| Q&A |
Michael
Reinholdt
TurnTool
26/04/02 |
| Q1 |
Why
another 3D Web Technology? |
| A1 |
Well,
that's a long story. But to make things short: TurnTool started
as the main 3D engine behind the computergame "It came
for Zog". As it turned out, the flexibility of the code
produced could be easily adapted to the internet. So we did
just that. Besides that.other web 3D technologies are just
too expensive. |
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| Q2 |
What
are the actual texture canals supported (for instance : diffuse,
alpha, reflection, bump...)? |
| A2 |
TurnTool
supports diffuse, opacity and reflection mapping, they are
the practical ones when it comes to well performing realtime
3D. |
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| Q3 |
Is
it possible to interact with a 3D object (open/close a door,
sound...)? |
| A3 |
Certainly.
All those things and many more are possible. TurnTool is very
powerful when it comes to scripting. Currently advanced scripting
has to be programmed by TurnTool ApS, but full scripting capability
for our users is a thing soon to come. As a matter of fact it
is being constantly expanded. Users are recommended to check
our updates page regularly for new features available to them. |
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| Q4 |
What
are the basic interaction/navigation tools ? Is it possible
to programm new commands? |
| A4 |
Basic
interaction is done with the mouse and keyboard. With a target
camera you rotate, zoom and pan around a target point using
the mouse. This is used when you want to examine an object placed
at the target. With a free camera you are looking around when
moving the mouse. It is even possible to attach a free camera
to a physics object controlled by the keyboard. This result
in
a Quake like control ideal for walkthroughs. Through scripting
the controls can be tailored to suit any need. |
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| Q5 |
Is
it possible to animate meshes ("morph"), lights, textures,
particles with TurnTool? |
| A5 |
Everything
you can animate in 3ds max or VIZ is supported by TurnTool.
The TurnTool has special support for Character Studio and you
are able to animate everything from lightsources, to texturemaps,
UV coordinates and even background pictures. |
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| Q6 |
What
about avatars? Is it possible to create avatars with TurnTool? |
| A6 |
It
is technically possible through scripting, but we haven't experimented
with it (...yet). |
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| Q7 |
Is
there any 3D compression for geometry? What kind of compression
is attributed for textures? |
| A7 |
TurnTool uses runlength encoding including a dynamic Huffman
compression (lossless) for geometry. Textures are compressed
using a proprietary wavelet algorithm. Users can specify how
much they want their textures comressed. |
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| Q8 |
Is
it easy for Viz users (mostly architects) to create a walkthrough
visit of their project and publish it on the web ? |
| A8 |
Very!
TurnTool features its own physics engine, which makes creating
game like environments very easy. And you dont need a special
piece of development software to do it, it is all done from
within max or VIZ. It is also possible to create a camera tour
if that is what is desired. |
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| Q9 |
For
"e-commerce objects" is shadow automaticaly generated?
What are the characteristic of the render engine (antialiasing,
blending...)? What is the maximum polygon weight of a Turn Tool
scene? |
| A9 |
TurnTool
does not pretend to be better than the artist to create a scene.
We feel, that making things look just right by adding details,
is his job. TurnTool puts a lot of effort to run smoothly. We
feel that the only way to do this properly is using the 3D hardware
acceleration available in most machines. Basically we do what
the machine is capable of, and fast. TurnTool also features
a nice subsampling antialiasing which gives a very crisp and
smooth result.
TurnTool is not limited to a specific number of polygons per
scene, though most systems will have a practical limit. As a
rule of thumb a polygon count of 30000 is smooth on most systems.
If you are targeting high end systems you can easily triple
that. |
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| Q10 |
What
about the license fees? Why do you offer two different licenses
system (annual/per object)? |
| A10 |
Well,
we are aware that web 3D software is very expensive. The primary
reason for this is that there are only so many 3D modellers
in the world to buy the software and developing it is also very
expensive. We wanted to give the guy on the floor a chance because
if you don't do a lot of commercial modelling you may not be
able to justify the cost of a full software license. |
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| Q11 |
What
do you think about the emerging 3d web market, and the future
of 3d web technologies? |
| A11 |
We
think that particular market has a huge potential, blocked until
now by inflexible, rediculously exorbitant pricing and to a
lesser degree a lack of computer power. We are expecting the
market to grow fast, it just needs a little time to get started,
and we would like to help it along. |
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