Berg, 2009-05-01

The Web goes 3D

Bitmanagement releases ISO Standard Viewer BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D

Interactive 3D content online in all major browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera) / 18th release in 15 years / 25 new functions such as “cascading shadows” and “post processing”

With the 18th major release in 15 years the continuous development of the 3D renderer BS Contact can be celebrated. The new release supports 25 new features - among others high-end game functionality such as “Cascading realtime shadows” and “post processing” in all major browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari, Google Chrome and Opera) with a rich programming API and tools such as BS Encrypt.

Berg, Germany, May 20 2009 – Bitmanagement, a leading technology provider of interactive Web 3D software has announced today that the new release of their 3D viewer product BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D is ready for download at http://www.bitmanagement.com . The 3D internet software, which runs embedded in all major browsers implements both the ISO standard definitions X3D and VRML prepared by the Web3D consortium as well as the industry standard Collada delivered by the Khronos consortium. The fact that both ISO Standards X3D and VRML are issued by the Web3D consortium is emphasized by Bitmanagement with the extended naming of their main product “BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D” and shows at the same time the importance of the most widely used 3D standards. Unlike other attempts to proclaim proprietary technology as 3D web standards recently the customers of Bitmanagement appreciate the long term lifespan of ISO ratified standard definitions for their applications that can run unchanged for decades. (Customer case studies: http://www.bitmanagement.de/demos/customer_apps.en.html)

“The 3D content produced in line with existing 3D standards on the web ranges in millions already today. Our web plug-in BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D presents this content with the latest visual tricks known previously only from state of the art computer games on DVD. Such visualization quality can be seen now in your web browser on the internet.”, said Peter Schickel, CEO of Bitmanagement and Member of the board of directors of the Web3D consortium in Monterey, USA. Regarding real-time shaders the new version supports both Direct X as well as OpenGL (GLSL) dynamic shader technology. Such techniques are best exhibited in games such as the web browser adventure Game Leelh using already the new features of the release. http://www.bitmanagement.com/leelh-game.html

7.2 with more than 25 new features – here are the five most relevant

After one year of work since the last release based on customer feedback and feature requests as well as strategic development, Bitmanagement now offers about 25 new features and five key advances mentioned below in the new version of BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D. The last release BS Contact 7.1 was focused already on support of flash textures, collada support and multi-user functionality. Please take a look at more detailed release notes of BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D at http://www.bitmanagement.com/developer/contact/relnotes72.html .

Cascading real-time shadows

An advanced technique for large shadow scenes available now in BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D is cascading shadow map (CSM). This technique allows content application developers to have a more precise shadow over the whole area of large 3D scenes. This technique is also used in the latest offline games and produces high quality interactive scenarios with photorealistic appearance even online with BS Contact now. Other new techniques supported are self shadows with depth maps and blurred shadows for diffuse effects.

Post-processing shaders

Without manual changes in the geometry or the textures it is now possible with BS Contact to use post- processing shaders for the whole scene. 3D virtual worlds can be enhanced by advanced graphical effects at runtime with a variety of shaders for increasing the visual quality of objects and scenes.

Cross browser installation and localization (Unicode)

The new release of BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D is supporting all major Internet browsers like IE6, IE7, IE8 and Firefox 2 and Firefox 3, Google Chrome, Opera and Apple Safari. The 3D content can now be transferred to the browser either in a .zip file or in various little packages while exploring the virtual worlds. Also, BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D now fully supports Unicode for localized application using a variety of character sets, such as Chinese, Hebrew and other languages making it easier to sell 3D products in local markets.

Fast Multi-core support

Working with Intel on technical level the Bitmanagement experts have optimized BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D for a threaded loading of Inline parts of the scene. Large scenes consisting of many individual objects can be parsed in parallel on multicore systems and therefore be decoded and presented much faster than before.

Feature rich programming API

In addition Bitmanagement offers an updated collection of core APIs for functional enhancements to BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D. The APIs enable the integration of javascripts and executables written in C/C++, Visual Basic and all other COM based languages in order to support dynamic updates, user modifications and events including sounds and movies within a VR scene. With this API sophisticated 3D applications can be developed including OEM stand alone integration that have much more functionality than just viewing 3D content.

Release strategy

This release of Bitmanagement’s main product BS Contact 7.2 Web 3D is only the first step of their role-out plan. In Q2 and Q3 2009 related products, currently in public beta stage, such as BS Contact GEO 7.2, BS Contact Stereo 7.2, BS Collaborate Server 1.1, BS GEO Server 1.0 and BS Contact CAVE 1.0 will follow.

 Norbert....

For your contact:
Norbert Böcker, Press and PR

Norbert Böcker
Bitmanagement Software GmbH
Oberlandstrasse 26
D-82335 Berg

Phone: +49 8151 97170-8
Cell: +49 (0)171 3337719
norbert.boecker@bitmanagement.de
www.bitmanagement.com