Australian Digital Agency iFactory Pioneers Innovative 3D WebGL Modelling

BRISBANE, Australia - Sept. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- iFactory and its team of web developers, graphic designers and 3D animators have been pioneering the use of Web GL technology to enhance the web design of the eCommerce (http://ifactory.com.au/technology/e-commerce) platform for international client TJM (http://ifactory.com.au/case-study/tjm). TJM design and manufacture specialist vehicle components for 4WDs and this new technology enables online customers to modify their vehicles in real-time using trailblazing 3D visualisation of the vehicle and TJM chosen components. This innovation is an essential part of developing the user experience (http://ifactory.com.au/our-way/website-design/user-experience) for consumers online, improving online marketing (http://ifactory.com.au/technology/online-marketing) opportunities and cutting through market saturation.

3D WebGL Innovation

The 3D visualisation concept uses technology which has been previously dominated by gaming and medical applications which draw on a desktop computer’s access to specialised 3D hardware to enable realistic modelling of an object or image.

In the case of TJM’s project, iFactory 3D developers customised the emerging Web GL standards to enable a web browser access to the graphics card with TJM’s custom parts. To establish this, the manufacturer’s original NURBS-based curve images and step files were opened in Autodesk 3D Studio Max to create polygon conversions of each product or vehicle. Transforming NURBS-based curve images to polygons is an integral part of the development process as Web GL is based on displaying polygonal information.

The most basic principle in building 3D integration for web browser display is to keep the polygon count as low as possible. A big part of that is to remodel parts and vehicles to ensure the polygonal density is low enough to ensure performance on an average computer, while retaining the item’s visual integrity. NURBS meshes are the starting point for a 3D designer to remodel the original objects as they convert them to polygon conversions that eliminate the tedious job of going in and stripping out the superfluous elements that aren’t able to be seen in a web browser’s 3D animation view.

3D System Requirements

iFactory’s innovative web browser enabled 3D visualisation can be accessed by Web GL-enabled web browser’s Chrome and Firefox on a PC and Safari on  a Mac. Neither operating system requires plug-ins for the 3D visualisation to work. It is also a system which seamlessly integrates into the site’s CMS (http://ifactory.com.au/technology/content-management-systems), POS and stock level data.

The Future of iFactory and 3D Technology

Our 3D simulation of TJM’s eCommerce site is leading the way in a new approach to interactive (http://ifactory.com.au/our-way/website-design/interactive...) and real-time shopping not yet accessible in main-stream web development (http://ifactory.com.au/our-way/website-design). iFactory are combining their wealth of experience to offer our clients an innovative approach to web design and systems integrations by taking advantage of progressive technology that bring new solutions for real-world applications.

Check out a video at http://youtu.be/qqVOMVCFRlc



Sources

http://www.tjm.com.au/en-oceania/build-your-own-tjm-4wd
http://ifactory.com.au/