Interesting now that iPad apps are being ported to the Mac! Wow! Like Verto Studio 3D, the full-featured, 3D modeling app originally created for iPad. Powerful enough for professionals doing mobile 3D content creation and easy enough for beginners! But it does require Lion!
Independent developer Michael L. Farrell today is pleased to introduce Verto Studio 3D 1.0 for Mac, his full-featured, 3D modeling app originally created for iPad. The app supports import of OBJ, 3ds Max 3DS, Blender 3D, AutoCAD DXF and 33 other 3D file formats, allowing users to download thousands of available wire mesh models, or create their own. Powerful enough for professionals doing mobile 3D content creation, and simple enough for beginning modelers, Verto Studio 3D combines sophisticated 3D modeling, lighting, and texture mapping with a GUI that works with a mouse or Lion’s Multi-Touch trackpad. Considering its unprecedented ability to import 37 different 3D file formats, the diminutive 9.5 MB app (which offers real-time Gouraud shading, dynamic lighting, self illumination, vertex editing, multiple camera angles, and an innovative Auto mode for manipulating every object in the scene simultaneously) now offers a pipeline, via email or Dropbox, for the
conversion of almost any 3D file into a Verto Studio 3D Mobile file for iPhone or iPad.
Feature Highlights:
- OBJ file import/export
- Verto Studio file format support and exchange via email or Dropbox
- Drag & drop Objects – Plane, Cube, Sphere, Torus, Terrain Generator (height field), and 3D Sketch tool
- Mesh generation
- Mesh augmentation – Polygon Extrusion, Polygon Subdivision, and Texture Coordinate Editor
- Editing features – Vertex Translation/Rotation/Scaling, Mirror, Material Editor, Texture Mapping, Lighting Editor, and Undo
- Multiple Camera Views – Top, Bottom, Left, Right, Front, Back, and Free
- Orthographic projection mode for engineering and CAD applications
- Real-time Gouraud shading and rendering of texture maps, including FSAA
- Real-time scaling, moving, rotating, panning, and auto scene re-orientation
- Multiple document interface allows opening as many scene files as desired simultaneously
- Drag and drop texturing
- Scenes can be appended to merge multiple files into one
Just as impressive as its smooth, real-time rendering, display, and manipulation of computationally intensive three-dimensional models (employing Hardware Full Scene Anti-Aliasing), is the app’s economical interface. Users familiar with popular 3D applications like Maya or Blender are acquainted with their complex, confusing tools, menus, controls, and input fields. Verto Studio 3D employs only 11 simple buttons in the upper tab bar of the modeling window. Six buttons in a group control movement: Auto, Pan, Move, Rotate, Scale, and Select. None of these opens a window that would block the view. Instead, the user touches a button and then performs that action directly using a mouse or Multi-Touch-Gestures. For more precise control, another button opens the corresponding window for the chosen tool. For example, having chosen the Scale Tool the user may work directly on the screen, or open the Scale Tool window, which allows precision, numerical adjustment of X, Y, and Z scaling.
The five remaining buttons include: Add Object, Configure Tool, Object List, Object Editor, and Inspector. The Add Object drop-down menu lists the following: Plane, Sketch, Cube, Sphere, Terrain, Torus, and Light. Configure Tool complements the Move, Rotate, and Scale functions and opens a dialog box containing three empty number fields, which confers absolute, numerical control. The Object List is a simple, touch to select, drop-down list of every object and light source in the scene. With any object selected, the Object Editor drop-down menu provides complete control over vertices, meshes, triangles, and features such as extrusion. With any light or object selected, the Inspector window provides comprehensive control over lighting type, position, direction, intensity, angle, attenuation, color, etc. And with any object selected, the Inspector provides full control over how the object interacts with Ambient, Diffuse, Specular, and Self-Emitted Light, as well as numerical control of Texture Maps, Wrapping, and Tiling.
Most of the important functions are available from the modeling Window, but several are found in the drop-downs of the menu bar: Undo, Camera View, Select, and Open/Save/Export capabilities. Undo permits an unlimited number of undo actions. The Camera View allows the six standard views plus a variable view, and either normal perspective or orthogonal projection may be chosen. Select allows selection of None, All, or Inverse of Objects. Open/Save/Export allows the user to open 37 different 3D file formats, Save any scene as a native file, Append a scene file, and Export as an OBJ or native Verto Studio 3D file.
File Formats Supported:
Collada (.dae), Blender 3D (.blend), 3ds Max 3DS (.3ds), 3ds Max, ASE (.ase), Wavefront Object (.obj), Stanford Polygon Library (.ply), AutoCAD DXF (.dxf), LightWave (.lwo), Modo (.lxo), Stereolithography (.stl), AC3D (.ac), Milkshape 3D (.ms3d), TrueSpace (.cob,.scn), Valve Model (.smd,.vta), Quake I Mesh (.mdl), Quake II Mesh (.md2), Quake III Mesh (.md3), Quake III BSP (.pk3), Return to Castle Wolfenstein (.mdc), Doom 3 (.md5*), Biovision BVH (.bvh), CharacterStudio Motion (.csm), DirectX X (.x), BlitzBasic 3D (.b3d), Quick3D (.q3d, .q3s), Ogre XML (.mesh.xml), Irrlicht Mesh (.irrmesh), Irrlicht Scene (.irr), Neutral File Format (.nff), Sense8 WorldToolKit (.nff), Object File Format (.off), PovRAY Raw (.raw), Terragen Terrain (.ter), 3D GameStudio (.mdl), 3D GameStudio Terrain (.hmp), and Izware Nendo (.ndo)
Because the app opens a remarkable variety of 3D file formats, users may exploit the many thousands of objects already modeled and available through on-line libraries and services. Readily downloadable are easily constructed models with relatively few vertexes, such as geometric shapes and simple objects like books or computer monitors. In addition, highly complex models such as spacecraft, houses, people, animals, and plants are also available. All models may be edited to the user’s requirements. For 3D veterans and newbies alike, Verto Studio 3D offers an intuitive, inexpensive solution for three-dimensional content creation.
According to independent developer Michael L. Farrell, “My goal in creating Verto Studio 3D for iPad was two-fold; first, to introduce casual users of the iPad to the incredible creative possibilities of 3D modeling; and second, to provide a tool for experienced modelers to demonstrate ideas and designs anytime, anywhere, on their iPad. Apple was so impressed with the app that they featured it in a multi-national TV commercial. Now, with Verto Studio 3D for the Mac, users have a simple, practical 3D app that produces great results without a steep learning curve. And projects can be easily moved back and forth between their iDevice and their Mac.”
System Requirements: * Mac OS X 10.6 or later * 4.9 MB
Verto Studio 3D 1.0 for OS X is available now at the introductory price of $24.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the Mac App Store in the Productivity category. Normal pricing of $49.99 will take effect shortly. Category: &ELSE
Verto Studio 3D Verto Studio 3D YouTube Video Verto Studio 3D Screenshot
Located in beautiful San Diego, California, Michael L. Farrell is an indedpendent developer with over eight years experience developing games on the Mac platform. His main focus is developing up to date, educational software tools for the iPhone and iPad platforms. Copyright (C) 2012 Michael L Farrell. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.