[QGIS-Developer] QGIS 3D: Move away from Qt 3D?

[Vincent Picavet]

Hello,

As often in OpenSource projects and engineering teams, I have the impression that we are looking for solutions before having defined the problem.

3D engines are as diverse as use cases can be. Without a clear vision of what we would like for 3D in QGIS in terms of features and goals, I do not see the point in assessing technical solutions.

You cannot compare 3D framework if you do not know if your main goal is photorealistic rendering of objects, or 3D analysis ( or both ).

I would rather suggest to :

- ask end-users (and not developers) about what they really need in 3D

- gather real-world use cases from users

- get a list of features for 3D in other softwares ( ESRI & others )

- start establishing a roadmap and vision from these elements

- THEN and only then, look for technical solutions


Best regards,

Vincent


On 13/02/2026 13:08, David Koňařík via QGIS-Developer wrote:
> Hi, thanks for the links.
>
> On 2/13/26 08:43, Johannes Kröger (WhereGroup) via QGIS-Developer wrote:
>> Two engines from my bookmarks that might be interesting. I know little about the topic in relation to what QGIS would need though :)
>>
>> - https://github.com/bkaradzic/bgfx
>
> bgfx might be an option. It is on a similar abstraction level as QRhi from what I can see.
>
>> - https://o3de.org/ Open 3D Engine (O3DE), might not be easy to embed
>
> O3DE is a full "game engine" with a lot of functionality that we don't need, meant to run standalone scenes made in their editor. Maybe we could use some of their code, but given the size of their codebase, I think it would be more trouble than it's worth.
>
> David Koňařík
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