3D Animation Workshop: Lesson 79: Shout Is Out! | WebReference

3D Animation Workshop: Lesson 79: Shout Is Out!


Lesson 79 - Shout Is Out! - Part 3

Most people will be interested in simply taking a model created and textured in a standard 3D package, and placing it on a Web page so that it can be rotated in all directions. This is the new standard emerging for product sales on e-commerce sites. But I wanted to see how Shout could handle a really sophisticated model.

The following is a NURBS model of a piston from an automobile engine made in 3D Studio MAX. It was the subject of a NURBS modeling tutorial, some lessons ago, and was built with a very high level of detail and precision for photorealisitc rendering. Of course, its original polygon count was quite high—in excess of 40,000 triangles. But I managed to adjust the surface approximation downward in MAX to create a version with under 9,000 triangles. Smaller, but still a huge model for realtime purposes. I converted it to an Editable Mesh (polygonal) object in MAX, and then used MAX's excellent export tools to create a VRML file for use with Shout.

Plugging it into an ExamineApplet using the Shout3D Wizard was effortless, and once again, I was very excited with the result. Drag the mouse only very short distances to get good speed control. Draging horizontally rotates in the heading and dragging vertically rotates in the pitch. If you hold the control key down while dragging vertically, you will zoom in or out. The response is slow because this is such a huge model, but it's also the kind of highly-detailed model that merits examination in 3D. If Shout can run this kind of beast, it will tear through conventional low-poly geometry.

The time to get involved in the long-awaited merger of 3D graphics and the Internet is right now. Shout3D has made things about as easy as possible, but this is pioneer territory and there's a huge amount of learning and experimentation required of anyone interested in jumping on board this exciting new wave. You've got to get the package and devote hour after hour exploring the possibilities. I've been doing it, and as the couple of examples on these pages indicate, the results are tantalizing. Get started by learning how to create workable scenes and animation, and then move on as quickly as possible to the Java programming interface. Shout3D is placing a marvel of technology in your lap for free. Smart people will recoginze the bargain—and perhaps the opportunity—of a lifetime.

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Created: Nov. 10, 1999
Revised: Nov. 10, 1999

URL: https://webreference.com/3d/lesson79/part3.html