I know this is a little off topic, but does anybody know of a program that can do a virtual walk-through. Something like a first person video game, maybe?

Do you want this to include animations or to be more of a QuyickTime VR or VRML tour? Mak

www.makwilson.co.uk

Right now I'm just looking for any info. I'm trying to workout a walk-through of a building. So I guess VRML is what I'm looking for.

All depends on how elaborate you want that walkthrough to be. For example, you could create Quicktime VR files in Vue (360 panoramas) and edit them with a QTVR editor to link them together with hotspots (I have never done that but I guess it should be possible). That would give you the equivalent of games such as Riven. If you want simple walthrough with basic shading and lights, VRML should be ok. If you want more elaborate shading, textures and effects (reflection, transparency, etc), you will have to chose a rendering engine and create a file to open in that engine. Typically, you would do that with games such as Unreal, HalfLife or Quake, and their corresponding editor. The advantage is that you can go pretty far in realism with these editors. The problem is that viewing the final file requires to have that game engine installed.

• agiel - www.linfa.net

Knowing the people I work for, I would think they would want something like a video game with all the bells and whistles. The QT VR sounds doable right now, I'll have to play with that some and see what I can do. thanks

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

Might be worth looking at something like Tourweaver. we use it to create virtual tours. Here's a link to Easypano, the company who make and sell it.

Message edited on: 05/09/2005 10:13

www.makwilson.co.uk

If you want all the bells and whistles, then it looks like you will have something new to learn in your near future. Half Life 2 is paired with Softimage XSI for modeling I believe Doom or Unreal is paired with Gmax (or 3DS Max) ... someone else would have to confirm that. If you have some time, you could wait for STALKER, which is supposed to be released soon with editing tools as well and an open approach (it should import models from 3DSmax, Maya or Lightwave according to articles I read).

• agiel - www.linfa.net

FUN :)

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

I use this program all the time to build Architecture and other objects. It has a virtual walk through feature.

I've heard of that one, but it's been awhile and forgot about it. I think that's what I'm trying to find. thanks

Well, I don't know about eric501, but I'm certainly going to give the demo a go! Thanks, Mak.

www.makwilson.co.uk

Attached Link: http://www.conitec.net/a4info.htm

Game Studio by Conitec. Looks just like what you would like. Complete game engine for 3D.

Ooo! MAk

www.makwilson.co.uk

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

For some reason interactive 3D web products seem to be an area where companies just can't make money. I could name around 10 who've tried and either, moved into some other sphere, or just plain gone bust. Even a big player like Adobe have just dumped 'Atmosphere' after around 2 years development.

I use Axel3D (see link), and would thouroughly recommend it, were it not for the fact that the company has gone awfully quiet recently.

several reasons. a, almost all of them sucks as far as the visual thing goes (atmosphere is one good example of crappy visuals) b, the average joe isnt ready for 3d when visiting a website its to slow and cumbersome. c, most of them requires plugins that very few have, the plugins that are succesful are flash and pdf because they are bundled with almost everything and almost everybody has them by now. so to make an interactive online virtual walk through i would today recomend you to go the flash route, yes flash cant realy handle real 3d (unless you pick up shockwave which has the problem of having to little users) but you can create a virtual walk through that do perform and embed perfectly in your website, and if you would render the scenes ala myst it would still look realy good even tho its just plain 2d with some flash spice. by far your best option today for an online version. Offline well nothing to think about go for all the bells and whistles and pick up a real 3d engine, no question about it if you guys have the budget and development time for it that is.