Revolution in the 3D real time world

[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/expression/en/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 http://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_albumName=album07&option=com_gallery&Itemid=55&include=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!!

[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 (http://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 (http://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 http://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 http://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/SIMGuide2Galaxy_launch_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/

[jvlive]

Forgot where i heard this:

 

"... to stay put, you must run fast..."

 

Im panting.

 

Thanks for the heads up, Mihai.

[vizfx]

I know many people are a bit confused about Flash (swf) and Shockwave (dcr + w3d). They are two separate standards swf developed with Adobe Flash (or similar products) and Shockwave developed with Adobe Director. Flash is only capable of showing pre-rendered 3D graphics (stills and movies) with no 3D real time capabilities just a smart assembling and composition line (similar to 2D composition software) which is a fake 3D environment but Shockwave has 3D real time capabilities and can incorporate flash elements making them even more powerful (vice versa is not possible). So Director has a much versatile assembling line compared to Flash but known until 2001 just for offline media. (http://www.adobe.com/products/director/resources/integration/, http://www.adobe.com/products/director/resources/integration/flash/quick_comparison.html, http://www.adobe.com/products/shockwaveplayer/)

The biggest advantage of the Shockwave compared with the rest of the 3D web is the community, at this moment 390 million Web users and still rising. Even so their is enough space for open source project because the request for 3D web is extremely high and it is increasing.

Mihai

[SunGlare]

Wow, this shockwave works fast, did anybody tried to put some archviz space into it?

 

The other child:

 

What about millions of PDF Acrobat Readers installed around the world(I don't know the numbers, but I don't know person with email account who didn't know what is that)

They'd put a lot of efforts to make it new JPEG of 3d documents, with RightHemisphere and IBM I think.

 

Personally I don't fell that You can compare anything with baked shadows and rendered glow to simple 3d space in Adobe Acrobat 7.0, but it is very light, and you don't need a plugin.

 

I was playing with capabilities of it, for a moment in my friends' office, and I have produced very simple 3d of the design hat I was working with other architect.

 

It helped us to find the problems with the design itself, and decide how to show it on the rendering.

 

The file was only 400kb(!).

 

But there is a problem with file format, adobe accepts only u3d file format, so I needed to ask my friend for several file convert favors. He got in his office some RightHemisphere product to convert files from catia to other and back, so its a bit of the problem now.

 

Heres the file.

Print and export is blocked.

I believe that You can design more complicated menus and controls for it but I could find any product of adobe that would allow to do that, at least they don't explain it clearly which one does. But on the adobe website there are lot of nice examples of UI in 3d PDF files.

[vizfx]

Hi again

Some other VR products from EON-reality (http://www.eonreality.com) kept my attention.

They are quite expensive but offer a large and varied range of professional solutions from software to input and output devices for VR. The software is impressive and requires no programming for most of the features. It has powerful real time photo realistic rendering, advanced physics engine, realistic human behaviors and a good connection with 3D software. Another impressive feature is the 3DS Max exporter and viewer Raptor http://www.eonreality.com/raptor which is free and you can create with it basic interaction, for further development you`ll need EON Professional.

Even more impressive are the output http://www.eonreality.com/products/eon-display_systems.html and input devices. Some of them are looking as they were extracted from “Minority Report”. At http://www.eonreality.com/eon-products.html you can see some demo videos in the same time there are some interesting case studies and demos on the site.

At this moment I`m working on two VR projects and I`ll keep you informed on the progress. One is an online VR city (a VR web portal) and another one offline with a medieval fortress – virtual reconstruction.

Best regards.

Mihai

[vizwhiz]

Mihai

 

Thanks for all of This information

 

evidently The stand-alone viewer is now moved To another page

 

for FREE download, at:

 

http://www.eonreality.com/support/eon-downloads.html

 

**

 

Thanks

 

Randy

[MegaPixel]

Thank you for consolidating all of this research into one post - A great reference!

 

I think the Adobe 3D format is promising, but it's still very buggy at the moment. You need to be fairly script savy to do animation work with it but because pdf viewing is about as common as flash viewing, if Adobe cleans it up sooner then later, it will become a defacto standard for 3D content sharing.

 

As far as virtual experiences go, I very strongly feel that the gaming industry needs to get involved to really catalyze the visualization industry. Gaming engines like Valves Source, if striped clean and reinterfaced for virtual friendly navigation, could really spark entheusiasm for all the nay sayers.

[nmhblah]

Hello

 

This is my first post so please be kind!

 

I am interested in the real time developments and I think we could implement it without to many problems at work. We use Archicad and it seems to be the best at transferring models into other packages to produce VR and stuff like that. We try and model as much as possible for our own benefit without going over the top and making a massive model. Seeing we go so far i think it would be logical to produce a realtime simulation which people who find plans hard to read can understand and navigate their way around the whole building.

 

I have used Macromedia Director not so long ago for a trial and I like the drag and drop method of creating the controls for navigating the simulation.

 

Before taking the plunge with Director, I would be interested for your views as to the other softwares which would be suited to an architectural practice. I have followed some of the links to sites mentioned before and they seem to be more for computer game development. Any info for suitable sites would be good

 

I hope my first post is considered worthy of a reply from someone - I will keep tabs on the forum and improve if needs be!!!!!!!

 

Thanks folks

[vizfx]

Hi again

The good news is that the interest in this domain is increasing and recently I saw even an architectural visualization test with Cryengine which is one of the most powerful game engines available. You can see the architectural demos at: http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/search/label/Game%20Engines.

This game engine and some others like Unreal are capable of even a lot more. Just take a look at Crysis for some amazing real time 3D images and videos. You can find them easily on http://www.gamespot.com or on http://www.youtube.com.

About Director (Shockwave) from Adobe it seems that this year is going to be a major one with a new release. “Adobe plans to make Director the preferred environment for games creation and to increase the use of Shockwave Player on computers, consoles, and mobile devices.” (adobe.com)

The actual version which is three years old has some limitations but still is the preferred tool for many multimedia studios.

Some things about Director:

- requires a bit of programming skills depending on the level of interactivity,

- at this version is only limited toDirectX7 (similar possibilities in OpenGL)

- a good addition is the Chrome Library plugin (even the free version)

- you can use external resources (files) even online with streaming techniques

- can integrate various type of media (images, audio, video, flash, 3d, etc.)

I`ve posted another thread on VR forum about a 3D web portal which is going to be updated soon http://www.cgarchitect.com/vb/21902-online-vr-world-web-portal.html. The site is made with Shockwave and is a work in progress for the moment.

Best regards.

Mihai

[Clausbang]

Hi Vizfx

 

You are on an enormous task. Thought I'd give my 2 cents.

 

In addition to the ones you have mentioned I have these on my list:

 

TurnTool

Viewpoint

Anark

N.grain

Mindavenue

Walkinside

Navisworks

Micronet

O2C

Octaga

VB2S

MyVR

Discovery viewer

 

- and thats just the top of the list. There are literally hundreds of engines out there, with most of them requirering quite good programming skills.

 

What you need to be aware of is that a lot of the technologies will not handle enough geometry and texture (light-info) for it to be usefull in archviz or it will be so difficult to set up for each scene that it simply doesn't make sense to use for real work.

 

/Claus

[DavidR]

watching thread

[ChooChoo]

This is what I thought was a very good program. It's very similar to adobe 3d, but seems better to me.

 

BTW, you are an inspiration with the work you are doing finding this information.

 

subdo