Poly was a website created by

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

for users to browse, distribute, and download 3D objects. It was intended to allow creators to easily share and access 3D objects. It featured a free library containing thousands of 3D objects for use in

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...

and

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory Modality (human–computer interaction), modalities, including visual, Hearing, auditory, hap ...

applications. On December 2, 2020, it was announced that Poly would be shutting down on June 30, 2021, with the ability to upload 3D models to be suspended on April 30, 2021.

Features

Users could search the Poly model library by specific keywords and upload or download models in the OBJ file format. Most models could be "remixed" using

Tilt Brush Tilt Brush is a room-scale 3D-painting virtual-reality application available from Google, originally developed by Skillman & Hackett. Controls The application is designed for 6DoF motion interfaces in virtual reality. There is also a keybo ...

and Google Blocks application integration; the remixed object was automatically published on Poly with credit and links to the original creator. 3D objects could be viewed using

Google Cardboard Google Cardboard is a discontinued virtual reality (VR) platform developed by Google. Named for its fold-out cardboard viewer into which a smartphone is inserted, the platform was intended as a low-cost system to encourage interest and develo ...

or Daydream View. Users could also create simple animated GIFs of the objects available for download.

API

On November 30, 2017, Google released the Poly API. It allowed developers to easily integrate 3D objects into their projects, and provided users access to the object library while the app itself is running. The API also allowed uploading 3D objects directly to Poly with the Poly Upload API. The API could be used for

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created b ...

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

, and iOS apps, while the Poly Toolkit was required for

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a ...

and Unreal developers.

References

2017 software Google services Google 3D publishing {{Google-stub

Features

API

See also

References