Dear friends, we are pleased to present the new official group AlternativaPlatform on the Facebook social network, focused on communicating with the English-speaking community. Click “Like” to subscribe to news and discussions about our technologies.

You can still discuss our technologies and read news in Russian language in the Russian group Alternativa3D.

In the new version we added 3DS format parser, the method of finding a ray intersects with an object of Mesh type and realised export to the binary format.
Download Alternativa3D 8 engine.

A3D binary format now supports the objects of Skin type and the light sources.
Download format specification.
Download 3DS Max 2010 plugins for exporting to A3D format.
Download 3DS Max 2011 plugins for exporting to A3D format.

Also we made changes in the model viewer editor.alternativaplatform.com.

New in Alternativa3D 8.17.0:

• ParserA3D: added the import of objects of Skin type and the import of light sources;
• Added Parser3DS class for import models from 3DS format;
• Added intersectRay() - The method of finding a ray intersects with an object of Mesh type;
• Added AxisAlignedSprite class to display plane oriented along one axis to the camera;
• Export to the binary format A3D is supported;
• Added debug mode displaying of objects bounds;
• Added primitive Plane;
• GeoSphere primitive has normals and tangents of vertices after creation;
• Normalmaps supported with left-sided system of coordinates in StandardMaterial.

Changed in Alternativa3D 8.17.0:

• Decal: removed the offset property and changed the logic of work;
• StandardMaterial: fixed a bug with lighting of some light sources;
• FillMaterial: color in construstor is grey by default now;
• Box: constructor is optimized;
• Box: fixed a bug in the cloning of the primitive. Surfaces is not duplicated now;
• WireFrame.getResources() allows parameter resourceType now.

Changed in model viewer:

• Saving settings of export and publications in SharedObjects;
• Automatic dividing of the skin with large quantity of bones;
• Various improvements to the interface, fixed bugs.

New Alternativa3D tutorials were published on wiki:

•  Alternativa3D 8 for Dummies. Part I
•  Alternativa3D 8 for Dummies. Part II
•  Alternativa3D 8 for Dummies. Part III

These tutorials were made for newbies. They teach you how to create simple projects on AS3 using Alternativa3D 8.

Also, two tutorials about connecting Alternativa3D ( version 7 and 8 ) to the best knowns IDEs were published on wiki:

• Getting started with Alternativa3D 7
• Getting started with Alternativa3D 8

To your attention we introduce the new public engine build Alternativa3D 8.12.0 which supports the Flash Player 11 Beta 2. So this version of the engine is completely compatible with the latest Flash Player build at the present moment. We have also accelerated the mouse events system and added the orthographic mode to the camera.

Complete list of changes

•   The public version Flash Player 11 Beta 2 is now supported.
•   The orthographic mode has been added to the Camera3D.
•   The MouseEvent system has been optimized and accelerated.
•   Logo “AlternativaPlatform” has been updated.
•   Now when objects are added and removed from the parent, the event will be sent (Event3D.ADDED, Event3D.REMOVED).
•   The ability to change the property renderToBitmap into View after creating has been added.
•   The height and width of the View has been limited to the minimum size of 50×50.
•   Bug in mouse events system when used skins divided on surfaces by divide() was fixed.
•   A bug has been fixed in Decal.
•   Skin lighting algorithm changed to more precise one.
•   ParserCollada: Fixed a bug when binormal vector of the vertices of the object was incorrectly parsed.
•   The value of backgroundAlpha in the View constructor changed to 1.0 by default.
•   VertexLightTextureMaterial now draws correctly without lights in scene.
•   MouseEvent3D was moved from alternativa.engine3d.core to alternativa.engine3d.core.events.
•   A bug has been fixed in Object3D.dispatchEvent().
•   The offset property has been added to the constructor Decal and it is compulsory.
•   Now the offset property can be copied using the clone () method of class Decal.
•   The ratio property has been removed from View class.
•   VertexLightTextureMaterial now can be used with skin with the maximum number of bones in surface no more than 33.

Download Alternativa3D 8.12.0.

Better late than never! Check out our report about trip to E3 2011.

At the E3 2011 conference in Los Angeles we stood out by not organizing a large and anonymous exhibition, but instead by putting together a down-home and cozy booth. There we demonstrated Tanki Online 2.0’s early build as an example of the power and possibilities our technologies offer developers and players. We had six PCs and a local Tanki server. Our colleagues from Perm regularly updated the build, sending us SMS, such as «prepare to restart».

The entire demonstration ran on a browser, a fact which we had to continually remind visitors. People just couldn’t believe what we had actually accomplished and would call Flash Player menu to check. Then we blew away all the doubters with demonstrations launched on Android.

This year we are taking every opportunity to inform the gaming community about Flash Player possibilities and the advantages our technologies offer game developers. We know our presentation at E3 was a success. Our 3D engine and server technology caught the interest of the big game companies and we are continuing to discuss new ways of cooperation with them. Cool!

We have added new 3DS Max plugins, including one for 2011 edition, at 3D-engine section of AlternativaPlatform official site.

Changes and additions
- We realized 3DS Max 2011 support.
- We added export tangents for first uv-channel option to A3D export plugin.
- specularColor slot is now used for specular map export to A3D. If there is not texture in specularColor slot, then specularLevel slot is used.
- Error with boundbox export in A3D export plugin was fixed.

Download 3DS Max 2010 plugin

Download 3DS Max 2011 plugin

Finally, we have updated versions of Alternativa3D 7 and Alternativa3D 8 engines. We have added EllipsoidCollider class for continuous collision detection, upgraded materials API and fixed a few bugs. Please, check full change list below. Also, snatching at a chance, we’d like to inform you, that new tutorials are available at http://wiki.alternativaplatform.com.

Alternativa3D 8.8.0

- TextureMaterial, VertexLightMaterial, LightmapMaterial now supports the map-transparency and alpha property.
- Added EllipsoidCollider class for continuous collision detection.
- Added Decal class for detalization of texture on models.
- WireFrame class was added.
- New class SkyBox was added.
- StandardMaterial supports Object-space normal maps now.
- StandardMaterial supports glossiness maps now.
- Property alwaysOnTop was added in the Sprite.
- clone() method was added to Skin.
- concatenatedMatrix property was added in Object3D.
- Primitive Box contains vertex tangents now.
- ParserA3D: glossiness and opacity maps are supported now.
- Parsing of Skin with animation from collada was fixed.
- ParserCollada: a bug, when model without vertex normals parsed, was fixed.
- Lighting in StandartMaterial, VertexLightMaterial, when models have non-identity scale, was fixed.
- View can be any size now without throwing exceptions.
- Mouse events work properly now after creating the View with zero width or height.
- Bug with culling of scaled objects in camera frustum was fixed.
- A bug in dispose() method of Geometry class was fixed.
- DirectionalLight: bug with wrong light direction after parsing from Collada was fixed.
- ParserA3D: bug with wrong textures assignment was fixed.
- ParserA3D: vertex tangents are supported now.
- ParserA3D: bug, when Geometry methods worked incorrectly on a parsed model, was fixed.
- FileTextureResource: after a repeated call to upload() the resource is not destroyed now.
- FileTextureResource: you can get and set the texture data now.
- FileTextureResource renamed to ExternalTextureResource.
- ColladaMaterial renamed to ParserMaterial.
- Surface: owner property renamed to object.
- Geometry: findVertexBufferByAttribute renamed to findVertexStreamByAttribute.
- Sprite3D: StandartMaterial and VertexLightMaterial are not supported with it now.
- Fillmaterial: the color property has uint type now.

Download Alternativa3D 8.8.0.

Alternativa3D 7.8.0

- Bug with the splitter in BspContainer was fixed.
- 3D symbols are added to the values of the static constants of class MouseEvent3D.
- Bug with the work of a parser Collada in player 10.0.32 was fixed.
- AverageLightMaterial: we added special property to set influence of shading based on angle between light source and camera direction.

Download Alternativa3D 7.8.0.

At the E3 2011 conference in LA we used two interactive Tanki Online 2.0 showcases to demonstrate possibilities of Alternativa3D technology. These showcases are build on Alternativa3D 8 engine with Molehill 3D API support. They show the level of graphics in browser-based projects and social network applications which is reachable already today.

Now everybody can check these demos himself. Meet “Tanki Online 2.0 — Arena” and “Tanki Online 2.0 — Crash”.
NB: don’t forget to download beta-version of Flash Player 11.

Tanki Online 2.0 — Arena (56 MB)

Tanki Online 2.0 — Crash (137 MB)

Greetings, friends! In these last days of outgoing year Alternativa LLC sincerely wishes you a Happy New Year and wants to share a few interesting news with you .

We made it! Alternativa3D engine is already available in version 7.6.0 — before the New Year! We added EllipsoidCollider class for collision detection and new animation system with Tree Blending Animation in new version. We also added property useHandCursor to Object3D and autoSize to Sprite3D. Complete list of additions and innovations is published here in blog. You can download 7.6.0 upgrade for Alternativa3D from official site. In the next versions we are going to realize lightning. We will also complement future versions with physics library.

At the same time we extensively work on Alternativa3D 8 with hardware 3D API Molehill support for the next Flash player. It will be highly performative engine displaying 3 000 000 polygons with 60 FPS on modern graphics cards. It’ll also support pixel and vertex shaders, particle system, atmospheric effects (fog, dynamic sky, clouds) and posteffects (blur, luminescence etc.). The engine will be released with the start of the next Flash player open beta-test in Spring of 2011. Alternativa3D 8 will be complemented with an editor.

We hope that our work makes your professional life easier, richer, brighter and more interesting. And we wish you new achievements in technological front and a lot of interesting events. Always be on the high horse and among the pioneers on the undiscovered paths of IT-industry. Happy New Year, friends!

Past weekend, while we were celebrating upcoming New Year, something big happened in Tanki Online. The amount of registered users passed the mark in 1 000 000! Boyko_yaroslav became the millionth player so he gets a little present from us — flask and T-shirt with Tanki Online emblem.

Now we have more players than people in Montenegro in off-season and even more than amount of visible stars in the sky. And if every registered player gives us one dollar, we could by Ferrari!

Of course, we have not Ferrari yet, but we do have huge and rapidly growing united community with its own forum newspaper and rich interesting life. We congratulate all tankmen with our common success.