In this chapter, we will use the 3D ShapeNets dataset, available at http://3dshapenets.cs.princeton.edu/3DShapeNetsCode.zip. It was released by Wu and Song et al. and consists of properly annotated 3D shapes for 40 object categories. We will use the volumetric data available in the directory, which we will discuss in more detail later on in this chapter. In the next few sections, we will download, extract, and explore the dataset.
The 3D ShapeNets dataset is for academic use only. If you intend to use the dataset for commercial purposes, request permission from the authors of the paper, who can be reached at the following email address: shurans@cs.princeton.edu.