3DVIA Shape & 3DVIA PrintScreen: Kewl 3D Tools! (for the future?)

As many people & avatars reading this blog, I have some notions about 3D building: I know what a mesh is and that we need an X, Y and Z axis. I can rezz a prim, glue a texture on it and massacre it. But aligning them up nice is already a bit harder. I’ve heard about and experimented with ’sculpties’ and know that the lesser polygons the happier and less crash-prone my client is. I used to fool around in Bryce when I was young(er) - and did the same attempts with for instance Blender more recently. It can create something, but not in as far that… well… it’s worth showing off. Hence my admiration for great ‘builders’ such as Light Waves, Miss Beatrix Newt, Pavig Lok & Miss LittleToe, Ponk, … . But I’m always interested when ‘easy to do 3D building tools’ hit the market and/or beta. Google Sketch Up is one of them, and now we have a - very similar - 3DVIA Shape.

Dassault Systèmes has quite an impressive 3D graphics suit for young, old, new & experienced already:

Cosmic Blobs a very cute 3D graphics software system for kids & mature children like me, which allows you to create graphics scenes, small animations movies, IM avatars (buddy icons), … and comes with fascinating expansion packs sucks as ‘pirates’, ‘pets’, … . (not for sale anymore)
CB Model Pro was built around the idea that surfaces should be manipulated directly. The result is a very intuitive and highly productive tool for 3D content creation that seamlessly fits into the production pipeline. (free 15 days trial available)
3DVIA PrintScreen has the ability to save 3D scenes from OpenGL and DirectX applications. It converts them to 3D XML standard format. (So OGLE, but will also do DirectX.) (Free)
3DVIA Virtools which includes a Graphical User Interface to develop sophisticated applications by visually assembling objects and behaviors, the Behavior Engine to run interactive applications, the Render Engine to render graphics in real-time, the Virtools Scripting Language to create low level specific functions without any C++ line and the SDK to create custom behaviors. (beyond Vint budget)
3DVIA MP aimed specifically at 3D game development. (beyond Vint budget)
3DVIA Player which allows to embed Virtools Composition (VMO files) into a webpage and for viewing 3D scenes & objects created in 3DVIA Shape. (Free)

According to Dassault Systèmes, they are dedicated to developing technology that enables people to express their creativity and productivity through a portfolio of high quality products and are planning to expaind their ‘world-class product development capabilities’ into many new markets to make 3D the content of expression and creativity for everyone. Not so bad a mission statement, is it? And what’s so revolutionary about 3DVIA Shape? ‘The new 3DVIA Shape further extends 3D content creation to a whole new set of users and provides a new outlet for our existing 3D artists to share their work,’ said Lynne Wilson from 3DVIA, Dassault Systèmes. ‘The new 3D remix capability not only makes 3D publishing easier, but also more fun. We’re excited to see what our user community will create.’ And yep, it is fairly simple to insert a better quality 3D object in your - rather lame n00bish - scene, just take a look at the avatar standing in Torley’s house! ;)

3DVIA SHAPE (beta) - Functionality

Shape: Simple, but powerful 3D modeling technology designed to be easy enough for anyone to quickly express ideas in 3D.
Remix: Edit and modify Shape models published by other users, or skip right to constructing complete 3D scenes with models posted by the 3DVIA community.
Publish: Users can publish and share their work directly through 3DVIA.com and on their blogs, profiles or most Web pages through the embeddable 3DVIA interactive player.

Of course, this simplified approach gives you lots of limitations. But really, it’s mostly like with all tools: if you need to publish a whole book, use InDesign, if you just need to print out your shopping list, notepad will do just fine! ;)

Now, what’s the - 3D - use?

The question still stays though, what’s the use of programs such as 3DVIA Shape? For now, not much probably? As long as ‘normal people’ - like you and me - don’t find a - simple - way to get their scenes & objects into 3D worlds such as Second Life, Google Lively, OpenSim, … there’s not much use of 3D toys for designing your own. But now imagine this building tool linked to Second Life? If this were the case, it would have not been that much effort to build me my skybox! Or, find an automated way to clean up your 3DVIA Shape & Google SketchUp created objects - or OGLE & 3DVIA PrintScreen captured objects and ship them off to 3D printing service such as Shapeways, print them in Chocolate using lego blocks or hope that RepRap gets better at self-replicating and you can get your hands on a copy. Could get you some fun results. Possibilities will be doable for all and endless some day? Maybe?

Download 3DVIA Shape? Go here. For the full press release, take a look at Reuters. Have an idea about how to get my 3DVIA Shape created composition in Second Life - the easy way, if there is any - take a look at Gulliver’s wife trespassing on Torley’s Property (swimming pool included) or give a shout in the comments.

Tags: 3D, 3DVIA PrintScreen, 3DVIA Shape, exporting, tools