Blue Marble Geographics announced the release of the Global Mapper Software Development Kit (SDK) version 15.2. This interim release features a significant improvement in the organization and quantity of online data, new functionality for transforming LiDAR point clouds, and support for several new 3D model file types, including COLLADA .dae format.
Immaginaria Ltd. is proud to announce a major update to TNGViewer, featuring a new ‘Anim’ menu containing all animation takes available in a scene, and multiple sorting options for Top Scenes—as well as automatic thumbnail and scene cache refresh. Furthermore, this release adds many new import options in the Preferences dialog, Unicode support for path and object names, much improved support for COLLADA files, new support for Google Earth files (.kml,.kmz), new support for Autodesk FBX 7 files (SDK 2011.3), new support for Blender files (.blend) via the latest Open Asset Import Library, plus several important rendering and import fixes throughout the application. Finally, the fallback Direct3D 9 renderer now has feature parity with the OpenGL renderer.
Immaginaria Ltd is proud to announce a major update to TNGViewer, featuring support for the Open Asset Import Library, which provides access to several different 3D file formats. These include modo .lxo, DirectX .x, Stanford Polygon Library .ply, Stereolithography .stl, Object File Format .off and many more. importing COLLADA .dae files is also much improved; previously supported types such as 3D Studio .3ds, Alias|Wavefront .obj and so on are imported better as well. File formats that contain keyframe and skinning animation use dynamic OpenGL VBOs for performance. Furthermore, a fallback Direct3D 9 renderer is available on Windows, on any machine without decent OpenGL drivers. Finally, several interface and display issues have been fixed on Windows and Mac OS X.
Using COLLADA with DAZ Studio and Carrara? Find out quickly which features of COLLADA are compatible between DAZ Studio and Carrara. The DAZ3D Artzone has a concise list online for reference.
IMS Design released TurboCAD Pro 17 offering improved speed. Significant improvements in interoperability with Google™ SketchUp™ workflow have been introduced via an improved COLLADA (.DAE) export feature which includes instances so that blocks and architectural objects will be read by SketchUp as components.
Safe Software, the leaders in spatial ETL (extract, transform and load), has announced the release of FME 2010, the only complete solution for data conversion and distribution available in the market today. FME 2010 introduces new support for additional formats, enhanced support for popular formats, and significant improvements in support for 3D formats, enabling users to create even more realistic 3D models that integrate data from a wide variety of data types including Autodesk 3ds, COLLADA (.dae), Google Sketchup™ and Presagis OpenFlight.
3DVIA introduces the 3DVIA Mobile App for iPhone users. 3DVIA mobile allows you to log into and manage your 3DVIA.com account, search and interact with the thousands of models posted on 3DVIA.com or create new art with 3DVIA Collage all from your iPhone for FREE.
As the 3D wars heat up, many folks see COLLADA’s .dae format as a front runner for Digital Content Creation (DCC). In the Engineering CAD field the STandard for the Exchange of Product model data (STEP) has been declared as a clear winner by some. This article is an attempt to start a conversation on whether or not the COLLADA format is the next ‘STEP’ for the DCC industry.
Google SketchUp will switch to COLLADA for its official file format in the upcoming free version of SketchUp. John Bacus, SketchUp Product Manager, wrote “In our next release, we’re going to make COLLADA an official first-class format for all modelers. You’ll be able to import and export COLLADA models, as well as COLLADA models wrapped up in the KMZ format for Google Earth, with any version of SketchUp.”
3DVIA now supports Collada’s DAE format for their library of 3D models. Downloading DAE format 3D models includes any model you create in 3DVIA Shape, which is a great quick tool for creating 3D content. This content can now be used in most digital content applications like Adobe Photoshop and 3D applications used for film and gaming.
NaviCAD is the only way to see Collada models—specifically models from the Google 3D Warehouse—on the iPhone/iPod Touch. NaviCAD has been approved for sale by Apple and is available for download immediately.