Shark 3D

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Shark 3D
Spinor Shark 3D Logo.png
Original author(s)Spinor
Developer(s)Spinor
Initial releaseFebruary 2000; 22 years ago (2000-02)
Written inC++, Python
Available inEnglish
Type3D computer graphics, game engine
Websiteshark3d.spinor.com

Shark 3D is a 3D software program and engine developed by Spinor for creating and running interactive virtual 3D worlds. It is used for video games, films, animated series, broadcasting graphics, and 3D industry applications.[1]

Shark 3D is mainly used for developing video games (similar to a Game engine), producing films and TV series,[2][3] creating broadcast graphics,[4] and developing 3D applications.

Workflow[]

Animations are created by "playing" a scene as in video games within a simulated virtual world. This is different from software like Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya where you create animations mainly by hand-animating all individual movements.

By recording different characters and objects in different tracks, the animator can create a full scene in multiple iterations. For example, the animator can first play one virtual actor, and then play another while replaying the first one. Recording is physics based, so that a character or vehicle controlled live can physically interact with previously recorded characters and objects.

Features[]

Shark 3D contains:

  • A tool pipeline. Assets like meshes, textures and basic animations are not created within Shark 3D, but imported from separate tools like 3ds Max or Maya.
  • Authoring editor[5]
  • Physics based recording, replay and track editing
  • Shader editor
  • Renderer (live and render-to-file)
  • Sound system
  • Physics engine
  • Scripting

The core of Shark 3D is an authoring editor supporting templates and prefabs to reuse entities. Templates and prefabs can be nested to any level and edited live.[6] This allows building up complex scenes or objects with integrated behaviors (e.g. NPCs or complex camera systems based on simple building blocks in a flexible way).

Shark 3D is available for multiple target platforms like Windows and Linux based PC applications, mobile devices and consoles.

The software focuses entirely on real-time. For example, all soft lighting and shadowing in the Shark 3D renderer is completely real-time.[7] This is in contrast to other software packages like Autodesk Maya which are mainly non-realtime or various game engines like game engines as for example the Unity engine or Unreal Engine which use a mixture of realtime and pre-calculated lighting.

The software is highly modular and can be customized or extended on all layers.

Industry support[]

Clients[]

Screenshot from the engine

Companies using Shark 3D include Funcom,[8] Ravensburger Digital,[9] Marc Weigert,[10] Siemens, ARD/ZDF/Pro 7/Disney Junior.[11] In 2012, it was the second-most used real-time 3D engine in Europe after Unity.[12]

Awards[]

Awards given to products based on Shark 3D:

  • Norwegian video game studio Funcom's PC and Xbox adventure video game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was GameSpy's "Editor's choice" of the year 2006[13][14][15]
  • Media award "Der weiße Elefant" for the "innovative production" using Shark 3D of "D.I.E. – Detektive im Einsatz" running on Super RTL[16]
  • Lara-Award for the game Windchaser[17]

Third-party plugins[]

  • Camera tracking[18]
  • Cinector Motion capture[19]
  • RTF[20] Massively multiplayer library[21]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Spinor unveils Shark 3D engine". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  2. ^ "Shark 3D Engine Interview". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  3. ^ "EFA Master Class 2014: "HIGH VALUE FOR YOUR BUDGET – The Creative Use of Virtual Production" with Marc Weigert, 2 - 8 June 2014". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  4. ^ "Neue Gestaltungsfreiheit in der Bluebox". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  5. ^ "Let's get serious:How video game technology transforms other industries" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Slide 4
  6. ^ "Let's get serious:How video game technology transforms other industries" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Slide 15
  7. ^ "Shark 3D Engine Interview". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  8. ^ "E3 2004: DREAMFALL: THE LONGEST JOURNEY FIRST LOOK". Archived from the original on June 4, 2004. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  9. ^ "Shark 3D based iOS-Game tops the German iTunes charts". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  10. ^ "EFA Master Class 2014: "HIGH VALUE FOR YOUR BUDGET – The Creative Use of Virtual Production" with Marc Weigert, 2 - 8 June 2014". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  11. ^ "Real-time Renderer Vector" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  12. ^ "European Online Game Survey 2012" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Page 6.
  13. ^ "PC Reviews". Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  14. ^ "Xbox Reviews". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  15. ^ "Dreamfall Game of the Year - PC (Jewel case)". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  16. ^ "Weißer Elefant für fliegende Fische". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  17. ^ "Preisträger 2007". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
  18. ^ "vr3".
  19. ^ "Cinector".
  20. ^ "The Real-Time-Framework".
  21. ^ "Integrating RTF into Shark 3D as a foundation for experiments on OFELIA".

External links[]

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