Away3D
Encyclopedia
Away3D is an open source
3D graphics engine
, written for the Adobe Flash
platform in ActionScript
3, and runs in modern web browsers that utilize Adobe Flash Player
.
Away3D can be used to render 3D models and perform various other 3D computations. It was started in 2007 by Alexander Zadorozhny and Rob Bateman as a port of Papervision3D, an older and less popular 3D graphics engine also built for Adobe Flash. It supports hierarchical object transformation with features such as position, rotation and scaling, rendering of bitmap textures
, and real-time lighting using Phong shading
or Gouraud shading
.
The newest version, Away3D 4, has been upgraded to support the latest Flash Player 11 with fully GPU accelerated graphics, freeing up the CPU for other computational tasks. Since Graphics Processing Units are capable of rendering many more textured triangles per second, it allows for much more detail and quality, and upto 100,000 triangles per frame instead of the typical 1,000. The Away3D project also maintains flavors of the source code for Flash Player 10 with limited 3D GPU acceleration, for Flash Player 9 and below, and Away3DLite, a compacted version of the engine.
Away3D has also been ported to the haXe
multiplatform language, enabling it to be converted to JavaScript
and other languages that support graphics. The JavaScript port of Away3D has also been integrated with the WebGL
layer to utilize browser based 3D GPU acceleration.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
3D graphics engine
Graphics engine
Graphics engine may refer to:*Game engine: a physics model typically implemented in software for use in computer games*Graphics engine : a specialized computer hardware device, typically integrated with a framebuffer or other video display circuitry, for performing graphics calculations...
, written for the Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
platform in ActionScript
ActionScript
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of...
3, and runs in modern web browsers that utilize Adobe Flash Player
Adobe Flash Player
The Adobe Flash Player is software for viewing multimedia, Rich Internet Applications and streaming video and audio, on a computer web browser or on supported mobile devices. Flash Player runs SWF files that can be created by the Adobe Flash authoring tool, by Adobe Flex or by a number of other...
.
Away3D can be used to render 3D models and perform various other 3D computations. It was started in 2007 by Alexander Zadorozhny and Rob Bateman as a port of Papervision3D, an older and less popular 3D graphics engine also built for Adobe Flash. It supports hierarchical object transformation with features such as position, rotation and scaling, rendering of bitmap textures
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
, and real-time lighting using Phong shading
Phong shading
Phong shading refers to an interpolation technique for surface shading in 3D computer graphics. It is also called Phong interpolation or normal-vector interpolation shading. Specifically, it interpolates surface normals across rasterized polygons and computes pixel colors based on the interpolated...
or Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes...
.
The newest version, Away3D 4, has been upgraded to support the latest Flash Player 11 with fully GPU accelerated graphics, freeing up the CPU for other computational tasks. Since Graphics Processing Units are capable of rendering many more textured triangles per second, it allows for much more detail and quality, and upto 100,000 triangles per frame instead of the typical 1,000. The Away3D project also maintains flavors of the source code for Flash Player 10 with limited 3D GPU acceleration, for Flash Player 9 and below, and Away3DLite, a compacted version of the engine.
Away3D has also been ported to the haXe
HaXe
haXe is a versatile open-source high-level multiplatform programming language described on its website as a "universal language".It can produce:* Flash applications and games* Multi-platform client-side web applications* Apache CGI web applications...
multiplatform language, enabling it to be converted to JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
and other languages that support graphics. The JavaScript port of Away3D has also been integrated with the WebGL
WebGL
WebGL is a software library that extends the capability of the JavaScript programming language to allow it to generate interactive 3D graphics within any compatible web browser...
layer to utilize browser based 3D GPU acceleration.
External Links
- Away3D Official Website
- Google code repository for Away3D
- Away3D page, at the Open Source Flash wiki.