Publishers of technology books, eBooks, and videos for creative people

Home > Articles > Digital Audio, Video > 3D

Choosing a 3D Authoring Tool

📄 Contents

  1. Choosing a 3D Authoring Tool
  2. About This Article
Working with the 3D objects definitely has its just rewards. Obviously a 3D object is more exciting than 2D graphics, and 3D objects communicate better to audiences. However, Shockwave 3D components and the tools used to create 3D objects can be intimidating. In fact, you may be avoiding both the creation of 3D objects and their authoring tools because of their reputation for complexity. epic software group, inc. explains why you shouldn't be afraid to author 3D graphics, and they offer you advice from some of the leading experts in the industry.
Like this article? We recommend

Choosing a 3D Authoring Tool

So, you've decided to go to the next dimension in your web or multimedia project and add a Shockwave 3D component. Don't be surprised if you're more than just a little intimidated with the software programs available for creating 3D objects and scenes. Most 3D development tools have well-deserved reputations for complexity and require a significant investment of both time and money. No need to worry, however, because in the next few pages you will learn which 3D programs best suit your needs.

If you are new to 3D development, you might be feeling just a bit overwhelmed right now. You may wonder why you should bother at all. Roger Chandler, Sr., Marketing Manager of Intel Architecture Labs, said it best. "Fundamentally, 3D makes content more engaging; it allows you to do things that you can't do in a normal 2D Web environment; it really changes everything." It was reported that when 3D was added to their sites, SharperImage.com saw a 500 percent increase in visits and a 100 percent increase in sales, and Land's End saw a 200 percent increase in sales. The bottom line is that 3D graphics and animation can help you communicate your ideas better, which often leads to higher profits.

The long list of powerful 3D features Macromedia has included in Director 8.5 is incredibly impressive. Shockwave applications on faster connections can download models at 10,000 polygons per second. The models are visible quickly and increase in clarity as the download is completed. Keyframe and bones deformations are built in to the Shockwave 3D (W3D) format and are fully controlled by Lingo. Simply put, an animator or 3D artist can create character animations in his 3D program of choice, and that animation will be fully controllable through Director's Lingo. The conversion is accomplished by using an exporter, which is designed to convert the native file format of the 3D program into the W3D format needed for Shockwave 3D. This following section contains a list of several 3D development tools that have exporters for their products.

Keep in mind that if you talk with most 3D artists, they will insist that their 3D program of choice is simply the best with no room for argument. However, you should "test drive" several programs to see which one makes the most sense for the way you work. In some cases, you can even download a trial version of the software from the vendor's web site.

We contacted a number of software development companies to learn about products currently available and their thinking concerning the future of 3D in multimedia applications. In no way can we do justice to the specific features of the programs in this brief article. However, we do provide you with an overview and some helpful web sites where you can obtain additional information. So let's take a look at some of the leading 3D programs from which you can choose. Remember, this is by no means an exhaustive list. More than 40 companies have partnered with Macromedia for Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio. In fact, included here is a subset of the programs you'll find discussed in this book.

3D Tools with Shockwave 3D Exporters

3ds max by Discreet (http://www.discreet.com/)

Discreet is a division of Autodesk and a leader in digital content creation, management, and distribution tools. Discreet develops systems and software for visual effects, 3D animation, editing, and production used in the creation of digital moving pictures for feature films, video, HDTV, broadcast graphics, interactive games, and the web. Discreet products are used extensively in film and video postproduction, games and multimedia, broadcast graphics, programming, and on-air event coverage. The company has received more than 300 awards in the past 10 years, including 2 Academy Awards for Technical Achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The tag line for Discreet is "We make tools that let you make magic," and their 3ds max program has been making magic for years. 3ds max 4 claims the bragging rights as the world's best-selling 3D animation tool. The program is the product of choice for web professionals and offers tight integration with Director 8.5. Discreet's initiative to bring 3D to the web includes the support for exporting 3ds max content to the new Shockwave 3D format. The company has Director 8.5 Shockwave Studio exporters for 3ds max 4 available for download.

The 3ds max Shockwave 3D exporter includes support for rich character animation from character studio, dynamic physics from reactor, and the same multiresolution mesh technology from Intel used in Shockwave 3D that gives web artists the ability to preview streaming and level of detail results directly within 3ds max.

Phillip Miller, Senior Director of Software Products at Discreet, said, "Interactive 3D animation provides developers and web viewers expanded opportunities to experience 3D on the web delivered in a scalable format at minimum bandwidth." With authoring and playback solutions jointly developed by Macromedia and Intel and a strong bridge to Discreet's leading 3D content-creation tools, artists can now deliver the rich Web experiences that result in increased online sales, site stickiness, and customer satisfaction.

We asked Dan Prochazka, Product Manager for Discreet, why a Director developer might choose 3ds max for her 3D work. Dan said:

The Shockwave 3D exporter for 3ds max is the most advanced on the market. It is the only system that supports character animation with both bipedal animation and full skinning of characters. 3ds max, along with reactor, is the only 3D program that will allow for the preview and export of the Havok physics that are supported in Macromedia's Shockwave 3D. Using these programs, you can set up and preview sophisticated rigid body dynamics, export both the geometry and the physics, and bring them together in Director. Quite simply, a Director user would want to use 3ds max to generate his/her 3D content because no other program supports the exporting of so many 3D features and so much 3D content to Shockwave 3D.
CINEMA 4D by MAXON Computer (http://www.maxoncomputer.com/)

MAXON Computer is the developer of professional 3D modeling, painting, animation, and rendering solutions. Their award-winning products have been used extensively in film, television, science, architecture, engineering, and other industries. MAXON products have been used for The Mummy Returns, Gladiator, Tomb Raider, Logo, Inspector Gadget, Small Soldiers, Blast From the Past, TiVO, NBC, DirecTV, Mad TV, JAG, Comedy Central, The WB, Fox Kids, and many more. MAXON has offices in Newbury Park, California and Friedrichsdorf, Germany.

CINEMA 4D is a fully integrated 3D modeling, animation, and rendering package for Windows and Macintosh systems. It is well known for its surprisingly fast and photorealistic raytracer. You can download a free demo version of the program from their web site or purchase the full version for $1695. BodyPaint 3D, a companion product to CINEMA 4D, is an advanced 3D painting application for creating high-quality textures in a 3D environment. BodyPaint 3D seamlessly integrates into CINEMA 4D XL, enabling artists to add detail to surfaces at any point during the production process. It also can be used as a standalone application in combination with other popular 3D software packages.

We asked Paul Babb, the President of MAXON Computer, why a Director developer might choose this product for his 3D needs. Paul said, "We offer a great price/performance ratio, and our products are fast, both in the working environment and when rendering scenes."

Paul went on to say:

Our products are powerful. Both products handle very complex scenes in the millions of polygons, hundreds of shadow-casting lights, countless texture maps, particles, and complex animation with ease. Most programs cannot even open scenes of this size. Some have as many as one billion polygons per object. Our products allow you to have unlimited objects, unlimited materials and textures, unlimited lights, unlimited cameras, and unlimited animation tracks per object.

CINEMA 4D XL 7 works well with older hardware, requires less RAM than other 3D packages, and generates extremely efficient file size. The program will allow background rendering and enables you to open multiple projects simultaneously. In a development shop where both Windows and Macintosh systems are running, CINEMA 4D XL is only 5 percent OS-dependent, so using it feels the same on all platforms. It is completely customizable, so you can define your own keyboard shortcuts and even change the dialog boxes and menu structure. The product is available in German, English, Italian, French, and Japanese.

Peachpit Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from Peachpit and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about Peachpit products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites; develop new products and services; conduct educational research; and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email ask@peachpit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by Adobe Press. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.peachpit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020