orView

A cross-platform 3D model viewer built with Qt 6 and OpenGL 4.5 Core, powered by Assimp for broad format support.

Status: Under active construction. APIs, UI, and features are still evolving — expect breaking changes.

• Overview
• Features
• Screenshots
• Tech Stack
• Requirements
• Build Instructions
  • Linux
  • Windows
  • macOS
• Usage
• Project Structure
• Roadmap
• Test Models
• License

orView is a desktop 3D model viewer focused on clean, modern OpenGL rendering wrapped in a configurable Qt Widgets UI. It loads meshes through Assimp, normalizes them to unit coordinates, and renders them with a Blinn-Phong material pipeline. The viewport supports orbit/spin interaction, standard preset views, and perspective/orthographic projection switching.

The project is currently being modernized — the rendering path has been ported from OpenGL 3.3 Compatibility to OpenGL 4.5 Core, and the codebase was brought up to Qt 6.10.

• OpenGL 4.5 Core profile pipeline
• Blinn-Phong shading with per-mesh materials
• Diffuse texture support via Assimp material channels
• Normal visualization toggle (geometry shader)
• Opaque / transparent node separation during draw
• Model normalization to unit coordinates on import

• Orbit view and spin view modes
• Preset views — Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, Back
• Zoom Extents, Zoom Window, Reset
• Quaternion-based rotation for smooth, gimbal-lock-free orbiting
• Perspective and orthographic projections

• Dockable Events Log panel
• Case Setup panel with tabbed views
  • Model Info — live Assimp node hierarchy tree
  • Properties — mesh, material, and channel details
• Light and Dark themes
• Splash screen on startup
• Persistent XML-driven UI configuration

• Loads any format supported by Assimp (OBJ, FBX, glTF, STL, 3DS, DAE, PLY, and more)
• Drag-free File → Open workflow with relative/absolute path handling

View	Preview
Main window with model & hierarchy

More screenshots are available under results/.

• Qt 6.10 or newer — modules: Core, Gui, Widgets, OpenGL, OpenGLWidgets, Concurrent, Network, PrintSupport, Xml
• Assimp 3.x or newer (system package on Linux, bundled under External_Libs/Assimp3/ on Windows)
• CMake ≥ 3.14
• A GPU and driver supporting OpenGL 4.5 Core
• C++14 capable compiler (GCC 9+, Clang 10+, MSVC 2019+)

# Install Assimp system package
sudo apt install libassimp-dev

# Configure & build
cd orView
mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . -j$(nproc)

# Run
./orView

The CMake script expects Qt at $HOME/Qt/6.10.2/gcc_64. Adjust CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH in orView/CMakeLists.txt if your Qt install lives elsewhere.

1. Install Qt 6.10+ with the MSVC kit.
2. Place Assimp headers and assimp.lib under External_Libs/Assimp3/.
3. Open orView/CMakeLists.txt or orView/orView.pro in Qt Creator and build against the MSVC kit.

brew install assimp
cd orView && mkdir -p build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="$(brew --prefix qt)" ..
cmake --build . -j

1. Launch orView.
2. Use File → Open to load a model (or drop one of the bundled test models from test_models/).
3. Navigate the viewport:
   • Left-drag — orbit
   • Middle-drag — pan
   • Wheel — zoom
4. Switch views via the toolbar or View menu (Top, Front, Isometric, etc.).
5. Toggle Perspective / Orthographic projection.
6. Inspect the loaded scene through the Model Info tab (Assimp node tree) and the Properties tab.
7. Switch between Dark and Light themes at any time.

orView/
├── orView/                     # Application sources
│   ├── main.cpp                # Entry point + splash
│   ├── mainwindow.*            # Shell, menus, docks, themes
│   ├── mother_widget.*         # Central widget host
│   ├── core_gl_widget.*        # OpenGL 4.5 Core viewport
│   ├── camera.*                # Orbit / spin / preset camera
│   ├── model.*                 # Assimp wrapper, node tree, materials
│   ├── themes_manager.*        # Dark / Light theme application
│   ├── xml_manager.*           # XML-driven config loading
│   ├── type_converter.*        # glm <-> Qt matrix helpers
│   ├── model.vert / model.frag # PBR-ish Blinn-Phong shaders
│   ├── normals.{vert,geom,frag}# Normal visualization shaders
│   ├── Resources/              # Icons, splash, UI assets
│   ├── themes/                 # Theme stylesheets
│   └── Config/                 # Default XML config
├── test_models/                # Sample meshes for quick testing
└── results/                    # Reference screenshots

Work-in-progress items and planned features:

• Port UI from Qt Widgets to Qt Quick / QML (keeping the OpenGL Core renderer)
• Ray-based mesh picking (Bullet-based picking under evaluation)
• Richer Model Info panel (per-mesh statistics, material preview)
• Multiple light sources and light configuration UI
• Scene graph manipulation (hide/show, isolate, transform gizmo)
• Screenshot and turntable animation export
• HDR environment maps / image-based lighting
• Cross-platform CI for Linux, Windows, macOS

The test_models/ directory ships with sample meshes for quick verification:

• buddha
• car
• demon_head
• dino
• Dragon
• suzanne
• Thor

These are convenient first loads after a fresh build to confirm the renderer is working.

License terms will be published alongside the first tagged release. Until then, treat this repository as source-available, all rights reserved — feel free to read, build, and experiment locally, but please open an issue before redistributing or using the code in another project.