MellaniuM

MELLANIUM AND LEARNING SITES SIGN EVALUATION LICENCE AGREEMENT

2011-06-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

400 B.C. Greek Farmhouse from Learning Sites rendered from CAD software

Joint PR statement
We are pleased to announce that a license agreement has been reached between Learning Sites (http://www.learningsites.com/) and MellaniuM (http://www.mellanium.co.uk/) with the purpose of importing one of Learning Sites virtual worlds into the web.alive/Unreal platform for eventual immersive global collaborations. The first Learning Sites virtual world to make the transition will be the Vari House (a 4th c. BCE Hellenistic beekeeper's house in Attica,Greece).

The Vari House was excavated in the 1960s, and the 3D computer models developed by Learning Sites became a pioneering virtual world for inter

active education in the late-1990s. It seemed appropriate that this well-known package become the first test case of the new partnership. Learning Sites has been an international leader in innovative digitally reconstructed ancient worlds for interactive education, research, museum display, broadcast, tourism, and publication.

With a feature set designed originally for the enterprise, web.alive is a web browser plug-in that integrates with an existing network, security, and business applications to enhance communications, collaboration, and employee or consumer engagement. In this way, web.alive minimizes operational overhead, dramatically increases accessibility to users, and delivers face-to-face interaction at the low cost of Web collaboration. Avaya web.alive represents the future of communications and offers the best of publicly and privately accessible immersive Web

conferencing.
MellaniuM has leveraged this platform to produce unique and innovative environments scaled to up to 10 km. square containing very high-polygon models. These environments can be developed either from existing 3D mesh models compiled from 3D modeling packages or from geo-referenced terrain maps using the latest UAV scanning techniques. For example, it is entirely possible to create accurately scaled simulations of long-gone masterpieces of the Industrial Revolution or entire archaeological sites, as we hope this partnership will demonstrate.

Vari Farmhouse courtyard imported in web.alive

Keep watching our two Websites for updates about and invitations for joining in the Vari web.alive experience.

EXPERIENCE VIRTUAL SUSHI AT KOI, HAMILTON

2011-02-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

In the upscale restaurant area of Hess Village in Hamilton, Ontario one can experience fine dining at the KOI/SIZZLE bar. The cobblestoned street and the well maintained elegant Victorian environs are a breath of fresh air in this otherwise rather jaded city of South-Western Ontario. It's a magnet for the young crowd at night and during the day the local debonaire set of lawyers and professionals can be often seen sporting their various european automobile extravangances. Hollywood movies are shot in the pristinely manicured local pedestrian alleyways and byways, the local Scottish Rite Church is a gothic, awe-inspiring site indeed.

But, I digress, the most important development in the ongoing growth of Mellanium comprises the virtual reproduction of this bar and restaurant in the very finest of details into a 24/7 available web.alive environment. MellaniuM is continuing to expand its technique and this showcase illustrates this ever-improving capability. The bar contains the exact duplicates of the furnishings and overall liquor bar accoutrements present in the real bar.

The menus and wine lists are reproduced with exactness that is breathtaking. The cutlery, soya pots and condiments are likewise rendered to perfection.

I invite you to experience the first virtual SUSHI bar, come and meet the bar manager, hob nob with the owners and get yourself a discount on the real thing. Come on in and enjoy a free drink at the real bar, click here to enter.

SOFTLY, SOFTLY, CATCHEE MONKEY

2011-01-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

It has to be admitted that AVAYA's web.alive has not been launched with a fanfare of brass or a modern rendition of Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". In fact quite the opposite in some cases. I am sure there have been several instances where seriously enthusiastic individuals have been disillusioned by the inability to work an arrangement with AVAYA .

Following another completely different train of thought I had a SKYPE conversation with John Jainschigg (Director of Ziff Davis Enterprise's Internet and Community Laboratory) a few weeks ago where he made some simple logical arguments that the AVAYA business model and the web.alive platform may be somewhat incompatible.

"So these guys(AVAYA) are actually experts in negotiating semi-sustainable positions within locked markets while bucking huge technology trends at some level.
It clearly doesn't fit into the core pattern of "purpose-dedicated high cost hardware"on which Avaya has built their sustaining position. i.e., Avaya's PBXs are software, too. But they've built a long-term mystique around PBXs that says ...
1) This is 'mission critical' - don't chance using off-brand junk.
2) This is 'reputational' - your company's phone image is critical to success.
3) Your users are too stupid to use Skype
4) Phone technology is the worst-case fusion of "tricky" and "boring" -- there are no triumphs here for 20-year-old hackers. This is about dialtone, dialtone, dialtone (and value-added features). Let the kids fool with the web.

Whereas web.alive is clearly edgy, clearly software, and doesn't shout 'incredible collaboration value!' except to a small minority of thinkers.

The original concept for 'PC based phone systems' was very much driven by the notion of 'apps, apps, apps.' That is, there was general recognition that a PC-based PBX from someone like Avaya constituted a platform, and that developers might create new stuff for that platform.
This has never happened. The 'apps' idea was right-on, but went to mobile, where it's exploding"

His basic thesis does make one ponder. However software collaborative solutions will develop and evolve and hardware options are being supplanted whether AVAYA likes it or not.Two weeks after John said this SKYPE did a face plant and has left lots of business owners seriously disappointed. So AVAYA's web.alive has to be robust, bug-free and ready for serious endeavour from a business perspective. There is no room for performance hyperbole if the US government is considering this platform for a virtual communications and collaboration platform.

The latest announcement from Nic Sauriol on the web.alive development team entails the roll-out of version 3.0 (by mid 2011) which will be compatible with MAC OS and have simple push button features to allow for a complete record of any meetings in-world.

So I think we must assume that if web.alive is to be taken seriously the future versions of this platform have to be commercially fit-for-purpose. Launching prematurely or with extravagant claims is obviously not on the cards and so it does seem that AVAYA are approaching this market with quiet confidence and the motto "SOFTLY, SOFTLY, CATCHEE MONKEY" does seem to apply .

Give the present demo area a try ( every time I visit it is a hive of activity with AVAYA employees debating the administrative rights demands and piling into a private room with the SIP phone flashing for another closed door session) at http://demo.avayalive.com. This AVAYA demo environment allows anyone entry to booths and office settings which can be configured to receive inworld phone calls. Recently word of mouth is generating an increasingly larger volume of visits and official presentations. Numerous banks, universities and collaboration consultancies from around the world have been showing intense interest. Indeed also, Robert Metcalfe (inventor of Ethernet) and who now leads innovation initiatives at the University of Texas at Austin Cockrell School of Engineering was shown around and was suitably impressed.

In the mean time MellaniuM is expanding the range of possibilities by utilizing the development site at www.wagenesis.org to produce environments with Roman monuments which can be explored with jet packs with realistic physics (take a trip it's quite a challenge) When you go in world you will see rotating jet packs, run up to them and depress the space bar to launch off the ground (use W-S-A-D to control direction).

Our capability to introduce these animated scripts and shader effects illustrate the potential of web.alive to generate much more immersive experiences in the near future.

PTAKE A RIDE ON A PTERANODON

2010-10-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

YAMAHA DIRT BIKE (HD 3D RENDERING)

MellaniuM is now offering tours of several environments illustrating the range of possibilities using high definition models in the new web.alive 2.5. Dimensionally accurate scale reproductions can be imported into the web.alive for astonishing engineering prototyping. Dinosaur exhibits and natural history museums are ready for your perusal on request.

Riding high above a dinosaur exhibit

3D Natural History

Web.alive, I am sure you all know by now, is one click of a URL and you are inworld engaging with the assets and VOIP just works. We can now bring you a kaleidoscope of instances with the engineered furnace for refining copper (an old one but one of the best), apartments and aviaries

Anode Refining Furnace

IEEE STANDARDS WORKING GROUP MEETING IN MELLANIUM OFFICES

2010-09-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Andrew Hughes, President of Designing Digitally, kindly arranged to have a meeting of the IEEE STANDARDS Working Group in the web.alive office of MellaniuM at 4pm. EST on Friday 24th Sept. Tom Starai, Information Management Coordinator at IEEE, has co-ordinated this working group. Since its inception it has attracted a spectrum of individuals with both the experience and passion to develop the terms of reference and capability to lay the foundations of accepted standards for virtual environments.

The meeting was well attended with twelve participants and questions were posited about content development, maximum possible concurrency and instance size capability. Arn Hyndman, Gino Brancatelli and Chris Hardy from AVAYA attended and were more than happy to answer all the questions from the Working Group members.

With respect to how the objects are created in WA (Web.alive). Some are created directly in the WA editor (an enhanced UNREALED 3.0) and some are imported as static meshes from commercial tools like MAX, Maya, Blender, Lightwave, etc. CAD drawings have been imported to create Architectural and Engineering objects. As far as the learning curve of UNREAL ED; most universities use the editor for courses in gaming and architecture and there exists a huge tutorial data base UDN web site.
The issue of concurrency was debated and it is a simple matter of server limitation. However >200 people have been accommodated in one instance. In essence thousands can be online with sufficient server availability.
Instances can be as large as 10km.x10km.

(Hat tip to Andrew Hughes for the screenshot)

WEB.ALIVE 2.5 LAUNCHES

2010-09-16T15:29:00.000-07:00

AVAYA really is serious about immersive collaboration using the web.alive platform. Not only has web.alive launched commercially with a 2.5 version with improved HD spatial audio but new features such as in world phone communication make for a true enterprise ready solution.

Check out the new AVAYA Web.Alive demonstration room.

The virtual telephony device with the green lights on the table connects directly to the SIP network ( yes, you can phone out of this virtual office )

In addition a developer community website at www.wagenesis.org provides both the opportunity to learn about making your own web.alive environment and the ability to post them up on a server for all to explore and comment. We have already started to import some developmental environments containing state of the art assets such as this Mini with shaders to apply a polish on the paintwork. I have to admit with a little modification it will be soon possible to jump in the Mini and drive it around .

Please go and check out the "Tree of Life" and watch the leaves move in the "Flower of Life" Dome. At the WAGENESIS developers environment site.

THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS WEB.ALIVE

2010-05-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

Web.alive has been treated in some ways like a red headed stepson although its pedigree is impeccable being based on the mighty UNREAL 2.5 engine a proven, robust and well-encrypted platform. NORTEL embedded this platform in the web browser and simultaneously added the Diamondware spatial audio. It could not be easier to use and the learning curve is almost negligable. Furthermore the Special Communications Research Branch of the US government tried out the MellaniuM Dome during a Gronstedt meeting and pondered as they peered dumbfounded at a dinosaur model with over 350,000 polygons. We could hear them muttering feverishly over their analysis that there was so little bandwidth that one could easily have hundreds of people in this environment.
However the stable from which it sprung has no weight in the present VW community. A community I might add, for good or ill , that has been crystallizing around the Second Life nucleus for several years.

For most of 2009 our efforts to stimulate interest in web.alive environments containing MellaniuM content were futile. Eminently competent consultants we approached stated that NORTEL was now bankrupt and web.alive would founder with it. When AVAYA bought the Business Unit of NORTEL that contained web.alive we were told that AVAYA will excise web.alive as an abomination and absorb NORTEL ignominiously into the overall larger telecom behemoth that it will now become. So on the whole we had been instructed to understand by some very competent and extremely knowedgable individuals that our efforts have been in vain and that "THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS WEB.ALIVE.

Early in the development of MellaniuM we had idealistic notions of acedemia waiting in the wings to recognize the value of high polygon modelling for realistic architectural renderings of archaeological significance. We were blogged about by Shawn Graham in his Electric Archaeology blog "AutoCad into UNREAL" who even mentioned the importance of experiencing a space as imagined by Diane Favro and Michael Lynch. (Strangely enough a comment was inserted by Al Meyers of Rome Reborn rights fame saying he would love to talk to us) Within a few weeks we experienced the unalloyed joy and privilege of receiving a model of the Arch of Titus from UCLA which we rapidly rendered into UNREAL. Within weeks we had been sent by the Kings' Visualisation Lab the entire "Theatre of Pompey" a massive rendering in minute detail in a 3D Studio Max file. We enthusiastically prepared a short paper for VSMM 2008 to collaborate with Maurizio Forte and his extremely competent cohorts to illustrate our realistic virtual world developments.

The resulting actions from all these efforts was at best a resounding silence and at worst a threat lawyers would be unleashed to contact us if we breathed a word about the work we had produced.

Ironically enough we were in contact about the same time with Prof. Bob Stone of Birmingham University, a founder and former president of the VSMM, and asked him if he was attending that year. He professed somewhat cryptically that he would likely never venture to another VSMM conference but that he would be very interested in how we were received at the conference. Bob has been a touchstone for us in the realm of virtual worlds especially when we informed him of the fact that we had been nominated for an award at the LAVAL VIRTUEL 2010. He congratulated us profusely and exclaimed laconically that he too had been nominated and actually had won awards there but they had fallen apart before he arrived back home

When Billy discovers a dragon in his bedroom, and tells his mother, his mother insists there's no such thing as a dragon—even when the dragon appears on the kitchen table, and eats all Billy's pancakes but one, grows so big that Billy's mother has to go through windows to get to other parts of the house, and even runs after a bakery truck with the house on its back.

Strangely enough MellaniuM were afforded more than just faint praise by some influential bloggers namely Dusan Writer when he stated in a blog post "Second Life and the 3D Pipeline"

"Meanwhile, elsewhere on the game platforms, MellaniuM has created a bridge from Autocad to the Unreal engine that is beyond stunning – and provides a low-cost, flexible platform for visualization. Being able to create highly detailed rendered models and bring them seamlessly into a virtual platform is significant, and folks should be rejoicing from the mountaintops, at least among the architecture, landscape, design set…or anyone who wants to properly provide a walk through of something that has detail and looks REAL."

One can never say that Dusan minces his words, however several months later he, admittedly, made a throwaway comment by saying there are "a few ideas poking around with Web.Alive, maybe, which is a product that should, well, die a quick death in my opinion – I mean, haven’t we moved past Unreal?"

Billy went downstairs to tell his mother. "There's no such thing as a dragon!" said Billy's mother. And she said it like she meant it.

One has to admit that change is in the air. I recently was pleasantly surprised to stumble across a podcast of the Gronstedt group "Virtual Worlds in the Enterprise: 2010, The Year Ahead" with Sam Driver of ThinkBalm, Jennifer Belissent of Forrester Research, and Doug Thompson (SL: Dusan Writer) of Remedy Communications. January 14, 2010 where Sam Driver expresses some remarkable insight into the potential of web.alive if AVAYA ever considers utilizing a redefined unified communications strategy. With its behemoth global reach and enterprise network capabilities what can they not achieve with the vision to employ web.alive as a holistic collaborative platform?

And last but not least how will the USDA decision eventually pan out in the next three years. It is somewhat sobering to realize that the majority of the requirements specified in the RFP are available now on the the web.alive platform they do not indeed require a three year contract period to develop and implement.

And at the FCVW Erica Driver of Thinkbalm stated with no compunction to all present that everyone should check out all the virtual world platforms available and see which fits the clients need,

and I must give Erica Driver the last say since she declared recently in a TWEET

"Thought of the day: Avaya has a great opportunity to change the face of unified communications with its web.alive immersive technology because they are already a unified communications provider, and also have immersive tech in their portfolio. "

DINOSAURS AND THE GRONSTEDT GROUP MEETING; AVAYA AT VOICECON and LAVAL-VIRTUEL

2010-03-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

Several rather exciting developments to report on this week. First of all the Dinosaur Lounge was launched on the new SIP cloud server system of AVAYA elucidating finally the level of detailed immersive environments possible in the UNREAL engine based web.alive application. The bar itself is composed of individually rendered bottles and glasses in a highly compressed grouping to illustrate the fact that a huge amount of 3D items with photorealistic textures can be handled lag-free in this web.alive scenario. In addition the dinosaurs and flora of the Cretaceous Period, comprising several hundred thousand polygons are convincing evidence that web.alive could surely be useful for education and training where accurate verisimilitude is necessary.

We have already reported numerous times that MellaniuM can import 3D models both large and small from the magnificent Coliseum and the Theatre of Pompey and the model of the Titanic to the various inumerable species of flora and fauna large and small.

In addition this week, we had the distinct honour of presenting on the 25th March to the esteemed Gronstedt Group in a "Train-For-Success" meeting held in the combined APEX and Dinosaur Lounge Dome environments. Anders proceeded to bring in several individuals with serious "virtual world" credentials and there were some gasps of amazement when real-time analysis revealed the minute bandwidth required and the ease of firewall traversal. Anders wrote to us after the meeting and was most profuse with his positive comments

"I’m really impressed with your work and with the platform . Let’s stay in touch, we have a lot of clients with an interest in web.alive. It’s looking great, and the fact that it takes such little bandwidth and can get around firewalls and can be hosted behind the firewall is huge. Thanks for your great work and a wonderful meeting!"

During his keynote speech at VOICECON 2010 Kevin Kennedy CEO of AVAYA introduced the web.alive collaboration application under the umbrella topic of innovation and the future contemplating the fact that the next generation will take to this virtual method of collaboration like ducks to water. Arn Hyndman gives a quick tour and hints at both the power and convenience which are possible by overlaying and meshing web.alive within the enterprise network.

On the 7-11th April in Laval, France there will be held the 12th International Conference on Virtual Worlds and MellaniuM has been nominated for an award in the Real Time Characters and Simulation Section. The submission comprised the MellaniuM Dome with the Dinosaurs and Bar (there is a bottle of Courvoisier in there someplace)

We are, in all honesty, excited to be in the running and who knows?

Mellanium: Casino Bar Prototype

2009-12-17T17:40:00.000-08:00

Let's just imagine for a moment that in the near future we will be shopping and browsing in a 3D online store with several friends. Will it will be necessary to have a significant range of items on display with photorealistic textures? It would certainly make the experience but is it possible right now to have such detailed 3D reproductions online in a commercial platform.

MellaniuM picked on the idea of creating a casino bar inworld with a mass of items comprising all manner of shapes and sizes of spirit and wine bottles. glasses and cans of energy drinks.

It may not seem a revolutionary step but behind this simple diorama (rendered I might add as a perfect copy of a bar in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) is a highly complex procedure to achieve this totally exact virtual reproduction. Each bottle or glass must be rendered as an individual, dimensionally accurate, CAD mesh and the photorealistic texture applied in perfect scale to have the ability to suspend your disbelief.

So the future does look bright for online stores and museums, art galleries and horticultural exhibitions, car shows and cultural heritage expositions. The NORTEL web.alive browser-based platform based on EPIC's mighty UNREAL engine will indeed dazzle with virtual pyrotechics in the next few years.

VORSPRUNG DURCH TECHNIK: IBM AND WEB.ALIVE

2009-12-16T05:42:00.000-08:00

So IBM are present in a range of 3D web accessible platforms and now they are assessing NORTEL's web.alive client. So has this application anything really new to offer? Is it just a poor first cousin to Protosphere and Forterra? I think not and for a couple of simple and easily comprehensible reasons.

The first is the mighty UNREAL engine which has been honed and engineered with millions of lines of code over several years to be robust and encrypted to prevent data manipulation (i.e. stuff cannot be stolen and copied).

The second is the web analytics provided by the web.alive client which allows for the collection of avatar behaviour in minute detail.

http://apex.projectchainsaw.com/stats.html

Enough said again as our mantra in MellaniuM is " just click the link, click the link"

ThinkBalm Goes Web.Alive

2009-11-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

ThinkBalm were one of the first to conceptualize the "Immersive Internet" as a 3D virtual space to do business. They have studied in detail all the platforms which have emerged and are still emerging; obviously including SL Enterprise and Forterra's Olive ( and many more of course)Now with their web.alive environment they are having a "meet and greet" on Dec. 2nd. So if you have an inkling of the future of the 3D web for business and want to see if it is for real, be there or be "square" Please note it is "one click and you are in", indeed go and check out the space now, I double dare you http://thinkbalm.projectchainsaw.com/.

The environment has all the choice variety of interactive capabilities found also in the Apex environment, such as web page browsers, presentations screens and the exquisite 3D Diamondware communication system which has been upgraded in the beta 2.0.

So there are no more reasons for prevarication or feet-dragging or as Cube Inada would probably say, I paraphrase "Here and now, everybody, here and now". Just give it a click on the Thinkbalm web.alive link and take a deep breath and let go. You will feel better when you let go, honest!

COME ONE, COME ALL! TAKE A LOAD OFF.

2009-11-02T17:21:00.000-08:00

The latest MellaniuM environment has illustrated the radical proposition that high polygon models can be imported into the NORTEL web.alive web-browser client. http://ec3v3.projectchainsaw.com/ .
The anti-aliasing feature further enhances the immersive character of the space.

NORTEL's APEX environment already allows for a maximum concurrency of >500 participants with private meeting rooms and presentation screens which will allow for the input of pdf,ppt and jpg files. The rooms have video screens running continuously, the ability in some areas of web page browsing and file sharing between participants in close proximity.
The new beta 2.0 web.alive now includes the script for taking a load off and sitting in the lounge at the APEX "office complex".

So now it seems all that remains for a viable conferencing capability is a solid high level of concurrency, enough to allow for several ongoing presentations in separate spaces with groups of individuals at"water-cooler type vantage points. Well it's all possible at http://apex.projectchainsaw.com/
Would you be possibly interested in gathering a group of your colleagues together for a full test of the technology on Friday, November 27th at 12 pm NOON (EST) A successful conclusion would prove the value of web.alive as a viable conferencing platform.

COME ONE: COME ALL! AND TAKE A LOAD OFF (your mind that is, if this works you really will know what is possible)

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MELLANIUM: ONE TITANIC LEAP FOR VIRTUAL WORLDS

2009-10-10T07:53:00.000-07:00

NORTEL's web.alive is now hosting a MellaniuM environment which not only contains models with well over one million polygons but also supports anti-aliasing for superbly rendered immersive quality and can accomodate 300 concurrent avatars. With just one click on http://ec3v3.projectchainsaw.com/ you can be walking around this trial domed environment. There have been innumerable calls for and announcements about virtual worlds to support the importation of meshes, which allows for development of truly realistic and architecturally accurate environments. NORTEL's web.alive is a web-browser embedded client which is based on the UNREAL 2.5 platform and is capable of dealing with models generated with static meshes in the millions of polygons. So the ultimate question which must be addressed now is not whether a virtual world platform can import meshes but is it capable of dealing with large numbers of high polygon models needed to create a rich, detailed space.

The MellaniuM Infohub environment now available contains almost 2 million polygons and the Titanic model (especially when viewed with the anti-aliasing feature) can be examined by zooming using the mouse wheel in the finest of details.

The Titanic in the MellaniuM Infohub viewed with the anti-aliasing enabled

Please try and grasp the implications of the fact that any high polygon model can be compiled in a file format compatible with importing into the UNREAL engine and hence, delivered through the NORTEL web.alive client as a "one-click-and-you-are-in" environment.

As you may well imagine in the not-so-distant future MellaniuM is poised to add more domes containing various areas of interest to architects, engineers and museum curators with models of the most detailed nature. The potential to use unobtrusive icons exists which, when approached will deliver metadata of the modelled items delivering on the possibility to develop education and training of the highest quality.

MELLANIUM AND THE TEMPLE OF HORUS COMPLEX

2009-08-03T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Unreal engine has been promoted in the past as a complete solution for the accurate rendering of archaeological reconstructions and museum exhibits. However until the advent of the UNREAL engine version 2.5 and the wide acceptance of hardware 3D graphical acceleration video cards and DIRECTX 8.0 it was highly impractical to produce virtual buildings and accessory items with high polygon static meshes and photo-realistic textures and 2D graphics which were not subject to debilitating pixellation on close inspection. Maria Sifniotis has compiled an excellent summary of the game engines and their strengths and weaknesses.
Jeffrey Jacobson has been working for several years on VR applications using the extensive features of the UNREAL game engine. His thesis and an UNREAL environment of the Temple of Horus, now being used in the Carnegie-Mellon museum, is available on the PublicVR website.
However it has to be accepted that the key to effective virtual realism, especially for fields like archaeology, is the creation of an environment so well conceived interpretively that the user becomes emotionally involved in the content of the simulation. Users obviously desire to experience a design that has been created in terms of lighting effects, finishes, surface textures, layout and construction details which will lend itself to a complete suspension of disbelief. The MellaniuM application allows for the importation of high polygon models and rich textures that are being used now in the Temple of Horus complex to create the realism necessary for a true reduction of cognitive friction and the subtle transcendence to a believable immersion.
In addition comprehensive descriptive metadata relating to the original source, age, design and existing knowledge on associated artefacts can be connected effectively to any 3D item in the environment. By introducing small unobtrusive portal icons within the 3D models, which can be approached on the screen the participant will automatically be directed to URL or local links (web pages and movies) with pertinent information to the item. This type of semantic interactivity is vital to produce an environment that will encompass both a truly informative and a sensory experience resulting in an academically accurate and effective educational space.

A Chariot outside the Temple of Horus

Inside the Courtyard of the Entrance to the Hypostyle Hall

Passing through the Hypostyle Hall

Inside the Sanctuary

Now the MellaniuM museum application will have to eventually be used in combination with the unique Nortel web.alive delivery client. It will be possible in the near future with one URL web link click to enter along with up to 50 others to explore and learn about the fascinating details of the Temple Complex. For a demonstration of a MellaniuM furnace environment on the NORTEL web.alive feature go to http://furnace.projectchainsaw.com/

REFERENCES
1. DeLeon, V. and Berry, R. (1998), 'Virtual Florida Everglades', Proceedings of VSMM Virtual Systems and Multimedia

2. 3D Visa Bulletin, Sept 2007 Featured 3D Method: 3D Visualisation using Game Platforms Maria Sifniotis University of Sussex, UK
http://3dvisa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/paper_sifniotis1.html

3. Ancient Architecture in Virtual Reality “Does Visual Immersion
Really Aid Learning?” Jeffrey Jacobson, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2008
http://publicvr.org/Jacobson2008.pdf

MELLANIUM "DE FACTO" AT LAST

2009-06-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

There now exists a 24/7 MellaniuM realistic virtual environment that is "actually" here to stay. This showcase illustrates the major concepts we have been attempting to convey for the last four years. The use of exquisitely accurate 3D CAD models with high resolution textures and graphics which allow for monumental sensory experiences. This conceptual combination is essential to produce a significant reduction in cognitive friction which can then lead to an effective suspension of disbelief. In combination with the slick and mind-blowingly simple access provided by NORTEL's web.alive's "one single URL weblink click and you are in world" and the embedded and crystal clear VOIP it is indeed the future method of providing the ultimate virtual experience.

I have to admit that blogging and writing about this MellaniuM/web.alive collaboration is a distant poor second to going online and experiencing the brilliant richness and depth of complexity of the virtual space. So no more long winded descriptions of the potential and possibilities, less of both the blather and bluster just go and try it out for yourself and then ponder quietly and imagine for yourself "If that is possible......." http://furnace.projectchainsaw.com/

Now you must be aware of some of the web.alive features that allow for an infinite array of customizable avatars and the practical proven fact that up to 250 individuals could be concurrently existing in this or any other environment. Portals can be inserted to allow for transport to any linked environments, drag and drop presentations can be co-ordinated and viewed in designated areas. However it is the simple effortless entry and auto-configured flawless audio which should help erase what little resistance to adoption exists in adventurous first-time explorers into the 3D virtual domain.

However I must issue a warning of sorts, since entry into a MellaniuM 3D environment should be approached with a little trepidation. The experience will not leave you unaffected I guarantee. You will forever afterwards be driven to accept nothing less than an"experience" with the same, if not better enhanced realistic immersion. Beware, I say unto thee, you have been warned....

If you are willing to dare the adventure. Climb to the topmost ramp and cast yourself into the fiery furnace through the mouth and check it out inside, quite cool and not a little psychedelic I must say.

MellaniuM: Level Loading

2009-02-19T20:15:00.000-08:00

It will come as no surprise to several of you out there that we can now unveil our first globally accessible 3D environment available through the innovative NORTEL web.alive delivery system

Could you ever imagine meeting up with 50,150 or even 500 people in an environment created to contain dimensionally accurate buildings with high resolution graphics and high polygon 3D models? It is now entirely possible to do so at the click of one single solitary URL weblink. The apartments were originally created to prove the viability of importing CAD 3D models into the UNREAL 2.5 platform and have them available for specific projects where the teams would require a download of the the rendering into a copy of the UT 2004. However NORTEL has now provided a compatible, convenient delivery system in a browser embedded client on the web.alive platform which allows for a simple mouse click to enter and meet up with colleagues to discuss the architectural and construction details of the project

If you have followed this blog you must already have a grasp of the implications of this MellaniuM/NORTEL symbiotic relationship. If one deliberates upon the stream of converging utilities and applications the mind does indeed boggle.
The proven use of Creaform 3D scanners to produce virtual replicas and avatars such as "La Fontaine de Tourny" scanned and shown in this YouTube movie, the capability of AI scripting to produce NPC's in archaeological verisimilitudes and the absolute pinnacle of virtual immersion potentiality "the CAVEUT" projection concept using a domed enclosure and single aspherical lens to project can only lead to the oft stated comment "Oh! the possibilities". A deluge of possibilities is opened up by this first extensive MellaniuM/NORTEL development.

Can you ascend to the very top of the angular columns adjacent to the apartments?(as in the above shot) give it a try at http://ec11.projectchainsaw.com

3D IMMERSIVE CONVERGENCE IS NIGH

2009-01-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

NORTEL has just launched the Lenovo eLounge, beta prototype of their web.alive browser-based 3D immersive platform. It is based on the UNREAL 2.5 engine and has garnered praise for both the quality of the graphics and the embedded VOIP directional communication system. Mellanium has been generating 3D immersive environments on the very same UNREAL platform and by some stroke of sheer inexplicable co-incidence presently have a database of environments which are wholly compatible with the web.alive functionality.

We have initiated a program of working closely with NORTEL to test an ever increasing complexity of environments to estimate if there is a practical boundary to the combination of physical size, polygon count and texture intricacy. The main aim of this exercise is to develop a balanced concept which we hope finally to apply to a Museum of Industrial Heritage primarily aimed at incorporating achaeological sites and historical data from the North of the United Kingdom. These sites will include such marvels as the first railway developed for use with steam locomotion. In September, 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by English inventor, George Stephenson. Stephenson's locomotive the "Rocket" pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour.

As a first trial to host the MellaniuM environments on the NORTEL web.alive platform we can proudly announce the accessibilty of the "Roth-Holm" virtual residence. Originally this was created as a method of selling real estate by using web UNREAL portals to allow potential buyers the opportunity to visit the residence virtually from anywhere in the world.

SCREENSHOT OF THE "ROTH-HOLM" VIRTUAL RESIDENCE

CLOSE-UP OF THE REALTY SIGN AND SIDE DOOR OF "ROTH-HOLM"

THE KITCHEN INSIDE "ROTH-HOLM"

The combination of this truly brilliant NORTEL web browser accessible web.alive client and the MellaniuM application now leaves only three simple requirements to allow for a web3D to burgeon and explode onto a consumer market: "Content, content and content"

MELLANIUM LAUNCHES DOTVIDI.COM

2008-11-27T17:19:00.000-08:00

The premise of dotvidi.com is that it will offer an independent web portal for all of the world’s principal heritage. Contributors, stakeholders and advocates worldwide all combine to develop and sustain life and quality in its content. The portal preserves the most important buildings, artefacts and human achievement forever.
Held in a highly graphic and digital form, the world’s heritage may be viewed by anybody with internet access. A range of supplementary features and services ensures that dotvidi.com becomes a central repository for entertaining, educating and experiencing the finest achievements of modern man for generations to come.

The System
A computer framework is built around a proven set of 3D visualisation software tools. The framework is made available to expert contributors that can model buildings, industrial archaeology and other important creations of human endeavour. Alternatively, a digitising service can be provided to work closely with stakeholders that have an interest in making their particular area of expertise or subject knowledge available to view. Resulting environments are established in true 3D over the internet and any key objects can have associated attributes attached. This means that further action and information can be taken when viewing such as download of supplementary video or online purchasing of facsimiles. Advanced graphical interfaces also mean that delivery can also be made fully immersive such as in a theatre or cut down versions made available for mobile handsets. Hosted on a server farm and deployed over broadband, advanced interface and navigation techniques ensure a pleasurable experience is offered to all participants.

Business Model
The portal is offered free of charge to base users wherever they are. Stakeholders share in the ownership model and contribute financially to running the business. This is supplemented by grants from internationally interested associations. Modelling can be done through various means and independent experts will be encouraged to add content on an ad hoc basis thus retaining variability and return power. Sub-licensing (e.g. to TV), e-commerce and VIP memberships will also add to income streams.

Implementation
Our current plan is to build a business and investment proposition over 4 months triggered in early stages by grant support for our consultant’s costs. We aim on completing phase-1 of our development by Q4 2009 at which point we will have a portal concentrating on industrial archaeology visualisation and limited income streams. Break even is anticipated in year 3.

STOP THE PRESSES!

MELLANIUM SCANS THE HORIZON AND SEES AN EVEN BRIGHTER FUTURE

MellaniuM can announce that they have chalked up another technological first in the virtual world arena. During the conference proceedings of VSSM 2008 Marco St.Pierre , HANDYSCAN 3D Director at CREAFORM3D, who markets hand held scanners for generating 3D models met with Ken Rigby of MellaniuM who are producing virtual realistic environments in the UNREAL platform. The UNREAL platform has some unique attributes for developing environments with per-pixel shading, lighting and particle effects. He enquired about the potential for importing scanned museum assets into the environments generated in the UNREAL platform by the MellaniuM application. We obviously saw a huge potential for any collaboration that could yield virtual environments festooned with realistic replicas of entire famous museum collections from around the world. Within the week we received from CREAFORM3D a Chinese mask model reminiscent of an Easter Island profile with a floral, jade green texture overlay and a bird themed headpiece.
The 3D model itself was a relatively high polygon sample which was intended to test the MellaniuM application to some extent. However the final model was successfully imported into UNREAL and looks identical to the as scanned actual mask.

Chinese Mask scanned with the VIUSCAN from

CREAFORM3D and imported into UNREAL

The VIUSCAN hand-held device is capable of scanning objects as big as a car and has been used successfully to reproduce a digital copy of a fountain (in the order of 6-7 metres high). The possibilities are enormous with respect to recreating archaeological reconstructions which we are positing in our new business concept dotVidi.com. It is entirely possible at this present moment to import 3D interpretations of the ancient buildings of, lets say for example, Athens or Rome into an interactive, multi-user domain. However, more importantly, an impressive, immersive experience of the elaborate décor can now be reproduced by importing the digital representations of the furniture, statues and fountains into the monumental digital recreation. The assets required to realize this dream actually exist on digital storage devices all over the globe we only need the collective will and enthusiasm to develop the vision into an astounding, virtual, ancient panoply for all to experience together over the Internet.

MELLANIUM: INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY

2008-10-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Granite Batholith under Cornwall

Could you imagine that MellaniuM virtual realistic environments would ever connect industrial cultural heritage and a massive intrusion of granite under the South-West tip of England?

Well MellaniuM will be participating in the VAST 2008 workshop “Serious Games and Cultural Heritage”. As an example of virtual engineering we have recently finalised the replica of a famous old steam locomotive 0-6-0 “Jinty” 47279 designed originally in the early 20th century and still running at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.

MellaniuM's 0-6-0 Jinty

Keighley and Worth Valley Railway

We are hoping to stimulate some discussion on the potential of using the MellaniuM application for “Industrial Archaeology” in Cultural Heritage. It has been suggested to us personally by Prof. Bob Stone of Birmingham University that virtual replicas of the remarkable inventions as developed at the advent of the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain at the start of the 18th century would clearly enhance the cultural landscape. Technological marvels such as the first iron bridge or steam-driven beam pumping engines would lend themselves ideally to the importation of CAD models into the UNREAL platform.

First Ironbridge and Beam Engine Pump

Strangely enough, however, it has been argued that the British Isles was also at the core of the technological revolution of the Bronze Age over 3500 years ago. It has been posited that the rich tin mines of Cornwall, in the far-west corner of England, was the invaluable prize for which the Trojan War was fought. Bronze, an alloy of tin and copper was the most important commodity of its time and there is evidence of a tremendous battle between Celtic princes on the Gog Magog hills near Cambridge at a city called Troad around 1200 BC.

Many of the geographical features which surround the epic battle site on the Gog Magog hills can be matched to Homer’s “Iliad” written around 300 BC and historians have theorized that the Greeks simply wrote down for the first time what had been passed down orally in the Celtic epic stories.

The mines in Cornwall were continually worked throughout the Bronze Age and the span of the Roman Empire and later until the mines extended under the ocean and simple animal and water power could not deal practically with flooding. Surprisingly enough though the invention of the first industrial commercial beam pumps driven by atmospheric steam engines allowed efficient removal of the flood water and the mines could be driven deeper underground. Even now plans are afoot to open flooded mines which penetrate thousands of feet under the Cornwall coast.

Cornish Tin Mine Ruins

The overall historically significant reconstruction of the tin mines of Cornwall could indeed involve delving into the depths of the Bronze Age over 3500 years ago and navigating a continuous history to the present day.

In fact the application of a virtual realistic reconstruction of the cultural heritage of “TIN, As a Cultural Metaphor”, as suggested by the first question of this monograph, could indeed even encompass the mineralogical formation of the tin deposits by hydrothermal solutions enriched by high pressure vapour leaching from a massive granite intrusion cooling over millions of years under the tip of South-West England.

MELLANIUM CAVEUT WORKSHOP AT UCLAN

2008-08-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

In collaboration with ADSIP (Applied Digital Signal and Image Processing Research Centre) at the University of Central Lancashire, Preston UK MellaniuM has successfully employed the CAVEUT software ( kindly supplied and supported by Jeffrey Jacobson of PublicVr) with their realistic, virtual environments. The potential applications for a combination of high polygon, accurately dimensioned modelling with scaled photorealistic textures could be enormous in fields as diverse as archaeology and engineering. It has also been reported by the University of Teeside "Intelligent Virtual Environments" group that the CAVEUT is capable of stereoscopic 3D simulations which, in combination with high resolution environments would realise a quantum level increase in immersion possibilities.

MellaniuM has been videostreaming through SKYPE live walkthroughs of their high quality 3D renderings in the UNREAL 2.5 platform for over two years now and interest is certainly in more than just a germination stage as blogged by Roland Legrand who made the simple but telling enquiry "The first question : what is the purpose of this all?"

However the limited bandwidth of the Skype presentations does little justice to the actual overall experience of the MellaniuM application with the smooth transitioning through the environments as viewed on a high resolution monitor.

In addition we have recently been notified that our short paper submission "On Rendering 3D Archaeological Visualisations" to the VSMM 2008 conference in Cyprus October 20th - 26th has been accepted for presentation. This short paper will be combined with a poster exhibit and a showcase comprising networked computers allowing for the avatar interaction in the archaeological 3D interpretations. Please feel free to contact me over Skype for a personal view of our realistic virtual worlds and a copy of our paper. (joe133952)

The paper will be illustrated with a pronounced absence of Powerpoint slides but a live walkthrough of the "Theatre of Pompey" which has recently been imported into the UNREAL platform. The 3D static meshes and texture files were kindly supplied by the KVL ( King's Visualisation Lab) King's College, London UK. The historical significance of this environment cannot be overstated as few people realise that Julius Caesar was brutally murdered on the very steps of this theatre on the ides of March 44 B.C.

To get to the entire point of this blog post MellaniuM is announcing that a workshop at ADSIP, UCLAN using the EONREALITY multi-wall immersive system with the CAVEUT software modification of the UNREAL 2.5 platform to illustrate and discuss the potential applications of the virtual real world concept is being arranged (by invitation only) and if you feel that you would be interested in attending we would be more than happy to extend an invitation. The date for this workshop will be announced imminently but will probably be early in 2009. Please forward your e-mail request to ken.rigby at mellanium.com

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SERENDIPITY?

2008-06-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Just imagine wandering at your leisure through a recreation of Athens or Rome at the height of their power and influence. At MellaniuM our very "raison d'etre" could be distilled as the creation, nay, I should say the actual resurrection at a virtual realistic level of the achaeological remnants of these glorious civilisations. Indeed there are vast assets of 3D models in databanks of acedemic institutions around the world which have been used to provide vistas and fly-through movies of the plethora of cities which flourished in the core of ancient civilizations from Mesopotamia to Egypt and from Athens to Rome. These models can now be used to their full potential to create a vast interactive space available for hundreds of participants from all over the World. What an experience it would be to be immersed with your friends in walking around these cities? To explore the art and decorations of some sumptuous villa in Pompeii or walk through the Parthenon as it was on the first day it was completed by Pericles in 435BC.

It has been stated that it will be another 5 years before this feat of virtual representation can be accomplished. However at MellaniuM we have already developed the necessary application to provide these 3D virtual archaeologcal visualizations.

We have to sincerely thank the Kings' College Visualisation Lab for supplying us with the magnificent 3D rendering example of the "Theatre of Pompey"

Indeed the concept hinges on the ability to import high polygon models (static meshes) with high resolution textures into an MMO platform such as UNREAL. The environments and client are locally administered off your PC. Any web based browser client where the assets are stored remotely and must be downloaded as you travel through the virtual space can only result in lag and "less than immersive" latency effects. We have produced a movie to compare the graphical fidelity for archaeological visualizations of the MellaniuM application and Second Life.

The movie compares the Theatre of Pompey and the Titanic rendered in Second Life and in UNREAL using the MellaniuM application.

If you would like your personal demonstration of these archaeological wonders by a live streaming walkthrough of these spaces give me a call on SKYPE at joe133952

TILTING AT WINDBAGS: OR WHY I LOVE PROKOFY NEVA

2008-05-09T05:58:00.000-07:00

This post has very little to do with MellaniuM and not a little to do with Prokovy Neva. The heart of the matter starts with a chat I had with my dentist which affected me much more that any periodontal heights he was about to scale. He explained in great detail how much his old English school teacher had influenced him growing up in Budapest,Hungary and how ridiculously difficult it is for an immigrant to become proficient and totally fluent in the English language. He then stated in quite a matter-of-fact fashion that Leslie Howard was Hungarian and my stolid English cultural bias was shattered. Well, of course, after Googling for some time I found he had been born, Leslie Howard Steiner to an immigrant Hungarian Jewish family in London around the turn of the 20th century. Now let's get to the point Leslie Howard is famous in the US as the actor who played Ashley Wilkes the consummate classical gentleman who Scarlett kept swooning over in the epic movie"Gone with the Wind". However in England he is remembered in "The First of the Few"for immortalizing R.J. Mitchell who designed and built the Spitfire (which is an archetypical British icon). In his movies like in the "Scarlet Pimpernel" he plays a veritable fop, a dandy, but he is a real action hero with a keen wit and nerves of austenitic steel. To cap it all Howard is killed during WWII when a german fighter shot down a passenger plane flying from Gibraltar to London (it is suggested that they thought Winston Churchill was on board, he could very well have been he was always scooting about during the war)) So Leslie Howard epitomizes the archetypical Englishman we (us daft boomer Brits that is) all want to emulate. The point is though that here is a completely assimilated Hungarian Jew who actually becomes the absolute pinnacle of Englishness in speech and action. It struck me then that the real cultural richness of any society is nourished by assimilants, by those who grasp the culture to their heart and could almost be called converts. In religious circles it is often the converts who are the most devout and faithful.
Now I must state my case that I hope dearly that Prokovy Neva is not US born, that somewhere in her past the totalitarian environment in which she was nurtured has moulded her to the extent that now she is the veritable doyen of the US culture she has so obviously embraced. Any proud citizen born of the U.S.,Canada or Western Europe has absolutely no concept of liberty or freedom. One cannot know freedom unless you have been persecuted and suppressed. She blogs like a fiend and I am in awe of her irrepressible energy and clear logic and, in addition, may I say the religious fervour she displays in her over-arching tirades against the sychophants and cliques she encounters in her fight to cultivate both her properties and renters within Second Life. She is without artifice and logically disects and analyzes the ongoing machinations within the VW community. I must thank her for the entertaining way she weaves the Second Life phenomenon with her ongoing determination to have her say in the American milieu which is sadly tainted with individuals who have their own self-centred, determined, focussed view of "real politique". In my opinion she not only tilts at windbags but she successfully deflates them and sends them packing.

SPEECH IS SILVERN

2008-02-21T06:06:00.000-08:00

Well, for all intents and purposes the jury is in about the promise of MellaniuM. The Skype demonstrations of the 3D environments created by MellaniuM have been received for the most part with resounding interest but, remarkably, with little or no positive blogging response from the VW/Serious games establishment. In some cases though, I must admit we have been soundly praised (more than we probably deserve) by some of those less likely to have a virtual axe to grind. Others have taken a swipe at UNREAL for what seems no apparent reason.

During our involvement with the Serious Games network in the UK we had a blog post refer to UNREAL by Kevin Corti which had us somewhat perplexed.

"....... try deploying a diversity awareness and inclusion training game to several thousand food and drink retail outlets across the USA and see if you can use the Unreal engine as part of your development approach!

Why state specifically anything in particular about what UNREAL can or cannot do?

Recently Raph Koster inserted a comment about UNREAL.

"Things like Unreal and thick clients and 3D isn’t the client we’re working on."

We are all quite well aware that Raph does not work on the UNREAL platform, but why on earth bring up that fact?

We pondered these two posts and after some debate and after a spell of subconscious analytical gestation it dawned on us why, the penny dropped. Now we know why!.........

During the METAVERSE U weekend it was widely circulated that general participation in the meeting would be warmly welcomed and suggestions, comments and questions about the future of the METAVERSE should be posted on a YouTube "metaverseu" group. We decided to post a simple query asking if UNREAL could be a suitable candidate for a METAVERSE of some future configuration. Strangely enough this posting was the only insertion in the group.

CAN UNREAL BE USED FOR A METAVERSE?

So far the response to this posting has been a profound and enduring silence with no sign or hint of disruption.

We really did think by now that a pack of blood-lusting hyenas would have descended upon us and ripped the MellaniuM concept limb from limb and (for our own good of course) pointed out with no glee whatever that the poor idea was stillborn and doomed.

However to our complete amazement we have had no such fate befall us and so we do relish with incandescant comprehension that.....

SPEECH IS SILVERN, BUT SILENCE IS GOLDEN!

MELLANIUM: VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE

2008-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Architecture, in the main, is a collaborative process where engaged people need to share principles, concepts, impressions, designs and commitment. Architects have toiled relentlessly to render their vision to meld form and function but drawings, models and blueprints are poor substitutes for a real sense of "being there". Do you think they have ever dreamt that they could project themselves and their clients, builders, developers and inspirational colleagues into a replica of a “virtually perfect” construct? Well now it is possible!
MellaniuM brings the emerging capabilities of immersion, visualization, rich media and personal navigation to the individual and shared experience of the architect and stakeholders in the realization of designs. We have technologies that can now be married to elevate the experience to serve all parties in visualizing, communicating and responding.

MellaniuM was originally conceived to complement the technique of the architectural design process by reproducing and importing AUTOCAD 3D renderings into the MMO UNREAL 2 engine. It is ,therefore, quite feasible to render the overall architectural concept and privately import into the MMO platform for easy access by up to 32 participants. The two unique attributes of the technology are both the ability to produce exact dimensional representations of the buildings and objects within them and, in addition, texture them with scaled high resolution surfaces. So now it is technologically possible to reproduce any city, terrain and/or landscape to a high degree of detail and enter it through a dedicated server running the UNREAL 2 platform. With the topographical digital maps which are now available it will be simple to render the exact configuration of most of the Earth's surface and place on it the relevant buildings and natural features. The furnishings and decorative artifacts are equally reproduced in the minutest detail and can sport hyper-realistic surfaces polished or burnished to a high gloss or rendered with a soft matte finish.

In this movie of a MellaniuM concept apartment building the final shot within one of the furnished units shows a female model sat adjacent to a coffee table upon which are placed an odd assortment of artifacts. These consist of a large ultramarine marble bust of what appears to be an African inspired art exhibit and a rather macabre polished skull with turquoise teeth. Closer to the door are a couple of potted plants. In some circles this scene would be considered a rather particular example of "conceptual art"

To highlight the viability of the technique the following movie shows the detail achievable using the MellaniuM concept. The shine on the polished marble items is somewhat hypnotic and the imperfections on the potted plants illustrate the breathtaking exactness of the textures. The free ranging camera movement gives some subtle hints to the potential for exquisite machinima
productions in the future.

The “Holy Grail” for architects has been realized, the passive becomes interactive, the hitherto limited 2D experience becomes the rich 3D experience. Indeed with a simple extrapolation it is no difficult task to imagine that this concept will be rapidly accepted by manufacturing. Virtual manufacturing is expanding daily and porting AUTOCAD 3D files into an effective interactive environment will be the key to increased productivity.

Spread the Good News!

If you wish to engage in a demonstration over SKYPE please do not hesitate to call me at joe133952

For more information please read these GO articles

MellaniuM: The Virtual New World Order

2008-01-29T10:26:00.000-08:00

I have presented through SKYPE over a hundred live videostreaming demonstrations of the MellaniuM VRW's (Virtual Real Worlds) . The MellaniuM concept avoids all the pitfalls of the 3D web based creations presently available to be experienced on the Internet. The UNREAL engine and the data required to produce the realistic environments are administered off the hard drive of your computer. An Internet connection is necessary only to show the positional and directional information of the several avatars (up to 32 ) participating in the self-server hosted environment. There is,therefore, no rezzing effect or lag as seen in Second Life as the "prims" are downloaded and assembled continuously as you walk or fly around the Sims. Huge hard drive capacity is commonplace on all computers now and at 20 cents a gigabyte it is not unusual to have a terabyte of hard disk space. The permanent storage of required data is hardly a barrier to the implementation of these 3D environments. The video card demands of these virtual worlds are also non-existant since a standard 3D card with 256 M ram will suffice to produce lag-free experiences.
It is fascinating to consider the reactions illicited by this concept of producing interactive MMO style realistic environments in an online server platform(UNREAL 2). To be honest during the presentations we were almost expecting a barrage of criticism directed at our MellaniuM flagship aimed at sinking it without a trace. Well at least some indication as to where was the fatal flaw in our virtual construct.

FROM THE VIRTUAL NEW WORLD

The reactions to the SKYPE demonstrations would certainly be worthy of study by a team of psychology graduates from an eminent faculty of higher learning. Initially we encountered a entirely justifiable lack of interest since our contacts either had little or no experience with participating in an MMORPG style online game. As our circle of contact grew and we intersected with the NING "SERIOUS GAMES" and "VIRTUAL WORLDS CONNECT" networks it was obvious that we had hit the motherlode. These networks consist of a comprehensive list of who's who in the world of 3D virtual environment platform developers, marketing gurus,vendors,bloggers,machinima savants and WEB 2.0 pundits of every technical stripe and complexion.

So far as I can discern one can group the 3D community in three vague classifications when one presents the MellaniuM concept over SKYPE. One group offers a singular lack of any agenda and they approach the presentation with no prejudice or malice aforethought. In nearly every case they express an unalloyed joy at the potential prospect of a virtually realistic world to explore and with which to interact and help to create. This group comprises a healthy mix of educators,bloggers and machinima creators who both have a simple objective view that the future is bright and are open to any and all considerations in the 3D world.

A second group appear to be tainted whether justifiably or not with the notion that the MellaniuM concept is simply another fringe player which can only confuse more the chaotic status of the 3D community and germinating WEB3D. There are always some glimmers of encouragement as the most insightful and more intelligent observers do vouch for the possibility of "horses for courses" and that one single platform will not be able to encompass the needs of all the 3D potentialities in the fields of education,engineering and social interaction.There seems to be a semi-conscious, gnawing fear that because Second Life is the only "game" in town we had better all shore up the edifice and trump any good news as loud and as often as possible. I can understand this quiet desperation of SL Island/SIM developers and the marketing gurus who have committed so much of their time and finances. In essence this group finds no serious flaw in the potential to use high polygon models and rich textures to create realistic environments but have only modest praise since there is no existing MellaniuM based world in which to build a viable business (can't fault 'em for that).

THEY MUST RELENT SOMEWHAT WHEN THEY SEE THE DETAIL AND EFFECT OF LIGHT SOURCING OF THE MELLANIUM TECHNOLOGY

A final small group approach the MellaniuM demonstration with a stubborn determination to undermine any notion of the capability of any non internet/browswer based client arrangement.They must relent somewhat when they see the detail and effect of light sourcing of the MellaniuM technology but they have committed themselves and are irretrievably entrenched in believing that some form of interoperability within clients running off a browser will be the final outcome for the all-encompassing 3D WEB.

Please call me on SKYPE at joe133952 for your own personal view of the Virtual New World.

MellaniuM: The New Radical Approach

2008-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

From what I have gleaned whilst eavesdropping on the technical group here at MellaniuM there are a few unique twists required to develop truly realistic 3D environments. The first, and likely most important technique, is the generation of dimensionally accurate models produced in AUTOCAD. The surfaces of these models, which are referred to as static meshes, are rendered with textures which are faithfully reproduced from the actual object and subsequently scaled back onto the model to recreate a close copy in the virtual world.

For example, on close examination of the above image, one can see the leather strap suspension on this stagecoach along with the complex linkages to the horses' harnesses and the brake mechanism connected to both of the front wheels.

In another screenshot of the copper anode refining furnace the clean lines of the steel shell, the steel beams supporting the endplates and the definition of the two mouth openings could not be produced in such minute detail with tools as 3D Studio Max or similar rendering software. During a presentation over SKYPE I have had shocked individuals admit candidly that this must have been created by importing AUTOCAD generated models into the platform.

Inside the vessel the coloured zones are used to represent different areas of the lining which are subjected to more or less severe corrosive and/or physical abuse during operation. This zoning mitigates the effects of the molten metal and dynamic action of solid scrap impacting the lining of the furnace. Thus the lining wear is designed to be balanced and will hopefully occur in a relatively even overall fashion.

From a practical standpoint the improved realism generated by the use of higher polygon models faithfully rendered to recreate any detailed environment is a proven (and now patented) technique. With respect to the commercial aspect of the concept it is hardly difficult to imagine, in the near future, downloading the UNREAL platform and personally relevant customized environments off the global MellaniuM server and with consummate ease hosting a private server off your own computer.

If you are interested in learning more about the MellaniuM VRW's please allow me to present to you a live videostreaming demonstration over SKYPE at joe133952.

MellaniuM: The Virtual Event Horizon Approaches

2008-01-20T11:54:00.000-08:00

In this first blog I will try to explain the unique features of the MellaniuM concept of developing 3D environments using the UNREAL 2 platform. I do not expect to receive any withering criticism since it is likely this blog will be unread or ignored but I feel like I need to get something down on a blog.
I have in the past been thoroughly addicted to Everquest and WoW and about three years ago while still somewhat possessed by Pontefract my level 48 dwarf cleric I had a somewhat shocking experience with Mark Melaney. He had just finished his architecture degree at Ryerson University where he had imported his final year thesis into the UNREAL 2 platform. I was completely stunned by this feat and asked if he thought he could make a dimensionally accurate anode refining vessel. I am the market manager for RHI a company which sells, services and installs high temperature linings in the non-ferrous metals industry. So after some discussions with upper management in RHI we got a budget to proceed and he produced an excellent 3D rendering of the AUTOCAD files which are normally used to design and illustrate the lining concept. In the mean time my brother, Ken, did a rigorous survey of the Internet to divine if there were any similar, if not identical, virtual worlds being produced with the same degree of realism. He found nothing.
Together with Mark we pondered and debated that if you can do that…….

The Spitfire Vb WW2 fighter plane seemed to be an excellent choice to test Mark’s ability to produce a realistic complex textured model. This study was expected to be an environment with more emotional appeal and envelope pushing potential. He, we think, succeeded admirably and it is now a staple in a few of our environments as case examples of the potential for the MellaniuM concept.

After this project was completed we had more discussions along the line of “If you can do that………….”

In joint projects Ken and Mark collaborated to produce a series of environments with a conference area which includes a rather remarkable virtual mirror on one wall, an art gallery with the work of Johannes Vermeer and an Egyptian museum. In all the environments we had no hint of difficulty importing avatars from our disparate locations in the UK and Canada over the Unreal server network. We produced several YOUTUBE movies to celebrate the environments.

In addition during our early days of development we realized that we had to engineer a way to present our customized environments to a wider audience. After months of work and several futile attempts we developed TELE3DWORLD, leveraged through SKYPE to videostream live walkthroughs of our work. We can now provide for these demonstrations through my SKYPE contact at joe133952.

After recreating the “Whitecroft” residence we festooned the area around the house with a Corvette with an eye-popping polished finish, a Mustang and the Spitfire to showcase the lighting in the platform and a rather impressively detailed Kawasaki dirt bike. This we felt was a milestone but together we sang the chorus “ If we can do that…………”

The next step was to extend to a macro environment dimensioned in miles rather than yards ( I know I am 56 years old what do you expect?) and a suitable scenario was composed of a island 4 miles square with some relatively enormous models to prove the flexibility and scope of the concept. A pirate ship was modelled and imported to push the rendering complexity as much as possible. Soon after the WW2 battleship King George V and the Titanic were both modelled with our AUTOCAD pipelining methods.

So I implore you to imagine if MellaniuM can do that..........

I have contacted numerous interested individuals and presented these environments over TELE3DWORLD and have many scheduled presentations in the near future. In all of these presentations there has been, to date, no serious stumbling blocks indicated that this MellaniuM method will not be capable of producing extensive, realistic 3D environments for use in education , engineering or a plethora of artistic creations.