Nov 12, 2007
ALIVE Members and Friends! Hot off the keyboards we have a new version of the ALIVE editor. The editor is available now for download from the ALIVE
Website:
The new features of the editor include:
* New Graphical User Interface
* Particle Systems
* New Models, Landscapes and Terrain
* Walk Around Mode in which you can turn on an avatar and walk around
your scene in third person 3D
* Uniform scaling of objects and snap to grid mode
* Copy and Paste of objects already in the scene
* F10 Screenshot will send a shot of your 3D world directly to the
front page of the ALIVE website!
Please post comments, suggestions and troubleshooting issue to the forums and the team will respond at their earliest convenience. Watch for the NEW ALIVE Player coming soon. This will allow you to upload your ALVIE world onto our website and multi-user share it with your friends and colleagues so you can chat LIVE! Your use and testing of the ALIVE editor significantly helps us debug and improve the product for future releases. Enjoy!
P.S. We have run tests using the ALIVE editor on an iMac under Parallels. If you would like to try it on an iMac, please ensure your Parallels settings have DirectX enabled and an increase in the memory
allocated to graphics.
Dr Penny de Byl
ALIVE Lab Manager and Lead Researcher
Senior Lecturer in C, Computer Graphics and Games Programming
Department of Mathematics and Computing
University of Southern Queensland
Toowoomba, Qld., 4350.
Australia
Nov 12, 2007
The 3D Network Professional Virtual Enterprise Initiative (3DNPVEI, LLC - pronounce 3DNPV) is looking to create a “massively multiplayer, social and business networking virtual world, using open standard technologies such as Web3D’s ISO-approved VRML and X3D.” The world itself has been in development since March, but CEO and Web3D member Lauren Gauthier says that the project has had been growing explicitly for over a year and has its roots in the longer histories of the groups as-yet-undisclosed partners. But come December, look out for more information. “Basically, we are going to have a limited alpha release on invitation,” Gauthier said. “A select group of people will be invited to come in and view what we have so far. Later we’ll have the beta for the public. “
“There’s always this thing in the back of my mind as a reason why virtual worlds haven’t caught on yet,” Gauthier continued. “There isn’t too much to do here. You can chat, and that’s about it. And we feel that’s not enough to keep people interested in the long term. It might be in the short term, but then people give up.”
That’s a sentiment that’s been bounced around by too many virtual worlds developers to count. But while most developers of that mindset are looking to add gameplay elements to spice up the social world, Gauthier wants to add a game that’s focused on business.
“What we are doing is to build something in the way that there’s something to do there,” she explained. “That is the game element. But in essence, it is a social and business network with some game elements built into it so people are not just left to their own devices here. They’re guided by the game to build businesses into the world. The goal for this business networking site is for the users to actually use it to make money. It’s not necessarily just for users to play. It’s similar to serious games mixed with a social and business network.”
Because 3DNPVEI is building on open standards, the goal is to have companies or individuals build their own worlds and connect them through the provided server technology based on X3D. Gauthier couldn’t discuss the business model for the organization, though she said it’s been tested and should be expandable. Right now the organization, which is open to new parties around the world, is only discussing details under NDA. However, Gauthier did say that she believes the open standard will set the world apart.
Geoscience Australia (GA) releases first X3D application on the web
Nov 07, 2007
After many years of successfully developing applications using VRML, Geoscience Australia (GA) has released its first X3D application on the web. The application presents the latest data model produced for the Tanami region in Australia?s Northern Territory as well as data shown in a previously published VRML model. The model incorporates HTML, JavaScript, and X3D to provide an interactive interface that allows for custom views of the data. The X3D features used include mainly protos, indexedLineSets, indexedFaceSets and the SAI etc. The Tanami X3D model can be viewed from the GA website.
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