Attached Link: http://www.viewpoint.com/pub/products/enliven.html

You may remember that about the time MetaCreations sold off Poser, Bryce, Carrara and all their other tool software, they switched to delivering interactive 3D content over the web, were renamed to MetaStream, and finally to Viewpoint. The Viewpoint interactive 3D web technology is quite impressive, but has until now been nearly inaccessible to all but large corporate advertisers, due to the fact that to publish any Viewpoint content, you used to have to buy a multi-thousand dollar broadcast key. Also, although many 3D packages export to Viewpoint format, there have not previously been very accessible authoring tools for creating the interactive components. All this has just changed. Viewpoint has just released a tool called Enliven, along with a new version of the Viewpoint Media Player. Enliven is a complete authoring tool for creating Viewpoint content, including animation and interaction. Best of all, Enliven can digitally sign Viewpoint content created in it, and this signed content can be published with no broadcast key or additional fees required. The new player now builds in a version of JavaScript (known as VETScript) which has complete access to all of the objects in the Viewpoint scene, and Enliven supports the creation of VETScript objects. Viewpoint has its own Flash player, which can play SWF files in the foreground or background of a scene, or as a texture on a 3D object. It also supports a form of streaming video, which can again be played in the foreground, background, or as a texture. It's "hyperview" mode allows the content to leave the confines of the browser window it is running on, so you can do something like have a 3D car drive out of the browser window and off the screen. So, if you are at all interested in building interactive 3D web content, 3D ads, interactive avatars, etc., give it a look. Best of all, the base trial version of Enliven is FREE. The only things lacking in it from the $250 "Pro" version are the convertor to turn MPG, AVI, etc., video files into the custom format that Viewpoint uses, and more 3D file format import options. The 3D file formats that the free version can import are OBJ, ASE, NFF, and Viewpoint's own MTX format (which many 3D packages can export to). The Pro version plugs into Right Hemisphere's Deep Exploration to handle all the other 3D file types, so with the Pro version, you do actually get a fully licensed copy of Deep Exploration. Free is definitely a very good price :)

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

Thanks for this info jwbaer! As an Adobe Atmosphere beta tester and developer, i had free access to Viewpoint MTX use (Viewpoint was an Adobe partner on Atmosphere). Adobe killed Atmosphere after 1 year. I'll be checking out the new Enliven for sure. Would just like to remind everyone that the Viewpoint technology, although interactive, is not IMMERSIVE web 3D. You cannot create 3D scenes and wander around freely inside them (alone or with others), nor play games, do chat, collaborate, etc., like you can in an immersive product. Viewpoint is very nice for interactive product displays and certain kinds of training and illustration though. Those interested in 3D web immersive scenes may want to check out the alpha version of a new product called "Blink 3D", (which i'm helping alpha test), from Pelican Crossing. We hope it will be a improvement over and replacement for Adobe Atmosphere.