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ByMe Geometry and Materials Reference

The ByMe Platform and associated tools have precise requirements on how geometries and materials are provided.

Terminology​

Geometry: The shape of an object, represented as a mesh of triangles.

Geometry

Texture: A bitmap file contributing to the definition of a material.

Texture

Material: The representation of the visual properties of an object, such as color, shininess, reflexivity, and many more. It can include several textures representing each of these properties.
A material is represented in the ByMe platform as a BM3Mat file.

Material

Model: The combination of a geometry with one or several materials.
It is stored in the ByMe platform as a BM3 file.

Model

Internal ByMe Formats​

ByMe tools such as Geometry Editor or the ByMe API convert the inputs assets into optimized formats for storage and rendering.

BM3​

BM3 is the ByMe native format for 3D assets, it stores geometry, materials and textures. It can only be opened with Geometry Editor.

BM3MAT​

BM3Mat is the ByMe native format for materials. It stores materials definition and textures, as well as ByMe additional concepts like UVOperators. It can only be opened with Geometry Editor.

Each BM3 file includes one or several material definitions. Legitimate use cases for defining materials outside of BM3 files are:

  • Making materials variable on a geometry: "publications".
  • Using materials on objects which do not have a BM3 geometry, such as floors, walls, linears: worktops, plinths, etc.