3D Programming Project: do you have cool ideas?!?!

[ElDonAntonio]

I've started 2 months ago working on a 3D modelling application. Things are going well and I've got a nice program running. I have my viewports, I can create spheres, cubes, superellipoids, lights, I can modify their properties, materials, I can do scaling/translating/rotating, etc etc.

The problem is I'm looking for a more specific goal to accomplish. Right now I could go on and add an infinity of features (à la 3ds max), but I'd rather accomplish one certain thing really well with that soft.

I'd like it if I could find a biomedical application but it could be anything else. I still have about 1 year to develop this program. Come on guys, you always have great ideas, help me out!

EDIT: I built a small page for my software. You can check it out at:
http://www.antoineazar.com/t3d

 

[Beau]

A navy intelligence buddy of mine is recreating a "e"-cosystem based on Monterrey Bay using vrml/java. Each fish has an AI of it's own... even the ones that are "reproduced."

A bit more indept of a project, I'm sure, but definitely worth mentioning.

as for you, why not make it sound sensitive, moving in response to different frequencies.

 

[Gaunt]

Wow, sounds like you've come a fair ways. I'm not sure how what you've done so far relates to biomedical, but a use I can see for your software is designing 3D models for games. Obviously there's far too many details to get into for that in this post, but having a small, optimized, application for developing 3D models for games would be a very handy tool.

Are you working in OpenGL, DirectX, or something else altogether?

 

[ElDonAntonio]

Thanks for the ideas guys, keep them coming!

Gaunt, I'm using OpenGL for the visualization in the viewports. I'm thinking of maybe building a raytracer later on, but that's a big maybe

I'll soon post my software as it is right now online. I've started a small web site for it but I only have the main page done so not a lot of info here but you can see some images created with my program!
link

 

[jbond04]

I think that you should work on making a super fast renderer. I dunno if this is possible with a CPU, but some sort of near-realtime renderer (perhaps using OpenGL to help accelerate the process) that could render fairly complex scenes at high speeds.

What I could see is this application evolving into what Gaunt suggested...some sort of app for modeling for 3D games. My suggestion is to make it a level modeling application. I use 3ds Max extensively, but I could never get the hang of level editors like UnrealED. They're too inflexible (especially with materials) and difficult to model with. Perhaps you could make your application some sort of conversion tool, with back ends built for the most popular games. Users could export their models from 3ds Max (or Gmax) to your program (using the .3ds format), then use a material editor (similar to 3ds Max's) to finalize the materials, add lights, etc. Then you could have your software flatten all of the textures, and export the level to whichever game the user wishes. Maybe this is asking too much; I don't really know.

 

[ElDonAntonio]

Thanks guys, some interesting ideas here! I'll check out what a game editor/modeller implies, I've never played around with that.

Any other original ideas? capturing/exporting data from/to hardware is not out of the question, so the possibilities are pretty large.

I built a small page for my software. You can check it out at:
http://www.antoineazar.com/t3d

Let's be innovative guys!
(and thanks again!)

 

[Gaunt]

I was thinking more along the lines of character modeling/animation, not level design. Although either is useful. Animation is probably best left to something specifically created for that, like character studio, but if you can make it easier, please go ahead. A tool specifically designed for this sort of thing would be much easier to use, and have less of a learning curve for people who want a model for a game, but don't want to spend a few thousand dollars on an app and take a great deal of time to learn.