It's kind of annoying that the 3D viewer on their website keep you a respectful distance away from the object like you might try to touch it if you got too close.
Interesting, on desktop Firefox I can barely zoom in past the point that the object fills the FOV.
I want to be permitted to navigate up close to a point where I can see the pixels and triangle meshes, as if I was a millimeter away from some brush stroke or chisel mark, and then back out just a bit.
Here's a little script to download all the publicly available scans (135) as GLBs and stick the metadata in a JSON. The scans are all CC0 (public domain)
maybe 15, 20 years ago. I especially found the glossy shader goofy. No authentic replication, more 2000s gaming vibes. they should use gaussian splatting instead
From what I saw in that file and a few others (in USDZ), the metalness is not captured.
It's in 0/1_b.jpg , and the file is always pure white.
You are only seeing roughness
I opened them in Houdini and it translates to a USDPreview material, with those PBR channels connected: basecolor, roughness (decent map), metallic (no data, juste white) and normal map (decent map too)
> Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
>
> To request images under copyright and other restrictions, …
If these are available as public domain with unrestricted use without fee, what is the use case for requesting a version under copyright with restrictions?
No idea. But I've integrated their API to a commercial project (https://bookmarker.cc) without any issues. Users are exploring The Met Collection and save images to their library directly in the app.
> Through The Met Collection API, users can connect to a live feed of all Creative Commons Zero (CC0) data and 406,000 images from the The Met collection, all available for use without copyright or restriction. The Met Collection API is another foundational step in our Open Access program, helping make the Museum's collection one of the most accessible, discoverable, and useful on the internet. The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can now connect to the most up-to-date data and images of artworks in The Met collection, representing five thousand years of human history.
Trivial to see the raw GLB files in a Viewer that gives you a bit more control.
https://github.khronos.org/glTF-Sample-Viewer-Release/?model...
The original article is https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/03/metropolitan-museum-o... Not sure why that is not linked, instead we have an AI generated SEO spam page.
For what it's worth I thought the modal dialog on the original was worse than the pop-over ad on the copy.
It's kind of annoying that the 3D viewer on their website keep you a respectful distance away from the object like you might try to touch it if you got too close.
It works really well with the AR viewer on mobile Safari.
Interesting, on desktop Firefox I can barely zoom in past the point that the object fills the FOV.
I want to be permitted to navigate up close to a point where I can see the pixels and triangle meshes, as if I was a millimeter away from some brush stroke or chisel mark, and then back out just a bit.
Here's a little script to download all the publicly available scans (135) as GLBs and stick the metadata in a JSON. The scans are all CC0 (public domain)
https://github.com/InconsolableCellist/met_scans
Glad this was one of the objects captured, it's absolutely stunning to see in person: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24671
I wish they had captured one of their Faberge eggs; those are almost more impressive.
> high-def 3D scans
maybe 15, 20 years ago. I especially found the glossy shader goofy. No authentic replication, more 2000s gaming vibes. they should use gaussian splatting instead
I wish they would also publish the source images used to generate the 3D representation so people can recreate with other techniques.
Anyone know how the material roughness/metallic is captured? For instance here https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253348. I've only seen basic albedo for 3D scans before. Maybe it's just hand-authored.
No idea what they used but I know that in Brussels they use CultArm3D FT20 by https://verus.digital basically a camera on a robot arm.
From what I saw in that file and a few others (in USDZ), the metalness is not captured. It's in 0/1_b.jpg , and the file is always pure white. You are only seeing roughness I opened them in Houdini and it translates to a USDPreview material, with those PBR channels connected: basecolor, roughness (decent map), metallic (no data, juste white) and normal map (decent map too)
> Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
>
> To request images under copyright and other restrictions, …
If these are available as public domain with unrestricted use without fee, what is the use case for requesting a version under copyright with restrictions?
No idea. But I've integrated their API to a commercial project (https://bookmarker.cc) without any issues. Users are exploring The Met Collection and save images to their library directly in the app.
> Through The Met Collection API, users can connect to a live feed of all Creative Commons Zero (CC0) data and 406,000 images from the The Met collection, all available for use without copyright or restriction. The Met Collection API is another foundational step in our Open Access program, helping make the Museum's collection one of the most accessible, discoverable, and useful on the internet. The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can now connect to the most up-to-date data and images of artworks in The Met collection, representing five thousand years of human history.
source: https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/met-collection-api-2
Not everything is open access data and public domain images.
This image is tagged open access & public domain: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/321937
This image is not: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/492371
Any recommendations for art objects worth 3D printing at home? Bonus points if it would appeal to a grade schooler.
Absolutely beautiful scans. Thanks Met. Wonderful art that brightened my day.
I see the “spinning” view in browser, but I don’t see an option to download the STLs.
Edit: It appears the usdz AR file can be converted to obj/stl files.
Each of the models is available in fbx, usdz and glb if you dig a bit in the page. It's in a json file named masters
I wanted to try printing one but so far all of them seem like they’d be kind of disturbing to display in my house.
This one maybe? https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/544887
Fill the base with concrete and use it as a bookend?
True. I’ll give it a try. They really didn’t think about supports when they designed this thing.
Does anyone know where the STL/OBJ files for the 3d models are at?
Check your browser console, network tab, search for .glb and you can directly download them.
Look for the file named masters, it's a json file that contains the filenames for those formats: glb usdz fbx
Great use of WebXR.
Works well both on the Vision Pro (USDz format) and Meta Quest (glTF binary format).
That being said without the right mediation, without some context... unless you already are an expert in the domain what's the point?
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/03/metropolitan-museum-o...
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?showOnly=has...