An Easy Guide for Annotating 3D Models

Kyla Ball March 23, 2026

What is 3D Model Annotation?

ThingLink allows users to create interactive 3D models as easily as they create interactive images, videos and virtual tours. The feature is based on ThingLink’s patented solution for creating embeddable interactive media with dynamic hotspots that can contain text, images, video, questions, as well as web links or embeds from other websites and services. 

ThingLink Capture: The Easy Way to Capture 3D Environments and Objects

ThingLink Capture is a mobile app designed for creating 3D scans of real-world objects and spaces using a LiDAR-enabled iPhone or iPad. With this app, you can now easily generate detailed 3D models by scanning objects or areas, then upload these models to ThingLink to enrich them with interactive elements such.

The app supports both object and area scanning modes, allowing for the capture of individual items or larger environments. Once uploaded, the 3D models can be further annotated and shared, and are compatible with ThingLink for Apple Vision Pro, enabling immersive spatial experiences and interactive learning or training scenarios​.

Read more at our support article here.

How Can You Use Annotated 3D Models?

ThingLink’s 3D annotation includes a mobile-friendly editing experience that anyone from elementary school students to corporate design professionals will be able to use without special training. From maintaining technical devices to preserving cultural history, 3D model annotation introduces new opportunities to modern-day learning and communication. Here are some of our favorite use cases:

• Museums and galleries: Showcase collections in a new engaging way using high quality 3D models annotated with facts and expert commentary.
• Medical education: Show models of anatomy, physiology, and machinery with additional labeling including information, references, functions and links. 
• Manufacturing: Use interactive 3D models in customer education, sales, maintenance, and staff training. 
• Design: Make design thinking more transparent and use interactive 3D models to improve team communication and collaboration. 
• Product marketing: Engage customers on websites and social media using interactive 3D models. 

Click the interactive image below to navigate from one 3D model to another across the different industry segments.

Making Your 3D Scene or Model Interactive in ThingLink

There are a variety of media files and other types of content you can add to a 3D model in the new ThingLink multimedia editor. These include:

• Images: Pick an image (or multiple images) from your hard drive and add it to the tag. Your images can be jpg/png/png/GIF and up to 25MB.
• Videos: Add a short video clip in mp4 or m4a file format, up to 25MB. Or embed via YouTube by copy-pasting the video URL or the embed code.
• Other embeds: To embed another web tool or a webpage, just paste the embed code or the page URL.
• Link: Create a link button that takes the viewer to the URL. Just like in the main editor, you can specify the button text.

New Icon Sets and Color Backgrounds Included in Your 3D Annotation Tools

ThingLink’s multimedia editor gives you the ability to select different icons from pre-defined presets. You can also change the background color for the model; for example, you can select a darker background to make a lighter model stand out.  Here’s a screenshot of the new custom icons menu, which is accessible by clicking on the “Customize” button.

How to Share and Embed Your 3D Model

The versatility of ThingLink not only lies in the layers of multimedia you can add but in the way you can seamlessly link all your interactive media together. It allows you to create starting scenes that compile a presentation or summarizes a more complex idea using transitions, just like we did in the Canva poster earlier. For example, in training materials, a 360-degree image of a laboratory can link to various interactive 3D models of the technical devices. As ThingLink content is hosted in the cloud, any updates you make later on will be updated in real time wherever your 3D models are shared.

Other Ways to Create Interactive Content with ThingLink