For the 3rd concecutive year, the 3D3 International Competition is rewarding the best student projects using 3DVIA Virtools in the fields of Real Time 3D to applaud their techincal and artistic prowess.

This Saturday, October 17th is the Final project Presentation and Award ceremony  in LeCube, Paris France. So if you are in the area be sure to pass by and check out the fantastic student presentations of this year and be on hand to congratulate all the participants!

The following categories will recieve awards this weekend:

• Grand Prize
• Special Award presented by 3DVIA Virtools for Technical Excellence
• Special Award presented by Le Cube for Artistic Expression
• Special Award presented by Arte.tv for Cultural Content
• Best Gameplay Award
• Best Graphics Award
• Best Inovation Award
• Best Screenplay Award
• Best Sound Engineering Award

Organized by Le Cube, in partnership with Dassault Systems, 3D3 was introduced as the one major meeting place for students, schools and professionals creating Real Time 3D.  Over 230 schools and training centers around the world are now using 3DVIA Virtools.  The 3D3 Contest aims to discover and promote young creative talent and to initiate their relationships with industry professionals.

We have developed our first iPhone app for 3DVIA, which allows you to view and inspect any public 3D model from the 3DVIA.com library.  However, the best part is the collage function, which allows you to take a photo with your iPhone, then download any 3D model from 3DVIA.com, and add it into the picture, in true perspective. You can add 3D models of people into a picture of real people, you can add 3D models of furniture into rooms, you can add cars into your driveway. All this in the palm of you hand, wherever you are.  The possibilities are endless.

This must see video shows some of the great uses for the app, both practical and fun. After the video, get a few tries to practice and join our special Launch Promotion Challenge!
If you have any comments or suggestions to improve 3DVIA Mobile or have questions visit our 3DVIA Mobile Forums

*Note: If you haven’t seen the movie Office Space, this video may seem a silly at the end. Here is a clip from the movie, which may clarify our spoof.

All the details on the new 3DVIA Mobile App, including where to download are here.

We have created a quick (1:30) video here…

It’s been awhile since we asked about you, how you use the site and what new things you’d like to see on 3DVIA.com.

How would you make 3DVIA.com better? Oops, that’s one extra question – don’t answer it here, just take the survey.

Ten quick questions and you’re done…

Click here to take the survey!

In case you missed it, or want to see it again, we have some highlights from our booth in the following video, and some important links:

Learn more about 3DVIA’s Publishing Products:

• 3DVIA Virtools – Build Rich 3D Applications Fast
• 3DVIA Composer - 3D Technical Documentation Made Easy
• 3DVIA Shape - Free 3D Modeling for the Rest of Us
• 3DVIA.com - The Top Interactive 3D Community & Model Sharing Database

Learn More about our Presenters:

• “Snow World” by Howard Rose and Ari Hollander:  http://www.firsthand.com
• “RealTime Music Visualization: A study in the Visual Extension of Music” by Matt Bain.
• “SCOPE: an Innovative Augmented Reality Game” by Frantz Lasorne.

Hooray! We’ve finally gone and done it, we now have 3DVIA Forums! 

We’d like to welcome all of our Community Members to stop by and say hello!  This is the place to ask questions about all the different parts that make up our website, and 3DVIA Shape.  As opposed to 3DVIA Groups where our users gather around topics and 3D content, our forums are places for our users to gather and discuss 3DVIA!  Here you can post questions, tips, feedback and take part in the conversation with 3DVIA and other users like you.

Our forums are new and we need your support.  Here are the direct links to the first topics on the site.

3DVIA.com
   – General Feedback - General chat about 3dvia.com.
   – Player Feedback - 3DVIA’s Web Player feedback forum.
   – My 3DVIA Feedback - My 3DVIA personal portal feedback forum.

3DVIA Shape
    – Tips and Tricks – A forum to share tips and tricks discovered while using 3DVIA Shape.
    – Suggestions and Feedback - Share your Suggestions and Feedback about 3DVIA Shape here.  
    – Support - Seek help and support about 3DVIA Shape here.  
    – 3DVIA Shape for Maps – A support forum dedicated to the 3DVIA Shape version of Bing™ Maps.

I hope to see you all over there, make sure you post in the Hello Thread :)

And don’t forget our existing forum communities for 3DVIA Virtools and 3DVIA Composer users :)

- 3DVIA Virtools – The Swapmeet
- 3DVIA Composer – 3D Mojo

-Juan

A complete list of 3DVIA presentations can be found on the 3DVIA SIGGRAPH event page.

Not Going to SIGGRAPH? No Problem – Watch us LIVE!

Not being able to attend an event is no longer a reason to miss out on all of the fun.  You may have noticed the launch of our own online video channel, 3DVIA.tv.  We’ll be live streaming video from the SIGGRAPH booth including our presentations, demonstrations and interviews with 3DVIA staff and customers.

Watch the 3DVIA Live Video Broadcast from SIGGRAPH 2009

Follow Our Twitter Updates, Ask Us a Question!

3DVIA will also be live “tweeting” right from the show floor sending out the latest news, pictures and video clips from the 3DVIA booth.  Send us a question via Twitter or just let us know that you are there and we’ll re-tweet your posts.

Send 3DVIA a Question Via Twitter

See you there!

Believe it or not, 3DVIA now has our own online television station – 3DVIA.TV!  We’ll not exactly, but we now have a site dedicated to all 3DVIA video content. The launch of 3DVIA.TV is one step in our effort to improve how users discover and learn the benefits of 3DVIA technologies. Consider 3DVIA.TV your own personal video tutor for anything and everything 3DVIA.

3DVIA.TV Will be Your One Stop Shop for 3DVIA Video Content Including:.

• Trailers
• Software tutorials
• Interviews
• Cliff’s Clips
• Podcasts
• Live streaming
• & more

To kick-off 3DVIA.TV, we have an exciting episode of 3DVIA People with Bernard Charlès, the CEO of Dassault Systèmes, and the visionary behind 3DVIA. This is a must-watch episode.

3DVIA.TV will also be broadcasting a live video feed from SIGGRAPH 2009 from August 4th-7th.

We plan on posting at least one video every week so tune into 3DVIA.TV often.

One quick note:  At the end of the video, Bernard mentions the V+R challenge, which supports Sports without Borders.  This is something that Bernard is also passionate about, and you can find more information here.

3D is in our DNA, is it in yours?

Many of the VR technologies used were developed with 3DVIA Virtools.

For more detail on Laval Virtual, see the 3DVIA article and the 3D Perspectives article.

Play Subsurface online! The first game built on 3DVIA Virtools 5 by 6 people in just 60 days is up and running on the official Subsurface Web site.

Help Dr. Valerie Toulé navigate through an underwater field of depth charges and missiles as she tries to prevent the evil narco-terrorist Ian McClusky from discovering a power capable of destroying the world. But don’t let the story end there…discover the 3DVIA story behind the Subsurface story.

Meet Little Chicken Game Company, the development shop responsible for the creation of Subsurface, and learn how with a team of just 6 people, Little Chicken was able to turn out Subsurface in only 60 days. Watch the team discuss the making of the game in this video.

Enjoy!

First up, Alistar Dean has posted several articles on both DEVCON 2009 and the upcoming 3DVIA Mobile application (did I mention that we are launching an iPhone version of the site already?).  He was gracious enough to post the first public demonstration of said application.

Josh Mings also has several posts lined up over at SolidSmack including his own post on the, I’ll say it again, upcoming 3DVIA Mobile application.

And then of course, is our own Kate Bourdet and the intrepid team at the 3D Perspectives blog. Kate posted a YouTube video showing what appears to be a 3DVIA Mobile application being used in its native habitat.

I’m not sure if you have heard yet but it appears that the team here is planning on launching a version of 3DVIA.com as an iPhone Application?

Kate…I promise to start contributing to the blog soon!

Update:  Just after I published this post, Duann over at the Ponoko blog posted an article about a certain upcoming iPhone application.

ON ANOTHER UNRELATED NOTE

We are pleased to announce that plans are in the works to release a version of the 3DVIA.com site formatted as a Apple iPhone application.  Please keep tuned to the 3DVIA site and blog for specific details on how and when you can get your hands on a copy for your phone.

…

There is just something about having a music track that makes a presentation just a bit more special.  I’m sure that some of you would like a different song selection.  The song (credits in the video) makes it feel a bit like a sports video.  What do you think?

Thank you to everyone who attended Laval Virtual 2009 and stopped by the 3DVIA booth. We had an excellent show: great in-booth attendance and a lot of interest in our virtual reality products and services.

If you weren’t able to make the show, don’t worry, We will be recapping the highlights below.

What We Showcased In Booth

3DVIA Virtools 5
With its new features and VR enhancements, 3DVIA Virtools 5 (the latest release of our 3D engine for rapid 3D application development) can publish to the following immersive contexts: 3D stereoscoping screens, Mitsubishi and Samsung DLP TVs and Anaglyph stereo. In addition, 3DVIA Virtools 5 now features LUA and blenshape integration.

To read the 3DVIA Virtools 5 press release, click here:

Khufu Revealed: Anaglyph’s 3D Experience Made With 3DVIA Virtools
Packaged in a DVD, this amazing offer includes documentary plus the 3D interactive experience explaining how the Khufu Pyramid was constructed.

WoW Stereoscoping Screens Supported by 3DVIA Virtools
Demonstrating the idea of “VR for All,” these screens communicated the future of VR.

Customer/Partner Presentations
Among several terrific customer presentations of 3D applications currently in development/use and built on 3DVIA Virtools, was Subsurface, the first game built on 3DVIA Virtools 5 by our partner Little Chicken Game Company.

Partner Technology: Scalable Graphics
Three computers are clustered together with 3DVIA Virtools VR Publisher and recombined to create a single seamless image. The result? Outstanding performances on the clustered rendering, compared to the non-clustered screen.

For French speakers, click here to see the TF1 national Broadcast Interview with David Nahon.

Powered by 3DVIA Virtools

There were over 30 applications, across various industries, demoed at Laval Virtual 2009 built using 3DVIA Virtools technology. Below they are listed according to where they presented on the show floor:

For a PDF version of this map (so you can zoom in and see it more clearly), click here.

And The Winners Are…3DVIA

Each year at Laval Virtual, the Laval Virtual Trophies are awarded by an international panel of specialists (this year the president was Mark Billinghurst, co-inventor of ARToolkit) to entrants in 10 different industries. Winners of these trophies submit projects utilizing virtual reality with a high degree of expertise. This year, two of the winners were 3DVIA users!

Industry Winners

ErgoWide3, winner of the Sales and Services Trophy: Developed by Clarté, ErgoWide3 is a solution for optimizing industrial production lines (future or existing). It combines the 3DVIA Virtools VR Publisher and Multi-user technologies, allowing virtual reality scenes to be presented both at scale 1 in a CAVE and online to remote collaborators.

SITAC 3D, winner of the Auto, Aero and Transportation Trophy: This application, developed for DCNS by Clarté, presents military tactics in virtual reality. Improving on current devices, SITAC 3 is based on three technological concepts: the Workbench, a 3D representation and a natural and intuitive interaction system.

Student Winners

In addition to professionals, students are invited to enter their immersive projects and exhibit on the show floor at Laval Virtual. Three student projects using 3DVIA Virtools technology received prizes at the show.

Image Credit: Xavier Gouchet

Qui suis-je ?: This augmented reality application, developed by ATI students, is an adaptation of a former game known as the game of riddles. The principle is simple: each player chooses a face down card and sticks it to his/her forehead. On each card is the name of a person, animal or an object. Players must guess what is written on their forehead by asking other players yes or no questions. More info >

SCOPE: Developed by a student from Ecole de Design de Nantes and ENSAM Paris Tech, SCOPE is the combination of a legacy board game and a strategy videogame. In this prototype, each player is equipped with a base-mounted toy, as well as a head-mounted display. A really innovative augmented reality game. To see SCOPE in action on Frantz’s home page, click here.

Official results of all competitions can be found on the Laval Virtual site here.

Stay tuned for more information on this topic from David Nahon, our VR guru. We will soon be posting a video of David commenting on these applications live on the show floor.

Our Booth In Action

From the front and back.

See you at DEVCON!

3DVIA is proud to announce the launch of our new blog! We know it looks way different, but don’t be scared—it’s a good thing. The design, functionality, content, searchability, EVERYTHING in the new blog has been improved to cater to your needs.

Key Improvements

Based on your feedback, we’ve taken steps to improve the 3DVIA blog, paying special attention to the home page. In fact…it’s all about the home page. On the new Blog home page you can get all news 3DVIA community related without having to click, click, click your way to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Please, let the paragraphs below help introduce you to the new 3DVIA Blog.

Hot Topics

Stay up-to-date with the important article of the day/week.

Scroll through and read your choice of featured articles.

Are you obsessed with staying on top of breaking news? Well, “Recent Stories” is your place to be. Find it either at the top of the home page, or the bottom of the blog site.

Searchability

Categorized, drop-down tabs from the secondary nav bar help get you to the articles you’re most interested in.

Search popular categories such as contests, software, tutorials and Top Tens and quickly scan the most recent article posted under each.

Pull up articles based on popular search tags with this nifty (and addicting) “3DVIA 3D Tag Cloud.”

If you still aren’t getting the information you need, explain it in your own words with the 3DVIA Blog Search field located at the bottom of the page.

Videos

View the featured videos of the site in one place.

Getting the Buzz

Keep tabs on what 3DVIA users are saying when they’re saying it.

See what the rest of the Web is saying on 3DVIA’s Twitter account.

Enjoy and please feel free to leave comments on this post letting us know what you think.

All of the uproar today about the events surrounding the unfortunate decision to fly a jumbo jet with fighter escort over New York City made us wonder.  Could there have been an easier way to get that “iconic shot” of Air Force One over New York City without causing any issues?

Here is a video we put together with Virtual Earth – 3DVIA for free using the Air Force One and model found on 3DVIA.com.  The whole exercise took about 15 minutes including posting this article.

To view the 3D interactive experience on Virtual Earth, click here.

Here is the Challenge for You

Where can you put Air Force One on Virtual Earth?  Try the free Virtual Earth – 3DVIA application and send us the link to your iconic shot of Air Force One.  Post the link to the model on Virtual Earth below and we’ll create a montage of the best in an upcoming post.

Enjoy!

More great material has rolled in from this years very successful GDC 2009 for 3DVIA.  Here is an excellent video covering how Little Chicken game company produced the Subsurface demo game in 60 days with a team of only 6!  Subsurface is the evaluation and demo game produced with 3DVIA Virtools.

The camera guy and source for the video is our very own Virgile.

This is the live video stream from the 3DVIA booth at this years Laval Virtual 2009.

Although it may not be the Holodeck on the Enterprise just yet, Virtual Reality is about as close as you can get.  Virtual Reality represents one of the coolest areas of the 3DVIA product line and it will be on full display at the center of the VR world in this year’s Laval Virtual Reality International Conference in France, April 22nd-24th.

3DVIA Virtools @ Laval Virtual
BOOTH A3-A6

Our very own David Nahon’s video tour from our 2008 Laval Virtual show.

3DVIA will demonstrate the Virtual Reality capabilities provided by the newly released 3DVIA Virtools 5 at booth A3-A6 and there will also be over 30 partners and customers demonstrating [.pdf] their 3DVIA-based VR applications.

Download a map of 3DVIA Virtools Partner applications
on display at this years Laval Virtual 2009!

3DVIA Virtools is a complete development and deployment platform for virtual environments, game and interactive 3D applications. In addition to many other enhancements, this new version also brings new VR capabilities geared toward consumer markets, by supporting Samsung and Mitsubishi DLP TVs, Philips WoW auto-stereoscopic screens and anaglyph stereoscopy.

Follow Updates Live From the Show

Kate will be blogging directly from the show floor.  Follow her updates on 3D Perspectives, the official blog of Dassault Systèmes.  Kate already posted this excellent interview with David today.

You can also check back here next week for updates – or watch the live video stream from the booth.. . .

Marc (back row, 1st on left) thinks that the Concord group bears a strong resemblance to the crew from NBC’s The Office.  Which one of us does that make Dwight?

Check out the rest of the pictures on the 3DVIA Flickr account.

Thank you to everyone who attended the 2009 Game Developers Conference and stopped by the 3DVIA booth. We had an excellent show: great in-booth attendance and a lot of interest in our products and services.

If you weren’t able to make the show, don’t worry, I’ll be recapping the highlights below.

The 3DVIA Lineup

We demonstrated four key technologies in the booth:

- 3DVIA Virtools 5: the latest release of our game engine for rapid prototyping and game development
- 3DVIA MP: NextGen visualization engine for creating online and standalone games
- 3DVIA.com: a thriving community and resource for 3D artists and enthusiasts
- 3DVIA Shape: a free, online modeling application perfect for the beginner, yet powerful enough for the expert

Show Stealers

As proud as we are of our products, we’re even prouder of the amazing, interactive 3D games and other applications our customers create using them. We had several terrific customer presentations of games and other applications currently in development/use built on 3DVIA Virtools, including Subsurface, the first game ever built on 3DVIA Virtools 5.

Subsurface

“Subsurface gameplay”

“Ian McClusky: bad guy from Subsurface”

The first game built on 3DVIA Virtools 5, Subsurface was developed to put 3DVIA Virtools 5’s design principle of “speed without sacrificing quality” to the test. We collaborated with long time 3DVIA Virtools partner, Little Chicken Game Company, and gave them what would normally be seen as an impossible challenge: develop a game in 60 days with 6 people. Subsurface was the result.

“Little Chicken demoing Subsurface”

“GDC attendees play Subsurface for the chance to win a Wii”

You can play Subsurface online here.

UPDATE: Our servers are temporarily offline, which means Subsurface is also temporarily offline. We’re working out the kinks right now and should be back up and running soon. My appologies to those who have tried to play and got error messages. I will post an update as soon as we’re back in business. 

You can also visit the official Subsurface website here.

Liight

“Studio Walljump demoing Liight”

Think of the most addicting game you’ve ever played and then multiply it by…well…a lot of lights. This game, currently in development by Studio Walljump, is totally awesome, and is another example of a game being built on 3DVIA Virtools for the Wii. Liight asks players to use color theory, strategy and brain power to solve some unique puzzles. Users can even use Liight to create their own puzzles and publish them online for others to solve.

Avatar: Legends of the Arena

“Sarbakan demoing Avatar: Legends of the Arena”

Developed by Sarbakan, and available for download on Nickelodeon’s website, Avatar: Legends of the Arena is action packed. Users can create their own characters, enter the arena and compete with players online from all over the world. This game is very, very cool and really fun.

“Show attendees watch Sarbakan present”

Virtools for Dummies

“Jim Kiggens giving a tech intro to 3DVIA Virtools“

Jim Kiggens, director of the Serious Game Design Institute at Santa Barbara City College, gave a fantastic tech introduction to using 3DVIA Virtools for game development. He and his students currently use 3DVIA Virtools to learn the technology behind making games.

For an artist, non-programmer, type (like myself), this lecture was very helpful. I especially enjoyed the discussion on how to make a realistic water shader using animated textures. Thank you Mr. Kiggens!

New Booth Design

If you’ve looked at 3DVIA.com in the past couple of weeks, my bet is you’ve seen at least one (sarcasm alert) render of our new tradeshow booth. It’s in banner ads all over the site, featured on our “3DVIA at GDC 09” page and even posted as a model so our community can visit it virtually. If you’re thinking we’re obsessed with this booth…you’re right.

The new booth debuted at GDC (I’m talking the real thing, not the model), and it was very well received. One GDC attendee even sent us an e-mail after the show commenting, “Your company rocks! You probably had one of the funnest and most interactive booths at GDC this year.” Thanks buddy!

OK. I’m done talking about the booth now…maybe. Check out the pics below.

“That’s one nice booth!”

“And from the other side”

The 3DVIA GDC Team

Here’s a picture of the 3DVIA team that staffed the booth at GDC.

“Team 3DVIA GDC”

Back Row (left to right): Pierre Emmanuel Chaut, Virgile Delporte, Arnaud Muthelet, Martin St. Germain, Romain Sididris, Derek Lane, Yours Truly
Front Row (left to right): Cyril Cohen, Gerald Nacache, Juan del Rio, Christine Moses

“A more casual shot”

Special shout out to David Laubner who took both photos!

Again, thank you to everyone who came to the show and visited us and thank you to everyone who visited us online!

Those of you who went to the Game Developers Conference (GDC) and stopped by the 3DVIA booth may have seen us demo a game called Subsurface. Many of you played this game (three players won a Wii) and asked whether there were plans to post a playable version online. After hearing the overwhelming requests for a playable online version, we decided it was a must.

As of this week, you can now play Subsurface online.

UPDATE: Our servers are temporarily offline, which means Subsurface is also temporarily offline. We’re working out the kinks right now and should be back up and running soon. My appologies to those who have tried to play and got error messages. I will post an update as soon as we’re back in business. 

For those of you who weren’t at show, but want to learn about Subsurface, don’t feel left out! The next couple of paragraphs in this post are devoted to summarizing the game and its importance to 3DVIA. If you want even more details, you can always visit the official Subsurface website.

The Story Behind the Game

Subsurface is the first game built on 3DVIA Virtools 5, the latest version of our game engine devoted to rapid prototyping and game development. Designed with the idea of drastically decreasing development time without sacrificing quality in mind, we put 3DVIA Virtools 5 to the test with the development of Subsurface. We collaborated with long time 3DVIA Virtools partner Little Chicken Game Company and gave them what would normally be seen as an impossible challenge: develop a game in 60 days with 6 people that’s not only engaging, but serves as a learning tool for other 3D application developers. The result was Subsurface.

The Subsurface Narrative and Gameplay

The year is 2041 and the world is in peril. With our natural resources nearly depleted, world powers are frantic to find new forms of energy. In the midst of this tension, a deep sea species capable of generating massive amounts of inexhaustible energy, known as the “Glowspheres,” is been discovered. Theoretically, this unharnessed power could be used to solve the world’s energy crisis or, if discovered by the wrong people, could generate a weapon far greater than any ever before conceived.

You are Dr. Valerie Toulè, a marine biologist specializing in deep sea ecosystems and aquatic species. The G20 has brought you back from sabbatical to investigate and retrieve the Glowspheres before Ian McClusky, the world’s most wanted narco-terrorist, uses them for evil purposes.

Enjoy!

Check out more from Kenneth Wong over at Desktop Engineering or on Twitter.

GDC 2009 is Now History! We had an excellent show and thank you for taking the time to watch 3DVIA live. You can catch many of the pictures from the show on Flickr.

Not going to GDC? 
Check out the daily blog post here, our live booth video or you can follow us live on Twitter!

Check out the interactive 3D render of our spiffy new trade show booth!  Click the "Play 3D" button.

See you at the show!

The best models you upload every week are spotlighted with their own Top 10 post, including an additional 5 Honorable Mentions.

You even have the chance to win valuable prizes in our frequent 3DVIA Challenges!

So, thanks to everyone; hard-core gamers, down-to-the-tenths CAD folks and anyone who just plain enjoys 3D modeling for becoming part of the fun here at 3DVIA!

Publish to 3DVIA from SolidWorks from SolidWorks: Heard!

Check out Lou Gallo’s SolidWorks: Heard! blog post covering the latest update to SolidWorks making it easy to publish content directly to 3DVIA.com.  I could be a tiny bit biased but I love how Lou opens the post (flattery will get you everywhere in this world).

“3dvia is a place where social media meets 3D modeling, allowing its users to upload, share and find 3d models. With over 6000 models and almost 75,000 users, 3dvia is the place to be when it comes to sharing 3d models.”

Lou also touches upon one of the keys to 3DVIA at the end of the post. “I hope this new addition will encourage SolidWorks users to share their models and help reduce the barrier of entry for the SolidWorks masses.”  Here at 3DVIA.com, it’s all about connecting different communities of 3D users together in the hope of expressing ideas in 3D easier.

In addition to SolidWorks: Heard!, you can follow Lou on Twitter and 3DVIA (maybe we can get Lou to publish a few more models!)

Documenting and Viewing via 3DVIA Composer from Desktop Engineering

We also had another great post from SolidSmack blogger and Desktop Engineering contributor, Josh Mings on his test drive of 3DVIA Composer.  Garth over at our 3DMOJO blog already has a post on the article but I wanted to republish a quote from Josh to continue our theme of making communication through 3D more accessible to everyone.

“It’s marketed as a tool enabling non-CAD people to take 3D CAD data and create rich deliverables — but in the hands of an engineer it becomes much more.”

You can follow Josh on his SolidSmack blog and Twitter.

Thank you Lou and Josh.

New tools available in Virtual Earth – 3DVIA!

The latest upgrade for Virtual Earth-3DVIA, 3DVIA’s free, online 3D modeling software for Microsoft’s Virtual Earth, is now available for download.  Developed to specifically address user feedback, the new upgrade features several key product enhancements, including improved UI for object manipulation.

Now Virtual Earth users will be able to more easily scale, position, and rotate imported models thanks to simple drag handles found on the outer edges of the bounding box that surrounds imported models.

Go try the new tools now, click here.

Check out the live tour in Microsoft Virtual Earth 3D, click here.

Check out this video to see the new features in action!

Making 3DVIA Shape even easier!

The latest upgrade for 3DVIA Shape, 3DVIA’s free, online 3D modeling software, is now available for download.  Developed to specifically address user feedback, the new upgrade features several key product enhancements, including improved UI for object manipulation.
Now 3DVIA Shape users will be able to more easily scale, position, and rotate imported models thanks to simple drag handles found on the outer edges of the bounding box that surrounds imported models.

To download 3DVIA Shape 2.1, click here.

Also, be sure to try out our new 3DVIA Starter Set.  With over 100 furniture models to choose from, you can build your dream room in minutes!

To start:

1. Launch 3DVIA Shape.

2. Type “3dviastarterset” in the search box on the lower left panel of the 3DVIA Shape interface.

3. Insert, position, scale, and rotate any item in the search results.

As the Web 2.0 portal from Dassault Systemes, 3DVIA.com is aimed at both professionals and consumers. Seen as a kind of “YouTube of 3D”; free registered users can create, upload and download 3D models, comment on models, have private conversations with other modelers and create their own groups.

01net.com also did a through review of the site as part of the presentation. This is just one page of seven in the review!

 01net.com is a leading French news web site (6 million single visitors/month), covering the Internet and Technology. It is part of the NextRadio business media group (owner of BFM Radio, BFM TV, RMC Info Radio and La Tribune), within the IT media division. Main topics at the 01net site include daily news, product information and reviews, tips and tricks, forums, videos, job listings, job training opportunities and a download center.

All in all, this is great award from a powerhouse player in the market. We appreciate the recognition!

You’ve added a lot of great models too - almost 5000! And that doesn’t even include the thousands more private models that have also been uploaded.

You’re also creating Groups at a growing rate – 88 special collections of models with related discussions! There’s something for everyone and anyone can start their own group.

There’s also a new weekly post recognizing the Top 10 models from the previous week. So, there’s always something new to find and get involved in at 3DVIA.com. Come on in, the water’s fine!