DX Studio v2.2 [varied license]

[Tami]

[url=\"http://www.dxstudio.com/\"]DX Studio v2.2 Now Available[/url]

DX Studio is a complete integrated development environment for creating interactive 3D graphics. The system comprises of both a real-time 3D engine and a suite of editing tools, and is the first product to offer a complete range of tools in a single IDE.

The system includes both 2D & 3D layout editors, and allows full JavaScript control of everything from changing the background to editing meshes in real-time. You can also command and control your documents from outside of the player using the powerful ActiveX/COM interface.

Using DX Studio you can build complete real-time interactive applications, simulations or games, for standalone use or for embedding in other Microsoft Office/Visual Studio applications.

The engine behind DX Studio uses DirectX 9.0c to make the most of 3D graphics hardware acceleration, and includes support for the latest pixel and vertex shader effects found on the more powerful 3D graphics cards.

The playback engine in both EXE and ActiveX DLL forms can be redistributed without any further royalties.

3D Modelling

To use DX Studio, you need to supply it with 3D models. You can either buy them from model libraries, find free models from the Internet, or build new models yourself using the built in modeller.

The DX Studio modelling tools include shape extrusion, lathing, face splitting, vertex and edge manipulation, uv mapping, and advanced functions such as boolean operations (where you add/subtract shapes to form new ones).

The modeller is also useful to perform quick edits on imported models without having to go back to the beginning, re-export and re-import them.

Import/export tools are included for most 2D & 3D media formats. If you use a commercial modelling product such as 3D Studio Max® or Maya®, free 'X file' or COLLADA exporters work well.

Visual Scene Editing

The DX Studio™ 2D and 3D editors can be used to build interactive layers and sequences, which are combined to produce a complete interactive document. The top level editor can be used just to drag and drop scenes together at a high level, or can 'drill down' to edit 3D and 2D scenes. Inside each scene, you can drill down further to edit the individual 3D models, textures, backgrounds and sounds.

Plug and Play

Using ActiveX technology you can build your own C++, C# or VB.Net applications and just drop the DX Studio Player in as a component. This means you can concentrate on your application code and make use of the high level DX Studio methods and properties for rapid development of 3D applications.

DX Studio documents can be added to any MS Office application. For example, you could include a walkthrough of a virtual building in a PowerPoint presentation, or have an interactive 3D product inside a Word document.

A complete interactive document can be compiled into a single redistributable EXE. This can then be pressed to CD, emailed, placed on a website or in another archive. The EXE also performs system checks and will download and install any DirectX upgrades that may be necessary.

Get Connected

DX Studio comes with a freely distributable network server application that can be installed as a service on any Windows 2000/2003 server machine. Projects created with DX Studio™ can then connect to the server and communicate with all the other documents through simple script. This allows for a 'master' and 'control panel' arrangement, where you may want to control action on a plasma screen from a laptop or kiosk terminal, or for a multi-user website where visitors can see each other in the same virtual world.

Customize

We don't tie you into using our viewer - the files produced by DX Studio™ use standard XML to describe the entire scenes. The files also contain all the resources needed to display the 3D world, compressed into the same file using standard ZIP compatible algorithms. There is no proprietary binary format so your data is never locked away.

Built-in special effects include full lens flares, water ripples, particle systems, real-time shadows, 3D video projection (in MPEG or AVI format) and 3D positioned sound effects.

For advanced user needs, a plug-in SDK is also available. Using the SDK you can, with some DirectX/C++ knowledge, code your own effects to give exactly what you need. We don't restrict or charge in any way if you want to distribute or sell your own plug-ins to other DX Studio users.

[b]A major update to the DX Studio engine is now available. Here's what's been added in version 2.2...[/b]

* Emissive maps are now supported - you can set them in the material editor.
* Gradient based reflection - the environment reflection now works with normal maps and supports a new gradient property for a polished metal effect. Also in the material editor.
* Improved culling - you should see a speed improvement in more complex scenes.
* New visibility settings - you can now select which objects are visible from an area. Just define an area with an effectcube, then click on the object's Advanced visibility button.
* Animated textures and bitmaps - a new dxsprite base format can now be created (right click in the resources window for new or just add an animated GIF anywhere). These can be used in 2D or 3D in most places that static bitmaps were used, including texture maps, specular/emissive maps (not normal maps yet).
* Collision in 2D - just check the collision detection enable in the editor and you'll get onCollision events for 2d bitmaps.
* Vertex Morphing (Standard/Pro feature) - see the Wiki entry for more.
* Multiple Media Channels - you can now stream more than one media channel (video/mp3) at a time into a scene.
* Cached text rendering - renders over 100 times faster for a typical page of text.
* FBX Skin support - Maya and Lightwave users should now be able to get their skinned animated meshes straight into DX Studio.
* Dynamic waypoint linking - you can now link/unlink waypoints from script. Also the system will only traverse waypoints set to 'visible', so you can control which ones to use.
* Smooth merged animations - animationMergeTransitionPeriod allows smooth merges by applying the merged animation in/out over this time.
* Lighting Improvements - normal and bump maps are now auto-mipmapped which fixes aliasing when further away.
* Runtime texture editing - you can now get/set texture pixels RGBA values using texture.getPixel() texture.setPixel() methods.
* system.xml.createDocument() - you can now pass a XML string as a parameter for createDocument to set up an initial XML doc.
* keys.any - you can now test keys.any for any key down.
* Delayed network connection is now possible. You can also change the network IDs from script, and a new system.generateGUID() function can build guids at runtime.
* Undo/Redo now remembers selection and hierarchy expansion.
* scene.environmentLoad function - will load a dxenvironment file from any location at runtime.
* object.size property - returns the pixel size of 2d objects (including text) or world units size of 3d objects.
* subgroup.pivotPos property - lets you control the pivot point of a hierarchy of subgroups at runtime.
* system.uploadFile - allows uploading of files to a server.
* system.ui.mouse.trap - traps the mouse inside the display window while it has focus.
* system.folders.documentExecutable - if running as an EXE this returns the launch directory.
* object.selectionMask and scene.selectionMask - allow custom selection groups.

[url=\"http://www.dxstudio.com/features_comparison.aspx\"]Compare Versions Here[/url]

[url=\"http://www.dxstudio.com/download.aspx\"]Freeware Edition of DX Studio[/url]
[url=\"http://www.dxstudio.com/buy.aspx\"]DX Studio Standard Edition License[/url] $356.65 USD
[url=\"http://www.dxstudio.com/buy.aspx\"]DX Studio Pro Edition License[/url] $764.25 USD

[Josh]

Interesting... I'll have to check this out! <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... iggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />

[Tami]

Let us know what you think of it <img src=\'http://www.killanet.net/forum3/public/s ... /smile.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':)\' />