Volume Two 2007

PRODUCT UPDATES

HOOPS 16.0 on Target for Q4 Release

This feature-packed release includes Eye-Popping Performance Gains (particularly with large models), New Shader-Based DirectX Driver, Extended C# Support, DGN Import, Reflection Planes, Full Vista Support, Bentley Microstation HSF Plug-in and more!
Find out More >
Test Drive HOOPS >

We have good news for the growing community of Java and .NET Developers. HOOPS now supports a full set of wrappers for developing with both Java and C#. We also supply sample implementations to help you get started. As new development environments emerge, HOOPS will continue to ensure that you can harness the power of our market proven API.

CLIENT FOCUS

"By using the HOOPS components combined with Spatial's services, we added powerful visualization tools while impressively reducing the development cycle over our last release." Dr. Baoming Yang, CEO

Lubansoft, a leading provider of Building & Construction software in China, has integrated HOOPS into their latest release of Luban Steel. Working with TS3D’s Shanghai-based partner, Spatial; Lubansoft leveraged HOOPS to give their application a significant performance boost. The new ability to allow high-performance visualization of 3D steel structural and building models has added significant value for Luban Steel users. Luban Steel v12 is the first of many new HOOPS-based applications which will be released by Lubansoft and other leading Chinese software developers in the coming years.

Read the Press Release >

MEET THE TEAM

Ivan Lee, Operations, Berkeley, CA

TS3D is made up mostly of hard-core 3D coders and serious road warriors, so one might wonder how we keep the whole operation running so smoothly. The answer; Ivan Lee. One of the longest-tenured team members, Ivan brings dedication, organization and attention-to-detail to the challenging task of keeping TS3D clicking on all cylinders.

Find out more about Ivan >

UPCOMING EVENTS

Members of the Tech Soft 3D team travel to all parts of the globe to talk with developers about the TS3D Components. Below is a list of where you can find us between now and the end of the year.
EMO
Hannover, Germany
September 17 - 20

Spatial 3D Insider’s Summit
Boulder, CO
October 2-3


Insiders' Summit
Spatial European Forum
Frankfurt, Germany
November 6-7

Autodesk University
Las Vegas, NV
November 27–30

TRAINING DATES

Date: October 1st - 4th
Location: Berkeley, CA
Toolkit: HOOPS 3D Application Framework

The program involves 3 days of classroom sessions and programming exercises followed by 1 day of one-on-one assistance for application-specific issues or custom prototyping.

More information on the course >

PROGRAMMERS' NOTES

Technical Questions

CAE Animations in HOOPS

CAE animations commonly involve models which are very large and/or dynamic from frame to frame. For example, each frame of a crash simulation could contain a unique facet set representing a time-based deformation of the car’s spaceframe. Storing every frame’s facet set inside the HOOPS scene graph might require too much memory, thus alternate approaches are necessary. Similarly, if the graphical information is changing between each frame, there is little benefit in retaining the dynamic data in the HOOPS/3dGS scene-graph.

Technical Question:

Does HOOPS/3dAF support Microsoft WPF?

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is the graphical subsystem feature of the .NET Framework 3.0 and can be used to build both standalone and XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs). It is preinstalled on Vista and can be downloaded for XP SP2.

WPF provides interoperability with both WinForms and Win32. Because HOOPS/3dAF provides support for both .Net WinForms and Win32, WPF developers can create HOOPS-based WPF applications today. Numerous examples of Winforms objects being incorporated into WPF apps can be located on MSDN and the web.

TechSoft3D also has plans to provide native support for WPF via a custom HOOPS/WPF 'canvas', akin to the HOOPS/WinForms, HOOPS/QT or HOOPS/MFC widgets. Such a canvas will make it even easier for developers to build HOOPS-based WPF applications. We expect this canvas to be developer after the v16.0 release, and possibly shipped in conjunction with v16.1

Got questions about the HOOPS 3D Product Suite? Visit the HOOPS Forum.