Recommended Reading

Artists getting started with 3DVIA Studio should read the following sections:

• What is a project
• Creating content
• Content management
• Export & Publication (web publishing)
• User interface
• Particle systems

The article Export to 3DVIA Studio using Collada is also recommended.

For advanced features, visit the following pages:

• Behaviors
  • Schematic
  • Building Blocks
• Tutorial on Handling input devices
• Article on How to create custom building blocks

Tips

Modeling

• Use quads whenever possible.
• Avoid using faces with more than 5 edges.
• Avoid T vertices so as to avoid smoothing problems.

Texturing

• Use the bitmap space at its max while respecting the aspect ratio between the different unfolded parts.
• Use bitmaps with power of 2 edges (e.g. 512×512, 1024×128).

Naming issues

• Use a simple and clear nomenclature.
• Avoid using special characters or accents.
• Brackets “(” and “)” and underscore “_” are recommended.

Compliance

• Make sure the “xform” of an object is valid (one way to do so is to use “reset xform” when the object is finished).
• Check the position and orientation axes and the scale of an object. If required, reset them: reset transform for the orientation axis and reset scale so that the object has the appropriate 1 to 1 scale ratio.
• Be careful with symmetries: always use a “reset xform” followed by a “normal flip faces”, otherwise the faces will appear reversed in 3DVIA Studio.

Unities

Always work in meters (metric system) and with centimeter precision (unit).

You can still work with smaller decimals (e.g. millimeter) but you must set your DCC as specified above in order to match 3DVIA Studio settings.

Skeletons

• Be consistent between the nomenclature of your bones and that of your animation.
• Do not assign more than 4 bones to the same vertex.