Due to GPU access Alternativa3D 8 can draw more than 3 million polygons with strong performance. Support of vertex and pixel shaders allows the creation of modern special effects such as lighting, shadows, particle systems, posteffects etc. in the Flash environment. Alternativa3D 8’s features are demonstrated in MAX Racer, an application created by AlternativaPlatform specifically for the Molehill presentation at the Adobe MAX 2010 conference.

AlternativaPlatform created the Alternativa3D 8 for use on its own projects. Third-party developers can use Alternativa 3D 8 free of charge.

• High performance
  GPU rendering. Allows the display of about 3 millions of polygons.

• Lighting system
  Point, directional and spot light sources. Efficient hierarchical culling of unlit objects. Each object can be lighted by six light sources simultaneously.

• Advanced materials
  Allows the use of fully dynamic lighting with normal map, specular map, glossy map, or more lightweight materials - with baked light.

• Character drawing
  The powerful hierarchic animation blending system. Character models of any complexity without bone quantity limit.

• Transparent objects
  Sorting and proper display of transparent objects.

• 3D Sprites
  Point objects are always facing the camera.

• Interactivity
  Uses mouse events similar to those used in Flash. The system takes into account hierarchy and options of containers. Optimized to work with high-poly models.

• Optimized textures for the GPU
  The support of compressed texture format ATF (Adobe Texture Format) reduces the amount of video memory in use. It is especially important for mobile devices.

• High capacity data format
  Special binary format reduces the amount of data required for sending over the network, and speeds up scene loading in the engine. You can export models to this format right form 3DS Max, using special plug-in.

Alternativa3D version 7 has been well received in the IT field. The technology is also widely used in the architectural and building sectors, interior design and internet advertising. An excellent example of its capabilities can be found in the commercially successful and rapidly evolving browser-based 3D shooter Tanki Online.

First Person Shooter Example - Alternativa3D, Away3D, Papervision3D, Sandy3D Comparsion by Exey Panteleev

• Fast and Effective Rendering
  12,000 polygons are displayed simulatneously.

• Lighting system
  Point, directional and spot light sources. Vertex light, flat shading, average light and normal map lighting materials.

• Intuitive API
  Hierarchy and properties of 3D objects are similar to the displayObjects in Flash. Each 3D object has transformation, alpha, blend mode and filters.

• Correct Sorting
  It is possible to set different types of face sorting for polygonal objects through average Z, dynamic BSP and static BSP. There are containers to sort child objects with different methods including: by distance, binary partitioning, KD-tree and BSP-tree.

• Effective Culling System
  Hierarchic object culling by bounds, occlusion culling, backface and frustum culling and clipping.

• Interactivity
  Uses mouse events similar to those used in Flash. The system takes into account hierarchy and options of containers.

• Mipmapping
  Lowers texture detail by distance from object. This enhances picture quality and increases performance.

• LOD
  Lowers geometry detail by distance from object. This decreases the amount of polygons drawn.

• 3D Sprites
  Point objects are always facing the camera.

• Multiple Cameras
  It is possible to create as many cameras and viewports for them as needed.

• Debug System
  It is possible to display object bounds, bones and polygonal wireframe.

• Animation System
  Handles skeletal animation, blending of animations and loading from Collada.

• 3ds Max Plugin
  The 3D scene is prepared in the editor and uploaded via the Collada format. The plugin allows the user to set container types, sorting for polygonal objects, create 3D sprites and LODs.