Please review my 3D software

They have: 3 posts

Joined: Dec 2008

Hey Folks,

I've just developed some software that allows Web Developers/Designers to embed 3D images in their web pages and interact with the images. By interact, I mean be able to grab the image with your mouse and move it around on all 3 axis as well as zoom with the mouse wheel (except with Safari which you can't zoom in on). The images that you put in your web page would be true 3D images that you would create in Maya or Blender and are exported in the X3D format.

I'd like to get some feedback on the software to see if it would be of interest to Web Designers/Developers. The URL is www.igwaii.com/Explorer/Explorer.html . I'm not selling it (yet but I was thinking of selling it for something like $700 per copy), just gathering feedback to see if there is interest in it. This is NOT about the web page design - the web page you get to is just for showing the sample images. Hell, I'm just finishing up the Web site.

If you could let me know what you think, I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance ...

Neil

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

Hi nerup,

Welcome to TWF! Laughing out loud

The resulting image is very cool, but there are some problems here.

1. I could only view it in Firefox3 - not in IE7 or Opera 9.5

2. Did you add the popup to disable Java properties? That is where it hung up, when I tried to dismiss it (I did not want to change my Java settings).

3, I chose the "smallest" image http://www.igwaii.com/Explorer/jeansAA.html and it took a considerable amount of time to load, with cable broadband.

4. There were several alerts about trusting the Java app and continuing - I trust you, but most won't, unless they know what they are looking at, and even then, most people will cancel any kind of prompt that they think may damage their computer.

5. I am not a Java developer, but I think you need to look into "thin client" development

All in all, it is a good beginning - but isn't there anything out there that does this already Confused

Keep us posted with further developments!

They have: 3 posts

Joined: Dec 2008

Thanks decibel.

- I've tested the software on Firefox, Safari, IE6 and it's working fine there. I'll check it out on IE7 and Opera.
- the popup you talk about comes from your JRE, not from the software
- you actually chose the LARGEST image with the jeans (~5M). The smallest is the laptop (~82k)
- the trusting alerts are standard for JRE but should go away once I sign the jar files (they're unsigned right now)
- I thought about the Thin vs Thick client and didn't want to have to put a new client on the end user's machine but, rather, leverage the Browser.
- Nope, nothing out there that does this right now - which amazes me ...

Thanks for the feedback. Every little bit helps ...

Neil

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

nrerup wrote:
- I've tested the software on Firefox, Safari, IE6 and it's working fine there. I'll check it out on IE7 and Opera.

still not working in my IE7
nrerup wrote:
- you actually chose the LARGEST image with the jeans (~5M). The smallest is the laptop (~82k)

how true Shocked
nrerup wrote:
- I thought about the Thin vs Thick client and didn't want to have to put a new client on the end user's machine but, rather, leverage the Browser.

If there are browser-specific problems, then browser-independence is a good thing..
nrerup wrote:
- Nope, nothing out there that does this right now - which amazes me ...

I found these existing apps on Google:

http://www.3drotator.com/
http://www.albatrossdesign.com/products/java_viewer/

They have: 3 posts

Joined: Dec 2008

Hey Decibel,

Thanks for the two links (I wasn't aware of them). I checked them out and see the following:

3drotator = you purchase the digitization of images and the ability to place a link in your web page. You don't get the software.
Albatrossdesign.com = they provide a plugin for Maya (cost of Maya ~$5000) and the plugin puts out their own proprietary file format. Cost of plugin is $200 but you have to have Maya, which is ~$5000.

Both are possible solutions but I wanted to put the software in the hands of the Web Designers at a total solution cost that was less than the solution cost of Flash.

Keep the comments coming. This is very useful so far ...

Neil

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

You may be correct in your analysis of existing apps

If so, you are developing a welcome tool for the open source community!

Have you thought about posting your project on SourceForge?

decibel.places's picture

He has: 1,494 posts

Joined: Jun 2008

I just configured Firefox to open .jnlp files with javaws.exe for another app, now your applet loads pretty smoothly in Firefox

I get a message "The application requires an earlier version of Java..." I get that with most Java apps, I have jre1.6.0_05, I click run and it works fine...

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