Knowledge Base
Formats
DAE

DAE

DAE (Digital Asset Exchange) is a 3D asset exchange format developed by Collada, a consortium of companies including Sony, IBM, and NVIDIA. DAE files are used to exchange 3D data between different applications, engines, and platforms.

  • Open-standard: DAE is an open-standard format, maintained by the Khronos Group, ensuring wide industry support and adoption.
  • XML-based: DAE files are based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), making them (quite) human-readable and easy to parse.
  • Flexible: DAE supports a wide range of 3D data, including models, scenes, animations, and physics.

Pro

  • Wide platform support: DAE has grown in software support.
  • Flexible data model: DAE supports a wide range of 3D data, suitable for complex scenes and models.
  • Human-readable: DAE files are XML-based, making them easy to inspect and modify.

Technicals

  • Scene graph: DAE files contain a scene graph, which describes the hierarchical structure of the 3D scene.
  • Element-based: DAE files are composed of elements, which represent different aspects of the 3D data, such as nodes, meshes, and materials.

Limitations

  • Verbose: DAE files can be large and verbose due to the XML-based format.
  • Complex: The structure can be complex and difficult to parse, especially for large and complex scenes.

Comparison to glTF/GLB

  • Size: glTF/GLB files are generally smaller and more compact than DAE files.
  • Performance: glTF/GLB files are optimized for fast loading and rendering, while DAE files may require more processing.
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