Qt Quick 3D

Qt Quick 3D provides a high-level API for creating 3D content and 3D user interfaces based on Qt Quick. Rather than using an external engine, which creates syncing issues and additional layers of abstraction, Qt Quick 3D provides extensions to the existing Qt Quick Scene Graph for spatial content and a renderer for that extended scene graph. When using the spatial scene graph, it's possible to mix Qt Quick 2D content with 3D content.

Qt Quick 3D also provides for XR and VR applications with Qt Quick 3D Xr.

Using the Module

QML API

The QML types of the module are available through the QtQuick3D import. To use the types, add the following import statement to your .qml file:

 import QtQuick3D

The following module imports provide additional functionality:

 import QtQuick3D.AssetUtils
 import QtQuick3D.Helpers
 import QtQuick3D.Particles3D
 import QtQuick3D.Xr

C++ API

Using a Qt module's C++ API requires linking against the module library, either directly or through other dependencies. Several build tools have dedicated support for this, including CMake and qmake.

Building with CMake

Use the find_package() command to locate the needed module component in the Qt6 package:

 find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Quick3D)
 target_link_libraries(mytarget PRIVATE Qt6::Quick3D)

For more details, see the Build with CMake overview.

Building with qmake

To configure the module for building with qmake, add the module as a value of the QT variable in the project's .pro file:

 QT += quick3d

Building From Source

When building from source, ensure that the modules and tools from the qtdeclarative and qtshadertools repositories are built first, as it's not possible to use Qt Quick 3D without these. Having qtquicktimeline available is strongly recommended as well, since keyframe-based animations will not be available otherwise.

In addition, some of the examples rely on Qt Quick Controls.

Module Evolution

Changes to Qt Quick 3D lists important changes in the module API and functionality that were done for the Qt 6 series of Qt.

Articles and Guides

• Qt Quick 3D Introduction Example
• Qt Quick 3D Introduction with glTF Assets
• Qt Quick 3D Graphics Requirements
• Qt Quick 3D Architecture
• Balsam Asset Import Tool
• Optimizing 3D Assets
• Physically-Based Rendering
• Using Image-Based Lighting
• Anti-Aliasing Best Practices
• Qt Quick 3D Scenes with 2D Content
• Programmable Materials, Effects, Geometry, and Texture data
• Build-time materials
• Skeletal Animation
• Morphing Animation
• Instanced Rendering
• Level of Detail
• Custom Material Editor
• Lightmaps and Global Illumination
• Shadow Mapping
• Qt Quick 3D Xr
• Multiview Rendering

Examples

• Introduction
• View3D with Multiple Viewports
• Lights and Shadows
• Dynamic Model Creation
• Principled Material
• Built-in effects and tonemapping
• Qt Quick Items within the 3D Scene
• Custom Materials
• Unshaded Custom Materials
• Writing Custom Post-Processing Effects
• Adding Custom Geometry from C++
• Adding Custom Texture Data from C++
• Using baked lightmaps
• Demonstrates setting up a simple VR scene
• Demonstrates controller input in VR
• Demonstrates spatial anchors in VR
• All examples

Reference

• Qt Quick 3D QML Types
• Qt Quick 3D C++ Classes
• Qt Quick 3D Helpers QML Types
• Qt Quick 3D Asset Utility QML Types
• Qt Quick 3D Particles3D QML Types
• Qt Quick 3D Xr

Related Modules

• Qt Quick

Qt Academy Courses

• Qt Quick 3D: Animations
• Qt Quick 3D: Assets & Resources
• Qt Quick 3D: Custom Materials, Render Settings & Post-Processing
• Qt Quick 3D: Interaction and Managing Performance
• Qt Quick 3D: Lighting & Cameras
• Qt Quick 3D: Views, Scenes & Nodes

Licenses and Attributions

Qt Quick 3D is available under the commercial license from The Qt Company. In addition, it is available under the GNU General Public License, version 3. See Qt Licensing for further details.

Furthermore, Qt Quick 3D potentially contains third party modules under the following permissive licenses: