Shark 3D

Shark 3D

Original author(s)	Spinor
Developer(s)	Spinor
Initial release	February 2000
Development status	Active
Written in	C++, Python
Available in	English
Type	3D computer graphics, game engine
Website	www.shark3d.com

Shark 3D is a 3D software and engine developed by Spinor for creating and running interactive virtual 3D worlds. It is used for video games, films, animated series, broadcasting graphics, and 3D industry applications.^[1]

Shark 3D is mainly used for developing video games (similar to a Game engine), producing films and TV series,^[2][3] creating broadcast graphics,^[4] and developing 3D applications.

Workflow

Animations are created by "playing" a scene as in video games within a simulated virtual world. This is different to software like Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya where you create animations mainly by hand-animating all individual movements.

By recording different characters and objects in different tracks, the animator can create a full scene in multiple iterations. For example, the animator can first play one virtual actor, and then play another while replaying the first one. Recording is physics based, so that a character or vehicle controlled live can physically interact with previously recorded characters and objects.

Features

Shark 3D contains:

• A tool pipeline. Assets like meshes, textures and basic animations are not created within Shark 3D, but imported from separate tools like 3ds Max or Maya.
• Authoring editor^[5]
• Physics based recording, replay and track editing
• Shader editor
• Renderer (live and render-to-file)
• Sound system
• Physics engine
• Scripting

The core of Shark 3D is an authoring editor supporting templates and prefabs to reuse entities. Templates and prefabs can be nested to any level and edited live.^[6] This allows building up complex scenes or objects with integrated behaviors (e.g. NPCs or complex camera systems based on simple building blocks in a flexible way).

Shark 3D is available for multiple target platforms like Windows and Linux based PC applications, mobile devices and consoles.

The software focuses entirely on real-time. For example, all soft lighting and shadowing in the Shark 3D renderer is completely real-time.^[7] This is in contrast to other software packages like Autodesk Maya which are mainly non-realtime or various game engines like game engines as for example the Unity engine or Unreal Engine which use a mixture of realtime and precalculated lighting.

The software is highly modular and can be customized or extended on all layers.

Industry support

Clients

Screenshot from the engine

Companies using Shark 3D include Funcom,^[8] Ravensburger Digital,^[9] Marc Weigert,^[10] Siemens, ARD/ZDF/Pro 7/Disney Junior.^[11] In 2012 it was the second-most used real-time 3D engine in Europe after Unity.^[12]

Awards

Awards given to products based on Shark 3D:

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

• Norwegian video game studio Funcom's PC and Xbox adventure video game Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was GameSpy's "Editor's choice" of the year 2006^[13][14][15]
• Media award "Der weiße Elefant" for the "innovative production" using Shark 3D of "D.I.E. – Detektive im Einsatz" running on Super RTL^[16]
• Lara-Award for the game Windchaser^[17]

Third-party plugins

• Camera tracking^[18]
• Cinector Motion capture^[19]
• RTF^[20] Massively multiplayer library^[21]

See also

• Autodesk Maya
• Motionbuilder
• Renderware
• Gamebryo
• Moviestorm
• Muvizu
• Xtranormal

References

1. "Spinor unveils Shark 3D engine". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
2. "Shark 3D Engine Interview". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
3. "EFA Master Class 2014: "HIGH VALUE FOR YOUR BUDGET – The Creative Use of Virtual Production" with Marc Weigert, 2 - 8 June 2014". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
4. "Neue Gestaltungsfreiheit in der Bluebox". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
5. "Let's get serious:How video game technology transforms other industries" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Slide 4
6. "Let's get serious:How video game technology transforms other industries" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Slide 15
7. "Shark 3D Engine Interview". Retrieved 2014-08-28.
8. "E3 2004: DREAMFALL: THE LONGEST JOURNEY FIRST LOOK". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
9. "Shark 3D based iOS-Game tops the German iTunes charts". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
10. "EFA Master Class 2014: "HIGH VALUE FOR YOUR BUDGET – The Creative Use of Virtual Production" with Marc Weigert, 2 - 8 June 2014". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
11. "Real-time Renderer Vector" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28.
12. "European Online Game Survey 2012" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-08-28. Page 6.
13. "PC Reviews". Archived from the original on August 25, 2010. Retrieved 2014-08-27.
14. "Xbox Reviews". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
15. "Dreamfall Game of the Year - PC (Jewel case)". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
16. "Weißer Elefant für fliegende Fische". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
17. "Preisträger 2007". Retrieved 2014-08-27.
18. "vr3".
19. "Cinector".
20. "The Real-Time-Framework".
21. "Integrating RTF into Shark 3D as a foundation for experiments on OFELIA".

External links

• Official website
• IGN article about the Shark 3D based game Dreamfall