Preview of the MK4 3D Interactive Car Builder program

[3D FFR]

Hey everyone, I wanted post some preview photos of a program I have been working on for well over 2 years.

Here is a bit of background on this program. At the core, I wanted to build a 3D virtual garage where users could build a Factory Five Roadster in a virtual environment. Last April I traveled down to the Charlotte Auto Fair with the guys from Whitby Auto Cars to setup and display my program for people to preview at the car show. I was really surprised when I saw David Smith show up, I didn't know he was planning to attend this event. Soon after he arrived I was able to demo the program to him. It was great to finally show off the program I put so much time into. While showing David the program, we were surrounded by over a dozen or so FFR owners. Personally I thought it was awesome to hear what I can only describe as positive mumbles from the small crowd, so they didn't interrupt the demo. My favorite was hearing almost the same comment from everyone "I wish I had this when I ordered my car".

Since that demo, I have worked with David's at Factory five to rebuild the program from the ground up so it could achieve some greater goals. The good news is we area now at a stage where we need to stress test this program, so we are going to conduct an open beta. For you non geeky types, that just means we are going to allow you to run the program early and if you find bugs, have suggestions or other feedback we want to hear from you! Your feedback will help make the program great!

The link to the program will go up tomorrow. Until then, here is some photos taken with the program.

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/13-12-03.png

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/01-26-56.png

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/01-28-24.png

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/13-10-06.png

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/13-18-05.png

I would also like to take a quick moment to thank Jeff C. At whitby Auto and my local FFR owners group for helping me out with testing and feedback.

[Martin]

Not sure exactly what it does, but if it doesnwhat I think, expect it to be overloaded tomorrow. Can't wait to see it.

Martin

[WIS89]

Holy cool ideas batman, this is awesome!!

What a terrific idea, and looks to be outstanding execution! Good for you, and really good for us!

Can't wait to see it tomorrow, when I can actually "build my roadster."

Awesome idea, and very high coolness factor!

Regards,

Steve

[3D FFR]

Thanks for the great comments everyone! I will keep you all posted. I hope that everyone enjoys this program. And it's not just for people who plan to build complete kits, it works perfect for people on a budget build. When you get to the paint stage of the program will fill in the blanks with common donor parts. Below are 2 examples of budget builds. The great part is that you still get to see what a finalized version of your dream car might look like

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/13-22-11.png

http://www.3dautosports.com/ffr/beta/screenshots/07-02-2012/00-27-42.png

[riptide motorsport]

cool!

[bil1024]

Nice, can not wait to see it!

[Crawleyscobra]

I do Software QA for a living... So I look forward to taking it for a ride around the block.

[Arrowhead]

You know this is gonna blow up don't ya? Now you have to do it for us hot rod guys, coupe and GTM. Then the 818!

[skullandbones]

Having used a "sailmakers" CAD software for many years, I can appreciate the value of a 3D model of your design. So I guess my question is what is the primary purpose of the program? For instance, would I be able to mock up a roadster with a certain rearend and wheel and tire and be able to view the 3D to see if the tire and wheel protrude past the fender well? That in itself would be very useful. Are there other goals you project for the program that the beta testers will be able to focus on for the early feedback? Just curious. WEK.

[MPTech]

Very cool indeed.
The cars look great!

looks like A LOT of work went into this.

[Jeff Collins]

Congratulations Mike, that looks great.

[3D FFR]

Thank you Jeff. You really helped me on making this thing a reality! A virtual reality:o

[johngeorge]

Can you do the challenge car too? :)

[3D FFR]

Thanks everyone for allowing me to tease you a bit. I have the full post up and a link to the program. Technically, it is still Wednesday on the west coast, so I made my deadline :)

http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?5112-Factory-Five-Interactive-Kit-Builder-Program&p=50681#post50681

[ksamson]

Hey Mike, it was great meeting you and seeing your work in person. You truly have a great talent. Sam Kelly Silver Bullet

[buildit]

Just one thought...I wasn't able to get a truly "white stripe". Maybe I just didn't see how.

[Martin]

Just one thought...I wasn't able to get a truly "white stripe". Maybe I just didn't see how.


#ffffff
Is the code for pure white

The first two letters are red, second two are green, and the last are blue. The system is hexadecimal, so each digit is 1-9, then a-f. So 10 in the red would be a value of 17, of a maximum 255.

Add the colour components together to get the colour you see. Ffffff is full rgb = white.

Black is 000000, ie. No colour in either red, green, or blue.

Hope that helps.

Martin

[3D FFR]

You are right about the color code. It is pure white. The problem that is seen is not the color, but the reflection. The car is setup to be highly reflective to simulate a high gloss finish. And since the car is reflecting that garage environment it looks a bit darker so it is reflecting the dark areas around the edges of the car, making it look not white. At this weekends car show, I took photos of a all white can and compared it to one of the darker blue ones. You can notice in the photos that the white car is much less reflective in real life then the blue car which can look like a mirror at some angles. I am not sure if they have different gloss paint, but it is interesting to see how light and reflection effect cars differently.

Thanks Sam! It was great to meet you and your wife, and I hope that I helped out. I told everyone about our demo at the show, because hands down it was the best demo I had all day.

[buildit]

Ah ok, I was just trying to use the "color wheel" thing-a-ma-bob. I didn't know how to input the colors.