Papervision3D Preview!
Papervision3D is for real. From what I’ve ever seen with Flash3D this is the first time I’ve seen something that’s really usable 3D in Flash! Carlos Ulloa, the author, has done a excellent job in creating a very clean, easy to use api. I was up and running in less than 10 minutes with my first project!
Now, if you come from a background in 3D with programs like 3D Studio Max, Maya or Softimage, you’re gonna love this. It works the way you’d expect it to work with controlling 3D space – x, y, z, rotationx, rotationy, rotationz, scalex, scaley, scalez. PV3D also gives you the ability to manage a camera with zoom and focus to create different lens effects.
So, you might say “So how’s it ‘usable’? Why would 3DS, Maya guys care at all?” – GREAT question, ‘gladyaasked’. Currently PV3D supports the import of ASE (ascii scene export) and as I’m writing this, Carlos is writing the COLLADA importer right now 🙂 The COLLADA format is widely adopted and is currently used in ps3, psp, Unreal and c4 engines, as well as google earth. Best of all, it’s XML !!! Getting excited yet?!? You can create your models and texture them using any one of these applications and those mapping coordinates, along with the model, will be applied at runtime with PV3D in Flash! Now THAT’S usable 😉
You can get Max and Maya COLLADA pluggins at feelingsoftware.com as well as a COLLADA viewer. They’re free, and I’ve installed the Max plugin without a problem.
You might might be saying to yourself right now: “But I don’t have $3400 to spend on 3DS or some fancy software!!!”. Yeah, neither do I. Luckily, there’s an Open Source 3D application called Blender and guess what? It exports to COLLADA format (1.04) 😉
The samples below are all ASE models created in 3D Studio Max and loaded at runtime. Each model ranges between 20 – 100k and can be textured with png, gif, jpg, swf at runtime.
Carlos comes from a background in game development from PS1 days. Alot of those concepts are coming back to play in Papervision3D. What with low poly models and runtime texture maps, I think we’re going to see some interesting games and concepts come out of this.
Right now, it’s AS2/Flash8 compatible, and there are definite plans to port it to AS3. Carlos mentioned doing some tests with AS3 already and had said the speeds were many times faster which is great news.
ALSO NOTE THAT IT’S NOT RELEASED YET AS OF 12.1.2006 – CARLOS WILL BE RELEASING THE BETA THIS WEEK.
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Tie Model is a simple model created in 3D Studio Max and exported as an ASE file. I’ve mapped an FLV of the Matrix streams as the texture for the model. |
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This is a basic sphere created in 3D Studio Max with an earth.jpg map applied as the texture at runtime. |
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Created in 3D Studio Max and exported as an ASE file. Matrix streams applied as the texture. |
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Plane object created at runtime with Papervision3D Plane class. Textured with a basic movieclip that loads an external FLV. Camera zoom set to 7 and focus set to 50 |
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Created in 3D Studio Max and exported as an ASE file. Basic Material3D applied as the texture with a line color. |
John Grden 