"3D to transform retail advertising"

There is about to be a new way to grab the attention of consumers that has defintely gained our interest at 3dWalkthroughs.com. The “3D Company” is about to launch a new 3D digital signage platform that will add a very creative way to advertise products to consumers. This product can be controlled remotely to help address different demographics at different times of the day.
“Fadi Mamlouk, General Manager, 3D Company, said: ‘Breaking through the clutter and sustaining consumer attention are the key objectives of today’s advertisers. The 3D Company’s solutions take advertising to a whole new level, whereby promotional messages can be switched by the minute.”
This would be an excellent medium to display our 3d floorplans and 3d animations to areas where development is high.

Read Below for Article:

The 3D Company FZ LLC, the audiovisual and virtual solutions provider for retail and commercial advertising, will launch its new digital signage platform during GITEX Technology Week 2007.

The company will showcase its products under the umbrella of Dubai Internet City, a TECOM Investments arm and one of the largest managed ICT free zones in the world. GITEX 2007 will be held from 8-12 September at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The 3D Company’s digital signage technology integrates high-tech 3D displays giving advertisers the ultimate marketing tool. The supplier of 2D/3D content and hardware is the first to combine traditional digital signage networks with 3D display technology in the UAE.

Controlled remotely from anywhere, digital signage technology enables advertisers to display targeted messages based on viewer profile or hour of day. Point-of-sale advertising through digital signage appears on the display, targeting shoppers with their specific requirements and tastes by providing dynamic content and enhancing the overall impact of their shopping experience.

Fadi Mamlouk, General Manager, 3D Company, said: ‘Breaking through the clutter and sustaining consumer attention are the key objectives of today’s advertisers. The 3D Company’s solutions take advertising to a whole new level, whereby promotional messages can be switched by the minute.’

‘We will feature special 3D displays for the GITEX stand this year. The exhibition will be an occasion to introduce the use of digital signage as an ideal advertising medium, illustrating its effectiveness in reaching the right audience and its edge over traditional forms.’

At GITEX, in-house experts at the company’s stand will offer special displays that enable 3-dimensional viewing without wearing special glasses. The company also provides other audiovisual solutions for all markets.

3D Mailbox - Bring E-mail To Life

Anyone that reads the 3dwalkthroughs.com blog knows we are always on the lookout for cool new 3D products.
I think we have come across one of the wildest 3D applications we have seen thus far. 3D Mailbox integrates with Outlook and creates a photo-realistic virtual world where avatars represent all of the common mail functionalities. You can download a free version or upgrade to a second level for a modest fee. It will take some getting used to but it is so fun to work with it might soften the blow for any tough incoming emails.

About 3D Mailbox
Email is the killer app. But it’s deadly boring. 3D Mailbox makes it fun!
Think of 3D Mailbox as “Outlook Express®” meets “The Sims®” — or as email meets videogame. Do you love videogames? Are you passionate about email? Then 3D Mailbox is for you. It’s e-mail for the gaming generation.

3D Mailbox turns your emails into people: In the first level, Miami Beach, beautiful models represent good email, and sleazy guys represent spam. Chill with your email poolside and in private cabanas, and feed your spam to the sharks! The beautiful locales and relaxing background music make you feel like you’re on vacation any time of the day.

In the second level, set at Los Angeles International Airport, every email is a Boeing 747!

This is the complete opposite of any email program you’ve ever used.
3D Mailbox’s shader-based renderer creates beautiful and realistic settings never before seen in an e-mail program. Imagine photorealistic environments rendered in real-time, and you only begin to understand what this engine is capable of.

With startling realism, 3D Mailbox puts you in the middle of this gorgeous virtual world. But the beauty of 3D Mailbox is more than skin deep — it also has an integrated top-notch spam filter (SpamBayes), and dozens of easy-to-use email features.

New Virtual World To Challenge Second Life

Yesterday the Swedish virtual world Entropia Universe announced that it was teaming up with an offshoot of the Beijing municipality, to build a virtual universe able to handle 7 million users at any one moment.
3dwalkthroughs.com is excited about this new universe because the graphics seem to be much more realistic and can handle the level of detail we can create with our 3D Renderings and Custom 3D Walkthroughs.

Gizmos.com - Check It Out

We just came across a new site (Gizmoz.com) that launched on Thursday that is quite interesting as it relates to my last few posts regarding the blending of different technologies in social networking sites. Here is a description of their service pulled from the About Us section of their website.

Gizmoz offers consumers a new generation of character-based visual expression for use across their digital lives. The Gizmoz service makes it easy and fun to create, customize, animate and share lifelike, 3D talking characters that enable consumers to put a unique face and voice to their digital communications.

Gizmoz characters can be fashioned either as a self-portrait starting from a single personal photo, or created using images from the Gizmoz library, all in just a matter of minutes. The result is a customized digital character that consumers can use to deliver personalized, lip-synched messages in video clips and other forms of original content.

Gizmoz characters provide consumers with a unique and engaging way to represent themselves, unleash their creativity, communicate, and have fun on social networking and video sharing sites, blogs, via email and more

Microsoft launches 3D maps

Today Microsoft announced the launch of its 3D Map service. The new maps offer bird’s eye views of New York, Cincinnati and Austin, Texas with Cape Coral and Tampa Bay, Florida; Cincinnati, Ohio; Northampton, England; Ottawa, Canada and Indianapolis (including the motor speedway) coming soon.

To see the 3D view of New York, you must zoom right down on the New York position on the map until the 3D icon lights up and offers you the 3D view.

We tried using the service and found it to be a little slow but very cool. Clearly Microsoft is trying to compete with Google Earth and it is off to a good start. The next logical step would be to be able to see the exterior of the building in 3D and then have the ability to do a 3D Walkthrough of the interior. Once the service is improved it seems like it will be a very valuable mapping tool.

The Air Mouse

A lot of press has been given to a recent invention of a group of undergraduate students at WPI that has the potential to revolutionize navigation in a 3D Environment. The Air Mouse is designed to allow users to control and manipulate items on a computer screen just by pointing at the monitor.

We view this as a significant development because the easier it is to navigate and interact in 3D environments the quicker it will become mainstream. Imagine being able to navigate and interact with a 3D Walkthrough by simply pointing your finger to where you want to go. Think Minority Report.

Here is an article about this new invention from Gizmag online magazine.

My Space and Facebook for Real Estate Professionals?

The use of social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have clearly expanded beyond the shy teenager looking to make friends. An article today from RisMedia discusses how real estate professionals are also starting to embrace these sites as effective marketing and networking tools.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes before the immersive technology of virtual worlds such as Second Life and virtual communities such as My Space and Facebook collide.

3Dwalkthroughs.com predicts that in the next few years you will see the best of both of these technologies join forces and the synergy that is created will be as explosive as the internet in the late 90’s.

Read the article Here

Amazing Architecture

A fascination with contemporary architecture was one of the driving forces behind the launch of 3Dwalkthroughs.com.

An article in today’s New York Times details a new building which blew me away. The new building is the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, the home of the national broadcasting archives. It was conceived as a perfect cube, half of it buried underground. Read the complete article to learn more about this amazing buildings and all the unique features it has to offer.

The Exponential Development of 3D World Technology

It is both stressful and exciting to try and keep up with the pace of new development of 3D world technologies. The press release below describes a new technology that can automatically produce photo-realistic avatars from a single photograph. It is probably just a matter of time before the same technology can be applied to architectural structures.

3Dwalkthroughs.com believes that the more realistic the experience within the various 3D worlds, the quicker the resident populations will grow, as well as the migration of real life businesses into these worlds.

CyberExtruder Brings 2D to 3D Technology to Second Life

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Newark, NJ, United States, 05/23/2007 - CyberExtruder, the leader in 3D imaging solutions, announces the creation of Avatar Island, its presence within Second Life. For the first time, Second Life® residents will have the ability to create photo-realistic avatars by just uploading a photo.

For the first time, Second Life residents will have the ability to create photo-realistic avatars by simply uploading a single photograph–like a passport photo. Avatar Island will be the only avatar skinning facility in-world that can automatically produce photo-realistic avatars from a single photograph.

Prior to Avatar Island, the only way to produce this level of vivid realism was to hire professional 3D artists skilled in software packages like 3D StudioMax, Maya or Poser. Now, all a resident needs to do is take a reasonably good photograph, submit it to the system for processing and wait a few minutes for the results to be delivered to the resident’s email address. The new texture file is an impressive blending of photographic detail and animation magic.

At the same time they began construction of Avatar Island, CyberExtruder also announced the initiation of its search for tenant-partners that will be given free real estate on Avatar Island for the purpose of setting up symbiotic presences.

“We’re actively looking for tenant-partners that have relevant offerings for Second Life residents,” says Jack Ives, Chief Operating Officer of CyberExtruder. “Our plan is to build the focal point for avatar customization within Second Life. We want to attract the best avatar skinners and designers and bring them all together in one place. To that end, we’re supporting Avatar Island and will give space at no charge to others that bring relevant value to the group.”

To compliment CyberExtruder’s avatar creation system, plans are in the works to have a resident 3D animation studio that will provide regular classes and seminars in the use of Second Life’s tools and scripting as well as a 3D printing company that will be able to provide 3D replicas of resident’s avatars.

CyberExtruder has contracted the services of Cranial Tap, Inc. a Virginia based developer of 3D worlds to do the actual build out of Avatar Island. “We are both pleased and excited to help CyberExtruder bring this truly unique service to Second Life users, says Dave Levinson, CEO of Cranial Tap. “Reducing the barrier to character customization will have a far reaching and meaningful impact on this active community.”

Avatar Island is scheduled to open up on June 14. For more information on becoming a tenant-partner, please call Jack Ives between 9am and 5pm EDT or email him.

About CyberExtruder
CyberExtruder (cyberextruder.com) is a software development company whose technology enables the automatic conversion of a 2D facial image (e.g. passport photo) to an accurate 3D model of the subject’s face or head. CyberExtruder’s technology leverages advanced statistical models to interpret the third dimension from a 2D image. CyberExtruder’s software and back-end delivery systems are completely scalable, personalized avatars can be produced and delivered without limitation.

The Release of a Great New Sales Tool

If you get a chance please check out Virt2go.com.
We came across their new product release which utilizes cutting edge media formats to build an interactive virtual sales force. Cool stuff…

Virt2go Releases Virtual Specialist™

Virt2go Uses Power of Virtualization to Deliver an
Engaging, Interactive Sales Force Over the Web

ATLANTA, May 22, 2007 – Virt2go Inc., which continues to build on its goal of delivering virtual workforce solutions, released today Virtual Specialist™. Virtual Specialist uses state-ofthe-art video, flash animation and interactive content to virtualize and scale a sales force over the Web or offline via CD.
“Virtual Specialist is like sending your very best sales and product specialists out on every sales call,” explained Virt2go CEO Bentley Radcliff. “As a customer-facing solution, it enables you to exponentially expand your workforce and increase your revenue without the cost of hiring and training new personnel. It can even close the deal and take the order via the web.”

Virt2go has delivered the first fully enabled Virtual Specialist solution to support sales initiatives for Hewlett-Packard BladeSystem servers. It can be experienced at
http://www.virt2go.com/demo/vs. Virtual Specialist is ideal for complex products or services that typically require extensive knowledge and sales focus. Virtual Specialist can be used as unassisted (standalone) sales tools, or by salespeople to assist them in face-to-face meetings with prospects. Importantly, Virtual Specialist can be enhanced or updated as product or service offerings evolve.

“Many companies have told us they can’t get their sales teams up to speed quickly enough on every product they produce – Virtual Specialist is designed to answer this challenge,” said Radcliff. “It ensures prospects receive a consistently knowledgeable and effectively delivered value proposition every time. Its interactive content also lets customers focus on issues of relevance to them and learn how the product resolves their specific business needs.”

About Virt2go
Virt2go is committed to helping companies be at the forefront of the virtual age. By providing businesses and organizations with the critical services and technology needed to “go virtual”, Virt2go can help its clients immediately leverage the tremendous cost-savings and operational benefits of virtualization technology. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Virt2go is a member of the Greater Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The company’s CEO, Bentley Radcliff, also sits on the Chamber’s Technology Alliance team, which plays an integral role in driving initiatives to establish Atlanta as the next major technology hub of the United States.
For more information about Virt2go, its products or the rising trend of virtualization, visit: www.virt2go.com.