Right now I’m writing up the first year report for my PhD - good for organising my thoughts and getting some arguments into a coherent state, but not so good in terms of allowing time to write here. So in the absence of a proper post, here are some stories that have interested me in the last few weeks.

First of all, Spore has released it’s Creature Creator in advance of the full release of the game in early September, available as a trial version or for purchase. I’ve talked about Spore previously for the way it will introduce consumers to 3D design tools, as well as indicating a direction CAD software might take to simplify and guide the user through the creation of a product. But what’s also interesting is that the creatures being created by users now will be used in the game when it’s launched. In other words, the players of the game are creating the content of the game, and what’s more some of them (those who buy the full version of the Creature Creator) are paying for the privilege. It’s another example of the degree to which consumers are willing to engage with a brand’s product creation process if the experience is compelling. There’s a good discussion about the Creature Creator at Product Design Forums, plus a YouTube movie which shows how to design your own creature.

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(Thanks go to Duann Scott for bringing this to my attention. You can read his thoughts over at the Ponoko blog).

3DVia is a suite of software tools from Dassault Systèmes, makers of Solidworks and Catia. And whilst it includes 3DVia MP - an authoring platform for games content, and 3DVia Composer - a product documentation package (both of which have to be paid for), what’s really of interest to me are the two free-to-use programs: 3DVia Shape and 3DVia Printscreen. Looked at together with Cosmic Blobs and CB Model Pro, it seems like Dassault Systèmes are pushing hard to be front-runners in the entry-level 3D modelling software market.

3DVia Shape is an online modelling application. What’s most striking on first viewing the demo video is how similar Shape is to Google SketchUp, from the way forms are sketched and then transformed into 3D objects, to the fact that the demo, and most of the sample models created so far, are buildings. Essentially both programs work with extruded forms. 2D sketches are drawn on planar surfaces, and then pulled a certain distance to either create new solids or divide / cut existing ones.

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