Seems quite good, from what I've seen.. the feature list looks quite impressive but I don't read any terrain handling for outdoor scenes
Has anyone already played with it?
Here's the list of features taken from DevMaster.com
Author Act-3D B.V.
Graphics API DirectX Operating Systems Windows
Programming Language C/C++ Status Productive/Stable
Documentation Yes
Features General Features Object-Oriented Design, Plug-in Architecture, Save/Load System, Other: • Physics, Database, Networking, VR input devices, Stereo display, Force feedback, Pathfinding, Per-pixel shading, Plug-in structure with SDK
• 5DT data glove support
• Support for force feedback input device
• Publish as single executable, installer, webpage, or screen saver.
• No programming commands or script, fully graphical interface!
Scripting • Quest3D uses a graphical form of scripting. The graph editor allows you control the dataflow and logic of your project by drawing relations. This method is better than traditional scripting in many cases. It provides much more room for experimenting and you never have to worry about syntax. An additional benefit is that this method does not need any compilation and is extremely fast.
• In some cases might rather use traditional scripting. The expression system is a very simple form of scripting. The next version of Quest3D will have Lua scripting build in which is one of the fastest script languages and uses little memory.
Built-in Editors Quest3D's main strength is the editor. The editor allows you to control every detail of your project using very intuitive, task specific interfaces. The interface is completely customizable and has friendly feel to it.
Physics Basic Physics, Collision Detection, Rigid Body, Vehicle Physics: • Quest3D uses ODE for physics. Create complex physics simulations using the graphical interface.
• Provides collide and slide collision for simple character collision.
• Can use ray intersections, sphere and box intersection tests.
Lighting Per-vertex, Per-pixel, Lightmapping, Gloss maps: • Dynamic lighting (up to eight lights, types: spot, omni and linear)
• Diffuse and specular lighting
• Import radiosity light maps from applications such as MAX and Maya
• Build-in light map ray tracer
Shadows Shadow Mapping, Projected planar, Shadow Volume: • Quest3D can either use hardware or software shadow volume creation.
Texturing Basic, Multi-texturing, Bumpmapping, Mipmapping, Volumetric, Projected: • Quest3D includes a texture tool that allows you to map textures. Cube maps are supported.
• Bump mapping using environmental bump map technique
• Bump mapping using per-pixel shading technique
• Real-time compressed texture support (DXTC)
• Up to eight texture stages (depends on hardware)
• Supports JPG, TGA, PNG, BMP and DDS file formats
• Transform texture coordinates using a motion
• Automatically creates bump map from height image
• Can compress images (DXTC)
Shaders Vertex, Pixel: • Quest3D includes vertex colors support (.x import) and several per-pixel shaders are provides. HLSL is planned for the next version.
Scene Management General, BSP, LOD: • Quest3D is not optimized for portal rendering or anything. The BSP is used for collisiona and path finding. There is optimized rendering for huge character crowds and massive vegitation.
Animation Forward Kinematics, Keyframe Animation, Skeletal Animation, Morphing, Animation Blending:
Meshes Mesh Loading, Skinning: • Quest3D supports skinned meshes, multiple texture coordinates, vertex colors. Integrated Polytrans which supports many formats.
• Primitive meshes: donut, square etc.
• Imported meshes: polygons, lines or points
• Use a maximum of 4 billion vertices per surface
• Includes .X exporters for MAX, MAYA, Lightwave 3D and AutoCAD
Special Effects Environment Mapping, Lens Flares, Billboarding, Particle System, Sky, Water, Fire, Explosion, Fog, Weather, Mirror: • The flexibility of Quest3D allows you to create many custom effects.
Networking System Client-Server, Peer-to-Peer: • One of the clients can be a server or create a dedicated server.
• Microsoft DirectPlay network synchronization
• Network text, matrices, vectors, values and commands
• Lobby system
• Interpolation for good results on slow networks
• Single project for client and server application
Sound & Video 2D Sound, 3D Sound, Streaming Sound: • Can stream mp3, play 2D and 3D sounds. Basic controls such as pitch, volume and panning are available.
• Create Winamp visualization plugins
• Mono, Stereo and 3D audio
• Doppler effect simulation
• Roll off effect simulation
• 3D positioning, compatible with multiple speaker setups (5.1) (depends on hardware)
• Control position, pitch, panning and volume
• Imports WAV, MP3 and MID files
Artificial Intelligence Pathfinding, Decision Making, Finite State Machines, Scripted: • Quest3D has a path editor to paint paths. It uses a combination of a painted graph and collision geometry to create a stable path.
Rendering Fixed-function, Stereo Rendering, Render-to-Texture, Fonts, GUI: • Includes a shadow map ray tracer.
• Supports fonts from 3D Models and 2D textured fonts.
• Multiple materials per object
• Special materials effects through per-pixel shading
• Multiple transparency modes
