2011
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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2011
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)
Until next time!
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2011
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
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2011
For those of you still in the dark, over the last few weeks Google have been rolling out their new service designed to compete with the likes of Facebook. While this offers nothing new to the average denizen of the web (yet another social network), it presents a wealth of opportunities for those in the business of creating web applications.
Google+ ("Google Plus"), is virgin territory for those wanting to gain exposure for their creations. In the space of only a few weeks, the uptake of the new service has been in the millions. The figure currently stands at 12 million users and, if you're reading this post in the far future, that figure will seem laughably small when compared to the forecast growth predictions.
If you subscribe to the theory of diffusion of innovations, it's possible to map out the rate of growth for the new platform. Though it's difficult to say for sure, Google+ is not like other new technologies. The platform merely presents a way for users to structure existing information in a more intuitive manner. Indeed, if you already have a Google mail account, joining is a one click process. The most important variable at this point in time is the power of the Google franchise. Even if people are unsure of what Google+ is, they want to be a part of it.
It goes without saying then that what we have here is a currently unsaturated market, waiting to be populated by all kinds of content. It certainly goes beyond the idea of 3D gaming but keep in mind the effect that time has had on the app store and how it has affected competition for presence.
Maybe this is a good time for Google to continue the development of their O3D browser-based 3D engine. They certainly have a new space for it to fill.
Google+, with as many questions as it raises, is fresh territory with colonists moving in fast. As they say, hesitate and all is lost.
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2011
Just to inform readers, comments are now enabled again. I've added some more spam protection so we should be good to go!
I'm currently working on a multi-user server which can be hosted on any platform. It's an absolute no fuss solution to making your environments networked. The proof will be in the pudding as I intend to host a small 3D chat room which uses this method exclusively.
Watch this space!
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