It's time to unveil something I've been working on for a while.

In my spare time I've managed to put together a resource for sharing Unity3D files (browser-based interactive 3D content). All you need to do is sign up for an account and I'll give you the go ahead if you want a place to share your work.

You can access the site by clicking here.

First entry in a while so let's get down to it!

As readers will know, I'm an advocate of Google Sketchup. I think it's one of the better 3D editors due to its ability to take an otherwise complex authoring process (the creation of 3D geometry) and make it simple. It manages to do this without sacrificing a great deal of control or even putting developers out of pocket. Indeed, students are able to download a copy of the professional version for free (allowing the export of a mesh to multiple industry-standard file formats rather than just the proprietary Sketchup extension/skp).

The reason it's seen as taboo when it comes to the development of real-time 3D assets is because it doesn't really provide the user with a proper means of optimizing the geometry, we're talking about the number of triangles here. This 'economy' is all-important in the gaming industry where the idea is to use as few of them as possible to maximum effect. Granted, 3D hardware has come a long way and, more often than not, you'll have excess processing power to make up for a poorly made model - but that thinking isn't going help you understand the best practice.

To my pleasant surprise, I have been asked to write a small review of a book detailing this very same subject.

So what does the book "Google Sketchup for Game Design" - [Packt Publishing] do for us?

The book describes itself as a beginner's guide and opens with an explanation of the philosophy behind Sketchup, that it is made for speed. It acknowledges that other authoring environments, by way of Maya and 3D Studio Max, are made to do more than most developers care to explore. Upon reading that I sighed in relief, I was afraid that it might attempt to take on those giants and claim some sort of overall superiority, but it didn't. That's a good sign of objectivity and puts the book in context, it provides a very 'real' way of looking at things. It doesn't make false promises and sticks to giving the learner practical information while addressing common misconceptions.

The game engine recommended by the book is none other than Unity3D, which comes as no surprise to those of us who are currently using it as our main piece of kit. Unity, like Sketchup, comes in multiple forms - free and professional. In addition to teaching the user how to use Sketchup, it describes the workflow involved with getting your creations into the game engine and seeing your results. It focuses, primarily, on environmental art, again taking advantage of what Sketchup was originally designed to do. It does discuss the problems of creating acceptable looking human meshes and how difficult this can be for beginners, it is even so good as to suggest an alternative means to save time.

Makehuman is the suggested means by which the student acquire their 3D human models. It's appropriate that this piece of advice appear in the book as, only by declaring it, can the experience be deemed complete. It shows you how to create an urban environment, build a vehicle and make all of it usable. Up to that point it doesn't mention the creation of a usable human mesh because it is far too complex a process to burden the mind of a beginner with. The book is very encouraging for those just starting out and does its best to help you achieve the fastest possible results.

The industry is changing, it is getting easier to develop 3D games and teams are a fraction of the size they were a few years ago. It is entirely possible to work as an independent professional but it takes time to learn the ropes, time which very few people have to spend on trial and error. This book will show you 'the way', it will save you the hell of stumbling alone in the dark by explaining how to do things properly in the shortest amount of time. Everything from conceptualisation to implementation is here in an easy to understand format.

Most, if not all, of my work in Unity3D involves using Sketchup at some point. The book actually frightened me at first as it was making known what very few of us are aware of. Niches only last for so long before they grow into something huge, this is probably the last chance to get in on the ground floor of the coming era.

I'll continue to update this post with my Unity 3D work, both past and current.

Glacial Hydrology Simulation [Education]

A learning tool used to describe the dynamics of water flow inside glaciers. Made for the University of Hertfordshire in 2011, Earth Sciences.

Youtube link

Health & Safety in the Workplace [Training Prototype]

A small prototype designed to determine how real-time 3D interaction can aid in training staff and students in the workplace environment. Typically, most solutions involve using 2D illustrations though with a real-time 3D environemtn, the user is able to examine the scene from multiple angles.

Youtube link

Light & Shadow [Aesthetic Piece]

During my masters in postgraduate media studies, I was tasked with producing an interactive 3D application every week. This piece is one among many. The hut is of no particular style and the shadows are incongruous with the environment. The lightmap was created with the roof absent from the scene in order to allow the sunlight to filter through the support beams.

Youtube link

Weston Auditorium at the University of Hertfordshire [Multi-user environment]

My original intention was to create a 3D social network for the University though the scale of the work involved didn't become apparent to me until after I finished this piece. This is a replica of the main presentation space within the University of Hertfordshire. Videos (ogg format) can be displayed on the large screen and users are able to interact with one another as they explore the area.

Youtube link

Haunted Mansion [Aesthetic Piece]

I intended to finish this for Halloween but never got the chance. It was originally going to be a game but I became sidetracked as I started to experiment with ambient lighting instead. In all, I learned a lot from this piece - even if it exists in an incomplete state.

Youtube link

Temple of Zante [Aesthetic Piece]

Another weekly masters submission. Zante is my internet alias, contrary to the belief that this piece is modeled on a location in Greece. The geometry is extremely basic with the environment being an exercise in texture work and colour correction.

Youtube link

Mini Club - University of Hertfordshire Student Forum [Real-time 3D Visualisation]

A real-time 3D visualisation of one of the areas in the university's new £37mil student forum. The purpose behind this series of visualisations was to promote the planning to the student population.

Medical Simulation [Training Prototype]

Another training prototype, again to see how real-time 3D is able to facilitate communication and learning. I eventually settled on recreating this inside Second Life which already had a multi-user system and VOIP functionality. This is a record of my efforts.

Youtube link

It sometimes helps to take a step back from your work to see what the bigger picture is like. I've just bought a new apartment and one of the surprises I've had is the distance from the local internet exchange. As some of you are aware, the further away you are from the exchange, the slower your internet connection tends to be. One of the variables which defines this, and which you can have measured from where you sit, is the attenuation value. Your line attenuation value describes the level of signal degradation (or 'noise') from the connection to your exchange and is affected, mainly, by the distance. It's typically measured in decibels (dB).

Although I'm quite far away from my exchange, and must suffer a connection speed of around 2-3mbps, this doesn't perturb me as, here in the UK, most inhabitants will have access to fibre optic connections within the next two years. The details aren't important but, simply put, I could go from 3mpbs to 100mbps in the space of a few months.

In the context of browser-based content delivery this means a lot. Many developers need to optimize their assets so as to make sure that people are able to access the content quickly. Some of the ways this can be achieved are by lowering the texture resolution, geometric complexity and audio quality of the relevant assets. With the amount of bandwidth we're due to see coming our way in the next few years, there will be less of a need for this (it also means that hosting will get cheaper).

The real affordance provided by an increase in bandwidth is the sheer extent to which the user is able to stream data. This means that we all see massive virtual environments popping up all over the place. World of Warcraft once gave users the ability to enter the virtual world through the use of a streaming client which was no bigger than a few kilobytes. The users downloaded the environment as they played, going against the standard model of needing to download the program in its entirety or install it from a DVD.

We aren't there yet however and it's important to have some sort of context. With that in mind, let's look at the following visual aids.

Internet users in the world by geographic region:

But, as we know from the start of this post, this does not equate to the average speeds experienced by people (based on multiple variables).

This next one should prove to be a little more enlightening!

(Courtesy of http://dailyinfographic.com)

Click to enlarge

Until next time!

As far as browser-based 3D technology is concerned, WebGL hasn't been on many people's radars due to the lack of available tech demos designed to showcase its power. Understandably, version 1.0 of the API only came out in March but enthusiasts are cracking on with getting some impressive work up and available for viewing. Unfortunately, until the available authoring environments provide the same level of functionality and ease of use as other tools, WebGL is unlikely to see a massive uptake in the number of early adopters.

Currently, WebGL works in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Development releases for Opera and Safari are currently under way with Internet Explorer requiring a separate plugin altogether (which isn't bad at all considering this has been the standard means of delivering real-time 3D content, via a browser, for the last 10 years).

Content developers should keep an eye on this technology as it was only last year that Google announced that its O3D plugin would be reformed as a JavaScript library running on top of WebGL.

I leave you with a small video I recorded of the tech demo displayed at the start of this post. I've used Camtasia to capture the footage so the frame rate is a bit low. Normally I use fraps but in this instance it seems that it's unable to pick up the GPU rendering for this scene (if there is any).

Check the following link to see how the demo runs on your machine:
http://webglsamples.googlecode.com/hg/aquarium/aquarium.html