ShapeWays, mentioned in the previous post, organizes a contest for 3D content creators. Top 10 finalists will be showcased at SIGGRAPH (August 11-15th, LA (USA) ). Grand prize winner will win 500$ in ShapeWays products.
This contest is called "Bring your 3D into reality".
You don't have to buy your model to enter the contest. ShapeWays will create the models and bring them to SIGGRAPH.
Submit your works from July 29, 2008 to August 7, 2008. Top 10 finalist will be announced August 11, and the Grand Prize Winner on August 15.
To submit your works, do what is explained in the press release:
Go to Shapeways Account: 1. Upload Object Design (STL, Collada, X3D) 2. Upload a rendering representing the finalized object 3. Enter the tag "SIGGRAPHContest" (Users Can Sign-up For Shapeways BETA at http://www.shapeways.com/beta with BETA code: ContestSiggraph)
This is a great opportunity to see your STL, COLLADA or X3D models showcased at SIGGRAPH.
ShapeWays is a service in which you can purchase sculptures of your 3D models, so you have them in physical shape.
Accepted formats include STL, COLLADA and X3D.
ShapeWays uses a technique called 3D-Printing, that consists in the following:
"3D printing is a category of rapid prototyping technology. A three dimensional object is created by layering and connecting successive cross sections of material. 3D printers are generally faster, more affordable and easier to use than other additive fabrication technologies." - Wikipedia
For better understanding what is 3D printing, I show you 2 videos that illustrate this concept, both short and worth seeing:
This technique was very expensive, but ShapeWays makes it more affordable.
Caligari Corporation offers their 3D suite trueSpace 7.6 FOR FREE from their website. This may be by itself a great opportunity to get a professional 3D modeling and animation suite, but there is much more.
You just have to go to Caligari's site and download it. You'll be asked to sign up, and after that they'll give you the download links for the software package (130 MB), some tutorial videos (132 MB), and a manual (51 MB).
trueSpace interface. Click to enlarge.
trueSpace is a well-known 3D suite. It has been offered for free for ActiveWorlds citizens is version 3, and in the past Caligari have released for free their old versions in some occasions, but this time they offer the last one: 7.6
In their website you'll also find many video courses for free, a guided tour, a forum to share tips and ask things, and truePlaces.
truePlaces are online meeting places where people using Calligari trueSpace can meet, talk, and show their work. To enter, you must use the nickname and password that you chose when you registered your free copy of trueSpace.
Don't hesitate and download and test your free copy of trueSpace:
We continue reviewing the latest systems to embed your 3D world in your website or Facebook profile. We saw Lively, 3DXplorer and Vivaty in the previous post. Our list continues with SceneCaster, ExitReality, and the ActiveWorlds plugin for Facebook.
What is SceneCaster? SceneCaster has high CPU requirements (2.8 Ghz Pentium4) but it can also run if your CPU is not so fast, although with a bit of lag. Only 256 MB or RAM are required. You need Windows XP or Vista and Flash 8.
SceneCaster is an original concept. You can create a 3d world using its editor, and design it in 2D and 3D. You can also browse and move through your scene in 3D in the editor.
Then, you can also create a navigable slideshow that you can embed in Facebook, or upload the snapshots of your worlds to Flickr directly from SceneCaster.
There is no limit in the number of scenes you can create and save in your account. And you can create your scenes with the objects of a big catalog that contains all kinds of geometry, or design your own with Google Sketchup (.skp file format).
For now, you can't use streaming video. But you can insert your own images.
There are three options to control the access and edition rights of your scenes: they can be public (for everyone), private (for you only), or "View only" (everyone can see them, just you can modify).
You can create your avatar and customize it and even add a voice recording to it, but it's just for making it appear in your profile and scenes slideshows.
What I found when I tested SceneCaster I was a bit surprised because I thought that I'll enter another 3D world but found a series of beautiful slideshows of rendered worlds. It made me wonder how could I navigate on 3D.
It is made with the application that you must install to edit your own world (or others... if you set a world as "public", everyone can edit it). You must register, and then click the "Make A Scene" button in SceneCaster's website, and the download starts.
After that, you can start editing your own worlds. You will see there's a tab for 2D and another for the 3D view. The editor is not hard to use, although it may require some time learning. Remember that your computer must have a quite fast CPU.
The scenes have no movement. They are static. They are not multiuser and there's no avatars or chat. This is a platform for design mainly, not for socializing. Although it's on the SceneCaster website or in Facebook or Flickr where you can really socialize with this, sharing your scenes with people.
Advantages of SceneCaster
What you generate with this application can be embedded in Facebook or uploaded directly to your Flickr account.
Navigating the 2D views of your scenes doesn't need to install anything.
It's a good solution for all those who like decoration. There are real artists doing great things on SceneCaster.
Disadvantages of SceneCaster
It's not multiuser, nor has chat or 3D avatars.
High CPU speed requirements for edition. This is not truly important, as hardware improves through time.
What could be improved in SceneCaster? SceneCaster is good as it is. Even more, I think it contributes with a very original concept to the universe of virtual worlds.
Who should use SceneCaster? If you like decoration and enjoy building spaces where you can enjoy the pleasant ambient that you create, or taking snapshots of 3D worlds, SceneCaster is your application.
It is also for those who enjoy sharing their works with others, and are active users of Flickr or Facebook.
Watching the always growing gallery of worlds done by others is always a pleasure. I was surprised with the beautiful scenes that many people have created.
WARNING: Read this article:http://news.hiperia3d.com/2008/09/worst-of-exitreality.html before using or linking your VRML worlds. The security flaws discovered by Hiperia3D News have called the attention of the VRML worldbuilders community. If you are one of them, read it. There are some dangers that were noted in this review before it happened.
What is ExitReality? ExitReality is a new solution that has a very original feature: it can turn any website to a 3D multiuser world. And when I say any, I mean: your website, the websites of others, and the pages of social sites like Bebo, YouTube, Flickr, MySpace, AIM, Friendster... any site.
It uses VRML/X3D as file format, so you can build a VRML/X3D world and open it with ExitReality.
That way, you have 2 ways to use ExitReality: as a multiuser VRML/X3D browser or as a way to visit any website in 3D.
The main window has a neat interface, with buttons for taking all the actions you may wish, from controlling your avatar to watching who's online with you, and manipulate the scene. You can also add other users to your buddy list so you know that they are online, and where.
Panoramas, objects and even an entire scene can be dragged and dropped in the 3D window so it changes what you're viewing. After you've edited an scene, you can save the changes, that will be remembered.
The drag&drop support also works for avatars. To wear an avatar you simply drop it over yours.
What I found when I tested ExitReality It was very easy to start using ExitReality, that installs as a browser plugin after you have registered. Its interface is very intuitive, and you don't need to read anything to use it.
You can change your avatar from a catalog and access the worlds that are online. The movement of the default avatars is quite good, and their appearance.
Soon I learned how to add one of my old VRML worlds, and in general, you can create an access to your website in 3D or your VRML world just using one of these formats as hyperlink:
http://q.exitreality.com/?q=http://ROUTE TO YOUR VRML FILE.wrlhttp://q.exitreality.com/?q=http://ROUTE TO YOUR WEBPAGE.html
ExitReality is compatible with Blaxxun's shared events and avatars, so shared behaviors and avatars done for Blaxxun also work in ExitReality. It is not clear if you can upload your avatars or specify them as a parameter.
Advantages of ExitReality
You can create almost everything using VRML/X3D.
Good avatar support.
Very easy to embed.
It uses VRML/X3D.
Drag&Drop objects to the world, and avatars, panoramas, even whole worlds.
Not as easy to use as Vivaty but rather easy.
Very fast if the worlds you visit are properly optimized, as it uses VRML/X3D.
Good visual quality.
Disadvantages of ExitReality
Floating chat with non-resizable window that is quite annoying.
Some people reported that there are bugs that make the application to close. But remember that it is in beta and this may be fixed as time passes.
Some authoring and ownership issues, as explained below.
What could be improved in ExitReality? ExitReality inherits the good things of previous and existing VRML browsers, and improves them with new capabilities.
Being so, it suffers from the same problems as other VRML viewers in the past that are browser-based. There are some privacy and ownership issues due to this.
The URL of the world can be accessed, so people may look to your code easily, as VRML code is text viewable in any editor, or gziped text. As I say, this also happened in other VRML browsers, so if ExitReality fixes this, it will take advantage over them.
Avatars and worlds have no editable usage rights. The author of worlds and avatars are unknown. They could add a floating tooltip or a text that said in the catalog who is the creator of the worlds or avatars to prevent this.
For now, you can add a sign in-world using an image texture to show that you're the author and your website, copyright, etc. That's what I've done.
Who should use ExitReality? I decided to use ExitReality because it uses VRML/X3D, and for the ease of creation of links to a scene. Using just a single line link to enter your 3D world is a fantastic feature.
And turning your website to 3D is as easy as adding that hyperlink as I explained. Your visitors will be asked to register and add a plugin, and guided through the process. If they already have the plugin, they'll simply enter.
What is ActiveWorlds? Active worlds is one of the most veteran 3D chat and virtual worlds community out of the whole world, online since 1997.
There are two types of people in ActiveWorlds: citizens and tourists. If you don't register and pay for your citizenship, you are a tourist. Unless you're a citizen, you may build things but others may modify or delete what you build.
It uses a standalone application as browser. But you can also embed it in your Facebook profile.
ActiveWorlds has everything that one can expect of a big 3D multiuser worlds community. What I found when I tested ActiveWorlds I tried to add the Facebook application to my profile directly, and I was asked to download the ActiveWorlds client. I did install it, and then went back to Facebook and added the application.
It also asked me for an update, and after that I was asked for a nickname and email. The application will remember this, so you won't need to enter them again.
I entered in a world that was full of colors and natural landscapes. The ease of use and the number of different features of the software surprised me, as everything that I wanted to find was there where I supposed it was.
When someone posts a link, you just have to click it and it opens in a built-in web browser. This makes very easy exchanging links and showing them to your friends.
The chat window is not floating but you can have it floating if you want, just clicking some small icons. In fact, you can do everything you want with the chat window: get it floating, turn it to a frame again, auto-hide it so it shows only when you drag over it...
I saw a number of people chatting with their avatars, mostly citizens and some tourists. I took some time browsing the world, watching waterfalls and forest houses. I noticed the community was rather friendly.
Advantages of ActiveWorlds
Tourists are welcomed warmly and the behavior of citizens is polite.
It can be embedded in Facebook.
URLs are opened in a browser window inside the AW application just clicking.
Visual effects like water and others.
Extreme ease of use.
Tooltips for everything.
Extremely stable.
Real voice chat, that can be enabled or disabled.
You can take and move objects with you.
Chat inserted under the 3D window, not floating. You can make it float or auto-hide it if you like.
Disadvantages of ActiveWorlds
Nothing at all. Some annoying chatbots when you enter as a tourist, although they provide good information.
If we had to say something, we could ask it to be cross-platform.
What could be improved in ActiveWorlds? As everything, it could be improved. But the overall quality is very high. What can be improved in ActiveWorlds is just make all the existing features better, that is what they've been always doing.
Who should use ActiveWorlds? As tourists can't build something persistent, in this case you should become a citizen. But if you enjoy entering as a tourist, it's also a good place to go.
Those who will like ActiveWorlds are obviously people that want an independent 3D world of their own, but also want to belong to a group of people with a strong sense of community.
Conclusion
I can't recommend any of them over the others (except for Lively, that I can't recommend for now). You may prefer one of them based on your expectations and needs, but at least with this 2 parts review you can have an idea on what they offer to you, and what kind of 3D worlds can be created with them.
Now it is your turn to test them, share your thoughts about these technologies with us all, and comment what you found when you tested them, and maybe also suggest some that are not on this review series.
The latest in 3D on Internet are what Bruce Damer calls "small worlds". These are not big 3D communities but systems that have some things in common:
There's no central world. These worlds are independent from the others and people gather together in a spontaneous way, with great number of virtual tourists or occasional visitors.
Some are connected to other worlds through the software or in-world links.
You can embed them on your website or inside a social site like Facebook for example.
If you're reading this article you are probably interested in this last point: you want to have a 3D world in your website or Facebook profile.
This review will cover 6 different systems that allow you to do this.
ActiveWorlds' plugin for Facebook is also analyzed but it doesn't fit in the "small worlds" category, because it's an embedding of a big community.
I will start with a quick comparative to give you a quick idea on what they do, later we will see their features and performance one by one, and then I'll recommend you some of them depending on your needs.
Their names and what they do
The analyzed systems are (not listed in any particular order): Google Lively, SceneCaster, Vivaty Scenes, 3DXplorer, ExitReality, and ActiveWorlds. Let's explore their differences and what do they have in common:
All them are independent virtual scenes except the ActiveWorlds application that is a embedding of the ActiveWorlds client software.
None of them have speech synthesis, but ActiveWorlds has real voice chat.
All of them, except SceneCaster and 3DXplorer, are multiuser with chat and avatars. 3DXplorer will add these features in their next version.
Lively, 3DXplorer and ExitReality can be embedded in any page. SceneCaster too, and can be also embedded in Flickr and Facebook directly.
ExitReality can turn a page in 3D, and their 3D worlds can be embedded or open in a new page.
All of them, except ActiveWorlds, are said to be "beta". SceneCaster, Vivaty, and ExitReality offer a decent stability, though. 3DXplorer is very stable. Lively is highly unstable.
Need to install a client software: ExitReality, ActiveWorlds, Lively, and Vivaty. SceneCaster only needs it if you want to build scenes. 3DXplorer is the only one that only needs Java installed in your PC, which you surely have.
ExitReality, Lively, and Vivaty have a floating chat window. ActiveWorlds has its chat below the 3D scene.
What is Lively? Lively is supposed to have medium-low requirements (Pentium III at 800Mhz, 512 RAM, DirectX9, a 32MB graphics card, Flash9, and broadband connection). It doesn't run on Mac nor in Linux.
This video shows Lively in action:
You can embed a Lively 3D room in any blog or website. There's also a Facebook application that you can use to embed Lively in your profile. Lively can display YouTube videos and images as framed canvas or posters inside its worlds. It also has avatars and a world editor. The avatars are cartoon-like.
You can't add custom content. You have to choose from an online catalog. As you will see, it seems that in the future you'll be able to purchase objects from a bigger catalog.
What I found when I tested Lively I only had to install a small program that was only 468 KB. I installed it, signed in with my Google account, chose a nickname, and it began to load the worlds.
The loading was exasperatedly slow. When I reached the world, there was no one there. The movement was strange, as keyboard arrows make a slide movement. The left and right arrows move our avatar without turning it. The mouse is for rotating and zooming. I had a look to the starter guide of Lively.
I discovered that there were very few avatars to choose from.
I returned to the index of rooms and saw that people online were called "lurkers" in the index. So I went where the "lurkers" were.
The world never seemed to fully load. I saw no avatars. I awaited till the next day, thinking that it may be an overloaded server. I played a bit with the world edition. It was easy.
I returned again the following day and entered a world. It seemed to hang while loading the 3D world. I use a CPU and RAM monitor, so I could see that my RAM memory was being all drained by Lively. I had to close my browser to avoid that my computer may hang.
Before that happened, I saw other people's avatars, and their blurbs of chat. I managed to have a very short conversation before I had to go due to the RAM memory problem.
My computer is much more powerful than the minimum requirements, so I think that Lively has serious memory leaks. Let's hope that this gets fixed. We must understand that it's a beta program.
Advantages of Lively
As Google sponsors it, it will be a lot of people that will have Lively installed, as long as they fix the bugs soon.
The editor of 3D worlds is easy, but not as much as Vivaty's.
You can embed your Lively world in a web page easily.
Disadvantages of Lively
The floating chat is annoying in monitors that are not of big size.
It's very slow.
Graphics quality is mediocre.
Edition of worlds is very limited. The catalog is small and with little diversity.
Seem to have serious memory leaks.
What could be improved in Lively? If they fix bugs and memory leaks, add more objects and make possible to add custom content, Lively could be some competence to cartoon multiuser chats like IMVU, but never to SecondLife or ActiveWorlds, that have a different public.
Who should use Lively? The drawbacks of memory leaks and slow running may be improved through time as it gets optimized. The edition of worlds and other features may get also improved...
You may have read a lot of reviews or notes about Lively done by people that have not actually tested it, saying that SecondLife, ActiveWorlds and others have to be very worried and frightened for the strong competence that Lively may suppose. This is simply not true (read this other opinion in VNUNet).
I am also amazed by the discussions about Lively and even courses and conferences that are being organized around Lively and "how it will change the web". Maybe in the future Google will improve Lively and change the web... but for now, it's at a very rudimentary and unstable state.
But why use Lively when you have other solutions just now that are better? Let's give some time to Lively, or accept that it's a very early beta and you may experiment all kind of problems.
After all, Google is the company that supports Lively, and they always offer very good products like Blogger, GMail, Analytics, Calendar... Google will surely do better as time passes.
What is 3DXplorer? 3DXplorer is the only one of all the tested systems (and maybe the only one in the market) that doesn't need that you install a program or a plugin, both for edition or visiting worlds.
It is also the only one that is cross-platform, and runs in every operative system (Windows, Mac, Linux) and browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera), without installing anything.
3DXplorer can do this because it uses Java as its main technology. Its worlds are Java applets. You only need to have Java runtime installed in your browser, which you surely may already have.
It's free both for editing and displaying worlds. You can create your own world and you won't have to pay anything if you have less than 200 visits per day. Over that level, there are different membership plans, including unlimited access if you need it.
For most people, the 200 visits limit won't be easily reached, so 3DXplorer may be totally free for them.
3DXplorer can import 3D models from formats like 3DS and COLLADA, and import and embed images, audio, hyperlinks... The objects can be animated directly or using COLLADA animations.
You can create your own world using some standard scenes that are in the catalog and customize it all, or import your own models into 3DXplorer. You can add your own images as framed pictures and add ambient music, and decide what type of actions you allow your visitors take. You can build as many 3D worlds as you want.
The requirements to run 3DXplorer are not high for these days ( Cable or DSL, any commonly used OS, Java runtime, Pentium III or Athlon at 800 MHz, 512 MB of RAM, and any decent 3D card).
What is more interesting about 3DXplorer is what is being prepared. Facebook integration is coming soon, but also multiuser worlds.
In their V4 release, which is in private beta, they're adding avatars, live chat, and real-time collaborative and interactive 3D worlds.
What I found when I tested 3DXplorer As it doesn't need to install anything, testing it was a child's play. I just entered some of the worlds, and saw that they loaded in few seconds.
Once inside, turning and moving is easy and smooth. The arrow keys move you sliding to left and right and forward and backward. The mouse is used for turning, in a similar way to 3D games.
For now, it's not multiuser (but will be in V4), so there are no avatars or chat for now.
There are some help messages that are not intrusive, but you can just read them, learn and then close them.
If you sign up, you can create your own world. The editor has a tutorial included to guide you in the process. Objects can be added from a catalog. After creating your scene, they give you the code of the Java applet so you can insert it in your website.
I found that 3DXplorer is a very stable application. My browser didn't hang, it ran well, and the cross-platform feature is a remarkable point.
Advantages of 3DXplorer
You only need to have Java installed.
Loads worlds quite fast.
You can add your own content.
Easy to embed in any website.
Extremely easy to use.
Extremely stable.
Provides an API for programmers.
Disadvantages of 3DXplorer
It's not multiuser, doesn't have avatars or chat (for now, but will in next version).
What could be improved in 3DXplorer? In the V4 of 3DXplorer, that is now in private beta, there will be everything that will make 3DXplorer a strong application for multiuser 3D virtual worlds.
Who should use 3DXplorer? 3DXplorer may suppose a new thing, much more important than Lively, if development continues this way. Things should first work and run, then add features.
As it is cross-platform, it is a good thing for Mac and Linux users, and for everyone in general. Your worlds will be viewable by everyone.
What is Vivaty Scenes? Vivaty Scenes is an application for Facebook or AIM built with X3D and other technologies (Tony Parisi is the co-founder of Vivaty and the co-father of VRML alongside with Mark Pesce).
With Vivaty, you can have a sort of your own virtual room in a 3D house. In your virtual home, you can have YouTube videos played on virtual TVs, and Flickr images in virtual frames in the walls of your room.
You can also have portraits of your friends in your 3D world, and click them to invite your buddies to come to your virtual home.
For now you can't add custom content or customize your avatar, but this will be added in some near future.
You need a medium modern PC: Pentium III or Athlon at 1 Ghz, plenty of RAM (1 Gb for XP, 2 for Vista), a graphics card of 128 MB, and you must use Internet Explorer 6.0 or 7.0
It's available for Windows only, but Linux and Mac versions are coming.
Vivaty Scenes has very detailed avatars and good quality graphics. The facial expressions of the avatars are very good, and animations are also remarkable.
What I found when I tested Vivaty? When I tested Vivaty I found a good quality product overall. Although it has not too much customization options, what it has is perfect.
The worlds load very fast. It's one of the fastest I have tested. By the way and speed it loads, one sees that X3D is behind it.
The catalog is very easy to use, as all the application. Without having to read any tutorial or guide, you can start moving, modifying things, or using the whole system.
There are tools for visiting your friend's worlds and invite them to come to yours.
This is maybe one of the simpler tools of this review, not only for browsing, also for creating your own 3D worlds.
The quality of the worlds, the speed of loading and the ease of use give Vivaty Scenes a big score on our list.
Advantages of Vivaty
Fast to load, and runs smooth.
Easy to use, easy to build worlds.
Facial expressions of avatars are very expressive.
Disadvantages of Vivaty Lack of possibility of custom own objects and avatar customization (but will be added soon). Floating chat window is a bit annoying in some monitor resolutions. What could be improved in Vivaty? When they add the possibility of adding custom content, or maybe create some edition tools for custom avatars and worlds, Vivaty will attract thousands of users with no doubts. Personally, I think they should also add the option to have the chat window in a frame of the application. Some of us find floating chat windows a bit annoying, specially if they're not transparent. Who should use Vivaty? Vivaty is a perfect starting point for every those who don't know what 3D multiuser worlds are. It's also perfect as your home personal world in Facebook and AIM. For all those who don't want to complicate their lives learning complex application, as everything in Vivaty runs smooth and is easy to do.
I've embedded in the sidebar the Virtual Worlds Timeline in Dipity.com. You can see it contains many of all what happened in time and have something to do with virtual worlds.
I think this is a good tool for us all who are interested in the evolution of virtual worlds.
Take some time playing with it and learn a lot of things.
Here's a list of 20 software projects, some of them opensource, others free, and others commercial but affordable. They all can be used to build 3D virtual worlds, that can be published in Internet.
Alternativa3D: Flash engine for 3D virtual worlds. Again, the user just needs to have Flash installed to walk through virtual worlds. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com DHTML: Dynamic HTML is one of the most powerful technologies for fast 3D, as is shown in the site of the superb 3D artist Gerard Ferrandez. He mixes 3D with poetry. His worlds make us think, make us dream. He really deserves a future deeper review, but for now enjoy his super-human mastering of DHTML.
STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Quest3D: Commercial development tool for creating real-time 3D applications without programming. The worlds created can be published to stand-alone executables, or embed the Quest3D application on other programs, or publish it on the web STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Paperworld3D: LGPL game engine for developing virtual worlds and MMOGs in Flash. Based on existing open-source projects like PaperVision3D and Red5 (open source Flash server that supports streaming and recording audio/video).
3DzzD: Software 3D engine with physics engine, and all necessary tools to manage 3D scenes on an HTML web page. Users don't need to install anything, just enter the worlds. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com FLAX3D: Users need Flash and Flux Player installed. Once installed, FLAX3D enables Flash programmers to quickly and easily add X3D scenes to their Flash movies. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com 3DXPlorer, This platform allows you to build your 3d world in the web, that people can visit. It's free for up to 200 visits per day. It is built with Java, so worlds are Java applets. Visitors only need to have the Java runtime installed.
Ajax3D: Tries to combine Ajax with X3D so the 3D content may be modified by Ajax. Some applications for multiuser virtual worlds have been suggested. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Croquet: This is a platform for 3D virtual worlds that connect over P2P, so no server is needed. They can use many formats for models, which include 3DS and VRML. It is programmed in Squeak, a sort of SmallTalk.
3DMLW: Markup language for 3D on Internet that supports 3DS and OBJ models.
Project Wonderland: GPL project for virtual worlds platform written in Java.
Dryad: Build trees and forests navigating through them in 3D. Download the trees in OBJ format.
VastPark: An API for creating your 3D content and virtual worlds. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Xj3D: Java library and browser for X3D (and VRML) content. With it you can visualize X3D files and also use it as library so you can add a 3D window to your Java application. There's no light plugin for now, but you can use Xj3D to make a 3D visualizer application that loads X3D worlds. If you are a programmer that uses Java and Netbeans IDE, the X3DV Module Suite will also help you to code in X3D and VRML without having to use another editor. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Blink 3D: Blink 3D is an authoring tool to build 3D worlds. You can visit these worlds online or offline. The viewer is free, and the authoring tool has free and paid editions. Here's a demo video:
FIVe3D: Done with ActionScript. Users just need Flash installed. It has MIT license, so your freedom to build over it is enormous. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com CodeCity: CodeCity is an integrated environment for software analysis, in which software systems are visualized as interactive, navigable 3D cities.
X3D/VRML: The standards for 3D on the Web, developed by the Web3D Consortium. In my opinion, the best option. Users just need a decent VRML or X3D plugin, and the flexibility of these languages allows building almost anything. There are many tools that export to VRML, and some are appearing that use X3D. Again, the X3DV Module Suite can be useful combined with Netbeans IDE, excellent editor that can handle Java, PHP and other languages. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com
Art of Illusion is the favorite 3D modeler of many people . It is licensed GPL, so you can use the models that you make with it for commercial or personal use. The main feature of Art of Illusion is that it's very intuitive and easy to use. You just need to follow the beginners tutorials and you can start modeling.
Its interface is not standard, but it's so simple and easy to remember that it's not a problem.
Art Of Illusion can export as Wavefront OBJ (which many applications use), POVRay (the popular renderer), and also exports in VRML, and its models are easily optimized with Chisel.
Some people tend to recommend low level modelers that need a long time to learn them. You just have to decide if what you are doing requires such a modeler. For 3D art and movies it may be necessary, but for Internet use, it's not.
Once you've taken the first steps with Art Of Illusion, modeling can become as easy as drawing, specially if you use a graphics tablet.
It's specially useful for VRML/X3D. Models for Internet need to be lighter, and Art Of Illusion, used with Chisel, is a good solution. But as it exports in OBJ you can also use it for almost everything, including modeling objects for Poser, which imports OBJ, or Vue.
You do not have to be a citizen of CNW to be eligible to participate. Just do a design for a t-shirt. If you win and are not a citizen, you'll gain a citizenship. If you already are citizen of CyberNetWorlds, then you get a free renewal/extension, or a free t-shirt if you are a lifetime citizen.
The Association Of Virtual Worlds organizes their first teleconference. Its title will be "How to successfully get media for your virtual world company or project". Location: Web seminar that will take place on the Association Of Virtual Worlds Day:July 15, 2008 at 11 am est to 12:00 pm ET (60 minutes)
For members only. Join the AVW. Joning the AVW is free. If you don't know what AVW is, read this.
The Association Of Virtual Worlds is one of the best places that you can find in Internet if you are in virtual worlds, may be you a business, an individual or just a 3D-worlds fan. f you're not in the AVW, then you're missing something.
Title: How to Successfully Get Media for Your Virtual World, Company or Project
Why This is the first in our new series of ‘How To’ sessions designed to meet the unique needs of Association of Virtual Worlds Members. Media, Marketing, Promotion, Advertising, and all things dedicated to helping our members successful reach their virtual goals will be covered in these special, members-only sessions.
Topic Virtual is “hot”. Major media are increasing coverage of all things virtual—worlds, people, project, and companies. This teleconference is designed to bring top media experts to AVW members and offer a simple, step by step formula for getting successful media coverage. Here’s what you will learn: • How to position your story • How to find the right person to pitch • How to write a simple one sentence pitch that gets results • How to prepare 2-powerful quotes • What national and global resources are available to promote your story • Elements of a perfect press room page on your website • And more
Speakers We have two outstanding speakers — major media powers in their own right — to offer AVW members success strategies. Liz Ryan, A member of our own AVW Advisory Board and columnist for Business Week, NPR commentator and Yahoo’s HotJobs Networking expert. Brad King, A professor who has worked with Wired, Wired News, the Hollywood Reporter and MIT’s Technology Review.
Price $99 per member (MP3 file and transcript will be sent to participants and is included in the price of the teleconference)
To Register Please register by visiting the AVW Business & Social Network. A registration box is located on the right side of each page. Any questions, please contact Dave Elchoness at dave@associationofvirtualworlds.com. Space is limited so please register early. Call in details will be provided upon registration.ñ
3D Street Painting Art Exhibition At SecondLife Days: From July 1, 208 at 10:00 AM to July 31 Location: Ten Cubed Gallery (SLURL) During this month of July, Chalkfan Streeter will be giving talks about street painting art, about its tradition, modern history, and recent technological developments.
You'll also watch the real art of Rod Tryon of the USA, a top street painting artist with over 20 years experience creating this beautiful art form.
This event is not added to the Calendar because it starts just today and will last all this month. Don't miss it.
Cybernet Worlds: Virtual universe based on ActiveWorlds software, but independent, that seems to reach a high quality, and a friendly community of users.
VRWorkPlace: Virtual worlds for work. Work in 3D and have a virtual office.
Quest Atlantis: Didactic virtual world for children between 9 and 15, to learn through virtual reality.
You may be thinking in starting programming something, for work, for your studies or as a hobby. You may also have a software project that is quite successful, but need to go beyond.
This list will help you to reach what you need.
Improving your software will make it compete better with other similar projects, attract more users, and be more widespread.
Bookmark this list and use it for future reference.
Here they are, in no particular order:
Fix Bugs - This is a must-do update, as bugs annoy your users. This kind of updates don't make new users, though, as new users that are told "Bug X was fixed" tend to think that your software is buggy. If your software is really buggy, your users will really celebrate this.
Make It Multiuser - A way of giving new life to an application is to make it multiuser. We all like to do things with others. A drawing application can be modified to draw with others, and a coding tool can also be improved so users can code together, as Gobby does. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make It Web 2.0 / Make It Social - Social bookmarking and communities are very popular nowadays. You can modify your app to work with some social site or use their API to extend your application. One example is the Twitter plugin for Netbeans Make It It Web3D - You can make your application include 3D content that is shareable between users. This is an enormous task that requires a lot of work, but it's very stunning for users. An example: classical games in 3D that become mmorpgs. Add A New Feature - Users will also like that you add new features. It also gives you a great advantage over your competitors if you add something that they don't have. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Automatic Updates - Automatic updates make your software more secure and easier to use, as users can update it without having to do it by hand. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make It Modular - A modular architecture is a good idea since your software can be installed in parts. People can install what they want, and you maintain an independence between components, so you can improve them independently and it keeps a neat structure. An example is my X3DV Module Suite (read also this article).
Integrate With Another Application - If your license and that application's allow it, you can make some kind of feature that communicates with another app and that way you two may benefit of mutual promotion. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Create A Related Firefox Extension - A Firefox extension that works with your application or maybe a small version of it that runs as a Firefox add-on, can be a great feature. To learn how to write Firefox extensions, read this guide. Add 3D - Many applications may benefit of a 3D view of what they do. For example, think in garden or floor plan design applications, but also app that display balances, graphs, etc. Wouldn't be better to display what your app does in 3D? One good way is to use X3D, and if you're using Java, the best way is to use Xj3D. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Improve The GUI Usability - Your application may be fantastic, but it can be so complex for new users that they won't even start to learn how to use it. This may be the most important improvement. Spend more time making your app easier to use (more user-friendly). Add Buttons, Toolbars And Menus - People like buttons and toolbars because they allow to work faster. But don't underestimate the value of menus, as many people still need them and are not prone to use toolbars and icons. Relate GUI Elements Between Them - Your software project will be more usable if you give the same functions to toolbars, icons, and menus. That way, no matter what the user wants to do, he/she will find it anywhere. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make A Google Gadget For It - Here you are a starting tutorial on doing Google gadgets. Some big applications have done Google gadgets. People can insert these gadgets on their pages, so it's an excellent promotion tool that also improves usability. Activeworlds, for example, has a Google Gadget.
Add Autosave - Autosave is highly valuable, specially when your app is a code editor or a text editor. But also other kinds of software can benefit of this. Think for example in the log of a chat application, or autosave in a 3D modeler. Add Config Options For Performance - Your user's computers may be very different, so you may add configuration options depending on their hardware. This is highly valuable in graphics applications. Add A Customizable GUI Option Tab - People like customization of the software they use. Just being able to change the colors is always welcome. Without having to create or add support for pluggable themes, you can just add some customization this way. Add User Profiles - Your application may be used by more than one person at a home. So why not create some support for this? Some examples of apps that have this are Firefox and Trillian. Add A Chat - You can add a chat to your application. That way, people may work together or share ideas, and also have fun. Seamless3D is an excellent modeler that was improved adding chat and other multiuser features. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make It Cross-Platform - This can be achieved in two ways: recompile it for other platforms, or build it in a cross-platform language, like Java. Improve Or Extend Already Existing Features - A way of improving that your users will surely like is extending what it already has. This is a mix of bug fixing and new feature creation. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make Its GUI Fancier - Some applications have a very fancy graphical user interface, for example, Spaz. If you're using Java, don't miss this book about creating rich client interfaces. Improve The Loading Time - Techniques like lazy loading can improve the loading time of your application. Some applications can offer the option to be loaded at startup and that way they run faster. Netscape 7 did this. If you reduce the loading time, your users will like it, as patience is not too valued as virtue nowadays :) Improve The Documentation - Specially if your project is opensource, making better docs is not loosing time. You may also remember to make understandable comments. Read these 10 tips for better documentation.
Make It Faster - You may think patience is a virtue, but... no one has that virtue, believe me. So making your software faster is good. Everybody will like it. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Make It Opensource - You may see making your software opensource as an advantage specially if you want it to be very widespread. Make A Premium Paid Version - As money doesn't grow on trees, you can make a paid version of your free application that adds some features that are worth paying. People may start using the free one and if they have special needs, buy the paid version. For example, the great organizer TreeDBNotes. Monetize It - Adding a graphical banner to your free application that displays ads can be a way to monetize it and pay the expenses generated. Many software projects use something similar to this. If the ads are not invasive, users won't complain. Make It Fun - An example of this is CloneDVD, in which a sheep eating popcorn appears while a movie is being read. Fun details have a viral effect. People will show others the application. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add An API - If you offer a public API for your software, other developers may use it to communicate with your application and create related software. You'll benefit of their success. Make It Themable - For example, Firefox has themes, as everybody knows. If you also create some way for people to develop their own themes, it can be a very powerful promotion tool and will also free you from a lot of work. Resizable Window Components - Not all monitors are of the same size. Never assume that they are. So if your users can resize them, they will like it and don't complain for this. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Transparent Window Components - An application with transparent message boxes or dialog components looks more modern and neat.
Add Drag&Drop Support - Some users like this and others just don't use it. Add the ability of being able to drag something to the window of your application so some action is done with it. Draggable Window Components - Another way of letting your users adapt your application to their needs is letting them drag the components inside your application's window and place them where they like. For example, like Photoshop. Recompile It With Last Version Of Your SDK - This removes some bugs that may not be your fault and can be fixed just recompiling with the last fixed version of your SDK. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Use The Proper License - Think if your application uses the right license for what you want. Change if it's needed. Create other versions or multiple licensing. For example, an application can have a freeware license and a paid license for commercial uses. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Complete Rewrite With Another Computer Language - The reasons for this may be that you've realized that another computer language is better for what you're doing, or that you want to make it cross-platform with less effort, for example, changing to Java. Create A Mobile Version - Mobile phones are something that many people have, so a mobile version will be appreciated, and also makes your app more popular. Add Brandable Components - For example, with virtual pets like Clippy. Yes, many of you hate him, but it's fun at the beginning. Think in things that may make your software more personal, warm, emotional... and viral.
Add Other Output File Formats - This can add a big number of users if the file format added is used by many people. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Or Improve The Installer - Add an installer for unexperienced computer users. Improve it making it more automatic or easier to use. Don't let too many things for the user to choose. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Or Improve The Splash Screen - Splash screens improve the appearance of your application, they make it more "professional". They also distract the users while loading time. But always allow an option to disable it, as some users hate them.
Add Or Improve The Help/Tutorials - Having integrated help is valued by all users. Improving it is also highly valued. Improving the help is making it easier to understand. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Or Improve The Wizards - Small routines that guide the users to use your software are useful and all users like it. Netbeans has many of these. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Or Improve The Templates - Templates can have many shapes. If your application is a coding one, they can be templates of new file types. If yours is a design tool, it can be templates for printing. In an AI application, it can be patterns of behavior. Add Or Improve Palettes And Macros - A macro that allows users to automate tasks, or palettes that free them from typing are highly valued. X3DV Module Suite has a palette of X3D code. STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Artificial Intelligence - AI can always be added to any application. Sometimes it helps you, sometimes annoys your users. For example, in Microsoft Word, Clippy annoys you with what he thinks you want to do. In many multiuser 3D worlds, some artificial agents may assist you and help you.
Find New Uses For It - This is a marketing update. You just think in what can be your application be used for, and you show it to your users, for example with a tutorial. Less work than programming. How cool is that? STOLEN POST. ILLEGAL COPY DETECTED. news.hiperia3d.com Add Custom Sound Effects - And I say CUSTOM effects. You may think that something sounds good, but some users may dislike it and uninstall your software just to not hear it again! Let them choose their sounds.
Now that you've reached the end of this list, you can help us all by suggesting more ways to improve your application in the next update.
without programming. The worlds created can be published to stand-alone executables, or embed the Quest3D application on other programs, or publish it on the web
Hiperia3D News is a Netbeans Community Partner, in recognition for developing the 
