Swift 3D 5.0 Mac to add Papervision3D support
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Nov 15, 2007 at 1:18pm
Electric Rain has updated Swift 3D, a 3D tool for Flash, to version 5.0 enabling export to the Papervision3D format. This new feature will be available in conjunction with the release of Swift 3D 5.0 for the Mac, as well as a free update to existing Swift 3D 5.0 Windows users.
Papervision3D is an open source 3D engine for Flash that leverages ActionScript 3.0 and the Flash 9 player to draw 3D and allow for real-time user interaction. Papervision3D utilizes the XML-based Collada file format to define the geometry of the models. That info is rendered live via the Papervision3D component within the Flash Player, making that 3D content accessible to over 93 percent of all web viewers.
Electric Rain’s decision to support the Papervision3D format was based on the recent explosion of interest in working with true 3D in Flash, says Electric Rain CEO Mike Soucie. This is a capability interactive designers have been awaiting since the early days of Flash, and now that it’s finally here Swift 3D will be a “great fit for anyone wanting to author their own 3D content,” he adds.
Swift 3D will also be capable of converting existing models in the .3DS and .DXF file format into Papervision3D projects, creating all the necessary ActionScript 3.0, FLA, and 3D files needed to run the project without doing any hand coding. Swift 3D 5.0 for Mac is due in early December. it will cost US$249; upgrades from previous versions start at $79.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
