Virtual Reality

New 3.7.0 release of view3dscene (an open-source VRML/X3D browser
developed as part of a game engine) is available on

http://vrmlengine.sourceforge.net/view3dscene.php

This release brings a lot of new features. The complete list is
currently visible on the main page (http://vrmlengine.sourceforge.net/).

- The best new feature is probably the "screen effects". These are
effects that process the rendered screen by shaders, allowing for a lot
of neat effects like flashlight, color tricks, warping the view and
such. view3dscene includes some built-in effects (see "View->Screen
Effects" menu).

The most exciting fact is that you can define your own screen effects by
a new ScreenEffect node. This has a "shaders" field where you can place
your shaders, just like standard "Appearance.shaders". So you can
provide your own GLSL code and make any effect you like, using color and
depth buffer contents as input.

http://vrmlengine.sourceforge.net/kambi_vrml_extensions_screen_effects.php
contains the complete documentation.

- Newly handled nodes include PlaneSensor, SphereSensor, CylinderSensor,
ClipPlane, ColorRGBA, Billboard, ViewpointGroup.

- Major optimizations to Transform animation, and many fixes and
optimizations to other nodes.

- Examine camera works better now. Smooth transition between viewpoints
are done.

- User interface is improved (toolbar, with most important buttons, is
avilable; tooltips for Examine / Walk / Fly buttons describe the camera
controls.)