through the SSO university portal.

  1. Contact a systems admin:
  2. Once an account is created, sign in via SSO.

Pedestal 3D Interface

Pedestal 3D has two main interfaces that users can interact with; Gallery & 3D viewer interface, and the Library Interface (backend). The Gallery & 3D Viewer can be accessed by any user, public or private, whilst the backend library is limited to users with Pedestal 3D access.

To access the Gallery & 3D Viewer click on the ‘View Gallery’ for all 3D objects. Alternatively, objects stored based on specific ‘divisions’ (see below for more details) can be accessed by clicking on the division name.

To access the library click on the ‘Login’ text in the top right hand corner of the front page (see image below).

Gallery

The gallery interface showcases 3D objects hosted by Pedestal 3D platform and is access by clicking ‘View Gallery’ on the front page.   To view 3D objects, select the object found in the division and you will be taken to the 3D Viewer interface.

Viewing Interface

  • Using the mouse you can orbit, drag and pan around the 3D Model.
  • Rotate - left click, single touch, arrow keys.
  • Zoom - scroll wheel, two finger pinch, '-' and '=' keys.
  • Move - right click, two finger move, WASD keys.
  • Recentre - Double click/double tap.

Using the 3D Viewer Toolbar you can view and manipulate the visible functionality of the 3D Object.

Information
Information will show the details of the object such as title, description, author, publishing date and licence type.

Transform
The transform section will allow you to rotate the object, as well set the default unit scale.

Surface
the surface section will allow you to adjust the texture mapping options.

Lighting
The lighting section will allow users to set the lighting placement, direction and colour illuminance.

Annotations
Authors of the 3D objects can leave annotations on models for the public to view. You can access this information in the Annotations section of the toolbar.

Tools
The tools section will allow you to adjust camera and model orientations. It will also enable real-time measuring and ‘slicing of 3D models.

Library Interface (backend)

The library interface enables users with Pedestal 3D accounts, software access to the back end where administration of 3D files can be added, edited and deleted.

Items
Items list the uploaded objects by user accounts. You can add new and find 3D objects you have uploaded here.

Collections
Collections show the created collections that will contain a set of meta data that is used for object management (see below) for quick access to specific objects in a library.  You can add new and find lists of collections you have created here.

Account
The accounts section allows management of your account details here. Your account details are publicly viewable and associated to uploaded models in which you can edit them here.

Uploading Content

Considerations

File types

Pedestal 3D recommends referring to MeshLab as a useful software when preparing files to upload. Any mesh format that MeshLwab is able to support, may be supported on Pedestal 3D.

Relevant object textures should be mapped with UV coordinates and linked to either single or multiple texture imwages in base 2 size (ie. 1024x1024, 2048x2048, 4096x4096, 8192x8192 etc.)

Refer to the following link for further information on how to prepare files for upload:
https://unimelb.pedestal3d.com/admin/help?pageid=255950880

Object Management

Divisions 
Multiple instances of Pedestal can be managed using Divisions, allowing for objects and users to be grouped together for different unit purposes. At the University of Melbourne, division names are equivalent to faculty titles (e.g. Library, ABP). Divisions are created and managed by users with administrative rights.

Each Division will open into respective galleries, within which objects may be further organised into collections.

Collections
Specific 3D objects will be further categorised into collections or subject courses. Ensure naming conventions are followed when creating collections according to outlined directions.

Multiple collections can be associated to one object, in which looking up a specific collection will return the 3D object.

Metadata
3D Objects can be further identified by associating or ‘tagging’ meta data to the object. These are distinct identifiers that are manually entered during the uploading process (see below) and can be altered at any time.  

Users can look up the meta data within the search function to identify a collation of objects that match similar search variables.

Privacy Control Settings

Pedestal 3D allows for users to control availability settings of each model when uploading.

These settings include:

  • Visibility of the object to the public
  • Delegating through which division the object may be found
  • Ability to download/or not

How To Upload 3D Objects

Pedestal 3D has the ability to host 3D objects and their assigned material libraries. The Pedestal 3D platform only accepts;

  • Main Mesh - .OBJ,
  • Material Wrapping - .MTL, and
  • Diffuse Textures.  - .JPG images

These file types can be extrapolated from Rhinoceros 6/7, refer to ‘File types’ above to see how to export to the correct file types for upload.

It is also Important to keep naming convention to ABP standards as well as apply metadata to uploaded objects to quickly group/categorise to help locate the file faster.

Step 1. Logging in

    Only Pedestal 3D account holders may upload objects. Please read the Account and Accessibility section of this guide to see how you can access this or contact your subject coordinator/relevant administrator for further directions on creating an account.

    1. Click the ‘Log in’ button on the top right hand corner of the front page at - https://unimelb.pedestal3d.com/
    2. Select ‘Sign in with SSO’ to log in with your Unimelb credentials.

Step 2. Create a new collection

Assign uploaded objects to a collection for faster viewing and look up functionality.

Note: If there is already a collection that has been created you can skip this step

    1. Navigate to the Collection Management page, access by the side menu panel on the left
    2. Click the ‘+ Create Collection’ button in the top right corner.
    3. Populate the ‘new collection’ and provide a distinct title to categorise the cluster of objects.
    4. Add items to the new collection. If there are no items to be added, you can skip this step and add them at a later time. See ‘how to upload’ to see how to apply a collection to an object. Assign a visibility setting;

      Unpublished – Will not allow general users to view the contents of the collection.
      Published – Allows all users on the Pedestal 3D site to view the contents of the collection.
      Unlisted –  Remove the collection and its content from all users except the author. 
    5. Click ‘Finish’ to submit the new collection and have it part of the Pedestal 3D library.

Step 3. Create an Item

Add new items to the Pedestal 3D library and tag it with meta data information for quick access and look up functionality. If items are uploaded without complete metadata, libraries run a risk of having a random files that are unable to be identified which will cause searching problems.

It is important to note, when creating new items naming conventions is equally important as meta data information to identify objects from large data set.

  1. Navigate to the Items page, access by the side menu panel on the left
  2. Click the ‘+ Create Item’ button in the top right corner.
  3. Populate the uploaded object with meta data information

    4. Meta data tagging checklist;

    - Title - Name of object 
    - Author – This will be your faculty
    - User – Your account
    - Division – Your department
    - Copyright options / CC – For ABP should be “CC by Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike”
    - Description – Quick description of object (should be the same as a caption.
    - Long Description – Further information about who scanned the object, when they scanned etc.

    Populate the uploaded object with meta data information -

  4. Upload Model file

    5. Main Mesh – Upload main object .OBJ file here. Make sure there are no spaces in the .OBJ names.
    Material – Upload material wrapping .MTL file here.
    Diffuse Texture – Upload .JPG library here (this can be multiple .JPG files in which the .MTL will associate material to the object). Textures must be uploaded in the order the surface groups are written to file. Only the diffuse texture will be used by Pedestal at this stage. Bump, specular etc. are redundant. Surfaces need a texture, or it will cycle back to using the first.
    Collision Mesh – Upload the collision mesh object .OBJ here.

  5. Create a view
    Views are automatically created and can be edited once the item is created.
  6. Add availability

    7. Visibility 
    Availabilities enable specific users with accessibility rights. Within this section we can adjust the visibility of the item

    • Unpublished – Item is hidden from public view
    • Public – Item is publicly viewable
    • Unlisted – Item is viewable with link, file does not show up in library.

    Collections
    Collections are used to maintain object management within division libraries. ‘Tag’ items with created collections (see step 2 for creating new collections)

    Allow Downloading 
    Enable public users to download the object item.

  7. Finish & upload item.

Step 4. Editing Items

Items can be edited by authors and/or users who have specific access rights. You may edit the object details and its viewing status.

Embedding Pedestal 3D into Canvas

For faster access to specific collections or items, Pedestal 3D can be embedded into canvas pages using embed codes.

Embed codes may be accessed by account holders who created the item or collection, or admin account holders who will have access to all faculty items and collections.

Image below: Pedestal 3D item [top] embedded into canvas page, Pedestal 3D collection [bottom] embedded into canvas page.

Step 1. Log in

  1. Log in to Pedestal 3D using your unimelb username/password through the SSO portal.
    *Refer to instructions above for detailed steps.

Step 2a. Finding Embed Codes: Item

  1. Navigate to the Items page, access by the side menu panel on the left
  2. Select the Edit icon from the row of buttons to the right of each item list, under the Actions column.

  3. Enter the Views tab from the top of the page.
  4. Select the Embed button found to the right of the item list, under the Actions column.

  5. Find the Embed Code provided at the bottom of the window.

Step 2b. Finding Embed Codes: Collection

  1. Navigate to the Collections page, access by the side menu panel on the left
  2. Select the Embed button found to the right of the item list, under the Actions column.
  3. Find the Embed Code provided at the bottom of the window.

Step 3. Changing the Embed Code

From the Embed window, several options are provided to customise the embed code as desired.

Altering these settings will determine how the Pedestal 3D item or collection will be viewed once embedded into the canvas page.

Some options provided are:

  • Width/Height bars: default set to 90%*.

*Change the height to 600pp for your window to appear full-sized in canvas.

  • Hide Header/Sort/Filter/View/Description: various options to hide or show interface features
  • Sort Order (collection only): default set to date (desc)
  • Default view (collection only): default set to Grid
  1. Change desired defaults; notice the Embed Code in the bottom window changing to suit the settings.
  2. Copy the Embed Code.

Step 4. Embed into Canvas

  1. Open the Canvas page into which Pedestal 3D will be embedded.
  2. Enter into Edit view by selecting the button at the top right of the page.
  3. Using your mouse, find where the Pedestal 3D window will be located on the page and [click] to have the cursor in the correct position.
  4. From the row of tools above the editing window, find the embed tool. If not immediately visible, select the three verticle dots [more] at the very right end of the row to find the correct tool.
  5. Paste the Embed Code and click Submit.