3d JavaScript supports AC3D models

[bill]

I have been developing a 3d JavaScript library lately for the heck of it and decided to support the AC3D file format for import/export! The library is still in the early stages so I haven’t released it yet but I created a height-map terrain demo with an AC3D export feature you can play with here (http://clouddev.org/node/41).

Cool eh?

--Bill

[lisa]

Nifty! I'd have never thought Javascript was fast enough for that.

You should look at the Palm Pre SDK. The phone is web-apps only, but I bet a lot of people would be interested in 3D for the phone.

[Andy]

That's amazing!

[bill]

Thanks! Yeh Google Chrome and Firefox 3.5+ JIT compile there JavaScript now so 3d has become somewhat possible.
Lisa, I’m not sure it would work well on a phone for much more than a cube (though even that would be neat) but I have been curious about making web apps that run on phones, cool idea.

[Ham]

Mind blowing. Works fine, if not a little slow, on Mac OS X Safari.
Maybe it would be faster if it didn't auto-rotate that terrain?

[bill]

Yes, unfortunately it is a bit slow as the 3d is emulated on top of a 2d API. I added a checkbox labeled “fast” to disable smooth shading, lighting, and gap reduction to make it go faster. Also the surface normals are not recalculated until you release the mouse now so drawing should be much quicker. :~)

[Ham]

Yep that fast does speed it up!
Now it just needs an 'eraser' or ditch digging mode.

[bill]

Done!

I just added a raise/lower toggle button.
Now off am I to sleep :p