Sometimes coming from only one side of a problem restricts your view on the best way to evolve. In recent experiments with the latest Flash10 player, we have been testing how starting from a native cs4 approach fares when constructing a 3d framework, and have discovered a few interesting facts about Flash 10’s renderer. Some of these nuggets include the following:

1. DisplayObject sorting is a much faster option than triangle sorting.
2. Fixed length Vector data stores are faster than linked lists when it comes to manipulating large data sets.
3. Sorting using index references is much faster (and easier) than ordering screenvertex vectors
4. …

The above demo is one such test, and nicely illustrates where we feel Away3d is going after the textfields/shapes merge that will be version 2.4. Click to add more globes - speeds vary between machines but it seems most that have tried the test can manage up to 20,000 unsorted triangles, still running at 30fps.

Moving you mouse to the right or left side of the screen will switch the current z-sort algorithm on or off, and you can see with higher numbers of triangles there is a significant performance drop when sorting is activated. This uses a brute-force method  - in more recent tests it seems a better approach is to sort in convex groups, and we will hopefully be able to post more on this soon.

The Away3d Team

Recent site launches around the globe show Away3D is fast becoming the online 3D framework of choice for major international company content. Here are the highlights of what has been an inspiring first quarter of 2009.

Project dragonfly is an experimental Autodesk tool for designing room interiors. The name on the site pretty much say it all in terms of quality, but don’t take our word for it - take a look for yourself:

For those that don’t know, Autodesk are the creators of world renowned 3D Sofware such as Maya, 3D Studio Max, and Soft Image. The high quality of the room interiors in dragonfly is possible thanks to a custom built server-rendering system that allows extremely detailed models to be rendered direct into the 3D scene. More information on the process behind this and other dragonfly features can be found by visiting a ‘making of’ youtube video playlist here. We are honored to have Autodesk pick Away3D as their online 3D visualization tool.

The BBC celebrated their regain of F1’s sports coverage this year with a plethora of new and innovative content, including their very own Away3D application in the form of the F1 Circuit Guides. This is an in-depth tour of all tracks on the 2009 calendar, combining 3D flythroughs, driver lap videos, race comments, images and more.

The application was a BBC commission from Monterosa Productions, with Away Media providing Flash 3d production and consultancy services. The extensive extrusion and custom shape creation packages in Away3D gave a huge hand to the track creation process, and more tracks are being created over the course of the season so stay tuned! Read more about the project here and here.

Brazilian agency Gringo have released a surreal 3D playland in the form of Happy Me, a kids site commisioned for Coca Cola. The game plays exactly to the strength Away3D offers, with a cartoon world to explore and customisations you can perform on your slightly ogrish character.

To launch the new iQ car from Toyota, digital agency North Kingdom (with 3D assistance from Play With Motion) have created a beautiful minisite that can be seen here. Combining static video with 3D interaction in a captivating and seamless journey, you can put the iQ through various ‘test drives’ of it’s features.

Disney recently launched the American Idol Experience website as a precursor to their new attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. The site uses a combination of pre-rendered 3D video sequences with interactive Away3D panels to create a virtual tour of the ride. The idea of a website that houses a virtual re-creation of a theme park attraction that allows participants the chance to pretend to be on a show intended for public participation is a little surreal, but the site’s subtle use of interactive 3D is executed flawlessly.

Finally, Norway’s largest online marketplace Finn.no have just launched a new Street-viewer service powered by Away3D. The application allows you to walk along the streets of the Norwegian cities Oslo and Trondheim, and consists of  more than 120.000 panorama locations. From the map interface, clicking on any one of the blue dots will open the viewer at that location.

We are grateful to everyone who sent in their links for inclusion in our showcase section! If you have a site that you would like us to showcase, please tell us more by getting in contact via our mailing list.

The Flash10 branch has recently received the first of it’s optimising updates that deals with some of the problems shading presented to us in the past. Flash 9 is restricted by blendmodes and layers that mean a huge overhead on extra drawing operations and filters to create shading effects. With Flash 10 however,  Pixel Bender allows us to solve the problem very neatly and with a significant speed boost!

The above demo shows some of what is possible with the update: normalmapping with ambient, diffuse and correctly normalised specular shading, without the need for layers. As if that’s not enough, a further Pixel Bender shader is applied to the view to create a HDR (High Dynamic Range) effect on the highlights, something usually seen in much more 3d-rich console games. Special thanx go to Eddie Carbin for donating an excellent normalmapped mustang model, and David Lenaerts for writing the HDR filter.

The demo is available for download (along with the latest flash10 version of Away3d) in the zip files on the downloads page, or direct from the flash10 branch of the svn.  You can also access the demo source via the right-click menu in the flash movie, or go straight to the code here. Enjoy the new release!

Away3D has always been about practical features and easy implementation. The 2.3 release takes this to new levels, adding variations on this theme in nearly all areas of the engine, from core functionality to workflow tools to geometry generators to shading tools, as well as now offering two fully supported versions, one for Flash 9 and the other for Flash 10.

One of the key core features added in this release is full support for frustum and nearfield culling, as well as object culling for standard clipping which can help with rendering speed for large outdoor scenes. The above demo illustrates how this can also be beneficial for interior scenes where regular rectangle culling causes artifacts - use the mouse and cursor keys to navigate the room and the keyboard shortcuts listed in the demo to compare between old and new clipping techniques. The source for this can be found bundled with the demos download from the downloads page as can the source for the 2.3 version, or directly from the svn.

Normalmaps have been available in Away3D for a while now, but version 2.3 adds a new set of tools that can help you with their generation and/or manipulation. This will become even more useful in upcoming enhancements to the Flash 10 version of Away3D. The above demo shows what can be done with the new system, full details of how this was accomplished and more examples can be seen by going here and here.

BezierPatch is a new geometry generation tool that allows you to create bezier surfaces programatically. The above demo shows an example of where this can lead - with possibly the most famous bezier surface ever produced ;)

Full documentation for using this system will be released soon, along with a visual tool for aiding the generation of bezier surfaces by hand.

Awaybuilder is a productivity tool that allows you to set up scenes created in the 3D modelling software as realtime 3D scenes for the web. You can set up your project with objects, materials, cameras and their properties, then play it back online without the need for extensive programming or recompilation.

Awaybuilder comes with a custom parser for Maya scenes saved as Collada files. For Maya users, this can dramatically speed up your 3D workflow, as it allows you control geometry, materials, and even camera viewports and interaction directly from the 3D application. The above scene was created in Awaybuilder using the Maya plugin, and is available for download as a demo in the 2.3 release. You can click on the cards to navigate in or out of the scene. More plugins for other software packages will follow in future releases.

Some other feature highlights in this release include:

• Interchangeable camera lenses to allow for different types of projection
• All values allowed for stage properties “align” and “scaleMode”
• Improved memory management
• Improved extrusion tools
• ROLL_OVER/ROLL_OUT events added to MouseEvent3D
• Billboard mesh objects for fast 2d sprites

Of course, we will be working to provide some assistance in learning these new features in our tutorials section over the coming weeks. Plus there will be a lot more demo source coming soon in the demos download. keep an eye on our mailing list for updates, including where to find the flash 10 upgrade, which should be released in the next few days. In the meantime, enjoy the new release!

The Away3d Team

The Green Planet Demo has made it to Adobe’s Flash Player Showcase! Away3D is the only open source 3D engine present, which is a great honor for us.

Go there to see the other amazing things made with Flash and check out the Green Planet Demo if you haven’t already!

In 2008, “3D” was the new buzzword for Flash. We saw an increased use of Away3D as an engine for 3D flash games, as well as the use of Away3D for 3D graphics in applications. Huge improvements and additions were made to our API, and the size of the Away3D mailing list increased over threefold. Make sure you join our group to become a part of it all - it is the best place to ask questions, get tech support, keep up to date with API developments, showcase your Away3D work, and communicate directly with the Away3D team.

Last year, 3D in Flash took off, with the main 3D engines working hard to make commercially viable libraries, and even Flash itself taking a step into 3D land with the new native capabilities of Flash 10. Here are some recent publications of Away3D content that really stood out:

Fisherman’s Day has got to be one of the most polished Flash demos for a 3D game seen yet. You won’t see anything comparable made with any other Flash 3D Engine.

If you’ve played or seen Animal Crossing for the Nintendo DS or Wii, you may recognize the way the scenery and terrain scroll. It’s purely ingenious, and this demo has higher resolution than a DS screen, making the effect even more impressive.

Using your mouse to walk around, you’ll notice the precise collision detection, smooth movement, and highly detailed graphics in this Flash 3D mini-world. Congratulations to dangerous-rabbits.com on a superb use of Flash and Away3D!

Intel IT MANAGER is an isometric Sims-style game with up to 100,000 triangles, interactive and animated elements per screen in certain rooms! Do you have what it takes to manage the IT department in your own virtual company?

How does a Flash 3D game handle 100,000 triangles at once? It uses Away3D’s caching system, which makes these large scenes a piece of cake. The game also takes advantage of the Away3D scene exporter, which allows you to save hundreds of objects as one compressed ActionScript file. This saves download times and costly pre-processing, ensuring the loading of 3d assets does not slow down the gameplay.

Munchiegames.com has launched three new Flash games made with the Away3D engine.

How quickly can you make a BLT sandwich, serve up spicy fries, or stuff a box of Valentine’s Day treats? The games all have some kind of food theme, with a healthy injection of flavorful graphics and oddball humour. Munchiegames.com is serving up fresh 3D Flash games just for you!

Conflict is a RTS (Real Time Strategy) Tower Defense-type game that uses Away3D and the WOW 3D Physics Engine. As an added bonus, level maps can be created by users!

Registered users of Conflict can build maps, save their score, rate other peoples creations and so on. If you don’t want to register use the following word as the login/password : shirotokoro. Now go get ‘em soldier!

The CBBC’s Escape from Scorpion Island is an immersive game where you interact with a wild 3D world around you. With video clues to find and puzzles to solve, you’ll feel like you are the star of the show! Play it now - but don’t forget to put on your insect repellent! Shortcut links to the minigames will be available soon where you’ll find more games made with Away3D, such as Escape from the Ship.

Hotels and Events.com is a website that plots upcoming arts & theatre, music, and sport events onto a 3D globe. With their innovative 3D Interface fueled by Away3D they are giving users a new navigation experience for search-based apps.

Real Aquarium is a Facebook app where you can tend to your own 3D fish in a virtual aquarium. The first 3D virtual pet on Facebook is a big step for 3D Flash apps, it shows how people can develop and create simple applications with more graphical ‘depth’ ;).

Christmas Tree is a 3D (or should that be Tree-D?) Facebook app that lets you customize your own christmas tree and then adorn it with decorations. Pick different shapes, backgrounds and coloured ornaments to make your tree as jolly as you like!

Fukhaos.com is a showcase site that takes a peek into the future of 3D Flash websites. The simple, clean graphical style and navigation give you a feeling of space, while being immersed in a 3D environment. Why would you want your Flash site to be a crowded 2D mess, when you can aim for something like this?

Last but certainly not least is the awe-inspiring AUDI VDT website by ArtificialDuck that uses Away3D to plot 3D representations of various machined parts in Flash.

This has to be the one of the best Away3D websites we’ve seen so far. It’s informative and technical with slick, clean visuals. As an addition some really great interactive mouse effects add to the 3D look and feel. Experience it for yourself here.

If you’ve not yet tried it, we hope you get your 3D Flash groove on this year! The Away3D Flash Engine is becoming bigger and better with more capabilities, features and possibilities than any other 3D Flash engine available. We are looking forward to 2009 being another great year with yet more excellent Flash 3D creations!

The Away3D Team

Inspired by the fantastic new Audi VDT site produced by ArtificialDuck using Away3d, I decided to go on a little exploratory tour of the current Away3d codebase to see what could be done about fast(er) rendered 3d particles.

My results use a new set of classes soon to be uploaded to the trunk in the 2.2.6 dot release of Away3d - basically with this update it will be possible to create single 3d objects containing many particles, greatly reducing the number of matrix calculations required for rendering a collection of particle objects (or billboards as they’re more commonly known).

The above test is a bit of an extreme case so may run slow on older machines - 4096 stars are being rendered independently per frame, with a bit of mouse-influenced movement nicked from the Audi site ;) The classes have yet to be properly optimised, but I hope to be able to provide full source soon along with an update to the Away3d trunk once things are complete. In the meantime the demo had a bit of a festive look to it so seemed fitting to release over the winter break. Hope you like and merry christmas!

*****Update*****

Source is now available for the demo above via the usual right-click menu or this direct link. You will require the latest trunk version of Away3d from the svn, version 2.2.6. On a side note, the default demo now renders 1024 stars to get a smoother framerate. With this number of billboards, things fly!

The Away3D Team is happy to announce a powerful new feature: vector shape primitives. It allows the engine to represent complex vector graphics in 3D as a series of transformed linear and bezier instructions. The most immediate appliance of this is, of course, 100% sharp text despite the scale.

Usage is extremely simple: the engine will be able to dynamically parse True Type Font (ttf) files, so you can just point it to an external or embedded font file and Away3D will do the rest! Furthermore, a Scalable Vector Graphics (svg) parser should also be included in the package, clearing the way not only for 3D text, but for any kind of vector graphics such as logos and even art developed in Adobe Illustrator. These primitives will behave just as any other 3D object, and become particularly interesting when extrusions are applied to them.

The new feature produces some really impressive graphics, so dont hesitate to play around with it when it is out. Implementations are endless… Click on the image above to see it in action!

The Away3D also introduces Li from http://www.lidev.com.ar/ as the newest Away3D Team member with his great addition of Vector Shapes to the engine.

[Right click to view source. If you want to experiment with this feature while its not on an official release use http://away3d.googlecode.com/svn/branches/textfields/src/away3d/]

***Update***
Unfortunately due to a schedule clash, the training classes have been moved to the 26th and 27th of November. For those of you already signed up, please send another mail to confirm a place at the revised time. Apologies to those who had already made plans, the above date is now final and will not change.

The first Away3d training sessions kick off in London on the 22nd and 23rd of October. These are intensive workshop days organised by the LFPUG, full details of which can be found here. a brief synopsis follows:

Essential Away3d Techniques

Two days of practical tips and tricks for producing Flash 3D content using the Away3d engine.

Learn how to maximise the potential of Away3D with the co-founder and chief architect Rob Bateman. Old and new features will be covered in detail, including the latest updates available in the recently announced 2.2 release. Topics range from generic 3d concepts to detailed walkthroughs of real-world techniques designed to aid 3D design and development in Flash. Full source code is provided for all explanatory demos.

This course is aimed at developers and code-oriented designers interested in using real-time 3D in their flash work with the Away3D engine. Minimum requirements: Introductory or Intermediate level knowledge of Actionscript 3.0 and Flex Builder/FDT/CS3.

The course still uses the smaller class sizes found to work well in previous training sessions, and at £200+VAT should be within everyone’s budget ;). To book a place, please contact training AT lfpug.com.

At the risk of starting something of a tradition, it’s time once again to take you for a little ride. RailAway Express is a ticket for a unique travel into the realm of Away3D 2.2 and it’s new runtime model generation and animation features. Its probably our last Flash 9 demo too.

Almost everything you see along your journey in this 780 kb all in demo is code generated.

A special thanks goes to Andre Michelle and Joa Ebert for their help on the sound dynamics.

Some of the new features in 2.2 include:

Full update details have been posted on the AWAY3D mailing list. You can get the source files by accessing our svn repository or going to our downloads page.

Documentation will be updated within the next few days

So turn up your speakers and enjoy a wild ride into the realm of Away3D 2.2!

The Away3D Team.

More info on our group here…