As you all know, 3DVIA Virtools 5, the newest version of our 3D engine for rapid game and 3D application development, has been released. It debuted at this year’s Game Developers Conference and was well received.

The video above was produced for the show to demonstrate 3DVIA Virtool 5’s key new features, including:

• New 3D Asset Libraries
• Easy Object Manipulation: Smart Drag and Drop
• Lua Support
• Project Source Code Protection
• Blend Shape Support
• New Wii™ & Xbox 360™ Libraries
• New Virtual Reality Displays Support

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.

We also passed 2,000 public 3D models at the same time (there are an additional 4,000+ private models being hosted on 3DVIA).  Check out new user smike, who has an amazing collection of spaceship 3D models, and the Earth Alliance “Ivanovas” SA-23E 3D model that he uploaded recently. 

Click the play button to examine the model up close.

You can find out more from smike on his website…Smikes World!

Let’s keep it going! Search for free 3D models now.

In fact, this is one of the key changes that you will notice this year on 3DVIA.com. Instead of having several big releases, we plan on updating the site frequently to allow you the user to help shape the future of our service…so let us know how we are doing and what we can add for you.  We plan on monthly updates to the site so the suggestions you provide today could be included in the future site.

Here are some of the key updates released today on 3DVIA.com.

Simplified and Improved 3D Content Search
We’ve introduced an updated search feature that allows you to enter a keyword once and then search through our 3D models, people and groups with just a few clicks.

Search by 3D Model Format and Software
We’ve created an easy way to search the model library by format and the software used to produce it right on the search page.  For example, here are the free 3DS models available on the site right now.

3DVIA User Activity Feeds 
To highlight the user activity on the site we’ve begun to introduce Facebook style activity feeds to the site that will keep you up to date on the hottest 3D models and content on the site right now.  The first activity feeds can now be seen on the homepage.

Simple, Simple, Simple…We’re a 3D Content Sharing Site! 
I could have used the passé buzzword K.I.S.S. to describe this update but the sentiment applies.  Simple is our new theme. We’ve made very simple UI and messaging updates to highlight, particularly to  our new members, what you can do on the site.  That is…SEARCH, UPLOAD & SHARE 3D models and your latest ideas in 3D!  So go…search, upload and share!

Stay tuned, we should have an update to the site at least once every month!