We can't count the number of times we wished our Windows desktop was as messy as a regular desk. You know, because we've never really wished for that. But that's exactly what Real Desktop lets you do. Oh yeah, it also turns your desktop into a 3D workspace.
While the 3D desktop is certainly pretty, we're not sure it's particularly useful. You can move icons around the screen with a left click. Click both of your mouse buttons to "pick up" an icon, or click the edge to rotate it. Probably the most fun you can have is when you highlight a bunch of icons and then drag them into another group of icons and watch them scatter like bowling pins.
The problem is there doesn't appear to be a way to automatically reorganized your icons once you've made a mess of things. Right clicking on the desktop brings up your usual Windows options like "Refresh" and "Arrange Icons By." But when you select those items, nothing happens.
Real Desktop comes in two editions. The free Lite version is sort of a one trick pony, while the $25 standard edition lets you customize your desktop with a variety of colors, themes, and other goodies.
This is hardly the most realistic 3D desktop we've ever seen. But for the life of us, we couldn't figure out how to install the other one.
This summer we got our first look at EveryScape, a new startup that makes Google Street View look like child's play. But now that the company has launched a public beta, we have to say, we're not convinced Google has anything to worry about. Yet.
EveryScape certainly looks beautiful. 3D panoramas of real-life street views are stitched together from special photos taken atop EveryScape vehicles. Users can also submit their own photos to help flesh out details. At launch EveryScape has scenes from 4 cities: New York, Boston, Miami Beach, and Aspen.
You can click an Auto Drive button to take a guided tour of a city, or select "You Drive" to take control of the "wheel" yourself. There is also a nice directory of popular locations, including sightseeing spots, shopping, food and night life. In some locations, you can even click on an icon within the EveryScape interface to get a pop up button with more information.
But there's one big problem with EveryScape. It's slow. Really, really slow. Periodically during our test drive, a message would pop up telling us that the site was experiencing heavy traffic, which was affecting performance. So hopefully EveryScape is just experiencing growing pains. But while EveryScape provides much more detailed imagery and information than Google Street View (for selected locations), Google has a huge server farm which is capable of handling high traffic volumes.
Microsoft has partnered with Dassault Systems to launch a 3D building application for Virtual Earth. In other words, the new application called Virtual Earth 3DVIA is a direct competitor to Google's 3D Warehouse for Google Earth.
The application lets you create 3D structures that can be placed on Virtual Earth maps or shared with other users. Virtual Earth 3DVIA is free to use, which makes sense, because users are essentially adding value to Microsoft's mapping services.
We highly recommend creating completely unrealistic models of your home and nearby buildings and uploading them so that Virtual Earth users will get the sense that you live in Rivendell and not Poughkeepsie. We're equal opportunity here at Download Squad, so we recommend the same activities for Google Sketchup users.
When Robert Savage, creator of the recently released email client 3D Mailbox, commented on our post about his new product, we invited him to participate in an email interview with us. Here's what he had to say:
DS: What gave you the idea to create 3D Mailbox?
Ideas just come. Hard to dissect. William Faulkner wrote The Sound and The Fury after seeing a girl's white dress.
DS: Does your company plan to develop any new types of software using the technology you've created for Visitorville and 3D Mailbox?
It's hard to know where to start when trying to describe the new free email client 3D Mailbox. Even after finding ourselves slack-jawed at the website and the video of this software in action, we still wanted to reserve final judgment until we'd actually had a chance to get under the hood and check it out for ourselves. Although we were never able to actually get the software to work, despite trying it on four different PCs, it's probably just as well because what little time we did spend with 3D Mailbox had us reaching for our antacids faster than you can say, "Who thought this up?"
Those wonderful folks over at DAZ 3D are doing it again by making Bryce 5.5, a 3D landscape and animation tool, available as a free download. The latest version of their software is at 6.1, but with version 5.5 you get a free, fully functional version of the software with no time-limit or disabled features to worry about. If you've been itching to play around in the 3D world you should check this out. The software is available for both Mac and PC platforms.
David Troy, creator of Twittervision and Flickrvision, has outdone himself by adding 3D graphics at both sites so users can circle the globe (literally) to find out what other people are Twittering and Flickring. Twittervision 3D and Flickrvision 3D are simple yet mesmerizing ways to read Tweets and check out really cool photos when you should be, you know, working or something.
Troy used his 3D rendering skills to create an image of the earth that whirls and spins to provide a geographic perspective of where people are uploading their Tweets or pics. Visitors to the site can use the slider bar to zoom in and out to get close-up views of the globe, and quickly switch to full screen by clicking on an icon in the upper right corner (return to regular view by hitting the escape key).
These are really neat sites that highlight the random coolness factor Twitter and Flickr, but I'd like to see a way to slow it down or freeze the screen entirely. More than once, I wanted to read a Tweet a second time or take a better look at a photo but it was gone before I had the chance. Oh, and that dizziness-inducing spinning globe really needs to be slowed down a bit (or maybe I just need to visit the site before eating lunch).
Architecture just got a little closer with the virtual world. The American Institute of Architects has formed a partnership with Google Earth that will allow users to explore popular structures and possibly enhance the communities we live in.
3D layers can be added to Google Earth that will allow for flythroughs of America's Favorite Architecture, featuring 150 structures including 3D models of buildings, ballparks, bridges, and memorials. Another 3D layer features a Blueprint of America which is a community service funded by AIA will showcase on Google Earth how special developments are enhancing the lives of communities.
Honestly, it's starting to feel like there's a new feature in Google Maps every day. Well, here's the latest.
Back in February, Google added building outlines to maps for selected cities. This week they've made those outlines a little more Google Earth-like, with the addition of 3D building outlines.
They're not completely three dimensional, in that you can't view them from multiple angles. But they're still pretty cool if you're you're looking for landmarks or just want to know what the world would look like if you were a color-blind bird.
In a world full of social networks, can we possibly utilize another? Why yes! Especially if it is targeted to a unique niche, as Teapotters is. The recently launched under beta Teapotters is targeted at 3D artists and already has a loyal following. Users upload 3D files, and Teapotters converts the 3D to display it on the site for all users to view. The converted 3D files can then be published on to other social networks, or into websites or blogs.
Through Teapotters, artists have the ability to share their material as long as it's not used for commercial purposes. This is the first website I've come across that lets users share real time 3D elements. Teapotters is currently in private beta, users can register to (hopefully) get an invite. Check out the video tour here.
I don't have to tell most of you how cool Google Sketch-Up is, since you already use it. If you don't know, it's a great, free, and easy to learn 3D modeling tool. Detailed tutorials and extremely simple tools make sketch-up one of the best 3D tools, especially for amateurs. Version 6 is now available for download, so get it while it's hot. There is a quick reference card to see all the tools and what they do in one place, if you would find it helpful. Sketch-Up is a fun tool that is a great thing to play with if you haven't ever tried doing 3D modeling before, or after a long hard day of work. It is easy enough to learn in a matter of a few hours. Once you sketch something, you can add it to its real world location on Google Earth and store it in the Google 3D Warehouse, a place to catalog the world's 3D models.
Here are some of the improvements made in SketchUp 6:
Text and Dimension tool improvements
Speed
Force Inference directions
Better modifier keys
Intersect
Paste in Place
Two point perspective
Also, in this release are several neat features that make 3D sketching even better. Watermarks let you put your logo on a model, or a stamp, such as "confidential" or "for-review." Styles allow you to create, use, and share custom display settings, so your models become uniquely yours. Watermarks and the new Sketchy Effects are part of Styles. Google SketchUp offers a free version of its serious 3D software that you don't need a serious degree in engineering to use.
Computer scientists from Germany have developed a way to laser-scan an object via a webcam into your computer. The software calculates the 3D dimensions based on the input it receives from the webcam, which views the laser beam being swept over the object you are scanning. At first it looked as though this was too-good-to-be-true, but you decide for yourself. I haven't tried this myself, and I really don't know what I would use it for, but it looks very cool for anyone thinking about scanning your own head, your cat, or something else in 3D. I suppose any 3D or game artists would find it useful, since they are constantly trying to find good ways of mapping a new object into the computer so they can model it, play with it, and change it. The software that accomplishes this feat of engineering is available as a free download. The software you can download doesn't allow full 360 degree scans...yet. Hopefully the developers will put out a new version in response to all the feedback they will undoubtedly be getting. We shall see.
While yesterday's Time Waster was a bit of a hair-puller--at least in the higher levels--Missile Game 3D is a lot less complex, though not necessarily less challenging. In Missile Game 3D you pilot yourself--in a missile, apparently--through an endless series of pseudo-3D tunnels. You guide the missile with the mouse, and must avoid spinning obstacles. Like I said, the game is not complex, but as you progress the action gets faster and tougher and not a little nerve-wracking. Missile Game 3D is a free web-based Flash game.
Microsoft is keeping things interesting in the mapping community by releasing its Virtual Earth online application. Microsoft has actually decided to add in real photographs of buildings, a feature that Google Earth has not yet implemented. Microsoft currently has 15 US cities with the 3D views, and plans to have more than 100 cities by the third quarter of next year. Another difference with Microsoft's new Virtual Earth is the integration of ads in the 3D environment. Not sure how I feel about this integration of virtual billboards yet. Aren't we bombarded with too many ads during the day as it is? Next we're sure to see the time on our watches having hourly sponsors! That aside, the Virtual Earth team has done a nice job with this interesting 3D feature. It's a great way to totally immerse yourself into a kind of realistic flight through your local map searches. Look for a name change in the future as well. The team will be changing the name from Live Local Search to Live Search Maps. Unlike Google Earth, this application runs totally inside the browser with an internet connection, and a special virtual earth setup file. Unfortunately I was unable to test this out yet. The installation bar kept giving me the message that "The installation is taking longer than expected." It's been 20 Minutes so far, and I gave up. Was anyone able to check this out yet?
Michael Battle has created a 3D Flash visualization of Digg stories in a full-screen spectacle that is pretty cool. Digg has their own Flash visualization tools, but nothing like this. If you haven't seen this in action, it is rockin'. I still prefer to search through Digg stories the old-fashioned website way, but 3D digg is certainly a break from the ordinary everyday once in a while. I have an interest in alternative user interfaces, and this is a good example of one that pushes at least the Digg envelope. Admittedly, this kind of thing is a bit more Web 3.0 than 2.0, but cool nonetheless.
When Robert Savage, creator of the recently released email client 3D Mailbox, 
It's hard to know where to start when trying to describe the new free email client 
David Troy, creator of 
