parsing .obj 3D graphics file with JavaScript

Question

I have a question. I know that its not possible to parse .obj 3D graphics file using JavaScript and we have to convert it into some other format (preferably JSON). But I want to know why? Why we can't parse .obj file using JavaScript?

I would really appreciate your comments and answers.

Thanks Vik

The only real obstacle I see is presenting the data in 3D (which may not be something you need), and getting the file to the JavaScript client. But that can easily be done through a webservice etc or with the new HTML 5 JS File API. — Skurmedel, May 05 '11 at 22:21
You seay "I know its not possible ... but I want to know why?" ... it does not make sense. How can you say something is not possible, when you don't know why? — Ivan Kuckir, Sep 05 '15 at 23:00

gilly3 · Accepted Answer · 2012-04-17T21:31:38.667

6

Sure you can... why not? It's a text file, just go ahead and parse it.

Here, I'll even get you started:

var objText = getObjFile();
var obj = {};
var vertexMatches = objText.match(/^v( -?\d+(\.\d+)?){3}$/gm);
if (vertexMatches)
{
    obj.vertices = vertexMatches.map(function(vertex)
    {
        var vertices = vertex.split(" ");
        vertices.shift();
        return vertices;
    });
}

edited Apr 17 '12 at 21:31

answered May 05 '11 at 21:33

gilly3

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score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 14 '13 at 16:42

3

Of course you can. I have even written my own library for parsing 3D formats - K3D.js. It also supports MD2, 3DS and Collada. OBJ was the easiest to code :)

answered Sep 14 '13 at 16:42

Ivan Kuckir

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 29 '23 at 18:00

There are now a few Javascript libraries to read Wavefront OBJ files. This one works well, though only reads OBJ files and does not output them https://www.npmjs.com/package/obj-file-parser. You can also do this with three.js: https://threejs.org/docs/#examples/en/loaders/OBJLoader.

parsing .obj 3D graphics file with JavaScript

3 Answers3