Verge3D 2.10 pre3 build available

Finished applications called “Simple Configurator” which are created in the tutorial series were added to both 3ds Max and Blender versions with the starter files included.

Loading scenes in both the replace and append modes, as well as unloading them is now supported via Puzzles or JavaScript. This feature is key for creating applications with lots of scenes or high-poly models which now can be loaded on demand (customizers, game levels, etc).

There is the possibility to assign a preloader for displaying loading progress. The loading of cameras and lights is optional and disabled by default to prevent wasting memory and processing power.

See the app called “Load Unload Puzzles” available in the Blender version for a usage example.

The JavaScript method dispose() for freeing CPU and GPU resources was implemented. This method will be useful if you got a website with Verge3D app instances created and removed dynamically.

For example, if the user clicks some button or tab on a page which will navigate them out of a 3D app without reloading the whole page, simply call

app.dispose();

and the engine won’t be keeping the loaded scene in memory and rendering it in background any longer.

See the app called “Unload Dispose Test” available in the Blender version for a usage example.

Added the experimental support for saving and restoring the application state via Puzzles. This feature can be used for implementing the Undo button for your customizer app, for example.

Before performing some action that you’d like to be able to undo, for example, hiding an object, save the state of that object with the save state puzzle. Afterwards, you may undo the hiding using the undo state puzzle. These puzzles work for sequences of actions too, so that you can undo multiple actions just like in a 3D editor.

Added Dictionary (aka map) data type to puzzles. It can be used to conveniently store and retrieve data structured on the key-value basis.

Added the experimental support for sending and receiving data over network in plain text or JSON format. This will be useful for interacting with the website backend in the RESTful manner.

The above mentioned features can be used to visualize data retrieved from a remote website. For example, the website ip.jsontest.com returns your IP address when visited in a dictionary of the following kind:

{"ip": "77.91.80.242"}

Therefore, you can detect the IP addresses of the users right in your 3D app by retrieving the value for the “ip” key.

Other useful data that can be obtained from web services include (crypto)currency exchange rates, information about a day being a public holiday or not in some country, SpaceX launch data, e-commerce order data among other things.

Verge3D Network’s cache timeout was decreased to 15 minutes (was 1 hour). This may help with updating deployed apps a bit.

Fixed bug with the when clicked puzzle not working with the Flying camera types.

[Blender only] Fixed crash of transparent materials caused by a recent Blender 2.8 update.

Fixed bug prevented cloning a non-Orbit camera.