United3dArtists Archive

what do you think about this info?

"O3D is an open-source web API for creating rich, interactive 3D applications in the browser. This API is shared at an early stage as part of a conversation with the broader developer community about establishing an open web standard for 3D graphics."
I think 3d web standard will be the future. There are others projects. Difficult to predict the winner.

http://code.google.com/intl/en/apis/o3d/"

Hi Marcel,

Very interesting! It makes me wonder if truePlay could be converted to a browser plugin. Questions that come to mind are:

• Does the o3d architecture allow for multiple users to meet within a scene and, if so, what forms of avatars will it support?
• What computer platforms does o3d support? The Google website lists both Windows and Macs. What about Linux? Support for just one OS has been both a strength and weakness of trueSpace. The weakness is obvious: Macs and Linux systems can't play. But the strength has been equally powerful from a developer's perspective: trueSpace could rely on DirectX, making real-time rendering easier and less expensive, and only one code base needed to be developed. With o3d supporting both Windows and Macs, it will require very different code bases if it intends to support hardware-specific features of each and yet without that support I fear that the performance of the API will be poor.
• What 3D file formats will be supported? Will it be possible to develop models and scenes with trueSpace?
• Is there any way to take advantage of this API with trueServe? Without further trueServe development, I doubt it. But what possibilities might there be if trueServe were to continue to evolve?

Thanks for posting this Marcel. Very interesting...

Best regards, First Light

Hi First light
I don't know o3d. it is new for me. I know o3d import collada and Truespace export collada. Maybe it is possible to use TS to develop model. I tried the demo with the island. In an old notebook with a nvidia go7600, the realtime is good. The advantage of the technology is the use of a browser. With html5 (final version in 2010) and native support on the next bowser you don't need plugins for many thing: mp3, video, flash, 3d... The browser become as an OS. Firefox beta 3.5 and daily motion have some example of what you can do: see a video without player. It is the beginning of the "cloud computer" with 3d calculations done by servers. we will not need soft and sophisticated hardware, just a connexion. And that happens faster than I thought.

Thanks for this Marcel, at first glance this looks like a definitie opportunity for immersive 3d web experiences. I have not read enough yet to see if it could be a base for collaborative 3d like trueserve.

I will keep reading though this is an interesting piece.