FUSEBLOG

3D Web Method 1

Here at Fuse we are pretty used to creating 3D online experiences. The method we’ve used most often has been to create 3D animations using our 3D software (we love Cinema 4D) and then control these animations with Flash Actionscript - for example - Mr Complete:

Being able to interact with render-quality 3D animation is great, but it has its drawbacks - mainly that we, as the producers, determine the way the 3D space is navigated, or the way the 3D character moves. OK, we can create a series of movements that the user can choose between, but they are still predefined to a great extent. What if we could interact with the 3D in an unlimited way, where the scene is calculated as we interact with it rather than pre-rendered by the 3D software? Well, we’ve been doing that for a while too - read on…

3D Web Method 2

For a while now users have been able to interact with 3D scenes in realtime through the use of Java applets. These are little packages of code that need to be initialized by the user’s system (as well as be supported by it in the first place) before they can run. Our favourite software for this is Wirefusion, which we have used to create the likes of Sharpie Buddy:

We built a Flash interface with which a user could draw their design on a 2D page and then, with the click of the mouse, wrap it around a realtime 3D object, which they could then move and rotate to their hearts content. However, this method, as well as relying on Java being enabled on the user’s machine, also uses a fair bit of bandwidth just to load the application files. Really, what we’ve all been waiting for is realtime 3D functionality in the ubiquitous Flash…

3D Web Method 3

Give a big hand to Papervision3D - an open source 3D engine for the Flash platform. Papervision3D is written and maintained by a small core team, and contributed to by its ever-growing community, which Fuse is proud to be a part of.

It has been almost a year since it entered public Beta in July 2007 and has been improving rapidly ever since. It will be a while yet until it can recreate a realtime scene of the quality of Mr Complete but already it can handle reflections, shadows, bump mapping etc. In fact, we believe that it has enough of the core 3D classes now that it has really come of age. But it’s not just us - Audi, Sony, Absolut, Canon and Red Bull are a few of the brands that have adopted this new technology. Look out for a new Fuse website in the near future, and of course, in realtime 3D.