Hiperia3D News: January 2010

Micoy Awarded Global Patent for Multi-Dimensional 3D Immersive Spherical Imaging Technology
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This interesting press release tells how Micoy Corporation has patented a new and unique system for immersive spherical 3D environments. With this, the user gets immersed literally inside a movie or 3D creation. This is clearly the future of 3D experiences.

AMES, IOWA – Micoy Corporation, the world’s only provider of true omni-directional spherical 3D immersive imaging technology, today announced that it has been awarded Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) number WO 2206/107934 from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations dedicated to promoting the protection of intellectual property around the world. The breakthrough technology enhances current 3D display offerings to become fully enclosed, truly immersive 3D environments for the most realistic viewing possible.

Promotional advertisers, tradeshow marketers, government agencies, movie theatres, videogame developers, entertainment venues and others can leverage the unique experience of Micoy’s truly immersive 3D image format to sell, educate and entertain.

“We are ultimately taking the way people interact with games and 3D entertainment to a whole new level,” said Don Pierce, founder and president of Micoy. “For example, showing a 3D film rendered with Micoy technology allows viewers to be literally enveloped and inside the movie in a 360-degree environment, making the experience incredibly realistic and highly memorable. Some have said that the future of 3D should be as clear as a giant picture window and we want to help you step through that window.”

HOW IT WORKS

Rather than compete with current 3D technology, Micoy’s image format is complementary and enhances the viewing experience regardless of which hardware is employed.

With content rendered in the Micoy image format, the 360-degree volumetric stereo separation is mapped in the image itself. The Micoy rendered content can then be displayed in either a panoramic or dome theater to allow for the truly immersive visuals. A flat screen is unable to display truly immersive 3D since it does not physically surround the viewer.

MICOY’S FULL SUITE OF PRODUCTS

Micoy leverages its patented 360°3D technology in three ways:

THE MICOY 360°3D TOOLSET is the world’s first panoramic 3D image format. This powerful software rendering toolset enables the user to create panoramic 3D computer animation from films produced using current 3D industry standard animation software programs such as Maya or 3D Studio Max. The Micoy 360°3D format creates a true 3D environment around the viewer. Through Micoy’s rendering product, any computer animated scene or simulation can be turned into a compelling panoramic 3D experience.

THE MICOY REAL-TIME 360°3D STEREO RENDERING ENGINE, highly anticipated and in current development, will make possible the first-ever real-time panoramic 360°3D stereo engine available commercially. This development will allow users in entertainment, virtual reality simulation, industrial/military training and computer gaming applications to truly experience this engaging format. Micoy is currently accepting key industry development partners to help bring this technology to market.

THE MICOY 360°3D CAMERA is the advanced panoramic 3D digital video camera system currently under development using Micoy’s optical designs. Micoy is also presently seeking development partners for this pioneering project. The ability to record or view an immersive experience in real time will open the door to significant applications previously thought impossible for entertainment, government/military applications and beyond.

SEEING IS BELIEVING

Micoy will showcase their ground-breaking 360-3D immersive technology within a dome environment at the next 3D Gaming Summit in April 2010 in Universal City , Calif. Additional screenings are scheduled upon request.

ABOUT MICOY

Micoy Corporation is the world’s only provider of true omni-directional spherical 3D immersive imagery. Based in Ames, Iowa, the company licenses its software to content producers and distributors from a variety of markets such as promotional advertising, tradeshow exhibition, military training, feature film, videogames and theme park destinations, to name a few. For more information, please visit www.micoy.com.

Dassault Systemes Introduces 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x
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Paris, France – January 13^th, 2010 – Dassault Systèmes (DS) (Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA), a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, today announced the availability of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x. Significant enhancements in this release further support Dassault Systèmes’ V6 strategy to enable on-line 3D collaboration to all users within an enterprise, while introducing other features including an improved user experience and enhanced technical illustration capabilities.

3DVIA Composer revolutionizes the product documentation process for enterprises of all sizes. With its easy-to-use desktop content-creation system, 3DVIA Composer leverages CAD data to automate the creation of assembly and disassembly procedures, technical illustrations, interactive 3D animations, training materials, marketing materials and sales tools. Further extending its ability to unlock potential for traditional 2D publications, the new features allow professionals and non-experts to generate advanced technical illustrations that do not require time-consuming, manual adjustments and revisions.

“Companies everywhere are trying to do more with less, and 3DVIA Composer is an innovative product that helps manufacturers of all sizes create efficiencies that are clear and tangible,” said Lynne Wilson, CEO of 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes. “New functionalities in this release enhance the creation and distribution of lifelike product experiences across an organization, putting power in the hands of non-CAD users and extending the promise of PLM 2.0 on the V6 platform.”

3DVIA Composer V6R2010x enhancements include:

Lifelike Experience
- Enhanced technical illustration capabilities: The new “Paper Space” feature provides a What You See Is What You Get capability, transforming the 3DVIA Composer display into a preview of the final document layout. This will ensure the consistent layout and delivery of your content regardless of user display resolutions for 3D documentation or specified paper sizes for 2D published illustrations.

o Enhanced and simplified user experience: The intuitive and easy-to-learn Ribbon interface provides the option of organizing commonly used and advanced functions in a logical way that allows users of all experience levels to become more productive and proficient in 3DVIA Composer. Products, parts, geometries and internal nodes are now displayed with different icons to increase ease of use. Experiences can be published directly from Composer to 3DVIA.com.

Support for CATIA FT&A cross-highlighting: For companies using 3D as the master source of information, enhanced support CATIA V5 Feature, Tolerancing and Annotation (FT&A) data now includes cross-highlighting capabilities. By providing interactive FT&A that highlight the related surfaces for an operation, 3DVIA Composer and 3DVIA Composer Player Pro will ensure that the engineering intent is effectively communicated and understood by downstream users.

Online Creation and Collaboration
- Direct publishing to 3DVIA.com: 3DVIA Composer content can be directly published to 3DVIA.com as standard 3D content or fully interactive 3D documents. This information can then be shared with the large community of 3DVIA.com users. In addition, 3DVIA Composer offers effective functionality to help prepare models for sharing on the 3DVIA Mobile app for iPhone and iPod Touch.
Lower Cost of Ownership
- Interoperability plug-in: The ability to expand the number of 3D formats supported by 3DVIA Composer through a new framework, that enables high-quality, externally developed importer products to be plugged directly into 3DVIA Composer and 3DVIA Sync. This enhancement automatically adds new native 3D import options directly into the user interface, providing a seamless and intuitive end-user experience.

o CATIA V5 Piping Design: Meta properties defined in piping design of CATIA V5 are now supported, allowing important information such as nominal size, to be associatively displayed into 3DVIA Composer labels and BOM tables.

“We are delighted to contribute new interoperability capabilities to this latest release of 3DVIA Composer.” said Trevor Leeson, Product Manager at Theorem Solutions. “The integration of Theorem’s JT CADverter technology makes the benefits of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x available to a whole new community of users.”

For more information on the new features and functionality of 3DVIA Composer V6R2010x, visit: http://www.3dviacomposer.com/v6r2010x.

Frenzoo: A World Of 3D Chat & Creation Within Your Browser
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Today Frenzoo has been launched their public beta. Join them and start populating this brand new world.

HONG KONG, January 11, 2010 -- Frenzoo Ltd today launches the first global 3d online world with user generated content on the web. Now in public beta at www.frenzoo.com, the website allows adult and teen users to create an avatar, 3d chat in animated scenes, create and sell fashion & content, all within their Internet browser.

Unlike existing virtual worlds, the new destination does not require a large download or separate program to use.

"You can escape to Frenzoo to meet people and be creative, no matter what country you're from" said Simon Newstead, CEO & Co-Founder of Frenzoo. "Whether designing stunning outfits for a fashion show, hosting a intergalactic danceparty or speed-dating in a tropical island hideout, we envision Frenzoo as the website to live your virtual dreams. What's different is accessibility - we want to bring all the fun of 3D without the frustration"

Unique 3d fashion design tool
The site features the first 3d fashion design tool on the web. The tool lets you make clothes, hair, skin, items and animations easily, without needing design skills or external software. Frenzoo also supports mod sims and native import from 3D Max as well as Blender, Maya, Google Sketchup, Poser, Milkshape and others via Collada API.

Global marketplace and virtual economy
Frenzoo features many language versions including English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, German, Portugese, Dutch among others. The virtual economy features a dual currency system with both a free Silver Coins and paid & earned Gold Coins. Gold Coins are able to be traded and sold on leading partner sites such as AnsheX, First Meta Exchange and Fgcxchange.com

Strategic partnership with Anshe Chung
Frenzoo has partnered with leading virtual content producer Anshe Chung Studios, who provide input in product design. They are also one of several content creators who have products for sale on the marketplace. According to Ailin Graef (Anshe Chung), "Frenzoo has great potential as an accessible 3d world on the web, something missing up to now. For those making their first jump into 3d avatar chat , Frenzoo is an ideal destination. We are working closely with the team to realize this vision"

Backing from Ambient Sound Investments, Co-Founders of Skype
Frenzoo has been developed with support from Ambient Sound Investments, established in 2003 as an equal partnership by four founding engineers at Skype Technologies and serving as a seed investment vehicle for high potential startups.

Availability
The Frenzoo beta is now live at www.frenzoo.com and is available for anyone aged 13 and up to use. Frenzoo runs on both Mac and PC platforms, with support for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and other browsers.

www.frenzoo.com), is the first 3d online world with user generated content on the web. The destination allows users to create their avatar, meet people & 3d chat in animated virtual scenes, express their style and create fashion & content, all within their Internet browser. Mod sims and 3d asset import from packages such as 3D Max and Blender are also supported. The Frenzoo team is based in Hong Kong, and has been developed with seed investment from Ambient Sound Investments, established in 2003 as an equal partnership by four founding engineers at Skype Technologies. Frenzoo has a partnership with leading virtual content producer Anshe Chung Studios (ACS). Frenzoo leverages the power of the Unity 3d engine, used by leading entertainment companies such as Electronic Arts and Cartoon Networks. The lightweight plugin installs in seconds without any reload of the browser, and enables Frenzoo to deliver rich 3D content rendered in hardware, enabling high quality graphics, avatars and animations.

Contest: Model A Plastic Tableware, Win $300 In 3D Printing
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Shapeways Can Now Print 3D In Colors
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Avatar The Movie
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These days I went to a 3D cinema in my town to watch Avatar, the movie by James Cameron. As many of you may be curious about this movie, and others may have already watched it and may want to share opinions, here's my review.

The movie tells how humans have reached a planet where they try to exploit a very valued mineral deposit that lies under the home of the Na'Vi, the inhabitants of that world.

Avatar Na'vi by ~mrDExArts on deviant ART

In the 3D side, I found it very immersive, not excessive. You don't feel dizzy because of the 3D effects, but have enough depth to feel that you are inside the alien world itself.

It becomes very spectacular on the flying scenes, and also when the main character looks down from a tree, you feel that you could fall. The scenes inside the alien jungle are specially stunning, something very beautiful, with flying glowing spores that you seem to be able to reach with your hands.
When some dragon or giant alien animal turns to you, their heads seem to go out from the screen and reach you.

Find a good 3D cinema with quality 3D glasses and go to see it, you won't be deceived.

In the non-3D side, the movie is facing criticism by some that say that the colors are exaggerated and cheesy. Well, maybe we all are forgetting the real colors of the world in which we live.

Colors in our planet are not the plain gray of concrete and the dust of smoke. In any terrestrial jungle or forest you can see greens deeper than emerald, the skies with no contamination are the deepest cobalt blue.

When far away from cities, the sky shines in an spectacular delight of flashing stars, beyond our solar system, and the Milky Way is a line of glowing smoke and alien suns that casts light in the earth, so you can walk in the night just with its shine.

In the deep sea, squids and jellyfishes have that twinkling ethereal light that you can see in the spores of Avatar, and in many jungles there are animals with blue, red or yellow skins that are brighter than the Na'Vi.

Amazon Frog. Photo by SexyShirts2.com

Another criticism is against the "ecologist stuff" of the movie. This is the other strong point of this film. The aliens of Avatar reminds us of the native Americans sometimes. There is also some inspiration from the novels of Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Word For Word Is Forest").

Something that the movie can inspire on us, and specially through 3D, as we are immersed inside this story, is the respect for nature, and the real consciousness of what is important and what is not.

The world of Avatar is the work of an enormous list of artists that have conceived a coherent alien world. It is a virtual world that may exist, because all its elements are balanced and the details are carefully built.

Watching the movie in 3D is an awesome experience, and will get you deeper into the sensation of belonging to that world, and you will understand the story much better, and maybe make you think about our own planet and why we should protect was is left.

The Best For 2010 In 3D And Virtual Worlds
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Everybody uses to make posts on the beginning of a new year about predictions or what was the best of the last year. This post wants not to be like these.

I want to highlight some of the new things that happened in 2009 and how I think they will progress in 2010. Here it goes:

X3DOM: Huge adoption of X3D by the masses?

X3DOM is an effort to integrate X3D as part of HTML5. It was announced recently in the last quarter of this past year 2009, and I hope that 2010 will be the year of X3D (this means, I hope not have to wait 10 years more!!).

Nuli Ibrahim Virtual Worlds

This will suppose for us that we will be able to use X3D on web pages more easily, maybe supported by default on web browsers as HTML is. I hope this succeeds and X3D becomes what is was supposed to be, and as X3DOM editors say: "X3D is a write once, render anywhere 3D graphics format".

For anyone that has a website, this means having an easy to use 3D language to visualize 3D inside pages that is not harder than HTML to learn.

This will suppose a renaissance for X3D and VRML worlds, and may be a huge adoption of X3D by the masses. I am happy that Web3D Consortium at last listened us and is going towards a rational solution.

I will cover this news more deeply in future articles.

Step Up! Respect for 3D content creators

Step Up! is a movement inside Second Life to protect creator's rights. This year they lead a campaign for this, and there are Ning groups, Second Life groups, a blog, and a big network to support them. They try to make people think about the rights of content creators in SL and other virtual worlds.

In the upcoming year, they are going to maintain a Step Up! University. This is not an University in the sense of academic institution, but a place to learn and discuss things (this is the real original meaning for University).
Very good things will emerge from this, specially a bigger respect for 3D creators.

DAZ and Gizmoz: Top quality models in virtual worlds

DAZ3D and Gizmoz merged to make 3D models at DAZ available for games, virtual worlds, and video production, meaning a big impulse for independent 3D vendors that use this platform.

As models from DAZ reach a very high quality, we will see increased quality in virtual worlds and games.

WBandD, Revemonde, And MixED: Gathering together the X3D communities

WBandD has unified worldbuilders and creators under a same network, and MixED has shown us lots of different platforms for virtual worlds. Revemonde, and Revemonde Outside have meant a new renaissance for VRML worlds on the Internet that used the Blaxxun platform.

In this new year, they may lead the exploration and learning of X3D if it arises because of the emerging of X3DOM.

Shapeways: From 3D modelers to 3D sculptors

For me, Shapeways has supposed a revolution in 3D printing. It is also a platform that protects and respects creator's rights and works. It makes easy for anyone to have a physical reproduction of his 3D models, and you can also sell them to others.

There are lots of materials (you can make your models in metal, for example), and I expect that this new year they'll add others, like clay for example. With them, 3D modelers become sculptors. In 2010, I can't wait to see the new and wonderful possibilities they are giving us.

I think that as we now have 3D cinemas, and all games are 3D games, at some time 3D printing will be conceived like something normal and like a normal craftsmanship or production process for many things.

Evolver: Universal avatars

This new company, Evolver, has appeared and seems to be making possible the dream of avatars that can be moved from one virtual world to another seamlessly, even between social communities and 3D communities. In 2010, we will see more of this.

Koinup: Essential for virtual worlds

Koinup is a well consolidated community for all kinds of virtual worlds. Lead by CEO and co-founder Pierluigi Casolari, Koinup is increasing their activity to enormous levels, posting lots of contests and awards every week. An enormous number of groups have their home in Koinup.
For this 2010, Koinup will become even more, a fundamental piece of virtual worlds, to a degree that we will not be able to think in one without the other.

Papervision3D, and Unity3D: Future of 3D solutions

These platforms will have a big growth in 2010. Papervision3D uses Flash to display 3D. Unity uses the last graphics engine improvements to display all their power in web pages. These two solutions will suppose future alternatives for 3D on the web. Unity has been used to make Nurien, for example.

For 2010 we will see them being developed and adopted by many.

Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines
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Bender3D is one of the most popular 3D modelers. It is open source and has been used in the making of many cinema productions, and in the development of many computer games.

This book, Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines, tells you how to construct machines that doesn't exist in our world, but belong to sci-fi or steampunk fantasy, and have amazing capabilities.

This title is focused to those that already know how to model with Blender, and uses a project-based learning approach. You learn following several projects, that are like tutorials, and you learn the workflows, the tricks, and everything in this easy way.

The author also gives you some hints on how is the usual workflow in a software (games) company. You are given some concept art, and you model using them as a reference. These reference images can be downloaded from Packt Publishing's site.

The book illustrates its lessons with 3 projects: a handgun, a steam punk spacecraft, and a transforming robot.

As you read, you are introduced to the different modeling techniques, their advantages and disadvantages for every project.

In the first project, you learn how to model from a reference image. You'll also get deep into YafaRay. If you remember, YafRay was the renderer used in the other book by Allan Brito. This application is now called YafaRay. They changed its name because of a complete rewrite and improvement of the source code.
YafaRay runs, like Blender, on Windows, Linux, and Mac Os X, and can integrate with Blender.

And what about texturing? You are told everything: advanced UV mapping with Blender, the use of procedural textures and image-based textures, layered UV layouts, UV map edition, exporting texture maps to modify them in graphics edition applications (like GIMP).

In the chapter about the spacecraft, special effects using particles are explained, and we get deeper into YafaRay's use of materials and lighting.

The last chapter may be very exciting for animators, because it's about how to build a transforming robot. In this chapter, we switch to LuxRender for rendering engine.
LuxRender can pause and resume a render, even resume the render in another computer, and also runs in all major platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux).

Like with YafaRay, the use of materials and lighting in LuxRender is also explained, and even more: render and animate lights, make videos, and change some aspects of the final result while it's still being rendered (a feature of LuxRender).

The language is plain and you can notice how the author masters the art of teaching, because it reads fast and everything is understandable.

If you got the other book by Allan Brito ("Blender 3D Architecture, Buildings, And Scenery"), or if you already have some experience with Blender, this book will help you to start building sci-fi machines, and tell you techniques that you will surely use in your own 3D projects:

Blender 3D 2.49 Incredible Machines

New Template And Graphics By Artist Emma Alvarez
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Introducing Hiperia3D News Facebook Fan Page
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In the last times, our site lowered its activity a little because there are some new projects coming. Read to know what's coming up.

One of them is the new Facebook fan page for Hiperia3D News. I encourage you to join as a fan. This page will be a way to get feedback from readers and friends of this site.

Feel free to join and post any suggestions, constructive criticism, or comment anything. I will use that fan page to discuss about the contents that you like and dislike, future changes, and how to make this site more useful for you.

In addition, for this year 2010, there are some other projects. Some are from long time ago, and were delayed because of circumstances.

I will open my stores of 3D models for DAZ Studio and Poser, starting with a very versatile vehicle model that will be announced in the next weeks.
I may consider collaboration and complementary product design with other vendors at Renderosity and DAZ3D.
Awards of excellence will start to be given in diverse 3D areas, for example, "Top 3D World", "Top 3D Software", and many more.
I want to get deeper into the organization and shared sponsorship of contests. Currently we have some sponsors, and just need to arrange the infrastructure for voting, judging, and all that. Some premium products of my own store may also be offered as prizes, in addition to those of our sponsors.
The machinima group at Koinup has to recover their activity. A very huge number of members posted a much bigger number of videos and I have run into problems to select something. So now my effort is towards making this decision more democratic so the best videos are chosen by votes of the members, and avoid spam at the same time.
The main domain hiperia3d.com, that is now under construction, will be open, and link to different projects that are now disconnected.
The current poll in the sidebar has shown some interest for a X3D course. So I will have a section for that. I am also considering to have articles on other technologies like Papervision3D, that have their virtues to make and embed virtual worlds on web pages.
As shown in the poll, other contents like worldbuilding tips and cheat sheets will be added, and we need to make more polls and discuss further what kind of developer articles do you want.
I may also start offering worldbuilding services in some months (not now, just lack the time!). Platforms covered may go from Papervision3D to X3D, Unity, and 3DXplorer.
A 3D world or creation may be featured in a regular basis. There will be 3D-printed models, 3D worlds regardless of the software employed (X3D, P3D, 3DXplorer, Second Life, ActiveWorlds, or any), or any other artistic or technical work in 3D.

All the rest will stay as it is, so more than changes these are additions.

For all these contents, I want to keep a close feedback with the readership (with you who are reading this), and we'll have it using our Facebook page, and of course the comments sections of this site.

Hiperia3D News has proven to have a very loyal and highly qualified readership, and I know that the best way to keep this and improve is to give you what you need, so thank you all and don't hesitate to join and share your ideas:

Facebook fan page for Hiperia3D News

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