Thursday, January 17, 2008

New COLLADA flex sample based on Away3D

Finally got around to posting a COLLADA viewer that we built based on modified version of Away 3D. The component was put together to support viewing 3D models based on the COLLADA standard within a Flex application.

Changes include:
  • - Implement a flex component for the AWAY3d rendering engine.
  • - Hover/Zoom navigation support using custom targeted hover camera (hold down shift OR ctrl on top of the model viewer).
  • - Added simple material and lighting support to the COLLADA parser.
  • - Added materials preloading support.

The reason behind building this component is that we wanted to support viewing and interacting with a 3D model for a flex application. We also wanted to ensure that existing 3d models can be reused. Some of our envisioned usage scenarios below:
  • - interacting with a Air Plane or Car Model for a technician to document repairs and issues done (visual maintenance record).
  • - review architecture and design decisions for a building amongst architects, and developers.
  • - etc...
The viewing part was handled, but interacting will require a bit more work. The source code and samples have been posted. Feel free to upgrade / migrate to the latest AWAY 3D and/or merge the changes into Papervision 3d (PV3D).

To view a demo of the viewer in action here. The samples page on our website here, including a download for project source.

Cheers,

David