3D File Structure Interface - cs428TAs/f2026 GitHub Wiki

I have always been interested by the idea of representing files and folders as objects in a 3-dimensional space. While I've also played around with the idea of creating alternative ways of conceptualizing files and their organization, I thought it would be simpler to just do the visualization of the existing paradigm, rather than creating a new paradigm and a new structure.

While the exact design of the 3D space would be up to the group, we would essentially be making a 3D landscape so that you can see the folder tree all around you: parent folders below you, child folders/files above you, and sibling files/folders all around you. I think it would be a unique way of interacting with a file system and a pretty fun way to. It would also lend itself to a different understanding of the structure. For example, it could facilitate dragging a file to a sibling folder or file without using copy/paste or having two file interfaces open. Instead, it would be as easy as dragging over to the box next to you.

For the 3D rendering, we would use Three JS to handle or objects and animations. We could implement this as a web app or as an electron desktop app (uses a browser under the hood to run the app).

Author: Andrew Cambridge