3D Rad v6 is now FREEWARE!

Most of you know 3D Rad v6! Its a great little engine I'm using for various prototypes, product visualisation, etc.

The great news is that since yesterday it is FREE! Compiler and all!!!

CHECK IT OUT!

this is one of my projects

It's free caus the product don't sell anymore !

To little serious game making there are lot lot more solid solutions and affordable !
Why using (fighting to use, learn code, epxorters etc ...) a product that won't evolve anymore.

For prototype you can use A7,Unity etc ...

Ratchet, is there any post by you that is positive in any way?

If you dont think this is a viable solution, just ignore the topic, dont try to manipulate other users into thinking negative! Everyone has a right to see/try/judge.

And in my honest opinion prototyping in Rad is far, far faster than A7 or Unity, i cant even start to compare... and I've been on this board since A4 and kept my eye on Unity since... i dont even remember

nuclear winter, I downloaded the engine yesterday, and it gives a fast start.
I am interested in such a thing, because I make workshops about game making with kids. I'm looking for a completely freeware solution, because I don't want to force the kids to buy anything, in case that they want to proceed game making after workshop.
Are there more options than making a race game, or walking or flying around?

Here is a Very Basic Game Editor solution that I scripted for the kids:

http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=282220#Post282220

The advance against the yet free RAD3D is that I can extend - and the kids if they get familiar with Lite-C - the set of functions easily.

I couldn't find anything where I actually can write my own scripts in RAD3D.

Pappenheimer: The website tells that 3d RAD has a scripting language.

It also looks like it has shaders (bump and env mapping) stencil shadows and shadow mapping and second uv-set for lightmaps. There are rigid body physics and collision.
But I miss any comment about scene management.

But for teaching kids it could really be a good alternative.

Found the scripting reference and introductory mini tutorials.

http://www.3drad.com/Script_reference.htm
http://www.3drad.com/Script.htm

I often scroll too fast through a page.

Thanks for the info.

Can it be used for commercial purpose ?

Yes it can, no watermark or royalties...
also it works great with OSA Kit (web browser plugin), if you search the forum you can find a couple of projects using it.
Also there is this guy Mic (he is actually in the game development industry) that has a really great project of destructible vehicles

ragdoll youtube video

my arcade racer big-ass HDTV test with bump, specular, bloom, blur, etc...

MIc's destructible car test check out his videos for more recent versions.

I believe he had this demo in playable form somewhere.

Is the code open source ?
Caus it could have coders bringing lot of interesting new features to the existing base !

I think its not open source yet... i think someone asked at the forum, so the developers know people are interested

I found this one and the website and images are exactly the same like you can find at the 3d-RAD website:
http://www.3impact.com/

How are they related to each other?
It looks to me like 3d impact is the foundation of 3d rad. And 3d rad is a high level click-together-version of 3d impact.

3Impact is the engine that is used in 3D Rad.

It is the other way around afaik. First there was 3D Rad 1 up to 5. Then they developed 3Impact. They have stopped/abandoned the development of 3D rad for that. And then Fernando came back to continue or better restart with 3D Rad, using the 3Impact core engine ...

thanx for this info nuclear winter!

//edit

Did you notice the new busines model they have?
The users can decide wich features should get'n included in the engine.

And so it works:
Someone start a featurerequest. The developers calculates the price and the users can donate money for this. When the price is reached the feature is gettn released.

So the consumers show the direction the engine should go.


,gri

This is sweet. I like the tutorial on embedding the games to a web site. Nice find. Thanks for sharing this info.

The Arcade Racer looks cool!

I once payed for 3D RAD but found soon that its problem is inflexibility. It works with predefined objects, you can only use the objects that are included. More or less, with this limited set of objects you can only make variants of its demos. Thats why it probably didnt sell anymore and its programmer made it freeware. But since its freeware no one should complain. Anyway the free lite C version is way better and not limited to predefined objects.

That is the purpose of this product. It is a "click-together" tool for beginners. If you want flexibility then you have to use their engine (3d-Impact).

Well, you can create your skinmesh, create your own collision model, shadow-caster model, weight model... then assign various physics like G-force, wind... attach airfoils... attach controls... you can use bone animated models with weighted vertices as well as fbf animated models. The same you can create rigidbodies for level geometry and believe me its easy and simply works... you just export your models to .x and import into the engine... I would agree that its more racing genre oriented with car physic templates, race timer, checkpoint system and car AI, but Fernando has added lots of different features including player character. Also with the script other guys on the forum have made lots of stuff like minimaps, infinite terrain, etc.

What i personally think was wrong is the lack of information and any publicity... i got into this engine almost by accident while checking out 3Impact.

It might be lacking features, but its the first engine i bought that gave me the chance to have a working level in less than an hour, the only other engine that i did that with was DX Studio.

Hm, just ask yourself why there are no games around made with 3D Rad. With games i don`t mean minilevels to show the power of single objects. It is around for three years now. So when its really so easy and powerful then there should be a ton of finished games around by now, right? That shows the real power of 3D Rad

Weakest point is the event system, not so much the limited number of available objects. To connect checkboxes with each other sounds really easy and quick. But the moment where you need to connect enough objects together to make a game from is the moment where it fails because things becomes very complicated up to impossible then. That was the reason why i personally have dropped it.

I think you missed the point of a tool like this. It serves the same market like the FPS creator. Did you see any published game made with FPS creator? No. And there probably will not be any in the future.
But there are tons of customers. The makers of FPS creator make some good money. The customers want to have fun, easy access and fast feedback.
3dgs users are something similar. They are here because they get easy access to the scripting (otherwise they would use a real programming language with better debugger and more powerful programming features). But even this takes more time for learning.

The same counts for Poser, DAZ and similar tools. Nobody will make a professional project with these. It is even not allowed in their license. But nevertheless there are tons of customers buying every new art pack, just for fun, for creating some nice scenes and images. It is their hobby.

here's a nother one what do you think guys?

Well, i have in fact seen finished projects made with FPS Maker. Not professional of course. And i have seen art made with Poser and DAZ. Also not professional. But i haven`t yet seen a finished project with 3D Rad. Be it professional or not professional. That`s what i wanted to point out. When i grab a game making tool i would expect that i can make games with it

But i totally agree with you. It`s the fun that`s in the first place with such a tool

back in the day the old 3d rad had a few games made with it.

See Mic's progress, just a couple of days later (and this is spare time project)

YOUTUBE

@Frank_G :
Yes, i agree totally with what you said.
And lot of people like these friendly 3D engines for fun , but also caus they can express their creative spirit.
The pleasure to learn and enjoy something done and working.


Well for 3D RAD, it lacks lot fo features you can find in more solid engines : Buy A7 or Unity instead !

In the 3D RAD forums , for each new feature request, there is some 600$ to reach in donation before the programmer release it

That's like : ok we gonna make money with the old version of the engine : let's say it's free , and let's ask money for every new feature they ask !
I hate people like that, setaling money from young business unexperienced people
He should instead, adopt another way :
For exmplae :a vote for all features needed by people
and a vote for a global donation price !


Well stick away from that Money Angry 3D programmer,
let rest in peace 3D RAD , don't give money for a dead engine, and buy a more solid engine instead !

I see you like Frank's old nickname.

Yea, Frank_G is shorter
(I have lot of respect for it's open mind and
very good relative criticism of different people, 3D engines , tools and game making in general in indie game making).