Scientists, artists, and archivists are worried about the shutdown of the large repository of free 3D models, Sketchfab, and the transfer of its content to the marketplace Fab — both owned by Epic Games.
The creators of free content are concerned about Epic Games' licensing policy, format support, and the difficulties some organizations, especially scientific ones, may face with the changes. The closure of the repository could disrupt or limit access to hundreds of thousands of free 3D models, significantly impacting their role in education, research, and archiving.
Sketchfab hosts vast digitized collections and portfolios from many museums, universities, and artists. Many of them have signed a petition to keep the repository open. Some are comparing its closure to the burning of the Library of Alexandria.
Most know Epic Games as a game developer and creator of the Unreal Engine. In recent years, the company has consolidated a large number of competing 3D model marketplaces by acquiring Quixel in 2019, as well as ArtStation and Sketchfab in 2021. This month, Epic Games began to unify all these separate markets into a single new 3D asset marketplace called Fab.
Sketchfab is no longer accepting submissions from new content creators and has invited existing ones to transfer their models to Fab, which launched last week. Epic Games has not yet clarified its plans regarding freely accessible 3D models on Sketchfab after 2025, but the company assures that it will provide users with an alternative solution and will inform them in detail about the terms of the transition.
Sketchfab users are particularly concerned that Fab is a profit-driven marketplace for Epic Games, while Sketchfab prioritizes open access and the ability to share 3D models for free. One of the key issues is how Fab will handle models under certain Creative Commons licenses. Currently, Sketchfab users can transfer models only under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows commercial use as long as the original creator is credited. Models under other Creative Commons licenses, such as CC-BY-NC, which permit only non-commercial use, cannot be transferred.
A change in licensing would mean that models created for scientific or academic research cannot currently be transferred to Fab. Many organizations have restrictions on selling and commercially using scientific data, and a license permitting this, in any form, is unacceptable to them. Their representatives say that such conditions would effectively exclude them from the platform, making it very difficult to share models with anyone interested.
There is also a problem with links on the internet. Publications like GigaScience and other scientific journals may lose access to the 3D viewing tool Sketchfab, which they use to embed content into their articles. The disappearance of this capability would harm scientific publications, as the content would not display.
“Sketchfab was a fantastic tool for all the 3D image data we published — like tools for studying climate change, digitized museum specimens for visually impaired individuals, plants for 3D printing for recognizing drone-captured images, and 3D reconstructions of cave salamander brains to better understand their evolution and developmental biology,” says Scott Edmunds, editor-in-chief of GigaScience.
Scientists and museum professionals say that even if Epic Games eventually provides the ability to share these models under unsupported licenses, the transition will be extremely complex for their institutions. Making any changes is a difficult and prolonged process for large institutions, especially if it entails re-uploading thousands of models, altering API links across hundreds of display servers in museums, and so forth.
Some common file formats supported by Sketchfab, such as Collada (.dae), cannot currently be transferred to Fab. Lighting on some models breaks during migration. One Sketchfab user complains that the overwhelming majority of his 3,900 models now appear on Fab as dark.
Epic Games stated that the Collada (.dae) format has not received significant updates for years and is no longer popular as it does not support modern features, and therefore its support on Fab is not planned. The company claims that Fab automatically converts the file to another format. Regarding the lighting issues that occur during migration, Epic Games says it has already made improvements.
Fab also lacks social features like likes and comments. According to some Sketchfab users, these capabilities are critical for them.
Overall, Epic Games denies the risks. Bill Clifford, the company's marketplace manager, says that many concerns about the transition are unfounded. The company understands its responsibility, will work collaboratively, and clearly inform the community about changes. “We do not intend to burn any libraries.”
Sources: GamesIndustry.biz, 404 Media
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