Real time visualisation solutions

[Neilg]

Ive had a look into this occasionally over the past year, but it's always a nightmare finding the best software to do it with.

I've had a go of crysis, which while amazing, is a little heavy for what we want (plus is a game engine and cant be sent standalone)

Theres another one i've found which allows you to make a standalone exe of the project, supports HDRI and looks suprisingly good. Unfortunatly, cant remember the name. I do remember one of the demo's for it being some ruins in a hillside, lit by hdri though.

Any other software out there to reccomend? (Or does anyone know the name of the one I mean?) Ideally something that requires as little programming knowledge as possible.

[Joost Ink]

quest3D is quite good.

[Neilg]

The customer showcase being loaded with retail games didnt put too much faith in me, dont you need to know how to program reasonably well to use that?

The only architecture piece on there seemed to think it was a big deal that they only need one dedicated programmer on their team.

[Joost Ink]

they have a demo, try it. a website is not always trustworthy.
it takes some time to get into it, but it will let you do anything you describe and a lot more too.

[Neilg]

Ok, so ive spent about 2/3 hours downloading everything I thought i needed and getting a model ready... and their exporter plugin doesnt have a 64bit version??

[instinct]

Virtools aint bad at all. Tho i havent played with any of the recent versions. It's very powerful, nodebased (=no programming) and since it was bought by dassault it gets a bias towards industry use it seems.

http://www.virtools.com/

Regards,
Thorsten

[e3di]

http://www.dxstudio.com is really great... and cheap.

[mike_kennedy]

http://www.cgarchitect.com/news/newsfeed.asp?nid=4028

The Vertice Engine's Home page, it is loading slowly for me.

www.vertice.fr

[dbuchhofer]

Theres another one i've found which allows you to make a standalone exe of the project, supports HDRI and looks suprisingly good. Unfortunatly, cant remember the name. I do remember one of the demo's for it being some ruins in a hillside, lit by hdri though.

you're probably thinking of Unity3D which is a nice engine, though I'd recommend some light programming or scripting skills for that one. edit: and its mac authoring only, though it can publish to mac/pc

I Personally use Virtools, and like it as a program, but be sure to have a handle on their publishing costs before you dive in too deep. they can be a bit cost prohibitive for simpler work. I've done everything from *large* project room design configuration tools, to product demonstrations, to arch walkthrus with it over the past 5 years.

Quest is decent, I've used it for some simple things, but haven't gotten toooo deep into it. both quest and virtools fall under the category that of visual node based scripting. meaning you can take them as far or as simple as you like, but they're pretty complex programs and not a pick it up and learn it in an afternoon thing.

[Neilg]

not a pick it up and learn it in an afternoon thing.

Damn.

I cant really go much further than a couple afternoons with them without getting some tangiable results out. Quest broke my brain and I had a nightmare just importing the model, let alone doing anything with it.


I'll carry on playing with it at home because I want to learn something like that anyway, i'll have a proper look at the others tomorrow afternoon. If all else fails might just go back to editing out the HUD in crysis and keeping things internal, it's far easier that way

[mike_kennedy]

quest3d
http://www.quest3d.com
royalty-free, needs some programming/developer skills

rtre
http://www.cubicspace.com

cult3d
http://www.cult3d.com
you need to purchase a license to publish the project

virtools
http://www.virtools.com

For What your looking for this one

rtre
http://www.cubicspace.com

Looks to be the best, the web site is obtuse as hell but they have a demo at Turbosquid..

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPrevie...D/393664/SCT/1

[mike_kennedy]

Check out this thread, will help you along

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbu...hlight=sibenik

rtre
http://www.cubicspace.com

Looks to be the best, the web site is obtuse as hell but they have a demo at Turbosquid..

http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPrevie...D/393664/SCT/1

[Dschaga]

Never forget VRML /X3D!

windows only, but with a really good API:
http://www.bitmanagement.de/

windows + mac os x and also very usefull extensions:
http://www.octaga.com/
http://www.cortona3d.com/

I personaly like VRML, because you can really easy export from max and "hack" all what you need , like materials or interactions, directly into an asci file.

maybe n6 knows more about blaxxun=Bitmanagment

[skogskalle]

you might want to check out Turntool www.turntool.com

the examples on their website arent too exciting, but you can get great results if you texturebake everything. Very easy to use (atleast for basic stuff), and produces a relatively small file which can be viewed in IE or Firefox.
I believe they recently released a 64-bit version.
/k

[Micha]

I havn't used it, but it looks quite good - Wirefusion from http://www.demicron.com/