| Q&A |
 Khashayar
Farmanbar
Chief Executive Officer
Agency9
May 2007 |
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"The
idea is to let users insert 3D into their own spaces,
such as web pages, google pages, blogs, portfolio pages,
fan pages and more."
<
MADLIX.com |
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| Q1 |
What is MADLIX? |
| A1 |
The
idea is to let users insert 3D into their own spaces, such as
web pages, google pages, blogs, portfolio pages, fan pages and
more. We want the whole internet community to be able to take
advantage of the solution; hence we made sure to find a way
of connecting 3D artists with end-users.
MADLIX consists of a 3D player that runs smoothly inside all
Java-enabled browsers with no need for custom plug-in or application
installation. It uses OpenGL to ensure high performance but
also offer a fall-back to software rendering if the hardware
doesn't support 3D acceleration.
The MADLIX gallery at www.madlix.com
is the heart of the product, where 3D artists can submit their
artwork to and it is free for everyone to insert the 3D content
of their choice into their web space. |
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| Q2 |
How
can I publish my 3d models on the web? |
| A2 |
We
provide a simple and powerful tool for artists to publish their
3D artwork on MADLIX. It is available for download at the MADLIX
website.
The exporter tool handles COLLADA files and also contains a
plug-in for Autodesk Maya. The tool also includes a standalone
viewer that handles MADLIX files (.mlx) as well as COLLADA files
(.dae).
We’ve chosen to use the MADLIX file format, which is secured
and encrypted in order to ensure file integrity and security
for artists who do not want to see their artwork wonder around.
Gradually we will add more functionality; one will probably
be the option of publishing 3D artwork in the COLLADA format. |
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| Q3 |
Can
I publish the 3D models on my blog? |
| A3 |
Yes.
That is one of the main features with MADLIX.
We discovered that many web sites were like a candy display
window. You can look at the content, but not take them with
you. MADLIX is the candy shop where you can take what you
see with you to any web space. We’re constantly adding
support for communities and sites, and you can easily insert
the artwork by copying the embed tag and paste it into the
html-code of any web page.
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| Q4 |
Why
using COLLADA? |
| A4 |
We
want to offer as easy and reliable way as possible for 3D artists
to work with MADLIX. During the last year COLLADA has gained
massive support and there are tools available for almost all
major 3D DCC tools to export content to the COLLADA format.
Agency9 was one of the first companies to fully commit to COLLADA.
We believe that standards that are available to anyone help
creating a healthy industry. |
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| Q5 |
I'm
using Maya, what are the different steps for publishing 3D? |
| A5 |
 1.
Download and install the MADLIX export wizard.
2. Create you 3D model, animations, etc. Click the preview button
to see how the result will be, you can preview the whole scene
or only selected objects.
3. When you are satisfied you can click the export button, again
you can choose export all or export selected. Follow the instructions
on the screen. |
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| Q6 |
Can
I upload very large files? |
| A6 |
Yes,
we have no limitations on file size. The only drawback is that
the model download time gets longer, and that lower end machines
might have trouble rendering the model at decent frame rates.
Generally we recommend keeping the size around 0.5 - 1 MB. |
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| Q7 |
Is
it possible to publish animate characters? |
| A7 |
Yes,
character skinning and animation is fully supported. Characters
and meshes that moves might wonder off the screen of course.
For now we have not engaged tracking, so users might have to
keep track of the characters themselves. |
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| Q8 |
What
would be the extended features of MADLIX pro? |
| A8 |
All
the features for the coming MADLIX Professional are not set
yet. They will be decided and finalized based on the feedback
we receive from users and partners that use MADLIX. One of the
features that we know is the possibility to publish 3D content
without submitting it to the MADLIX content gallery. We would
appreciate feedback on what features professional users would
like to see in the coming MADLIX Pro. |
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| Q9 |
About
AgentFX, is it possible to create online games with modern features:
physics, shaders, shadow, AI? |
| A9 |
Yes,
definitely. AgentFX v.3 has built in support for most major
shading langues such as Cg and GLSL as well as other high-end
feature such as shadows, HDR and water rendering.
AgentFX is a graphics engine and for features that lay outside
of the graphics domain you may need to use other 3rd party tools.
As an example AgentFX has been successfully used with both PhysX
and ODE for physics as well as with Mathlab for more advanced
simulations. |
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| Q10 |
AgentFX
is based on Java. Are developing costs cheaper than C++ engines? |
| A10 |
From
our own experience developing in Java is much faster than traditional
languages like C/C++. Development in a memory managed environments
often tend to be much less error prone and makes debugging easier. |
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| Q11 |
Is
it possible to publish AgentFX content in a web page (Applet)
like MADLIX? |
| A11 |
Yes,
with AgentFX v.3 which powers MADLIX. |
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