Hey beta fans! Now ready for your bashing pleasure is our public beta for IntuiFace Version 6.1.
The idea: you explore the nooks and crannies of both new and existing features, posting your observations below in a comment. In return, we fix everything and make sure that when Version 6.1 officially launches, it’s ready for your prime time.
Here’s what you need to download:
What you’re downloading is a zip file. Simply unzip it then run IntuiFaceComposer.exe. There is no installer. And yes, you can run the beta side-by-side with Version 6.0 and 5.x. Just make sure to keep an archived version of existing experiences because once you edit something in Version 6.1, it is locked out of Composer/Player 6.0 and 5.x.
So what’s new in Version 6.1?
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Overhauled Web Browser asset for Windows PCs
- Greatly improved HMTL, JavaScript and WebGL management - i.e. supporting just about any website on the planet
- Introduction of GPU acceleration to match the clarity and performance of both 3D models and videos when running natively in a Web browser
- Better touch management support, eliminating the need to differentiate interaction modes
- Built-in audio (MP3 and AAC) and video (H.264 and MPEG-4) codecs
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Screaming fast 3D Model support across all Player platforms
- Brand new engine based on three.js
- Parity with clarity and performance of 3D models running natively in Chrome
- Major increase in facet count and model size support
- New camera controls
- Continued support for all major 3D model formats
- SEE NOTE BELOW THIS LIST
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New HTML Asset for all Player platforms
- Embed your own HTML/JavaScript and CSS code
- Can be used to include any Web component (e.g. YouTube, Facebook)
- Powerful alternative to the Rich Text Asset for displaying HTML-formatted text
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Enhanced drawing tools for Windows PCs
- Ability to undo a drawing, plus individual undo stacks for each instance of the drawing tool
- Multiple eraser sizes and a touch-to-erase option
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Other improvements
- Faster project open/save speed
- New Map Collection properties to set pan constraints
- Other tweaks we’re easter egging for the time being.
NOTE ABOUT 3D MODEL SUPPORT
In Composer, under the File menu, you’ll see a new entry named “Show Composer Settings”. Opening it will reveal settings affecting 3D model (and Web-hosted video) support. The default settings assume you have a well spec’d Windows PC with a powerful, indepdent GPU (aka video card). On lower end PCs either without an independent GPU or with a low end independent GPU, you’ll get better Web Browser Asset performance if you deselect the “Use GPU” option. However, deselection of this option will disable our 3D model support. Yes, it’s a trade-off. You may also want to tweak the Frame Rate option.
Oh, and we’ve found it’s best to not run the Chrome browser independent of Composer (or Player) on the same PC. It competes with Composer’s Web Browser Asset.
Supported 3D models (ordered by file extension):
Recommended: 3ds (3ds Max), dae (Collada), fbx (Filmbox), obj/mtl (Wavefront)
Experimental (no promises but tell us what happens): 3mf (3D Manufacturing), amf (Additive Manufacturing), babylon (Babylon), bvh (Biovision), ctm (OpenCTM), draco (3D Data Compression), gltf (GL Transmission Format, kronos), json (Assimp.json), kmz (Keyhole Markup Language), md2 (Quake II), mmd (MikuMikuDance), nrrd (Nearly raw raster data), pcd (Point Cloud Library), ply (Stanford Polygon Library), prwm (Packed Raw WebGL Model), sea3d (Sea3D game engine), stl (Stereolithography), vtk (Visualization ToolKit), wrl (VRML), x (DirectX), xaml (Microsoft XAML)
Again, please share any and all feedback below. The more you look, the better IntuiFace becomes.
Enjoy!