This is a repository page to keep track of LG3D related technologies. The contents include:
If you know any technology we should list on this page, please send the info using JavaDesktop Forums > Project Looking Glass 3D . Sorry, this page became a bit too heavy (but I love screenshots!). I may split the contents up into multiple pages in the near future.
DR17 is the Enlightenment desktop project's visions and progress of the next major release of Enlightenment. Although it's not exactly 3D-related I think the foundation libraries can be used both for ideas as well as for future implementations.
Note: E17 has reached an important milestone, the windowmanager has been possible to build from the CVS for the first time after the remake of all libraries. (Thanks to PieD for the heads-up)
http://www.opencroquet.org/
A next generation virtual 3D OS written in Squeak - a modern variant of Smalltalk. The effort is led by Alan Kay. Check out their site for a developers release, somewhat functioning but still very much in alpha.
More screenshots (the page is in Japanese): http://sumim.no-ip.com:8080/wiki/462
The TaskGallery is a running 3D research prototype user interface that expands the desktop into an entire office with an unlimited number of desktops. The screen becomes a long gallery with paintings on the walls that represent different tasks, and the user moves quickly and easily from one to another with a simple series of mouse and keyboard commands. We tried to make the illusion appeal to the lessons in navigating physical space that we learned as children, so that people would "get" the system intuitively without having to learn or adjust to it. The less people have to think about how to work their computer, the more mental energy they have left for their real work. ...
This is the official website of 3Dwm - the Three-Dimensional Workspace Manager, a Chalmers Medialab project, released as Free Software under the LGPL license and focusing on the development of a general-purpose platform for 3D user interfaces (3D GUIs). 3Dwm is NOT an X11 window manager and cannot work as such. It is a full 3D user environment, i.e. the 3D equivalent of X11 (far from completed, however). Instead of confining your applications to the conventional 2D desktop, 3Dwm displays them in three dimensions and also provides the necessary for creating new applications with full 3D-UIs. ...
3D-Desktop is an OpenGL program for switching virtual desktops in a seamless 3-dimensional manner on Linux. The current desktop is mapped into a fullscreen 3D environment where you may choose other screens. Several different visualization modes are available. The transition from working desktop to fullscreen 3D environment is seamless. In other words when the pager activates you see your current desktop appear to zoom out to a point in space where you can see your other virtual desktops allowing you to select another. ...
http://jdx.sourceforge.net/
The JD4X project is a basic GUI Windowing Environment developed to support the Java Programming Language based on top of the X Window system. It was developed with the intention of providing a Java environment that allows Java programmers to build and extend a windowing system purely in Java. However, the project itself is not pure Java and uses a mixture of Java and C. ...
http://www.fresco.org/
Fresco is a windowing system derived from a powerful structured graphics toolkit originally based on InterViews. Fresco extends earlier incarnations to the status of a full windowing system, in command of the video hardware (via GGI, SDL, DirectFB or GLUT) and processing user input directly rather than peering with a host windowing system. ...
Madotate 2 - 3D desktop freeware for WindowsA freeware for Windows to allow locating window snapshots in 3D space with tilting.
Spaces allows you to manage multiple windows efficiently by allowing applications to recede into the desktop onto a user selected workspace. Point, Click and Drag to organize and recall the windows visually. Image files dropped from Explorer or a Web Browser onto the workspace open automatically. ...
The SphereXP is a 3D desktop replacement for Microsoft Windows XP. ... The environment is user-centered. It is represented by a sphere. The user is exactly in the middle of it. All objects are situated around the user. He can easily turn around and manipulate with the objects. All the objects that users are used to having on their regular desktop are now integrated in a three-dimensional environment. . There are icons and applications. They can be move around according to some rules. You can bring them closer to the view port or send them back. ...
http://www.3dna.net/
The 3DNA Desktop improves the way you work with Windows and the Web. You can choose from different 3D Add-on Worlds to explore and customize for an immersive and entertaining desktop. Within each World you have various areas to create links to your folders, files, and programs. 3DNA will even scan your system to create a custom set of links to get you started. ...
http://www.3dtop.com/
... 3DTop uses the icons that are present on your normal desktop and represents them in 3 dimensions instead. This approach enables you to fly around your desktop, change the shape of the icons and arrange or drag them in in a 3D enviroment.
When Windows desktop meets the 3D game you get drive-in wallpaper - 3D desktop wallpapers which you move into and desktop icons which you move among. Explore your desktop in 3D. Look around and move around as in a 3D game. Instead of power-ups and players to watch out for, you have 3D icons and views to look at. Instead of in-game action immerse yourself in ROOMS desktop space and enjoy its views just park your eyes.
http://www.manyone.net/homesite/index.html
...
As an open platform for the second-generation Web experience, The
ManyOne Network is designed to deliver four essential capabilities to
portals and developers:
(1) an open-source Web browser based upon Mozilla, with a coherent
meta-navigation system consistent across all portals, based on science
and a semantic mapping of the relationships among content categories.
(2) a shared caching system for rich "Media Packs," enabling
predictive, background, and pushed caching of content objects from any
compliant server.
(3)an XML-based, open source specification enabling an extensive third-party market to emerge for XML-data-driven rich-media portals, including 3D objects, "interface widgets" such as tables, graphs, drop-down lists, floating windows, button sets, surveys, scrollers, toggles, meters, dials, or shaded areas.
(4) The ManyOne Universal Portal Service.
Muse combines the sensory impact of television with the interactivity and networking capabilities of the Internet. The Muse software platform allows organizations to create collaborative custom solutions that utilize rich media, 3D environments, and multi-user capabilities. ... Muse-Prime is a unique next-generation PC tool that delivers a stunning new user-interface experience. With Muse-Prime, the average computer user is now able to enjoy the Internet's richest media content while sharing the experience with other users simultaneously. Muse-Prime operates like a "super browser" allowing the user to operate in a three-dimensional, multi-user environment while browsing multiple web pages, viewing movies, listening to music, or using other computer applications. ... The Muse Interactivity Server (iServer) is the driving force behind the Muse experience--forging the link between the Muse client and Muse content. With the iServer a company can support a unique corporate presence by offering a new way to present brand image, products, and services. The collaborative capabilities of iServer-powered content drive the growth and retention of live, online customer communities. ...
http://www.clockwise3d.com/
Win3D is an innovative 3-D desktop platform for the Windows Operating System. With Win3D, the desktop is transformed into an engaging, continuously updated three-dimensional environment. ... The Win3D platform includes cutting edge 3-D and content delivery technologies. ClockWise$(B!G(Bs 3D technology makes user interaction rich and attractive, and supports various types of applications. ... The Win3D Platform Provides: * Client-server environment, enabling live content feeds and seamless updates of the 3-D environment. * Ability to include advertising within the 3-D environment, and produce statistics on the actual time users spent viewing it. * Advanced 3-D applications embedded within the environment, including 3-D file manager, 3-D video player, 3-D music player and 3-D web browsing ...
... The TQworld servers customize a unique game and soundtrack based on how well you're playing. You'll never play the same game twice and no two players see the same levels. ... tranquility's intelligent motion control system observes your mouse movements and responds positively to slow, graceful movement and resists "thrashing" and over-reactive movement of the player's hand. This combination of positive feedback for "tranquil" movements and the immersive visual and audio stimulation work together to produce a calm focus in the mind. ...
Browse3D - browsing the web using three-walled-room design... Using Browse3D's patented reverse-plug-in™ technology, Browse3D enhances the features of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and allows users to find and view multiple web pages simultaneously in a 3D desktop environment. Organize Web content while browsing, save rooms of information containing multiple Web pages, and exchange these rooms with colleagues and friends. Use your favorite search engine and view any Internet or intranet site with Browse3D. ...
CubicEye - 3D web browserThe idea behind the CubicEye is to organize that messy pile of web pages and applications on your computer desktop into a coherent, easy-to-navigate cube. Arrange your cubes by thematic or functional subject matter. Explore them either individually or collectively - as part of a more comprehensive structure of multiple cubes representing your various areas of interest. ...
... Corporates can now utilise the power of 3D to maximise their promotions, product launches and presentations using a 3D environment. Using Buzz 3D technology, environments can either be created by you either using Buzz 3D WorkSpace or the Buzz 3D ToolKit. ... The customised 3D environment can be made available to download and install from a web site or by distribution by CD-ROM making the distribution of information straightforward and practical. ...
There - 3D virtual communityThere is an online getaway where you can hang out with your friends and meet new ones--all in a lush 3D environment that's yours to explore! ...
Outerworlds - 3D multi user chat system... The Outerworlds Universe is a thriving community of hundreds of users that chat or build 3D Virtual Reality environments. Here, you can explore and meet people from all over the globe. Take a quick tour and see what our community has to offer. Download the free software and come see for yourself. You will be amazed at how entertaining our virtual chat universe can be! ...
activeworlds - 3D chat, Virtual Reality building platformActive Worlds, the webs most powerful Virtual Reality experience, lets you visit and chat in incredible 3D worlds that are built by other users. ...
3D File System Navigator for IRIX 4.0.1+
As seen in "Jurassic Park"!
fsn (pronounced fusion) is a file system navigator in cyberspace. It lays out the directories in a hierarchy with each directory represented by a pedestal. The height of the pedestal is proportional to the size of the files in the directory. The directories are connected by wires, on which it is possible to travel. On top of each directory are boxes representing individual files. The height of the box represents the size of the file, while the color represents the age.
Note: They haven't shipped it with Irix since v. 4 or 5 but I have been able to give it a go on 6.2. Of course your milage might vary. /David (ddew) ...
Data Mountain - Using Spatial Memory for Document Management... More recently, several 3D spatial layouts have engaged 3D spatial cognition capabilities. Some have attempted to use spatial memory in 3D virtual environments. However, there has been no proof to date that spatial memory works the same way in 3D virtual environments as it does in the real world. We describe a new technique for document management called the Data Mountain, which allows users to place documents at arbitrary positions on an inclined plane in a 3D desktop virtual environment using a simple 2D inter-action technique. ...
3DOSX - Three Dimensional File System Browser for OS X
http://qin.laya.com/docs/articles/acm.html
3DOSX is a file system browser that utilizes three dimensions to view directory hierarchies. It supports a full range of file system actions, such as copying, labeling, creating new folders, and ejecting disks. ... 3DOSX was developed using Cocoa and Carbon routines to gain access to the file system, and OpenGL for display. The "cool" part of 3DOSX is the new paradigm of computing interfaces that it represents. While there is admittedly a ways to go before 3DOSX becomes as quick and clean as the current Finder in terms of workflow efficiency, we feel that the user experience will in time lead to a better way of interacting with files. A lot of what 3DOSX is based upon could be called "eye-candy", but one must explore the program's features to truly appreciate what it can do for the average user. ...
3D-Space VFS (Visual File System)... What sets 3D-Space VFS apart from previous attempts is that it does not just try to slap a 3D representation onto the existing arrangement of files and folders. ... Instead, 3D-Space VFS uses 3D to give you a commanding view of large new spaces where you can see all your files and easily pick the one you want. ...
TDFSB - 3D file system navigator - GPLTake a walk through your filesystem. The TDFSB is a '3D - Filesystem Browser' for GNU/Linux. Current version is 0.0.7 (seems to be stable). This version should also run on BeOS and FreeBSD! ...
fsv (pronounced eff-ess-vee) is a file system visualizer in cyberspace. It lays out files and directories in three dimensions, geometrically representing the file system hierarchy to allow visual overview and analysis. fsv can visualize a modest home directory, a workstation's hard drive, or any arbitrarily large collection of files, limited only by the host computer's memory and graphics hardware. ...
xcruiser - 3D file system navigator - GPLxcruiser aims to provide 3D VR-like interface to UN*X filesystem. It displays directories as galaxies, files as planets (of various properties depending on its attributes) and symlinks as wormholes. You can fly through cyberspace created from these. ...
... Window System as a Digital Image Compositor ... Quartz Compositor - Double buffered windows, Per-pixel alpha channel, Per-window fade control, Per-window transform and wrap, Integrates 2D, 3D, and Video, ... The desktop is a 3D scene, Everything is a textured polygon, Compositing via blending and multitexture, ...
This is an old article, but gives good insights around how the evolution of desktop is going.
Apple's 2004 World Wide Developer Conference Keynote by Steve Jobs... Jobs said that Tiger would bring over 150 new features, some of which will be "groundbreaking." ... The key to this new system is something called Spotlight, a query system that will allow users to track down information with natural language such as "documents I edited last Wednesday." ...
iChat AV - a Mac OS X Tiger feature... iChat for Tiger introduces a new kind of interface for video conferencing. In its three-dimensional view, your buddies seem more like they?re in the room with you, making it easier to follow the conversation. Their images are even reflected in front of them, just as if they were sitting around a conference-room table. ...
Dashboard - a Mac OS X Tiger featureThe Dashboard zooms on top of your Desktop with a click of a function key and, like Exposé, disappears just as quickly and easily. Use the Dashboard to access nifty new mini-applications called Widgets. ... The Dashboard is home to a new kind of application called Widgets. Widgets are mini-applications written in JavaScript that are designed for fun as well as function. ...
Exposé - a Mac OS X Panther feature... Type the F9 key, and Exposé instantly tiles all of your open windows - scales them down and neatly arranges them, so you can see what's in every single one. And you definitely can see every one because Exposé works hand-in-hand with Quartz (the graphics engine behind everything you see in Mac OS X v10.3) to animate the scaling and preserve the visual quality of the window in its reduced size.
That's not all. Move your mouse from one tiled window to the next, and you'll see its title displayed right in the center of the window. When you find the window you need, just click on it. Magically, every window will return to full size, and the window you clicked - whether it's a folder, a PDF, a QuickTime movie or a Word document - becomes the active window and at the very top of the stack.
Impressed? Wait till you hear this: Exposé has two more tricks up its sleeve. ...¨'
The company founded by Steve Jobs, cofounder of Apple,
Next. They designed most of the innovative features in Mac OS X, many of which are
GUI-related. Most features be seen in finder, most notably the 3-pane interface.
The impact of their design-ideas can be seen even today, there are projects designed to emulate
the look and feel of their interface. Windowmaker and GNUStep being the largest.
There's a nice repository with information and screenshots being maintained at: http://next.z80.org/
|
Longhorn Architecture
WinFX Developer Preview Avalon Indigo |
The WinHEC 2004 build of Avalon contains new features that enable you to easily add three-dimensional (3-D) content to your Avalon applications. This article introduces you to the 3-D functionality currently available and how it may evolve in the future. Finally, this article addresses the differences between Avalon and DirectX and discusses which technology may be best for your application. ...
This topic introduces the "Avalon" graphics system, which offers 3-D functionality that enables developers to write 3-D controls and background graphics that interact well with 2-D graphics. Developers can apply 2-D brushes and images to texture 3-D models, use 3-D objects in "Longhorn" markup language (code-named "XAML"), and use 3-D coordinate space to align 2-D graphics objects. ...
apple-x.net
Will someone explain to me why the destop of Longhorn can not look more like the Project Looking Glass desktop model from Sun Microsystems. ...
WinHEC 2004 Show Report and Photo Gallery
Windows Longhorn "Aero" Gallery
... And here's a definition of 3D desktop composition, where D3D is used to render the desktop. Yes, it will be similar to how 3D applications are rendered, with multiple frames/second. And many special 3D effects can be performed, with smooth animations, transparency, and various cool effects. ...
At the very end of the article, there is a list of Longhorn 3D UI Short Videos
Windows Longhorn Build 4029 UI Screenshot Gallery
User Interface Research (UIR) is a research group in the Information Sciences & Technologies Lab at PARC. Our charter is to develop new techniques for people to interact with large information environments. ...
... because people are not frogs. If we had been frogs with eyes sitting on the side of the head, the story might have been different, but humans have their eyes smack in the front of their face, looking straight out. ...
This extension causes a entire sub-tree of the window hierarchy to be rendered to an off-screen buffer. Applications can then take the contents of that buffer and do whatever they like. The off-screen buffer can be automatically merged into the parent window or merged manually. Manual merging should enable lots of fun effects.
A set of Python scripts, for use with Blender that will export to Java XML, which can be decoded with the standard java.beans.XMLDecoder class.
Source code for the examples can be found at: here .
3D Widgets LibraryFunded by NASA for the past five years, the Brown site of the NSF Graphics and Visualization Center has developed 3D user interfaces for desktop and immersive scientific visualization applications. Our most recent user-interface project with NASA is the development of a stand-alone library for creating and interacting with 3D widgets. The core of the library is a set of building blocks for constructing custom 3D widgets and functions that handle direct manipulation of the widgets. The library will be integrated with NASA's Virtual Windtunnel Virtual Windtunnel system, but is also available for public use. ...
Opale.Soya II, is a fast, high-leveled and OO 3D engine for Java designed with 3D game in mind. The project use GL4Java (http://www.jausoft.com/gl4java) to acces native OpenGL. ...
The Xith3d project consists of powerful middleware consisting of a scenegraph and an extensible renderer. The goal is to create a lean and performative scenegraph and renderer while at the same time allowing for extensions and enchancements to all stages of the rendering pipeline. ...
The Java Monkey Engine (jME) strives to create a simple yet poweful API to develop AAA games using the Java programming language.
idx3d is a quite powerful realtime 3d engine written entirely in Java (1.1). Copyright of all parts of the idx3d engine is 1999/2000 by Peter Walser. Feel free to use the engine or source code for your non-commercial projects.
Actius RD3D - Sharp's 3D Notebook
http://www.vrealities.com/cyber.html
CyberGrasp - Haptic Interface for the Entire Hand
http://www.immersion.com/3d/products/virtualhand_sdk.php
The VirtualHand SDK is a complete development solution for adding hand-motion capture, hand-interaction and force feedback to simulation applications. ...
http://www.sensable.com/newsevents/pressreleases/pr-Devkit072104.asp
... For a limited time, entrants in the SensAble 3D Touch Developer Challenge, also announced today, can purchase the same PHANTOM Omni Developer Kit for just $800. Volume pricing under $1,000 per unit is also available for OEM deployment units. ...
http://www.vrlogic.com/html/immersion/haptic_workstation.html
http://www.3dconnexion.com/spaceball5000.htm
... Operating together with a traditional mouse, the SpaceBall 5000 delivers a more efficient and balanced way to work. Simultaneously pan, zoom or rotate 3D models scene or camera datasets with the controller in one hand, while the other hand selects, inspects or edits with the mouse. ...