Hope someone can advise please, I wish to create a learning experience in a 3d environment, hoping to create a 3d environment which can be explored by viewers in real time. I have looked at Adobe's Atmosphere, but this is for viewing over the web and the lack of detail on models doesn't really inspire. I wish to create something which is quality that can be put on a cd for viewers to explore - are there programes out there which can acheive this. Thanks Peter

Attached Link: http://www.pandromeda.com

Look into MojoWorld.

I'm not sure what you are asking. However, I do know that you can create a scene in Bryce and assign htnl tags to objocts or groups of objects. And my roomate was playing around with the Quicktime VTR renders in Bryce where the entire scene is rendered in 360 degrees. I just don't know if the two of them can be combined or if the movement in the scene can be controlled.

Thanks, I have had some advice from Calyxa at Mojoworld - but my problem is I lack basic knowledge on this subject. But I downloaded 3DRad a program for making games in real time, and it looks promising and most importantly has plenty of tutorials. Quicktime - I don't know much about - I have Quicktime Pro, but have never understood how to use....but I will try to check out Quicktime VTR see what it's about. Peter

If you want to stick with Bryce and get the basics down, I would suggest "Real World: Bryce 4" by Susan Kitchens and Victor Gavenda. It is a rather large book but goes into depth on pretty much everything including the rendering of a scene into Quicktime VTR.

Hey - I have the book but theres alot to read!....but I will go and look see.... Thanks Peter

OK, I looked - now I know abit more! But will this be able to allow objects in the QTVR? I need to check out a few QTVRs to find out how it looks? Peter

Let me know when you find out, as I'm in the dark on this one as well. Doug

I found out there is a book called The QuickTime VR Book by Susan Kitchens as well Peter

Attached Link: http://fartur.free.fr/galerie/tutorial/qtvr-tutorial.html

here are some qtvrs i have mad using bryce: http://www.renderring.com/green2000.mov http://www.renderring.com/comcomovie.mov (this one has hotspots, like in the game "myst") I make these using this tutorial: http://fartur.free.fr/galerie/tutorial/qtvr-tutorial.html and i add hotspots using this excellent software i purchased: http://www.clickheredesign.com.au/cubicconnector/ it is not "3d" but it is very detailed and you can link them together so in that way you can move through your environments. It is not as real time as a game would be but it is much easier and much better looking. also check out ishell (http://www.ishell.com)

Not, by any means, to degrade or disparage anyone's works in QTVR, but it's clown shoes. If you want to work with realtime 3D, go with the Unreal Engine. It's ridiculously powerful, the MOST powerful realtime 3D engine that is publicly available. Try it out. If you haven't played any of the Unreal games (Thief, Deus Ex, Unreal, Tournament, Wheel of Time), then you are missing out on the best realtime 3D in the industry. But I mention the games only as examples of what is possible... Landscapers use it to show clients what their gardens will look like, realtors use it to show the insides of their buildings, and even the feds use it to track down people like Will Smith.

Although I have played some of the games such as Deus Ex, the Unreal Engine seems to heave some unreal drawbacks. First off, one has to know Visual C ++,. Second, the prgramming is basically for a PC and the engine isn't available for MAC users, so if programming for something like real estate then I would stick with QTVR. Lastly, was cost, I can't seem to find a price tag on the engine itself, but on the technical page for new programmers (which can be found here: http://udn.epicgame.com), they recommend nothing less than a Dell Pentium 4, flat screen, a gig or so of RAM, etc. In other words...the most high end PS one can think of. For somebody just getting int VR, I would think this would be an unusually high cost and would definitely not recommend commiting one's resources for that kind of expenditure just to try out a piece of software. Besides, if I were to get a new system, it would have to be a G$ Dual Processor, Dell still can't compare in that department. Cheers. DDoug

I visited Unreal but don't know where to download or what the purchase options are... My laptop is 2.200 mhz Pentium 4 512 Ram 64 ATI Radeon 7500 So I think it should cope with unreal - but only if I understand it. At the moment 3DRad is the only option I see which could work for me as it is WYSIWYG Peter

You don't need the unreal engine itself, just one of the level editors.

That would make more sense to me and might be worthwhile to look into in the future. For now though, I thik I'm satisfied with the QTVR that I already have, although, I'm not exactly sure what Peter's intended purpose for VR is to begin with (I could have just missed that). I do like the platform that Unreal provides but like Peter, I work off of something that has less than the recommended tech. specs. for programming. I work off of an iBook G3 800MHz 640M Ram and until I can upgrade to a better system I don't think Unreal is a viable option. Don't get me wrong however, I am definitely interested in it as I am always in awe by the games which utilize it. Doug

I just went to PC World to buy some ink and saw The 3D Game Studio, www.the3dgamemaker.com - which I bought...it has a manual with it as well. I just want something I can create 3d environment, with a few other things to for an educational project I hope to create. It looks simple enough...we shall see? Peter

Aye, bulldawg, I agree that most Macs are better than Dell, for example, but ANY proprietary platform is a ridiculous waste of money. A Macintosh? Come on, I could build three or four machines that would EACH destroy ANY Mac in terms of speed and render times, for the price of ONE pathetic fruit-based computer. But that's not the point, if your machine can't handle the Unreal Engine, then you're really not experiencing VR. Get a new one. A flat image is not VR (a-la QTVR). Even flat-screens aren't REALLY VR (stereo imaging is closer, something the Unreal engine can do, on the fly). And you don't need a really fast machine to use the engine, I started using it on an old Pentium 3/600MHz machine. I don't want to go into my opinions on products, or my extensive testing of them, but if any of you haven't tried Unreal-based products, and you STILL call yourself a 3D artist, it's time to re-evaluate yourself, and witness the beauty of realtime 3D. The end-goal of Bryce itself (NOT including our still-shots and all of the WONDERFUL art all of us create!) is to be realtime. Imagine a render time of ZERO. Or animating on the fly. The mere fact that Bryce (nor ANY 3D application) can't preview our scenes at Unreal-quality is, in my opinion, totally pathetic and inexcusable. But, also, this is one of the reasons Bryce is so cheap... But back to the topic, Unreal has a high learning curve, so I hope the application you got, Peter, works well for you! And I'd love to see what you end up with, so keep us informed, okay?

Thanks for the input which is helpful - The 3D Game Studio, as far as I can see is not what I am looking for...the viewer is restricted to moving along paths, the viewing camara cannot move up or down....I need something so the viewer can fly through like a flight simulator rather than be restricted to crawling along a ground plane. Today I shall take it back. The Unreal engine sounds like it would work but I need to to know how it works and regarding the level editor..I would need to know how to obtain this. QTVR is not real time 3d as far as I understand - it's just basically a very large photo draped over a sphere with a camara in the middle with magnification to give the impression one is experiencing 3d. which it isn't...it's just looking at a photograph...thats what I understand. Peter

The best and cheapest way to get the Unreal Editor is to go buy Unreal Tournament 2003. It comes with the Maya Personal Learning Edition, as well, kinda funny since most of UT was built with 3DStudio Max. The editor, UnrealEd 2, is ridiculous at first, but it's awesome and very powerful. The online community can help you with the rest! One cool thing is that you can program physics into it, as well as having a free-looking, free moving camera.