Friday, February 22nd, 2019 Posted by Jim Thacker

Goog3D mashes up Google search with Sketchfab models


Developer Sylvain Zimmer has created Goog3D, a web experiment mashing up Google searches with 3D models from Sketchfab.

As well as standard Google results, Goog3D displays matching models from the online portfolio service and marketplace, making it possible to visualise the results of your search in 3D.

Type in a Google search query and see the results in 3D
At first glance, Goog3D appears to be the Google homepage itself, aside from a discreet yellow bar indicating that it’s a tech experiment, and linking to the source code on GitHub.

Entering a search term into the main field also brings up what looks like a standard set of search results.

However, the right-hand column on the page, which contains information from Wikipedia, also now hosts a Sketchfab viewer window displaying a 3D model from the site.

You have the usual options when viewing assets via Sketchfab, including the option to rotate or zoom in on the 3D model within your web browser, or to change its display settings.

Not always predictable, but fun to play with
Your search term needs to have a corresponding Wikipedia entry, and since it works from the title of the Sketchfab model, the results it returns can be fairly random, but Goog3D is a lot of fun to play with.

Sketchfab CEO Alban Denoyel describes Goog3D as “pretty barebones, but an interesting showcase of what matching 3D models with search context can look like”.

Zimmer – the founder and CTO of e-commerce service Pricing Assistant, and an angel investor in Sketchfab – previously created Volupedia, a similar experiment that mixes Wikipedia pages with Skethfab models.

Visit the Goog3D website