With my ongoing conversion to OSX I am now in need of a new 3D solution that will enable me to develop for both Unity3D and XNA (still cannot leave the MS grip), thus my initial thoughts are of Blender.
However whilst browsing some XNA resources I discovered that the guys over at Caligari have Released trueSpace 7.6 for Free download. All you have to do is register for an account, then download the software.
trueSpace7.6 is a fully-featured 3D authoring package that will let you model, texture, light, animate and render 3D content. As well as traditional images and movies, you can also make 3D content for online shared spaces, and for Virtual Earth.
An entirely re-written X format exporter lets you save your trueSpace creations to load into game engines such as XNA to develop games for Windows or the Xbox 360.
A real-time scene with several lighting set-ups (by Marcel Barthel).
trueSpace also supports import from a wide variety of formats, letting you take existing objects and use them in Virtual Earth. Read..
So u wanna play flash with a wii mote eh: http://www.wiiflash.org/
There is something I like about the words wii and flash being used in conjunction with each other but thats another story lol.
Home and independent game makers are getting a chance to put together titles for Nintendo’s Wii console.
The hi-tech firm has released a game making tool called WiiWare that gives budding game makers the data they need to use the console and its innovative controller.
Wii owners will be able to download the games through net channels accessible via the console.
Nintendo said the first games would be available for download in early 2008.
Fresh ideas
Anyone wanting to use the WiiWare tool will need a basic knowledge of programming, said Nintendo. It lets people start creating their game on a PC but it must be fine-tuned and finished on the console itself.
The company said it expected game makers to use the Wii’s motion sensitive controller to create “fresh takes on established genres”.
“Independent developers armed with small budgets and big ideas will be able to get their original games into the marketplace to see if we can find the next smash hit,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America president in a statement.
Once quality tested by Nintendo, games created via the WiiWare service will be put on the Wii Shop channel so owners can download them.
Wii owners must spend points to get the games. Owners buy Wii points by credit card or by purchasing cards in stores.
The move by Nintendo follows a similar initiative by Microsoft. It has made an express version of its XNA game making tools available for students and hobbyists so they can craft titles for the Xbox.
Source:bbc.co.uk
Not surpisingly some other folks are also “driving” their research via the Nintendo wonder wand.
Source: Coding4fun.net
The University of Western Australia has created a cheap way to navigate immersive 3D environments. To accomplish this task, they modify DarwiinRemote for OS X. The WiiRemote provided a low cost alternative to other controllers used for immersive environemnts.
Taken from the highlighted page:
The exercise illustrated here was to evaluate the potential of the Wii as a low cost wireless 3D interface device that could be used for interaction within an immersive environment. The software being interfaced was all local so there was maximal flexibility to add direct Wii/Bluetooth functionality into the application code.
The result was a usable but inaccurate navigation device, at least as far as the accelerometers were concerned …. the buttons were fine but then that is similar to a Bluetooth keyboard.
These tests were not performed using the IR sensor and that can undoubtedly be used to improve the accuracy when used in conjunction with the accelerometers.
Update, Taken from highlighted page:
As expected the IR sensor makes a huge difference to the accuracy of the Wii as a pointing device. Unfortunately just using that only results in navigation in the plane perpendicular to the Wii axis, again not much more than a Bluetooth mouse. An interesting experiment would be to use the IR sensor as a form of stabilisation for the 3D mouse navigation, something I expect the Nintendo does.
Got the wii Nunchuck working today, YIIIIIPIIIeee
wiiMote controlling shockwave app developed for switch device testing. Click here to play.
