What is 3dcellforge?

3DCellForge is an interactive browser based tool for exploring 3D models of biological cells, built with React and Three.js. It lets you rotate and zoom around a cell model using your mouse, view detail cards describing individual organelles, compare different views, take screenshots, and export the model as a GLB file for use elsewhere. Beyond viewing pre made cell models, the project can generate new 3D models from a reference image you upload. It does this by sending the image to one of several image to 3D services: Tripo cloud API, Hyper3D Rodin cloud API, or a locally run Hunyuan3D server as a backup option that does not require an internet connection. If none of those are configured, the app falls back to a simpler browser based technique that creates a layered relief effect directly from the image. Generated models are cached on the local Node backend so they can be viewed again later without repeating the network request or spending additional API credits. The project includes a small Node backend alongside the React frontend, and API keys for the image to 3D services are kept only on that backend in a local environment file, never exposed to the browser. You can also import your own existing GLB or glTF model file directly through the interface and it will be treated as a custom cell type. For reference, the project bundles a few sample models from the Khronos glTF sample collection to check that model loading and materials render correctly. To run it locally you install dependencies with npm, then start the frontend with npm run dev, and optionally start the backend with npm run dev api if you want image to 3D generation to work. The project is written in JavaScript, uses Vite, React Three Fiber, Drei, and Framer Motion, and is released under the MIT license.