Re: 3D engine

[Richard van Harten]

Yes indeed I'm afraid I have to conclude it's pretty much dead... Unless MM 
teams up with some other 3D party which is not very likely. Torque is a nice 
alternative although there are tons of other open source engines like Ogre. 
But it's for stand alone executables and they are pretty complex, for the 
web , Wildtangent seems nice although it's a little outdated too. I read 
somewhere they promised a completely new version soon at GDC though.

greetz,
Richard

From: Roger Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Lingo programming discussion list <lingo-l@lists.fcgnetworks.net>
To: Lingo programming discussion list <lingo-l@lists.fcgnetworks.net>
Subject: Re: <lingo-l> 3D engine
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 01:16:27 -0800
On Mar 19, 2005, at 5:39 PM, Richard van Harten wrote:
Does anyone have some clue about whether they will or not, or some url  
where I could read about it ?
The 3d engine came from Intel.  According to this article Intel revved  
SW3D but MM declined to release it. MM and Intel parted ways some time  
ago.
http://news.com.com/Intel%27s+3D+divorce+rate/2100-1038_3-5238357.html? 
part=rss&tag=5238357&subj=news.1038.5

Last year Intel formed an industry group called 3D industry forum. Last  
January they released the shockwave spec renamed to "U3D" as ECMA-363.   
Macromedia has not joined the 3DIF.
http://www.3dif.org/downloads/U3D/Spec/U3D_ECMA-363.pdf

This thread on slashdot talks about the history of sw3d, a little bit  
about what's under the hood and why architecturally it has been  difficult 
to update.
http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=104932&cid=8933321

I spoke to an engineer from Intel about U3D at GDC. The U3D  presentation 
was cancelled and the engineer said that the person  driving it had been 
re-orged. He seemed to think that the future of U3D  was in question.

Havok has dropped sw3d support and MM no longer distribute the havok  xtra 
with the authoring tool or the shockwave installer.

Discreet dropped Plasma last August.
http://www4.discreet.com/company/company.php?id=788
This interview with MM ceo Rob Burgess pretty much spells out his take  on 
the past, present and future of Macromedia. When you read it  substitute 
the word  "Director" where ever "CD ROM" appears.
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1059.cfm

We are coming up on the fourth anniversary of sw3d. There have been no  
significant revisions to the features or functionality in that time  
despite the fact that there have been two major revisions to director  (MX 
and MX04). I can't think of another feature of director that lay  dormant 
through two major revs and then come back into play. The  engineers at MM 
that worked on SW3D have transfered to other products  or left. The 
technology seems to be under a cloud since the company  that developed the 
core has parted company with MM and taken their code  to a different venue. 
Web 3D does not appear to be a pillar of  Macromedia's long term strategy.

rj



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