3D Virtual Lower East Side (VLES.com)

Over the past past year 3Dwalkthroughs.com has been writing about the convergence of social networks and 3D virtual worlds. 3D environments create an immersive and much more interesting way of interacting within a social network than flat 2D social environments.

The music industry is pushing the pace of this convergence seemingly faster than any other industry. Almost every day a new or existing band is announcing a performance in one of the 3D virtual worlds, such as Second Life or There.com.

We just came across a new 3D virtual world which was conceived by MTV. VLES, short for virtual lower east side, is focused specifically on the music industry and modeled after the lower east side of Manhattan. I firmly believe that as the convergence of 3D virtual worlds and social networks continues, the 3D virtual platforms with a specific target audience are the ones that are going to be successful.

About VLES

What is VLES?
vLES is a new online social network that revolves around New York City's Lower East Side—a Mecca for young bands and music. It's also where artists, fashion designers, and promoters mix together in a big melting pot of trendsetting, partying, music-loving insanity. We asked these people for their help in creating a digital replica of their neighborhood. It's called the virtual Lower East Side (vLES) and now you can be part of it.

What Goes on Here?
Imagine you had the means to attend concerts from today’s most groundbreaking bands night after night, for free. Well, now you do. No matter where you live you’ll have the opportunity to see uncut live performances at recreations of legendary LES venues, like virtual Pianos and virtual Cake Shop. We’ve also made it easy for all you struggling bands to share your music with the world, with the potential to land real gigs and television spots.

Who did this?
Originally conceived by MTV Music Group, we teamed up with the Virtue group for Music Production, Marketing and Creative Consulting. The Virtual World was built by Doppelganger. The corresponding website was put together by the Donat Group, with the Artistic Guidance of Signature Creative.

Source: VLES website

Technology to Bring 3D Multi-Player Video Games to The Web Browser

Shana Fisher, senior vice president of strategy and mergers and acquisitions at IAC, Barry Diller's Internet conglomerate, brokered a deal in September resulting in in the ownership of a majority stake in GarageGames.

GarageGames, has developed the technology to bring 3D multiplayer, Xbox-quality action games to the Web browser. Fisher is convinced it will be a game changer, creating an untapped market worth about $2 billion a year.

The company spent two years developing high-end 3D game technology for Web browsers in secret--"a very, very, very hard problem," she says--before IAC came along and provided the resources to launch a game portal.

Source: Fast Company

Supposedly many new 3D games are being created that will utilize the portal created by GarageGames. One of the exciting concepts of this platform is that it will not require expensive consoles and also allow for games to be updated on the fly.

The computer game industry is a $40 billion dollar industry that certainly offers a tremendous potential for any new technology that can improve the experience.

3Dwalkthroughs.com is excited to see the 3D technology that will be built into these new browser based games. We have often had our clients compare the look of our 3D Walkthroughs to some of the more impressive 3D video games on the market. I wonder if the browser based 3D technology utilized in video games can be applied to improve the interactive 3D experience we can offer our clients.

Qwaq - The Ultimate 3D Virtual Collaboration Tool?

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes we have found one of the most effective 3D virtual world applications to be launched to date. The application is designed by Palo Alto based Qwaq, which has just announced a $7 million first round of funding co-led by Alloy Ventures and Storm Ventures with participation from previous investor KPG Ventures.

Qwaq's 3D virtual world application is unique as it allows for real time collaboration and sharing of most types of documents. Much like Second Life, Qwaq Forums uses animated avatars representing users to populate 3D office spaces, complete with rotating fans and potted plants. Qwak's application has been described as a mash-up of WebEx and Second Life.

Here is some more information taken directly from Qwaq's website:

Designed for Collaboration
Qwaq Forums is designed for collaboration. Whether you are working internally with other team members and groups, or need to collaborate with supply chain partners or customers, Qwaq Forums has powerful features that simplify setting up and working in highly collaborative environments.

Content. Content is easily made available to users; simply drag and drop content from your local folders or desktop into Qwaq Forums and it will be automatically uploaded and made available to other users. Using Qwaq Multi-Share™, multiple users can edit content together within a virtual space. Once a work item is completed, content can be saved to your local desktop or folders for further processing.

Presence. Unlike traditional 2-D collaboration environments, Qwaq Forums' 3-D environment provides strong feedback on where users are focusing and what users are working on. Using avatars and a unique "laser pointer" makes it easy to see where people are, what they are looking at, what content they are editing and how they are using applications. In combination with Qwaq Forums' built-in high fidelity VoIP and text chat, users have a highly immersive environment and important social cues that help them work more effectively.

Context. A Qwaq Forums workspace provides a simple ways to link and associate content. Whether using drag-and-drop to link virtual spaces or simply choosing the spatial relationship between content in an existing space, users can establish areas of focus for collaboration.

Persistence. The virtual spaces in Qwaq Forums are designed to be dynamic and evolving. Users can save the state of a Qwaq Forums virtual space at any time. The saved state includes any editing made by users to documents or content in the space; for example, if you had been working on a budgeting spreadsheet, any changes you and other users made to that spreadsheet would be saved along with the rest of the state of the virtual space. This capability provides a powerful way for users to work on projects that cannot be completed in one session and allows them to leave incremental work updates for each other when working asynchronously.

Powerful End User Features

- Simple virtual workspace creation. Create meeting rooms, offices, lab rooms or other indoor spaces from existing room templates. The templates provide ready-to-use rooms that can be used right away or further customized. Use the Qwaq Virtual Campus™ to create outdoor spaces. All spaces can be linked together using drag and drop commands.
- Drag and drop content import. Share Microsoft Office documents created with Word, PowerPoint and Excel; Adobe PDF files, images, and even 3-D content by dragging from local folders into a Qwaq Forums virtual workspace.
- Qwaq Multi-Share™. Qwaq's unique fine-grained sharing control lets multiple users edit a document or use an application GUI in an intuitive manner at the same time. All users see edits in real-time.

Qwaq Forums Architecture Highlights
Scalable Peer-to-Peer architecture for user Interactions.
Built-in wide area VoIP and text chat.
Built-in data encryption: all traffic between peers is encrypted to ensure privacy.
Option to have Qwaq Host or to Self-Host behind your firewall.
Open standards based: uses Croquet for platform and Python for scripting. Supports numerous document types for user import and export.

We are looking forward to our formal demo to see if the application is as good as it sounds.

3D TV to follow The New Wave of Theater Based 3D Movies?

3Dwalkthroughs.com has been holding off about writing about the new wave of 3D movie's hitting theaters until the box office results were released. This past weekend, the highest grossing movie in the country was the animated 3D epic Beowulf released in 742 theaters across North America.

The renewed interest in 3D movies is due in part to the new technology used to create the 3D effect. The new generation 3D technology is said to prevent the nausea and sickening feeling associated with old 3D movies.

There are many new 3D movies in the pipleine including "Avatar" by James Cameron, Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jacksons "The Adventures of Tin Tin." and a remastering of George Lucas's Star Wars.

Very soon, the ability to watch these same 3D movies at home will be as easy as flipping a switch. Dynamic Digital Depth or DDD, launched in 2005, is responsible for the TriDef Vision+ 3D set-top box.

According to DDD, Vision+ automatically converts most popular consumer video formats to 3D as they are watched, allowing any broadcast or DVD content to be presented in 3D. When the viewer decides to watch in 3D, he simply activates the Vision+ set top box using the remote control and puts on a pair of 3D glasses. The system then delivers a 3D image from any viewing position in the living room with the same clarity and quality as the latest 3D digital cinemas.

Source: Cable360.net

As the ability to view 3D movies at home becomes the norm, 3Dwalkthroughs.com will be sure to start thinking of the elements we can add to our 3D Walkthroughs to make objects literally jump off the screen. Beware of opening a closet that looks too full.

3D Rendering Used To Preview a Tattoo

It is no secret that 3Dwalkthroughs.com promotes the use of 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans as a way of previewing all the aspects of a new development before the property it is built. We have also described how 3D Renderings can be used to help make decisions on capital improvement projects and even trade show set designs.

Well, an article from wired.com describes a new use for 3D Renderings.

French graphic designer Loic Zimmerman created a 3D rendering of himself tattooed with his design concept to see how it would before he was all inked up and it was too late to make any design changes.

Zimmerman first went to French gaming and motion-capture studio Quantic Dream to get a 3D scan of himself. He then used an exported UV set of the section of his body to be tattooed as a guideline in Photoshop to fit and enhance his tattoo design.

While I do not envision that 3Dwalkthroughs.com will be changing our direction to focus on creating 3D Renderings to preview tatoos, it is always interesting to read about new uses of 3D technology. Pehaps we can offer free tattoos to any developer that purchases a 3D Walkthrough...or maybe not.

The full post of this article can be found here along with a step by step process of Loic's creation.

Global Condo Center - Using Real and 3D Virtual Worlds To Market New Properties

Vancouver based Global Condo Center has announced the launch of a new platform that allows potential residential or recreational real estate buyers to view properties worldwide in person, online and in the virtual world of Second Life.

Walk-in Urban & Resort Condo Center stores currently located in downtown Vancouver and Calgary, Alberta, offer display areas for local and foreign developers to present their properties in person to prospective buyers. Developers can also feature their projects on www.globalcondocenter.com, the company's Internet search portal capable of showcasing new developments in 2,200 cities and regions around the world. A second web site, www.previewcondocenter.com is used when developers have an upcoming project. Members to this web site are e-mailed about new developments if a project meets certain criteria they have identified. Both Condo Center portals can be accessed online and on large screens at Urban & Resort Condo Center locations.

Source: Marketwire.com

Today, Global Condo Center announced the launch of its virtual version of the Urban & Resort Condo Center in Second Life. You can access the virtual site Here>> (you must be connected to Second Life)

In the Urban & Resort Condo Center on Global Condo Center Island in Second Life, buyers can view information detailing real-world properties, some with design options and 3D interactive floor plans that avatars can navigate through.

3Dwalkthroughs.com will certainly introduce our developer client database to the tremendous potential offered by this virtual real estate center. It is certainly advantageous for a potential buyer to be able to rely on one website to view a mulititude of new available properties on the market. The ability to immerse in so much information about a property from anywhere in the world including the ability to view 3D Floor Plans and 3D Walkthroughs which are integrated into virtual worlds like Second Life is awesome.

Amazing Technology Alert!!! Photosynth + Seadragon

Imagine a world where all the images available from digital and cell phone cameras as well as existing archived images are connected with a huge visual set of hyperlinks.

Microsoft's Photsynth technology (we have written about this months ago) is a marriage between this new technology and an awesome image viewing technology called Seadragon. Seadragon allows a viewer to literally dive into pictures to see the most minute details without any loss of resolution. The Seadragon technology, acquired by Microsoft, allows for seamless zooming and panning of images with no loss of resolution. They are able to accomplish this by very quickly delivering only the pixels shown on the computer screen at any given time, as opposed to trying to deliver all the pixels available for a particular subject.

Using photos of popular subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes this technology will allow worldwide 3D Walkthroughs to be created based on the snapshots of the masses. The interesting part of this technology is that it only improves as time goes on and more pictures and metadata are added to the system. It is also available on mobile devices.

Check Out The Demo From The Programs Architect to get a better understanding of this awesome technology.

Virtual Neighborhoods - 3D Models Integrated into Google Earth

3Dwalkthroughs.com recently came across a new product, Virtual Neighborhoods, developed by Europe based Earthware. Virtual Neighborhoods allows potential buyers to interact with a property and its surroundings by viewing 3D models integrated into Google Earth.

Earthware product is interesting because in addition to viewing a 3D model of a property integrated into Google Earth, it gives potential customers access to “off plan” information including virtual tours, property details, floor plans, images, price and availability. Virtual Neighborhoods also allows customers to get a thorough understanding of the surrounding environment including school info, health facilities, tranportation as well as many other local areas of interest.

We are excited to see many new applications are being launched that integrate 3D Models, 3D Walkthroughs and 3D Floor Plans into Google Earth and Virtual Earth. As the user base of Google Earth and Virtual Earth continue to increase, real estate agents and property marketers will need to incorporate these technologies into their marketing strategies to stay competitive.

While I do not believe less realistic 3D models will ever replace the emotional attachment that can be created from a photo-realistic custom 3D Walkthrough, I do believe they are getting much better in quality, and are an effective way of getting a good sense of a properties relative location.

Affinova - Maximize the Impact of Your Website as a Marketing Tool

As a partner in an interactive services company, I am well aware of the inherent dangers of designing a website in a vacuum. Designing in a vacuum means the website was designed based on the preferences of the website owner and staff as opposed to what might be most effective for the end user.

When we first started creating websites it was typical for some of our website clients to demand a certain look and feel simply based on their aesthetic tastes. We quickly realized that the problem with this philosophy was while the end product might have been a nice looking website, the website's various calls to action were not achieving any real success.

After many years of experience we have been able to move away from these types of clients and have gained a wisdom regarding what it takes to truly optmize a website and maximize it's effectiveness. Are you ready for the answer? Affinova

Whether the objective is to create a new product, reinvigorate an existing brand, or develop a breakthrough marketing plan, Affinnova's solutions enable marketers to generate and evaluate millions of viable options to find the best ones. Affinnova empowers marketers to unleash their imagination, and innovate with speed and confidence.

Affinnova's patented IDDEA™ (Interactive Discovery & Design by Evolutionary Algorithms) technology engages consumers to amplify and optimize marketers' ideas. From an initial set of marketers' inputs, IDDEA's "Darwinian" process interacts with consumers to evolve a desired endpoint, such as a new product concept or a new promotion event. Consumers' preferences provide the critical selection pressure, through which good ideas live to breed better ones, and weak ideas die out. In the end, IDDEA™ identifies the best possible ideas, and draws powerful consumer insights from the evolution process.

For a formal introduction to the contact person at Affinova please contact us at 3Dwalkthroughs.com. It is amazing that changing a 3D Walkthrough button from one side of the page to another or changing it's color can have such an impact on lead generation. These are the types of answers that lie within the Affinova algorithm.

The Launch of Everyscape 3D Virtual Tours - 3D Map Views Inside Buildings

In September, 3Dwalkthroughs.com posted a story about the beta release of Everyscape.com. Everyscape's technology lets businesses and organizations build engaging, immersive relationships with consumers through three-dimensional, photo-realistic experiences of cities and towns, streets and sidewalks, building exteriors and interiors.

This morning Everyscape officially opened its doors for business and is seeking to quickly capture images throughout the world. By the end of 2007, EveryScape plans to capture 10 metropolitan areas and 15 additional towns.

Unlike a traditional virtual tour, which spins in a 360 degree circle, this new technology allows you to transport forward, fully experiencing the environment from all angles.

As NYC was one of the first cities to be captured, I was able to test out this cutting edge technology by navigating from Madison Square Garden directly to the 3Dwalkthroughs.com office. The result is pictured above.

One of the advantages of this technology over Google Earth is that it also allows you to capture interior views of buildings. Currently interior views are only available in Miami and Aspen. When the view moves from an outside to an inside view, the map window changes from a city view to a blueprint of the layout of the building or room. As you move through the building, the map changes to reflect where you are.

One of the other cool features of this technology is that you can learn more about a specific location by linking from Everyscapes interface to sites such as links to Flickr, Yelp, Wikipedia and YouTube.

Integrating our 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans into Everyscape's technology might be an interesting way for visitors to better understand the areas surrounding a new development project we are involved with.

3D Technology Green Buildings

It seems like every new development project in NYC is described as being a "Green Building". I am sure most of you have heard the term, but do you really know what it means?

Here is a good definition I pulled from Wikipedia

Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency of buildings and their use of energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.

A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally.[1] Other commonly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture; however, while good design is essential to green building, the actual operation, maintenance, and ultimate disposal or deconstruction of the building also have very significant effects on buildings' overall environmental impact.

The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Effective green building can lead to 1) reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment. The sustainable buildings are also environmentally friendly in the fact that they are built out of materials that are good for the environment.The appearance and style of sustainable homes and buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.

Green buildings are scored by rating systems, such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, Green Globes from GBI and other locally developed rating systems.

So how does 3Dwalkthroughs.com believe 3D technology can help promote the benefits green building? Unlike video and virtual tours which typically show an existing building, as-is, 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans can be created to effectively demonstrate the environmentally friendly materials and planning that are being in a Green development project. Using 3D technology to stimulate an emotional response by viewers is a much more impactful way of demonstrating the benefits a Green Building can have on the environment and can go into much more detail than just showing pictures or adding some copy to marketing materials.

We are right about to start creating a 3D Walkthrough for one of these properties and will post the link once it is completed.

SpaceTime 2 - 3D Search Engine Has Just Launched it's Beta 2 Version

Spacetime, the 3D search engine, has just launched the upgraded beta version of their application. Their initial beta release garnered over a half of a million users. Based on feedback from this initial test group they have made the following improvements/upgrades to their application:
1) Improved Sleek Interface which makes searching even easier and more fun.
2) Space Time Zoom- A interactive magnifying glass help highlight whenever the specific search terms show up in the results. This makes it easier to find specific answers to queries.
3) Improved 3D Interaction with Multiple Open Pages.
4) Improved Bookmark and Favorites Functionality.
5) Navigator Widget which allows viewers to zoom, plan and zip through search results much easier.
6) Increased Number of Major Content Partners including Flickr, YouTube, Google, Ebay, Yahoo, and RSS.
7) Intuitive Timeline which lets users quickly browse through content.

If you have not already downloaded a trial version I would suggest giving it a try. It is a really easy, fun and effective way to search the internet. To get a better understanding of how this search engine works and view all of it's features please click here>>>

On a separate note, 3DWalkthroughs.com is proud to launch a new look to our blog. Please come back often as new articles are posted every day. Our blog's new tagline, Your Place For All Things 3D, describes our focus on bringing you the latest news in the 3D industry. We welcome any suggestions on how we can improve the blog along with other feedback on our 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings, 3D Floor Plans and other Interactive 3D Products.

A Storyboard Can Save The Day When Building a 3D Walkthrough

One of the best ways to ensure a successful 3D project is the utilization of a storyboard. A storyboard is a visual representation of a concept laid out frame by frame.

Used correctly a storyboard can prevent a disaster in the face of a strict deadline. When presentations are created without using one, the client is kept pretty much in the dark until the presentation is delivered. If there are any mistakes or concepts that were miscommunicated it would be too late.

Storyboards can be vague or very detailed depending on the complexity of the project. Regardless of a projects complexity, it is important that the storyboard clearly reflects the main concepts, transitions and details of the project.

A storyboard should require a sign-off by both the client and company before a project begins. This protects both parties and helps to minimize any grey areas when it comes to the expectations of the end product.

We recently witnessed a major development project with a strict deadline fall into a tough position because the presentation strayed from the storyboard. When the project was delivered, it was very disappointing to the client, and very stressful to the animation company as both had very different expectations.

3Dwalkthroughs.com is in the last stages of building our proprietary account management tracking system. This innovative tool will improve our already refined production process and ensure that our 3D Walkthroughs, 3D Renderings and 3D Floor Plans not only look great, but were created under pleasant circumstances.

Using Facebook to Market New and Existing Real Estate Properties

A new application available on Facebook, LivePad, allows users to take advantage of their contact lists and networks to buy or sell real estate properties.

Facebook users looking to buy a home can enter the specific information about what they are looking for, view the possible search results and then save these results to their Facebook profiles.

Conversely, home sellers and real estate professionals can use the LivePads application to list information about their properties for sale which can then be posted to their profiles and shared with their networks.

Similar to other real estate sites, buyers fill out a form that includes all of their desired criteria. The LivePad applicaton then taps into the Google Base database revealing search results which can then be added to a users profile.

The 47 million active Facebook users makes the LivePad application very powerful. Buyers and sellers can tap into their multiple Facebook profiles and take advantage of this huge audience.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes the LivePad application is a valuable tool for marketing new property developments as well as existing real estate. 3D Renderings, 3D Floor Plans, and links to 3D Walkthroughs can be listed on Facebook profiles set up by developers or their marketing departments.

We have been hearing a lot about Facebook recently and we are amazed at the magnitude of new applications that are being launched on Facebook on a daily basis. While some of these applications are just fun widgets, applications such as LivePads offer a very effective way of marketing new and existing real estate.
The LivePads application, is available at http://apps.facebook.com/livepads

Get Out Your 3D Credit Cards - Virtual Shopping is Coming To a Computer Near You

Boston based, Kinset Inc. has announced the launch of Kinset 3D Stores. This new technology gives retailers the ability to build 3D virtual stores that have the same look and feel as their real life brick and mortar stores.

In the next 6 months Brookstone and Tweeter will launch online virtual stores created with the Kinset technology. Currently there are 2 stores available for testing out the technology, a bookstore and an electronics emporium. These stores have over 10,000 items on display with a purchasing mechanism integrated with Amazon.com.

“Powerful personal computers and fast broadband Web connectivity allowed us to build the first software technology that can present realistic online stores in 3D” said John Butler, CEO of Kinset.

Shopping in one of the Kinset virtual stores involves downloading a free piece of software. (the download was very quick and takes up very little space). One of nice features of downloading the software is the frequent updates that occur whenever a user logs into their account.

The 3Dwalkthroughs.com staff has downloaded the public store and found the shopping experience very easy and fun to use. We imagine that the Kinset technology will eventually move away from a strictly Amazon based purchasing mechanism.

Earlier attempts at building 3D online stores couldn’t handle the thousands of items on display in real stores but this has been overcome as a result of improved computer processing speeds. As we have mentioned in previous posts, now that Intel is getting involved in building a 3D internet, we expect computer processing speeds to improve dramatically over the next year.

Very similar to a commercial property developer using our 3D walkthroughs, 3D floor plans and 3D renderings to test and market their concepts before their properties are built, Kinset software provides retailers the ability to test actual store designs, layouts and merchandising in a live testing environment. For example a retailer can create mulitple store designs with various product placements within the store, and then track the results using Kinset's detailed analytical output.

We will certainly be following the progress of this company and look forward to seeing the other national retailers adopting this new technology.

Fitness Website For Cancer Patients

3Dwalkthroughs.com is proud to announce that our interactive services division has been selected to build a website focused on fitness and nutrition training for Cancer Patients, sponsored by Julie Goodale.

Julie is certified personal trainer as well as a cancer survivor. The website will serve as a valuable resource for cancer patients that are looking for exercise and nutrional advice as well as live online personal training, plus a full recap of Julies amazing survival story.

While there are hundreds of websites with information on this topic, Julie has many cutting edge ideas that are sure to make her site a success. She will be putting together a board of advisors that include some of the most prominent names in the medical, nutrition and fitness industries.

Our interactive division is excited for the opportunity to integrate some of the virtual world technology we have been working with into Julie's website. We believe it will create a truly unique and cutting edge experience for site visitors.

If you have experience on this subject or would like to share your story please post a comment and we will get back to you.