Overview

Blink 3D is an authoring tool for creating 3D environments. The 3D environments are immersive, just like today's modern games and can be viewed using the a Blink 3D Viewer on the Web or locally.

Blink 3D Builder
The Builder is the name of the actual authoring tool. It is designed to be easy to use, intuitive and to complement your existing skill set. If you are not technically minded, there is no need to program. You can use the Behaviors that come with the product to add interactivity and animation. If you are technically minded but struggle with the graphics side such as creating 3D models, you can use the pre built primitive objects and Pre-Fab objects that come with Blink 3D to build your environment.

For the competent 3D modeler, you can model your 3D object in your preferred modeling package and then export to Blink 3D. For the competent programmer, you can use the built in code editor and directly create the environment.

Blink 3D Viewers
In order to view the 3D environment you created, you will use one of the Blink 3D Viewers. There are different types of viewers available to meet your browsing needs. To view content on the Web, you can use the Web browser plugins. There are currently plugins for Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera running on Windows. On Internet Explorer, the plugin can be automatically installed when a user visits a Web page containing a Blink 3D environment. The Firefox and Opera plugins can be easily manually installed.

If you want to view 3D environments off line, without using a Web browser, you can use the Blink 3D Stand Alone Player which will directly load and display a Blink 3D environment.

Importantly, all Blink 3D Viewers are distributed free of charge. Visitors to your web site have nothing to pay for using the viewer and neither do you.

Tour

Blink 3D Builder
The Builder is a very easy to use point and click authoring tool. Using the New Project wizard for example, you can build a basic 3D environment in less than 30 seconds. You can then quickly customize it with your own look and feel.

Getting your environment ready to be viewed by others is a simple matter of clicking on the Publish toolbar icon. All the needed HTML code is created for you automatically. All that remains is to copy 3 files to your Web site or if you don't have a Web site you can use use a Web browser to view the environment locally.

Rendering Engine
At the core of Blink 3D is a fast, state of the art 3D rendering engine. Blink 3D will let you work with this engine as an engineer would on a ship or at a higher level as a Captain would do. Blink 3D supports the latest shader technology allowing you to fine tune the texturing and coloring of every object in the environment. But at the same time you can be oblivious to their nuances and simply use the large collection of materials that come with Blink 3D to texture your objects.

Physics Engine
For 3D environments to feel real they have to obey the laws of physics. For example, you cannot walk through walls in real life, so why should you be able to in a 3D environment. This is where the Physics Engine first appears, it automatically determines what you should and should not collide with in the environment. The Physics Engine also takes care of gravity, joints, motors, springs and sensors.

Blink 3D uses the cutting edge AGEIA PhysX physics engine which is used in many of today's popular games. Blink 3D also supports the optional AGEIA PhysX Accelerator card which, when installed in your computer, accelerates the physics engine allowing you to use bigger and more complex physics effects.

Sound System
Blink 3D offers Positional (3D) sound. This sound will sound differently depending on where you are in the environment relative to the sound source. Blink 3D also supports ambient sound that sounds the same no matter where you are in the environment.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Sound System in Blink 3D is the ability to perform sound modeling. For example you want the sound to appear that it is coming from the next door room, or you are in a concert hall and you want it to sound as if you are actually in a concert hall. These different effects can easily be achieved. In fact, they can change. As you exit the concert hall into the lobby, the sound will change accordingly.

Behaviors
One of the most powerful aspects of Blink 3D are its Behaviors. A Behavior is a pre-written piece of code designed to perform a specific task. The code normally exposes an number of parameters allowing it to be adjusted and customized. For example, the Rotate Behavior will rotate an object. You can specify amongst other things how fast how many times and around which axis or axes.

Behaviors can be combined together to perform complex operations. Behaviors often expose events that can be triggered by other Behaviors. So in out Rotate example you could specify that the object should be rotated 10 times and at the end trigger the Off event of the the Spotlight Behavior.

BlinkScript
For those who are comfortable programming and for those wishing to learn, Blink 3D comes with BlinkScript, a JavaScript based scripting language. The language has an object model with over 100 classes providing access to every aspect of Blink 3D. But don't be concerned by the number of classes. Most environments only use a fraction of them, however it is comforting to know that if you need to utilize a special feature, the Blink API has the depth to accomplish it.

Technical Specifications