Suggestion for a Render Engine

[majabo]

Hello,

I'm doing some research at realtime 3d render engines. My experience with realtime engines is very low. I searched on the internet and read about a lot of engines. The problem is there are so many engines I don't know anymore which one is good for my requirements. So I hope someone can suggest me some good engines that meet my requirements?

The realtime 3d render engine i'm looking for is a engine, which can load and render a 3ds max model. Next a user should be able of adjust the complete scene and model without getting access to the source of the 3d model. So for example it should be possible to change the color or the texture of the model. In the scene the user should be able to control dynamic lights, dynamic camera's or be able background substitution. Last important feature of the engine should be that it can be implemented in a website or an application.

The complexity of programming the engine should not be a reason to not use the engine, because i'm not the person who is gonna program it, i'm only doing the research. When you need more information feel free to ask.

Thanks in advance

[alphadog]

The realtime 3d render engine i'm looking for is a engine, which can load and render a 3ds max model. Next a user should be able of adjust the complete scene and model without getting access to the source of the 3d model. So for example it should be possible to change the color or the texture of the model. In the scene the user should be able to control dynamic lights, dynamic camera's or be able background substitution. Last important feature of the engine should be that it can be implemented in a website or an application.

I get the feeling this is not a game. Could you expand on the context of the application? Who's the target user and why is he/she using your product? What are they trying to achieve?

Also, what resources do you have available to you? Is this an established team or pool of resources?

But, to help you along, your needs are slim. You could get away with building your own render engine. (I will warn you that unless you have your specs totally nailed down, you will scope-creep your engine. You'll want to add bump mapping, and then maybe another feature, etc...)

Your second choice is to build your GUI frontend wrapped around one of the more common engines. My short list would include OGRE, Irrlicht, Panda3D, NeoAxis and Horde3D. There are other engines, but don't confuse a game-and-render engine with a render engine. The former will come with a lot of baggage you may not need.

Hope this helps.

[majabo]

First of all, thanks for your quick reply.

I will try to explain the essence of the application more specific. So you where right, this is not a game.

At the moment I'm doing my internship. In this practicum I'm doing research for a company who are making 3d models from products. Now they want their products to be visible by their costumers. The customers should be able to view a 3d model and configure it by their self. So basically a customer is working with the standard model, like you do for example in 3ds max, only now through a viewer, so they cant touch the original 3d model. This doesn't mean a customer get all the functionality that is there in 3ds max, but they will only get some functionality through some programmed buttons and objects.

Some examples could be that they can drag and drop a light or a camera. They can adjust the settings of these lights and camera's. Besides they can optimize the scene the way they like they also have the ability to customize the 3d model. So for example they can change the color of the model, change reflections, change textures.

This engine should be able to connect with a database where it can find and load its 3d models from. The 3d viewer should be integrated in a (web)application.

[fireside]

Most scene editors do exactly what you describe, so just doing a search for scene editor in the engine database will cover it. Shiva is popular right now and has a scene editor on the commercial side of things, there are many more. Irrlicht is an open source engine which has a scene editor, Horde3d does also.

[alphadog]

Thanks. That's a little more informative. The crux of the matter is the extent of the customizations allowed to the user, and the complexity of the object representation.

If both are low, and given your need for web integration, I'd recommend you look at the following technologies (not engines per se). Start with the wikipedia entries and expand from there.

- VRML
- COLLADA
- Microsoft's Silverlight
- Adobe's Flash/Flex/AIR

Along with determining if either of these solutions fit your needs, you should be able to find a ton of material to get going. You may also want to see what companies like Autodesk have available.

Other engines that may suit you are basically Flash-based: Papervision3D, Away3D and Alternativa3D. Note, I have never used any; I just know of their existence.

Where these may fail is is you want "Autodesk 3DMax Online with stripped-down menus but full HQ rendering". The client-side, Flash-based rendering won't reach the level of 3D Max, I think.

Things like OGRE may be the wrong pile of technology for you. Lots of those 3D game engines aren't built for being put online, although I'm sure there a way if you thought about it a lot...

[alphadog]

Most scene editors do exactly what you describe, so just doing a search for scene editor in the engine database will cover it. Shiva is popular right now and has a scene editor on the commercial side of things, there are many more. Irrlicht is an open source engine which has a scene editor, Horde3d does also.

I guess what he wants is an online scene editor, really. I don't know of one, but existing scene editors would help him figure out how to implement his project. What fireside is talking about is a program like Anim8tor or Milkshape.

[fireside]

I guess what he wants is an online scene editor, really. I don't know of one, but existing scene editors would help him figure out how to implement his project. What fireside is talking about is a program like Anim8tor or Milkshape.

Missed that, sorry. Yeah, that's something you pretty much need to write yourself. It wouldn't be all that hard. Jpct is a cool little 3d java engine that you could do something like that in fairly easily. There's also JMonkey Engine.