3D
Experiments in the Third Dimension: FIVe3D
UPDATE: For a more interesting and less useful FIVe3D example, see my other post here. And for yet another example that runs surprisingly well considering the sheer number of filters it uses, see here.
After some diligent research, I have compiled a list of things that impress me about Mathieu Badimon.
- He lives in Paris
- He speaks at least two languages (that is, I assume he speaks French as well as English.)
- He has had at least one website on The Flash Website Awards
- He apparently seems to understand exactly what the Flash community needs in a 3D engine
This last one in particular has gotten me excited today, because today I learned that he has released said 3D engine into the wild. Apparently he did this some time ago, but I only found out in the last few hours- and I, suffice it to say, am thrilled.
Here’s why I’m excited about this engine. Everybody in the community knows about Papervision3D, Away3D, or Sandy. There’s nothing new there. But all the development in those arenas seems to be in the direction of textured polygons, an area which holds limited appeal to me because of the limited power of the Flash Player. In general, I’ve found that nice smooth 3D vector effects that I want, I’ve had to bend Papervision to my will. Or, in some cases (such as text), I’ve never gotten a result I’m happy with.
So that’s why I’m thrilled about FIVe3D, which focuses on 3D vectors. Nice smooth lines, better text (although still not perfect), and no weird clipping issues that I’ve run into yet. It still seems to be pretty basic, and hopefully M. Badimon plans on continuing development, but what I see right now is pretty impressive. Here’s what I cooked up in about an hour. It’s a little rough, so forgive me- this is my first time with the engine. Reload the page to see the animation.
The subject matter is a little boring, but I think it will leave a certain potential client muchly impressed. Here’s the direct link, if you’d like to impress your own clients: FIVe3D.
Tags: Discussion
7 comments for “Experiments in the Third Dimension: FIVe3D”
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I just glanced at a little bit of the source code for that particular library, but it looks like he uses the same matrix transformations and projection pipeline that the rest of the world does. PV3D (and probably the others) actually supports mapping MovieClips to surfaces which can net you the same sort of thing. Not really trying to knock this guy’s library or anything–I’m sure it has its own advantages–in particular it being tailored for a specific sort of use, and the other engines trying to be general and/or game-oriented (Away3D) but it’s still the same thing as the others at its core.
Also just a lame clarification, 3D stuff itself is generally all done with vectors, though probably not in the “Flash”-sense you’re used to thinking about. You specify points in space and then interpolate along those points, generally linearly (edges of a polygon). PV3D, again, has the ability to draw lines and curves using Flash’s actual vector renderer in a 3 dimensional space as well.
Looks good, though!
That is actually pretty interesting. The last time I used Papervision, I had to create a MovieClip and then grab a bitmap of it to map onto a surface. It looked good at certain angles, but it was a precarious balance.
Then again, maybe I was just doing it wrong. Guess I’ll have to look into PV3D again.
Yeah I think it’s relatively new (but not that new). You can interact with the mapped movieclips as well. I’ve never done it myself, but I’ve seen it done many, many times.
I wouldn’t necessarily indiscriminately choose PV3D over this thing, though. Gotta use the right tool for the job, and all of that.
I’m also busy trying to find out how five3d works… but I’m stuck on resizing 3D Objects like (Sprite3D and Shape3D)… I can’t change the height or width… Could you plz tell me how I can accomplish this.
i am just waiting for this work’s tutorials
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