AmbientCG Web API

[Josh]

AmbientCG has about 3000 PBR materials and a simple REST web API.

List categories:
https://ambientcg.com/api/v2/categories_json

List files in category:
https://ambientcg.com/api/v2/full_json?include=imageData,downloadData&category=PavingStones

These URLs can be loaded with FetchURL. There is a JSON parsing library included in the Scripts/System folder, dkjson.lua. This is used by the debugger. I have not used it myself for anything.

More docs here:
https://docs.ambientcg.com/api/v2/

[Josh]

Example:

local json = require 'System/dkjson'

local s = FetchUrl("https://ambientcg.com/api/v2/categories_json")

local t = json.decode(s)

if type(t) == "table" then
    local n
    for n = 1, #t do
        if (type(t[n]) == "table") then
            if type(t[n]["categoryName"]) == "string" then
                Print(t[n]["categoryName"])
            end
        end
    end
end

Download and extract:

DownloadFile("https://ambientcg.com/get?file=PavingStones137_1K-JPG.zip", GetPath(PATH_DESKTOP).."/test.zip" )
local pak = LoadPackage(GetPath(PATH_DESKTOP).."/test.zip")
if pak then
    local dir = pak:LoadDir("")
    local n
    for n = 1, #dir do
        if pak:FileType(dir[n]) == 1 then
            pak:ExtractFile(dir[n], GetPath(PATH_DESKTOP).."/"..dir[n])
        end
    end
    pak:Close()
end

 

[Josh]

Updated example that uses LoadTable() instead of the Lua JSON parser:

local s = FetchUrl("https://ambientcg.com/api/v2/categories_json")

local t = LoadTable(s)

if type(t) == "table" then
    local n
    for n = 1, #t do
        if (type(t[n]) == "table") then
            if type(t[n]["categoryName"]) == "string" then
                Print(t[n]["categoryName"])
            end
        end
    end
end

 

[Josh]

The Lua debugger is actually using Lua socket, not libcurl. A couple of things to note:

• Curl (curl.exe) is now included standard on WIndows 10 and 11.
• Having libcurl.dll in the application's root directory will cause the Steam build to crash, presumably because the Steamworks API is using a different version of the DLL: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/discussions/0/6699728899096777474/