vizfx

Hi to all
Seems that in the next few months we`ll see a revolution in the 3D real time world. It`s hard to predict if is going to be a winner in this, because many are haunting this title, big and small companies together.
Some of the technologies are a bit older in this field like Shockwave 3D from Adobe (I`m waiting to see the new Director package at the beginning of 2007), Java, VRML and so on, or the new ones like X3D which is the new VRML format, XAML (http://www.erain.com/products/ZAM3D/DefaultPDC.asp) which has a massive support from Microsoft especially for the new operating system Vista and for the new designing and multimedia package Expression which is extraordinary and you can see demos and even download a beta version at http://www.microsoft.com/products/ex...n/default.mspx.
The list is even bigger than the mentioned one, many of them where already presented in this forum and on the web.
One very important fact is we have to separate this domain in two, online and offline because, as we know there are many limitations regarding online materials.
I`m working for an online 3D real time application with external files for easier updates which can give a bit of headache, but the technical problem is already solved , so I`ll keep you informed about the progress.
Excuse my english.
Best regards.
Mihai

vizfx

Hi again.
Some of the new technologies are quite promising, for example XAML format and the Expression beta package from Microsoft offer an extremely easier assembling line. The programs communicate in a flawless manner (at least in demos), most of the assembling is made with drag & drop components and has some revolutionary behaviors. For example you can make an interactive animation without using the first keyframe, this means you`ll have a fluid animation from many positions (depending on the state of the object) which are considered by the program as being the first frame to your desired animation.
Still it cannot be considered as a complete package since we don`t have yet (maybe soon since it is a beta) the tools needed for walkthroughs.
Another feature which is incredible in the Expression suite is the stitch for panorama images, much faster than anything until now, with autorotation, auto calibration of colors and brightness; it feels like artificial intelligence in the demo.
Another big competitor is Adobe since they acquired a few years ago Macromedia. There advantage is the biggest online 3D community (take a look at www.shockwave.com), even the latest package is a bit old (from 2004) they promised a big re-launch of the program in the first half of the 2007. Unfortunately there isn`t any information about the new features of the Adobe Director (maybe because of the strong competition).
One of the good things about this package is the big community so there are many Xtras (plugins) to ease the work. The most used for 3D is Chrome Library, which offers an impressive list of extremely useful behaviors for real time 3D (http://www.chromelib.com).
Some other choices come from the open source community. There are some really powerful choices like Ogre3D, Crystal Space, Genesis 3D, Irrlicht, Blender engine (available with Blender 3D package) and many others. Some of them developed good connection tools with 3D modeling packages making life much easier.
But we are still looking for better 3D real time engines and even faster GPU rendering plugins, something much closer to the real GPU power & DirectX or OpenGL. The best examples are the game engines like Unreal3 (http://www.unrealtechnology.com) or Crytek (http://www.crytek.com). The images from there are more than impressive.
Best regards.
Mihai

vizfx

Back again...
Some of the free tools are quite impressive. One of them is Ogre 3D (http://www.ogre3d.org) which has a WYSWYG (what you see is what you get) toolset called oFusion for developing game content using 3D Studio Max. You can see some screenshots of various applications which are using this engine at http://www.ogre3d.org/index.php?set_...view_album.php
Some of the games made with this package are already a hit like Pacific Storm.
Another free package worth seeing is Blender - http://www.blender.org. They are offering an open source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback in which is included a Game Engine with fair capabilities http://www.blendernation.com/category/games/.
Why we should pay attention to them? Think about full interactive walkthrough presentations that can benefit from all the DirectX toolset.
Mihai

Richard McCarthy

Those are very very good infos, thanks for sharing!!

__________________
Don't mess with my hat !!

CGIcon

Thank You for the research!!

vizwhiz

Mihai

This info is very valuable, keep it coming
and keep This Thread updated and going

as Things keep happening

virtual walk-Thrus is a current client request
That i need To get up To speed on , Thanks
again

randy

my son keeps playing That 'numa numa numa miei' o-zone song

vizfx

First of all Happy New Year for the CGarchitect community!
In the last days the new version of the Awakening Engine caught my attention (http://www.awingsoft.com/) with the impressive features to offer at a very low cost:
- WYSIWYG Interactive 3D design environment
- convenient and effective texture utility
- robust lighting with Lightmap support inside Awakening for ray tracing, radiosity (fast for pci-express 3d cards), smoothing, mirror, caustics, alpha test, etc.
- DXEffect Shader support lets you deeply control rendering, make photorealistic realtime 3d images
- ample special effects, include billboard, particle, texture play, blur, environment options e.g. fog
- skinning mesh animation (simulate objects that have soft surface like animals and characters)
- full animation support - you can animate almost anything in your scene
- user-friendly physics system - You get automatic collision-detection and easily achievable realistic walk-through in 3D worlds
- wide & flexible importing/exporting support - 3d model & character animation from 3DS Max4.x - 8.x; import/export plugins for 3DS, D3DX, OBJ, VRML97; available Awakening's SDK for future exporters.
- compact web3d plugins for embedding into Firefox & IE (374K and 569K for IE), it lets you show 3d scenes in web pages.
You can see some interesting 3D web demos or download them at http://www.awingsoft.com/gallery/Gallery.htm
It really deserves the attention of the CG community.
Mihai

vizfx

Hi.
Click-VR Visualizer (www.codeblend.com) is another new product in this category. It is a realtime rendering plugin for 3ds Max. Max users can instantly explore their scenes in realtime and create interactive 3D walkthrough presentations by bringing their projects to life with animations, sounds, videos and user interactions which can be exported as executables.
The price is similar with the light version of professional products like Quest3D (www.quest3d.com) which is a proven technology with powerful features and many exporters (3D Studio Max, Maya, AutoCAD, SoftImage XSI,Lightwave 3D and Photoshop). Take a look at their Quest3D 2006 Demo contest winners http://quest3d.com/index.php?id=182 - it is worth it.
Another older product created especially for web 3D and good connection with MS PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat and other Adobe products is Cult3D www.cult3d.com with easy workflow and exporters for 3DS Max, Viz and Maya but there are no development news about it lately.
In my opinion this will be the year of the giants Adobe & Microsoft with their new products Adobe Director / Microsoft Expression and Windows Vista, because they will set new standards in this domain but there is enough space for even smaller software projects like open source ones.
Best regards.
Mihai

vizfx

Hi again.
I`ve took a look at Java 3D and X3D (http://www.web3d.org/casestudies) open source standards evolved from older VRML. The big advantages of VRML were authoring possibility from 3D applications (like Max) and access to external files for textures, unfortunately it was before it`s time and the compression technology and internet speed were behind a lot – today those things are solved as we know. You can see some interesting demos - CAD, architecture, geography and game related at http://www.bitmanagement.com/demos/demos.en.html.
One of the developing software for these standards is Wirefusion from Demicron (http://www.demicron.com/wirefusion/index.html, http://www.demicron.com/gallery/index.html) with a drag-and-drop visual interface and many exporters, but it`s price is a bit expensive compared with similar products.
Another thing really impressive is the new DirectX10 with extreme features which can harness the GPU much more than before. Take a look at Directx 10 section from http://developer.nvidia.com/page/directx.html
Not just the 3D real time developing community and the new Windows VISTA will be influenced by this but even the 3D applications (3DS Max, Maya, Softimage and so on) and GPU rendering plugins (Gelato, RTSquare) will take extreme advantage from the GPU power and from the Physics processors like www.ageia.com – with plugins for 3DS Max and Maya not just for games, leaving the CPU for other tasks.
At the first look many will say is just the game industry involved. Well this isn`t the truth because the interest in this domain – both offline and online – it is increasing day by day.
As an example NASA is trying many 3D real time technologies in the same time as learning possibilities, from open source ones as X3D (http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/SIMG...unch_page.html) to even the latest game engines like Unreal3.
“The general idea is that NASA's Learning Technologies Office got a small amount of funding to start a prototype NASA-based game. They are now working with the America's Army development team and the Federation of American Scientists to make a short(10 to 20 minutes) prototype. They are using the Unreal 3 engine from Epic, so they're hoping for commercial quality results.
The prototype is expected to be an introduction to NASA's Vision for Space Exploration - apparently, NASA is planning to head back to the moon by 2020, and by 2035, a human on Mars is planned. The prototype is expected to introduce the vision and give people a chance to appreciate the experience of being on the International Space Station and on the moon - separately, of course.”
Best regards.
Mihai

SunGlare

Thanks for the research!

Heres something I found browsing OGRE forum,
I think its gonna be really interesting:

http://windwardmark.net/