Support the Zabaware Open Source 3D Character Engine - Peerbackers.com

[betzelelgalut]

i had a question about what format to submit 3d charitors in. the main 3d package i use is blender3d which i know is compatable with orge but i was not sure what file type you are useing for the program. maybe what you might want to do, is talk to the people in the blender 3d community ( www.blender3d.org ) and see if they could run a contest for a small prise to see who can make the best 3d animated charitors. you might want to create a list of specifications such as what the 3d skeleton must do for the morph tech that you have in the app, also what type of charictors, and maybe a free-for-all charictor.

if you look them up i am sure that you will find tons of top level animators that would love to win a cool title or prize in a contest.
that way it could cut down your modelling and production cost.  also i would maybe mention something to them about creating a python plugin (as that is blender internal scripting language) which can edit the 3d files natively.

i thought this would be a good food for thought and help save you some money.

- Luke Galutia

[spydaz]

I have Put a Posting up on my site ...

http://spydazweb.co.uk/home/project-updates

with your information regarding this major update (WELL DONE)

Hope it all goes well!

SPYDAZ

 (PS, : i have downloaded the source code and as winter sets in i shall take a look) THANKS!

[whitneyscott]

I would be really interested in collaborating on this project. I'm looking for an avatar system (chat bot, assistant, or something similar) that can take BVH input and animate the full body for American Sign Language educational materials.
I see you do have the ability to animate using a skeletal system. Does that mean the 3D engine can read BVH data?

Though it is not as important - I'm also curious if you have considered using Kinect as an input device.

I'm in the process of writing a grant proposal for a competition sponsored by the Department of Education. Would you be interested?
Please e-mail me!

swhitney@sfasu.edu

[DonSphinx]

I tried to contribute through Peerbackers; but unfortunately they only accept money through paypal, and my country is one of those where u can't use gaypal

Thus, I decided to just buy an UltraHal license and hope that it would count as a contribution.

[Medeksza]

I would be really interested in collaborating on this project. I'm looking for an avatar system (chat bot, assistant, or something similar) that can take BVH input and animate the full body for American Sign Language educational materials.
I see you do have the ability to animate using a skeletal system. Does that mean the 3D engine can read BVH data?

Though it is not as important - I'm also curious if you have considered using Kinect as an input device.

I'm in the process of writing a grant proposal for a competition sponsored by the Department of Education. Would you be interested?
Please e-mail me!

swhitney@sfasu.edu

That sounds really interesting and definitely something I'd be willing to collaborate on. I have sent you email.

[Medeksza]

I tried to contribute through Peerbackers; but unfortunately they only accept money through paypal, and my country is one of those where u can't use gaypal

Thus, I decided to just buy an UltraHal license and hope that it would count as a contribution.

Thank you very much for your contribution. I'll put every spare dollar toward this project no matter where it comes from.

[freddy888]

How come the target has gone down so much Rob if you don't mind me asking ?

[NIGE]

Maybe he got a little out of LOTTO ??
Or there are others that do not show that they have put in??

[Medeksza]

A friend has offered to loan me the remaining $17500 and pay him back with sales based on the new engine so the target was lowered to $2500. Still need to hit the $2500 though otherwise it all gets refunded to backers. 

[freddy888]

Wow, can you introduce us, I need some friends like that

Seriously that's great news

[lightspeed]

Medeksza , if i had it i would gladly loan it to you but i don't i am on s.s. check and after my half of bills to pay only have 300 a month to buy groceries , and gasoline etc. "sorry".  i am still trying on that other deal.

[Medeksza]

Thanks for the support of everyone who contributed so far. If we manage to raise the $2500 ($1305 to go as of this message) for this project I will use it to purchase the Amy character from turbo squid http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/448779 , pay an artist to configure the model for use with our engine and make a really simple outdoor environment for her. The money will also go to pay my 3d engine developer to get an interactive demo of the engine up and running (independent of Ultra Hal) and as a plug-in for Ultra Hal. We should be able to get this done in about a month or so and I hope getting a demo out will help build some more interest in this project.

I should be able to finance the remaining cost ($17,500) of the original project through several loan sources that have recently been made available to me. This will go mostly to creating the mobile versions of the engine, an open source character, and tutorial for character creation. But I want to get a public demo out of this engine out as soon as possible and this Amy character from turbosquid should be fairly easy to get to work with the engine code we already have.

The peerbackers crowdfunding drive has about 10 days left and $1305 to go. I'd appreciate any contribution, no matter how small. I believe this project can be a great open source alternative for character animation for all the chatbot authors out there.

[markofkane]

I donated all that I could afford this month. 

I had a heck of a time with peerbackers. Seems the only browser I could get to work with the registration and log in was IE.

   I usually use Firefox. Even Google Chrome didn't work.

[Medeksza]

Thank you very much to everyone who donated to the project. We raised $2500 and I also took out a loan for another $2500. We have purchased the Amy character and are working on converting the model to work with our engine and adding some animations. I'll post updates as the project progresses. I think we should have a working Windows version in a matter of a couple of months.

We are also adding the SkyX plugin to our engine to put Amy in a nice outdoor environment. Check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL02s_MGIQc&list=UUOpsGRur6nNI

[NIGE]

That looks great.
Can't wait to give it a run.