List of common 3D test models explained

This is a list of models and meshes commonly used in 3D computer graphics for testing and demonstrating rendering algorithms and visual effects. Their use is important for comparing results, similar to the way standard test images are used in image processing.

Modelled

Designed using CAD software; sorted by year of modelling.

Name and viewer	Render	Year of creation	Person/organisation that did the modelling	Description of source object	Model size	License	Comments
Utah teapot	none|160x160px	1975	Martin Newell at University of Utah	Melitta teapot	28 Bézier patches (32 with the bottom)^[1]		Also called the "Newell teapot". One of the first models not to be measured.
Cornell box		1984	Cindy M. Goral, Kenneth E. Torrance, Donald P. Greenberg, Bennett Battaile at Cornell University	Originally meant to be compared to real-life setup to test physicality of simulated optics	5 quads, 1 light source		Scene includes multiple models and light source. Many versions exist, but only one of them is considered the standard Cornell box; the color of the left and right walls is important.
Suzanne		2002	Willem-Paul van Overbruggen for Blender	Chimpanzee head, based on an orangutan from the movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back	500 faces	GNU GPL 2+ (inherited from Blender as a whole)	Mascot for Blender^[2]
Crytek Sponza		2010	Frank Meinl at Crytek	The colonnaded atrium of the Sponza Palace in Dubrovnik	262,267 triangles 184,330 vertices^[3]		Used for demonstrating global illumination techniques.^[4] ^[5] ^[6] ^[7] The Crytek version is based on a model created by Marko Dabrović in early 2001 while he was at RNA studio, and donated to a radiosity competition held by CGTechniques.com in early 2002.^[8] ^[9]
Spot		2012	Keenan Crane at Caltech	cartoon cow	2,930 vertices 5,856 triangles		Catmull-Clark control mesh, quadrangulation, triangulation, vector texture, and bitmap texture. All meshes are manifold, genus-0 embeddings.
3DBenchy		2015	Creative Tools	cartoon boat	112,569 verts (225,154 tris)	CC By ND 4.0^[10]	Specifically designed for testing the accuracy and capabilities of 3D printers

Scanned

Includes photogrammetric methods; sorted by year of scanning.

Name and viewer	Render	Year of creation	Person/organisation responsible for the scan	Description of source object	Model size	License	Comments
Stanford bunny	none|160x160px	1993-94^[11]	Greg Turk, Marc Levoy at Stanford University	Ceramic rabbit^[12]	69,451 triangles	Figurine of unknown authorship and licensing status, scan itself released under a two-clause BSD license.	A test of range scanning physical objects. Originally .ply file.
Stanford dragon		1996	Stanford University	Chinese dragon	1,132,830 triangles
Wooden Elk Toy		2000^[13]	Hans-Peter Seidel at Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik				Often used as an example of a non-trivial object with high genus.
Phlegmatic Dragon^[14]		2007	Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Technical University in PragueEurographics 2007 conference		667,214 faces (original) 480,076 faces (smoothed)	Sticker on the bottom says	Smoothed and nonsmoothed
David^[15] ^[16]		2009	Stanford University	Michelangelo's 5-meter statue David	~1 billion polygons^[17]	Only available to established scholars and for non-commercial use only.	range data
Fertility		2009	AIM@SHAPE Repository (scanned at Utrecht University)	Small stone statue with two joined figures.	241,607 vertices 483,226 triangles		Laser scan.
Nefertiti	frameless|200x200px	2015	Nora Al-Badri and Jan Nikolai Nelles	A stoneworked bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti was created in 1345 BC by Thutmose	~2 million triangles	CC By SA 4.0	Surreptitiously scanned by Nora Al-Badri and Jan Nikolai Nelles, and subsequently separately by Scan the World with permission of the Neues Museum.

See also

• Standard test image, a digital image file to test image processing and compression
• Catmull's hand, one of the original 3D models
• Sutherland's Volkswagen, another early 3D model

External links

Standard test models

• The Stanford 3D Scanning Repository hosted by the Stanford University
• Large Geometric Models Archive hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology

Other repositories

• The Utah 3D Animation Repository, a small collection of animated 3D models
• scene collection, by Physically Based Rendering Toolkit: a number of interesting scenes to render with global illumination
• MGF Example Scenes, a small collection of some indoor 3D scenes
• archive3D, a collection of 3D models
• 3DModels, a collection of vehicle 3D models
• 3DBar, a collection of free 3D models
• NASA 3D Models, NASA 3D models to use for educational or informational purposes
• VRML Models from ORC Incorporated, 3D models in VRML format
• 3dRender.com: Lighting Challenges, regularly held lighting challenges, complete with scene and models for each challenge
• MPI Informatics Building Model, a virtual reconstruction of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics building in Saarbrücken
• Princeton shape-based 3D model search engine
• Keenan's 3D Model Repository hosted by the Carnegie Mellon University
• HeiCuBeDa Hilprecht – Heidelberg Cuneiform Benchmark Dataset for the Hilprecht Collection a collection of almost 2.000 cuneiform tablets for bulk-download acquired with a high-resolution 3D-scanner. Available under a CC BY license and quotable by digital object identifiers. Datasets cleaned using the GigaMesh Software Framework.
• HeiCu3Da Hilprecht – Heidelberg Cuneiform 3D Database - Hilprecht Collection browsable version of HeiCuBeDa allowing to download and quote single 3D models.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Utah Teapot. 2020-10-28. www.holmes3d.net.
2. Primitive instantiable by clicking Add → Mesh → Monkey
3. Web site: McGuire Computer Graphics Archive . Morgan McGuire.
4. Book: Mastering mental ray: Rendering Techniques for 3D and CAD Professionals . limited . Jennifer O'Connor . 175 . The Sponza Palaze atrium scene has become a classic demonstration model for indirect illumination techniques in a wide variety of applications . . 1 July 2010 . 978-0470563854.
5. Nvidia Proves We Walked on the Moon—Not That It Needed To . It cooked up a demo using a standard graphics simulation called the Sponza Atrium, a computer-generated stroll through a renaissance-style hallway. . . Robert McMillan . 24 September 2014.
6. Book: Physically Based Rendering: From Theory to Implementation . limited . Matt Pharr . Greg Humphreys . 493 . . 978-0123750792 . 26 August 2010 .
7. Book: Practical Global Illumination with Irradiance Caching . limited . Jaroslav Krivanek . Pascal Gautron . 85 . 2009 . Morgan & Claypool Publishers . 978-1598296440 .
8. Web site: Abecassis . Laurent . On The Web – RNA studio's GI architectural renderings . CGPress . 3 April 2001 . 4 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210604151756/https://cgpress.org/archives/on_the_web_rna_studios_gi_architectural_renderings.html . 4 June 2021.
9. Web site: Sponza Atrium - Hatch Studios . Hatch Studios . 4 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210225162733/http://hatchstudios.com/work/sponza-atrium/ . 25 February 2021.
10. Web site: License - 3DBenchy.com . 7 April 2015 . 29 March 2022.
11. Web site: The Stanford 3D Scanning Repository. Stanford University. 17 July 2011. 22 Dec 2010.
12. Web site: The Stanford Bunny. 18 July 2011. Greg Turk. Greg Turk. 2000.
13. Web site: Building a Photo Studio for Measurement Purposes. January 2000. Computer Graphics Group, Max-Planck-Institut fur Informatik . Michael Goesele . Wolfgang Heidrich . Hendrik P. A. Lensch . Hans-Peter Seidel. .
14. Web site: EG 2007 Phlegmatic Dragon. Eurographics 2007. 23 July 2011. 12 May 2011.
15. Web site: Levoy. Marc. The Digital Michelangelo Project. Stanford University. 22 September 2014. August 11, 2009.
16. Web site: Levoy. Marc. The Digital Michelangelo Project Archive of 3D Models. Stanford University. 22 September 2014. August 19, 2014.
17. Web site: Levoy. Marc. November 27, 1998. The Stanford Large Statue Scanner. 22 September 2014. Stanford University.