Newswise — Archaeology researchers at North Dakota State University, Fargo, and industry partners today announced the version 1.0 beta release of RawKee, an X3D authoring and export plug-in designed for use with Alias' 3D animation and visual effects software, Maya® Complete and Maya Unlimited (http://www.alias.com.) Licensed as LGPL software, RawKee allows content authors to generate Web3D content within Maya and export it into the industry standard X3D format. RawKee offers tools to set up X3D interactivity through RawKee's X3D Interaction Editor and author ECMAScript through the customized use of Maya's Attribute Editor panel.
Development of RawKee is coordinated by the Archaeology Technologies Laboratory (ATL) at North Dakota State University. The ATL conducts research into the use of web-based 3D graphics technology in archaeology as well as historical and human heritage preservation. The RawKee open-source project is made possible by a generous software donation to the ATL from the Alias Research Donation Program.
RawKee provides real-world solutions in variety of settingsWhile the popular movie archaeologist Indiana Jones had to travel the world in search of archaeological artifacts, tools developed by NDSU researchers provide 21st century technology to people who study the past, bringing cultural heritage right to computer desktops. Anthropology professor Dr. Jeffrey Clark and his team established and operate the Archaeology Technologies Laboratory (ATL) at NDSU to develop advanced 3D visualization and digital archive applications. RawKee provides a solution to the lab's various needs.
Clark's team also developed the Digital Archive Network for Anthropology and World Heritage, known as DANA-WH. The network is being developed as a global network of databases containing materials and data of archaeological, ethnographic, linguistic, and evolutionary importance to our human heritage. A key component of DANA-WH is its ability to deliver 3D models of real-world artifacts to students, educators, researchers, and the general public. These 3D models, also known as artifact surrogates, are generated using one of the ATL's laser or contact digitizers.
ATL Computer Visualization Manager Aaron Bergstrom, lead developer of RawKee, says RawKee will improve DANA-WH's ability to accomplish the network's research and education mission. "Up until now, we've used VRML97 to deliver artifact surrogates through the database network. While VRML97 is a great web-based format, it lacks advanced visualization capabilities that are part of the X3D formats, such as the ability to use normal maps or the ability to store data in the X3D binary encoding. This and future versions of RawKee will allow us to take advantage of the features that X3D formats have to offer, which translates into being able to deliver high-quality artifact surrogates using decreasing amounts of bandwidth. An extremely high-quality but low polygon count model can be viewed by the users before they decide to download a bulky, high resolution research model," explains Bergstrom. "But even these high-resolution surrogates will benefit from the binary encoding of X3D. Faster download and loading speeds mean that DANA-WH becomes increasingly easier to use, and makes the data available to an ever wider audience."
Bergstrom has been using the Maya/RawKee combination for a variety of archaeology projects. "We use Maya and RawKee in all areas—scientific research, visualization and game design for archaeological education software. We use the technology to create documentary movies, interactive content for the Web, as well as educational video games," said Bergstrom. "More than seeing a few artifacts in a display case, 3D imaging lets us investigate how people lived and interacted in the past, and it provides us with exciting new tools to inform the public about our findings."
The NDSU team developed On-A-Slant Virtual Village, an original 3D-rendered, stereoscopic documentary that shows interiors and exteriors of earth lodges of the Mandan Indians, offering a look at artifacts and how they were used in 1776. The documentary premiered last fall at the Circle of Cultures Signature Event, a Lewis and Clark bicentennial celebration. The On-A-Slant Virtual Village was highlighted on public television and is scheduled for permanent display at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, Mandan, N.D., where the remains of On-A-Slant village reside.
"We can't travel back in time, but using computer applications such as Maya, we can reconstruct the On-A-Slant Village in an immersive, compelling manner, and present it in the way it may have looked and give you the feeling of being in that time and place," says Dr. Clark. "Furthermore, by developing our RawKee X3D plug-in, we can now re-use this content, and make it available in an interactive, web-friendly format."
"Maya, in combination with RawKee, allows us to maximize the use of our content," says Bergstrom. "We can take models used in our On-A-Slant video project and export it as X3D, and display it using X3D Internet browser plug-ins or other X3D applications. Someday we even hope to deliver the same 3D content developed for our On-A-Slant documentary, actually on site, using X3D on mobile devices such as PDAs or mobile phones. Imagine being able to visit archaeological sites with an interactive 3D kiosk in the palm of your hand. RawKee is our first step in this direction because it allows us to repurpose our high-end 3D content and deliver it in a scalable interactive 3D file format."
Runtime engines benefit from RawKeeOne of the benefits of open-source software is that it is freely available to those who want to use it, says Bergstrom. "As such, others began to participate in RawKee's development. Not only did Richard Frovarp of the ATL and Bradley Vender of the NDSU World Wide Web Educational Consortium (WWWIC) (http://wwwic.ndsu.edu/) contribute technical expertise to RawKee, but several outside groups did as well. Yumetech, Inc., (http://www.yumetech.com/) provided expertise on porting RawKee to the Linux operating system. The largest outside contribution to RawKee development has been provided by companies developing runtime engines for gaming and online communication, including Immediate Mode Interactive (http://www.imilabs.com/) and MediaMachines, Inc. (http://www.mediamachines.com/).
"RawKee is an essential part of the production pipeline for creating visually stunning interactive 3D presentations and environments for online communication," stated Tony Parisi, president of Media Machines and co-author of the X3D specification. "We are working closely with NDSU to integrate RawKee with our Flux family of technologies, enabling designers and programmers to create the best in interactive content."
"We are using RawKee to complete our 3D content pipeline from Maya to our Java3D based game engine," says Shawn Kendall, founder and technical director of Immediate Mode Interactive, LLC. "X3D provides excellent capabilities for games, interactive entertainment and education and RawKee makes it possible for our artists to get the most out of Maya and X3D for those environments. We look forward to using RawKee in all of our projects and to helping develop RawKee's capabilities even further in the future."
RawKee features"The exporting component of the RawKee 1.0-beta release is written almost entirely in C++ programming language, making it faster than previous MEL driven versions," explains Bergstrom. "It is also not only an exporter; RawKee is an authoring tool. Any interactivity or animation can be exported through the plug-in when used with Maya."
RawKee beta version 1.0 plug-in for Alias' Maya 3D Authoring Software includes support for much of the Immersive Profile of the X3D formats including the X3D MultiTexture node which makes the use of light, shadow, specular, and normal maps possible. Future versions of RawKee are expected to support NURB export, as well as provide character skinning through X3D compatibility with the H-Anim specification.
Features in this release include:X3D ExportX3D Interaction EditorScripting and Routing
RawKee is available for the following operating systems and versions of Maya:WindowsXP/2000: Maya 4.5 to Maya 6.5Mac OS X Panther/Tiger: Maya 6.0 to Maya 6.5Linux (Alias supported versons): Maya 6.0 to Maya 6.5Irix 6.5: Maya 6.0 to Maya 6.5
X3D Nodes Supported through RawKee export:Transform, Group, Viewpoint, DirectionalLight, SpotLight, PointLight, Switch, Collision, LOD, ProximitySensor, TouchSensor, TimeSensor, PositionInterpolator, OrientationInterpolator, Script, NavigationInfo, WorldInfo, MetadataDouble, MetadataFloat, MetadataInteger, MetadataSet, MetadataString, IndexedFaceSet, Box, Sphere, Cone, Cylinder, Coordinate, TextureCoordinate, Normal, Color, ImageTexture, TextureTransform, MovieTexture, Appearance, Shape, Material, Anchor, Inline, ColorInterpolator, CoordinateInterpolator, NormalInterpolator, ScalarInterpolator, BooleanSequencer, IntegerSequencer, BooleanTrigger, BooleanToggle, IntegerTrigger, TimeTrigger, CylinderSensor, KeySensor, LoadSensor, PlaneSensor, SphereSensor, StringSensor, VisibilitySensor, PixelTexture, AudioClip, Sound, BooleanFilter, MultiTextureCoordinate, MultiTextureTransform, MultiTexture
RawKee is free and available at http://rawkee.sourceforge.net
About the NDSU Archaeology Technologies LaboratoryThe Archaeology Technologies Laboratory (ATL) was created with a grant awarded through the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), along with matching funds from the NDSU College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences and the NDSU Department of Sociology/Anthropology. The ATL has received further funding or software donations from the National Science Foundation, Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, Northwest Academic Computing Consortium, NDSU Technology Fee Advisory Committee, White Earth Reservation Tribal Council, and Alias " the makers of Maya 3D authoring software. In April 2006, the ATL is hosting the international Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology Conference in Fargo, N.D., the first time ever this conference has been held outside of Europe. More information is available at http://atl.ndsu.edu.
About Media MachinesMedia Machines is the leading provider of technology and solutions for real-time 3D communication. Media Machines is spearheading the development of standards and technologies that lower the barrier of entry and total cost of ownership for developing real-time rich media applications, including our award-winning Flux Playerâ„¢ and Vizx3D authoring system. Media Machines was founded in 1999 by Tony Parisi, co-creator of the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) and Extensible 3D (X3D), the ISO standards for 3D graphics on the World Wide Web. Learn more about Media Machines at http://www.mediamachines.com.
About Immediate Mode InteractiveIMI is a collective of developers and artists dedicated to the advancement of Java gaming technologies. IMI achieves this through research and development, support and training, and game production. IMI also promotes the use of Java and Java3D in top-quality games and develops tools for game development for any Java platform, including applications and APIs. IMI was founded in 2002 by Shawn Kendall, co-author of Practical Java Game Programming. Shawn is currently Technical Director of IMI and Course Director of 3D Content Creation and Real-Time 3D Programming in the Game Design and Development program at Full Sail Real World Education. More information is available at http://www.imilabs.com.
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