Towards Large Language Models That Perceive and

Reason About 3D Structures

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January 25, 2025

Abstract

With recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), there is a growing interest

in integrating multimodal capabilities to allow these models to reason about and generate con-

tent that spans beyond text. One emerging frontier is the fusion of linguistic understanding with

3D perception, enabling LLMs to interpret, describe, and even manipulate three-dimensional

(3D) data. This paper reviews current approaches that bring language models and 3D rep-

resentations together, discusses technological challenges, and proposes future research direc-

tions. We highlight existing techniques for embedding 3D structures into language modeling

paradigms, consider potential applications in robotics, design, and augmented reality, and dis-

cuss ethical and computational constraints. By blending the power of language with spatial

cognition, LLMs can evolve from purely textual interfaces into versatile, multimodal agents

that can handle complex reasoning tasks involving 3D objects and environments.

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1 Introduction

Language models, especially those built on transformer architectures (Vaswani et al., 2017), have
demonstrated impressive capabilities in generating fluent text, translating between languages, sum-
marizing documents, and providing sophisticated conversational interfaces (Devlin et al., 2019;
Radford et al., 2019). However, real-world tasks often involve more than just text; they require an
understanding of spatial structures, physical constraints, and visual or tactile information. Humans
naturally integrate language, vision, and physical manipulation skills to communicate and interact
with 3D objects in everyday life.

Motivated by the human ability to discuss and mentally manipulate objects, researchers are begin-
ning to explore how Large Language Models (LLMs) can be extended to handle three-dimensional
data. Such an integration raises questions: How can text-based models interface with inherently
geometric data types, like point clouds or meshes? What does “understanding” a 3D object mean
in the context of a language model? How do we evaluate 3D reasoning in an LLM framework?

This paper surveys state-of-the-art techniques aimed at bridging LLMs and 3D cognition, drawing
on developments in computer vision, robotics, and computational linguistics. We examine meth-
ods of encoding 3D structures into representations that language models can process. We then
address applications in domains such as robotics, design, and virtual reality. Finally, we consider
open challenges and future directions, including interpretability, large-scale training costs, ethical
considerations, and the need for robust evaluation benchmarks.

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2 Background

2.1 The Rise of Large Language Models

LLMs have transformed natural language processing (NLP) by leveraging massive text corpora for
pretraining. Architectures such as BERT (Devlin et al., 2019) and GPT (Radford et al., 2019) rely
on self-attention to capture contextual information at scale. Fine-tuning these pretrained models
on specific downstream tasks has led to significant improvements in benchmarks like sentiment
analysis, question answering, and machine translation.

However, conventional LLMs operate solely on text tokens and lack direct access to other modali-
ties. Vision-language models (e.g., CLIP by Radford et al., 2021 or ALIGN by Jia et al., 2021) have
shown that coupling images with text can yield powerful multimodal understanding and generation
(such as image captioning and text-to-image synthesis). These successes serve as a foundation for
extending language models to 3D data.

2.2 3D Representations and Challenges

Unlike 2D images, which can be represented as pixel grids, 3D data typically comes in various
forms:

• Point Clouds: A set of 3D points, often captured by LiDAR or depth cameras.

• Meshes: Polygonal surfaces defining object geometry.

• Voxel Grids: 3D analogs of pixel grids, discretizing space into volume elements (voxels).

• Implicit Representations: Learned continuous functions (e.g., Neural Radiance Fields) that
approximate 3D geometry and appearance.

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Each representation has trade-offs in terms of memory efficiency, ease of manipulation, and fidelity
to real-world objects. Processing these 3D data structures typically demands specialized neural
networks, such as graph neural networks for meshes or PointNet-like architectures for point clouds
(Qi et al., 2017). Integrating language with such networks is non-trivial, as existing LLMs are not
natively equipped to handle these high-dimensional geometric inputs.

2.3 Foundations of Multimodal Learning

The motivation to merge multiple data modalities stems from the quest for more holistic AI models.
Vision-and-language research, for instance, introduced joint embedding spaces where textual and
visual representations can be aligned (Kiros et al., 2014). Similar principles may apply to 3D data,
where the goal is to develop latent spaces that capture both the geometric properties of objects and
the linguistic or conceptual descriptors associated with them.

Moreover, in robotics and augmented reality, the ability to interpret language instructions in the
context of a 3D environment is crucial. This requires a shared representation or a pipeline that can
translate textual commands into spatial actions.

3 Approaches to Integrating LLMs with 3D Perception

3.1 Language-Guided 3D Feature Learning

One line of research focuses on embedding 3D shapes into feature vectors that can be interpreted
by LLMs. For instance, a point cloud encoder (e.g., PointNet++) can compress a 3D object into
a latent vector. This vector is then aligned with a textual embedding from a pretrained language
model (e.g., BERT). By training on a large dataset of object-text pairs, the model learns correspon-
dences between geometric shapes and natural language descriptions (Chen et al., 2021).

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Such a system can enable tasks like:

• Text-to-Shape Retrieval: Given a textual description (e.g., “a curved chair with four legs
and a tall back”), retrieve the most similar 3D object from a database.

• Shape Captioning: Generate textual descriptions for new 3D shapes.

3.2 LLMs for Interactive 3D Manipulation

A more recent direction involves using LLMs as high-level policy planners for 3D object manipu-
lation in simulation or robotics. By interfacing with a 3D scene, the LLM can reason about object
attributes (position, orientation, affordances) and issue commands. For example, an LLM might
be given partial visibility of a scene and asked to plan how a robotic arm should grasp and move
a set of objects. Language-based commands could specify tasks like “stack the cube on top of the
cylinder,” relying on an internal 3D representation to confirm feasibility.

In these scenarios, the LLM is typically supported by:

• A scene parser or a 3D detection pipeline providing symbolic or vector-based descriptions

• A motion planning or control layer that executes the LLM’s high-level instructions.

The challenge lies in ensuring the LLM’s textual outputs accurately reflect physical reality (i.e.,
“no hallucinations” that defy geometry or physics).

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3.3 Generative Models for Text-to-3D

Motivated by successes in text-to-image systems like DALL-E (Ramesh et al., 2021), some re-
search focuses on text-to-3D generation. Techniques such as DreamFusion (Poole et al., 2022)
harness pretrained text-to-image diffusion models and optimize an implicit 3D representation to
match the textual prompt. While these models are not purely “language models” in the sense of
GPT, they illustrate how textual conditioning can steer the creation of 3D content. In the future, we
may see language models integrated more deeply into the generative pipeline, enabling interactive,
conversational 3D design: “Make the chair taller,” or “Add a curved handle to the mug.”

4 Applications

4.1 Robotics and Embodied AI

Robotic systems that operate in unstructured environments benefit from textual or voice instruc-
tions. An LLM with 3D understanding can interpret commands like “Pick up the red cube on the
left table and place it next to the green cylinder,” then translate this into a feasible plan. This ca-
pability reduces the need for extensive robot programming and fosters more natural human-robot
collaboration.

4.2 Architecture and Design

In computer-aided design (CAD) and architecture, professionals already use textual annotations
and natural language instructions in early design stages. An LLM capable of parsing 3D geom-
etry can serve as an assistant that can answer spatial queries, generate design variations, or auto-
matically label parts of a CAD model. This integration of language and 3D models streamlines

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collaborative design workflows and facilitates rapid prototyping.

4.3 Augmented and Virtual Reality

Immersive applications often require interpretive layers that convert user speech into 3D manipula-
tions. For instance, in a virtual reality simulation, a user might say, “Create a virtual billboard next
to that building,” and an underlying LLM-based engine with 3D scene understanding can generate
and position the new element accordingly. As AR/VR devices become more commonplace, the
demand for natural and intuitive multimodal interfaces grows.

4.4 Education and Training

Three-dimensional interactive content is highly beneficial for educational platforms, such as med-
ical simulations or engineering labs. By coupling LLMs with 3D representations, we can create
virtual tutors that not only explain concepts verbally but also demonstrate them using 3D mod-
els. For example, a language-based tutor can show the internal structure of a human organ or the
assembly process for mechanical parts while providing real-time textual explanations.

5 Challenges and Limitations

5.1 Data Scarcity and Alignment

Unlike images, which are abundant on the internet, large-scale datasets of 3D objects with high-
quality textual descriptions are far more limited. Projects like ShapeNet (Chang et al., 2015) and
ModelNet (Wu et al., 2015) offer some labeled data, but they may not contain the rich textual
descriptions or complex relationships LLMs require. Developing extensive, high-quality corpora

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linking 3D objects to linguistic annotations is an ongoing challenge.

5.2 Computational Complexity

Processing high-resolution 3D data can be computationally more expensive than handling text or
2D images. State-of-the-art 3D encoders (e.g., voxel-based models or large point cloud networks)
can be memory-intensive. Additionally, coupling large 3D networks with LLMs increases both
model size and inference costs, posing practical challenges for real-time or resource-constrained
scenarios.

5.3 Interpretability and Errors

LLMs are known to produce “hallucinations” or confidently incorrect statements, which can be
particularly problematic when dealing with physical environments. An LLM’s incorrect represen-
tation of a 3D scene can lead to unsafe or infeasible actions in robotics, for example. Improving
interpretability is critical to building trust and ensuring reliability in systems that must interact with
the real world.

5.4 Ethical and Societal Concerns

As with other AI technologies, combining language with 3D perception can yield risks. Malicious
actors might generate realistic 3D objects (e.g., digital weapons or deceptive content) based on tex-
tual instructions. Accessibility is another concern: resource-heavy models are often the purview
of large corporations or well-funded institutions, potentially widening existing digital divides. Re-
sponsible research practices and regulatory frameworks will be needed to mitigate these risks while
fostering innovation.

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6 Future Directions

6.1 Unified Multimodal Foundation Models

Ongoing research points toward building a single, large-scale foundation model that processes text,
images, videos, and 3D data (Zellers et al., 2022). Such a model would enable seamless “transfers”
of knowledge between modalities. For instance, an understanding of object affordances gleaned
from videos could inform better textual descriptions of 3D shapes. Achieving this vision requires
carefully balanced training corpora and architectural innovations to handle disparate data formats
effectively.

6.2 Human-in-the-Loop Collaboration

Human oversight and collaboration can guide LLM-based systems to be more reliable and ethical.
Interactive training loops, in which human experts correct or refine a system’s understanding of 3D
objects, might help mitigate hallucinations and ensure domain-specific accuracy. Moreover, user
feedback can iteratively improve textual descriptions and 3D reasoning in real-world deployments.

6.3 Task-Specific Customization

As the complexity of tasks grows—from simple object retrieval to full-scene manipulation—specialized

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6.4 Benchmarks and Standardized Evaluations

A significant bottleneck in this emerging field is the lack of comprehensive benchmarks that test
both linguistic and 3D reasoning. Future work could propose standardized tasks (e.g., shape clas-
sification, shape captioning, instruction following, and real-time 3D navigation) accompanied by
robust metrics. Transparent, open-source benchmarks would accelerate progress by enabling fair
comparisons across different models and approaches.

7 Conclusion

The integration of 3D perception with Large Language Models stands at the forefront of multi-
modal research. By bridging linguistic fluency with spatial understanding, AI systems can tran-
sition from text-only interfaces to agents that reason about objects and physical environments.
While challenges remain in data availability, computational constraints, and ensuring reliability,
the potential applications in robotics, design, AR/VR, and education are vast.

As researchers continue to refine 3D representation learning and adapt LLMs to handle geomet-
ric inputs, we move closer to AI systems capable of understanding and creating in the three-
dimensional world. Achieving these goals will require interdisciplinary efforts spanning computer
vision, computational linguistics, robotics, and human-computer interaction. Ultimately, LLMs
that can perceive and manipulate 3D structures could profoundly reshape how we interact with
machines, blurring the line between digital and physical spaces and opening the door to truly em-
bodied AI assistants.

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