EON Visualizer Overview

1. Introduction

This is a draft specification of EON’s new of easy to use tool focused on addressing the needs of IPCM for sales and marketing.

As EON has already received significant customers success and increasing demand to provide IPCM solutions, it is time also time to focus on delivering the next generation tool that will help us leverage our position and sell high volumes of a tool that allow customers to use them selves to generate sales and marketing deliverables for print, movies, web and event marketing.

EON Visualizer™ is targeting normal non technical users at the sales and marketing department providing them with the ability to create photorealistic, interactive, customized marketing, event and sales support materials. The tool assumes that a basic generic real-time model has already been prepared using EON Raptor or EON CAD.

EON’s ability to develop the leading authoring tool for sales and marketing is all about “EASE OF USE”. When our customers can develop themselves the Bombardier marketing application using EON Visualizer in one tenth of the time, then we have achieved the goal! I know that is a tough goal in version 1.0 but not impossible later. And I think we will then own this enormous market!

2. EON Visualizer Product Review

Our existing tools have already most of the functionality needed. It is now important to improve the ease of use and enhance features needed for sales and marketing. Here are some high light ideas for WHAT this product needs to be doing and HOW we should market it. To make it a bit more exciting I have presented it as a future product review:

“Now YOU can take your product presentations to a 3D Dimension”
EON Visualizer Product Review May 2006 (by CG Magazine)


2.1 Overview

Creative interactive 3D product content creation and management is very useful but has up until now been to complex for non technical users. EON Visualizer is the first tool in the market that is targeting marketing and sales people with limited or no technical background:
• Each feature is loaded with multiple choices therefore, simplicity is vital.
• EON Visualiser interface is the most intuitive of all in the market.
• The feature tools are easy to identify, understand and features are a breeze to incorporate. Just drag and drop.
• Editing has just eight simple steps:
1. View
2. Explore
3. Material
4. 3D Library, Sound & Showroom
5. Configuration & Interaction
6. Animation
7. Optimize
8. Publish

• With each task, only relevant choices pop up.
• Resources appear right when and where you need them.
• A wizard can be triggered to help you through the process
• You don't need to dig through a dozen menus to find the right editing tool.
• Help and support: Because the product is more intuitive than other interactive 3D software, you do not need to not spend much on help files. But EON Visualizer provides several well written help files, tutorials and guides.
• Ease of use of installation: We have no installation set up or problems.
• When EON Reality released EON Professional, they set a high standard of interactive 3D authoring software, but the bar has been raised significantly with the recent release of EON Visualizer which has been reviewed as in the top ten gold winner for interactive product content management.
• User comments “It's not only enjoyable but ridiculously easy” Graphical Director, Fortune 500 marketing department. “In fact, with EON Visualiser, it is so effortless that anyone could produce amazing interactive 3D content from even very limited CAD data with no texture (texture library)”
• Slick User Interface based on MS New Vista fully integrated with their new 3d GUI features, the new Vista GUI and easy to use work process has inspired EON Visualizer


EON Visualiser has the best balanced format function to help you to create interactive 3D content. You cannot beat the simple navigation feature. EON Visualizer remains the interactive 3D Gold Bar standard. All other comparative products such as Right Hemisphere, Virtools have fallen short. The fact is that EON has a deep knowledge on what is important for Sales & Marketing applications and has implemented this in EON Visualizer.

In short, using EON Visualiser is like having someone else do all the interactive product content management for you.


2.2 Feature list

A complete list of features and side by side comparisons are available at www.eonreality.com.
1. Seamless CAD import (EON CAD and EON Raptor comes as a part of the software bundle)
2. “Magic 3D Viewer” button - automatic content generation: If you choose to do nothing other than apply the default settings a standard set of images, animations and Interactive model will be generated automatically. The Interactive model will automatically have generated multiple features that can be easily accessed by a simple right click of a mouse:
1. Walk/ Fly/ Object navigation
2. Pre-set camera views
3. Rotate
4. Explode (Assembly / Dissasambly)
5. Clipping planes
6. Default transparency (all objects)
7. Drawing Mode
8. Default sound
9. Default Showroom with drop shadow
10. Default animation
3. “Magic One Step™” buttons that guides you through selected intelligent “default functionality” for View modality (walk and fly), Exploration (explode, transparency, assembly etc), default materials, default showroom selection, default Interaction, default animation, Optimization and Publishing.
4. “Magic Print™” One Step Buttons to print Image to Powerpoint, PDF, Word etc
5. “Magic Sound” One step button to select Sounds or import your own sound file
6. Viewing and Exploration menu features that allows you fully understand the product
7. “Tag boat Wizard” step by step instruction and interaction generation
8. Full Texture, CG & light library, the most photorealistic CG library in the market focused on sales and marketing
9. Extensive 3D Objects and Showroom library containing over 12 high quality show rooms and 360 landscape settings, Image backdrops, and over 1600 3D Objects and products.
10. In addition through EON I-Search™ functionality (Google search supported engine) users can search additional EON supported content available on the Internet (Turbo Squid but also search all EON available .EOZ models on the web, Jan there is a way to do this, right?)
11. EOZ files with Image Thumb nails
12. High resolution Print materials for marketing:
1. EON I-Photo™ includes product images present the product in its entirety including all its backgrounds and functions produced in a high resolution that is suitable for print material (5-10K).
2. EON Photogenic - Esthetic Shots are shots that demonstrate the creative characteristics and emotional positioning of a product.
3. EON I-TECH™- Tech Shots cover all images that focus on technology from schematic function displays to complex illustrations as well as photo-realistic images of technical parts such as a cross-section of a cabin. Drawing CG features are included
4. EON Virtual 360™ Virtual Shoot around and angle studies are used to determine at a very early stage the ideal angle at which the aircraft should be displayed. The EON Virtual 360™ is ideal for researching and preparing real shots or films providing a detailed insight into perspectives, angles and camera movements.
13. Automatic Animation generation with EON I-animation™ functionality by selecting of “highlight” scenes and “smooth path” generation.
14. Seamless scalable deployment from internet , laptop to stereoscopic screens
15. EON Viewer licenses ( As a part of the bundle EON Server on line licenses is attached as well as 15 EON Viewer licences)
16. Smartest 3D edit Configuration & Interaction creation tool in the market
17. “Magic Physics” feature made easy (Version 2.0)
18. Automatic real-time Optimization tools
19. Fully integrated with the new Vista PowerPoint
20. Default Graphical Window Interface library











3. EON Visualizer DEMO Description


To better understand the work flow of EON Visualizer we have selected this “walk through” of a typical four minute demo will contain.

3.1 Input data for EON Visualizer

Either from EON Raptor or EON CAD, you be able to open EON Visualiser alternatively you open a EON Cad file from EON Visualizer.

3.2 Open EON Visualizer

This GUI is preliminary and may be updated and refined based on the inspiration from Jan’s analysis of the Vista GUI. EON Visualiser window opens up and what you see is attached image:



Help WIZARD



The image contains:
• a large 3D Window, a large image where you can select components, and manipulate the 3D data
• Menu options to create the View, Explore, Material, Interaction, Optimize and Publish functionality.
• In the left-hand corner, Sub-Menus for each Menu category
• On the top right-hand corner, more Details Selection about the sub-menus.
• In the other left-hand corner – History tree to trace your selections
• In the bottom a wizard base help function that is active as default to guide you through. You have on the top end, an option to select Wizard On or Wizard Off,. When this is on, you will have explanation guidance in the bottom part, under the pictures that guides you what to do under each editor mode. If when you become proficient, you don't have to select those, and then it goes much faster. This way we will save a lot, we can make a much cleaner interface, save a lot of text that becomes annoying after you know the tools very well.

3.3 The Most frequent used buttons – top part

On the upper part, you should still have File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Tools, Shape, Window, Help - very much a Windows-like environment.


There should be very simply buttons like for example:
• Magic buttons, which give you default values for everything including view explore material interaction optimize. So if you don't have too much, you can actually chose default values on everything and get something in minutes.
• Most frequent use buttons to manipulate ayour 3d window, buttons where you can explode, slice, view as a drawing, transparent, etc
• This is also a button on the top - called Zoom Extend. At any point you are lost in the 3D, you can click Zoom Extend and you get back to the original position. I am not sure if we should call it Zoom Extend or Back to Start. Basically zoom into the whole object.
• “Magic 3D Viewer” button - automatic content generation: If you choose to do nothing other than apply the default settings a standard set of images, animations and Interactive model will be generated automatically. The Interactive model will automatically have generated multiple features that can be easily accessed by a simple right click of a mouse:
o Walk/ Fly/ Object navigation
o Pre-set camera views
o Rotate
o Explode (Assembly / Dissasambly)
o Clipping planes
o Default transparency (all objects)
o Drawing Mode
o Default Showroom with drop shadow
o Default animation
• “Magic One Step™” buttons that guides you through selected intelligent “default functionality” for View modality (walk and fly), Exploration (explode, transparency, assembly etc), default materials, default showroom selection, default Interaction, default animation, Optimization and Publishing.
• “Magic Print™” One Step Buttons to print Image to Powerpoint, PDF, Word etc
• “Magic Sound” One step button for sound selection

3.4 View Menu

View. Default is object navigation - that's the most normal navigation for products.




Somehow we will have an auto scale so a reference to the window the object or the environment will be visible in the window automatically - re-size the window. Default object nav.

Go to the sub-menu and select. If you are happy with object nav, that's fine. You will also have a default. If not, for example, chose walk, you will have a default speed, default turn and also definition how the walk - which buttons should activate the walk, right mouse buttons or keyboard. You could also have advanced properties, perhaps not in version 1. Similar selections for each of the navigation, fly and also if you want to navigate with the keys.

View Menu allows you to select certain pre-set camera views which can be triggered either by

(a) keys; or
(b) right click mouse on the 3d image and select a view - on the tree simulation window (default)

Several views can be created simply by selecting the angle and then clicking on which view it is: View 1, View 2, View 3. For each view that you select, you will then specify and put a name to that pre-selected view. This is View 1 or view of the corner or north view, south view, zoom view, so you can easily identify them when you right click.

The fashion you move from one image to the other could be either sudden – (use default camera sound) like clicking between images, or more of a smooth fly through to that location - location to location, like a fly through.


3.5 Explore







Explode: First we would like to have an automatic explode button so you can explode the product environment components (disassemble and assemble) automatically without having to do anything. That should be a button as an option, as a default almost that you can click through. This needs to be either in Version 1 to EON CAD and Version 2 as a prototype. One thing that would be nice to do is to control the ability of speed - how fast.



Transparent: First select which objects you would like to have transparent and then use the right click button to click transparency on objects.






Rotate: Under objects, also put rotate - so right click on the mouse so you can see rotate as an option.

Clipping planes: Next option in is cut/slice the object so you can actually see through the object - see into the middle of the objects, how it looks from the side and make sections. These clipping planes shall be, by default, oriented along the same panes as described in the 5B/Orthographic views above. We will make modifications to our core software to allow the ability to create an interactive clipping plane for slicing the scene and design the functionality and graphical user interface as per the detailed specification discussed during the meeting at Mortenson facilities. Alternatively just use CG shaders.



Example of EON Interactive clipping planes in an engine

The default orientation of these clipping planes shall be interactively customizable by mouse or keyboard input



3.6 Material




Possible to do material before explore that would give the benefit of allowing you to do cuts and slices. Now we go to materials. This is what happens:

First of all in Version 1, we assume that there are already textures on the material.

Material Editor:
• You will get the list of various materials to choose from in a material editor library. By the way the library can also built up through texture libraries etc - see Stefan Larsson's mail. Use standard libraries.
• Select materials from the materials editor.
• Apply them to a mixer and see the results by combining different materials.
• Click on the part you want to paint with the mixed materials in a paint mode or in the 3D window.
• Another way to paint the materials, is to select the particular object that is already painted like right click on an object and select the paint there and then apply that paint throughout the room or environment. All the changes you make will reflect according to that selected material.

Different types of materials:

(a) colors
(b) CG effects like HDR shaders:
• leather, bump
• car paint
• Wood different type
• Rubber
• Linoleum
• Cork
• Concrete, different materials see Stefan larsons
• Cloth and fabrics
• Lamp shaders?
• Plastic, transparent
• Glass different types
• Stone
• Metal, gold, copper, aluminum etc.
• glow
• Drawing
• Smoke/fog
• Water, waves etc
• Glow
• Fire
• see also RTT’s web site shaders
• We need to create a complete library of CG shaders or reference to a texture. Part of the shaders is also reflections. The way we drop today reflections and CG effects on textures
• Must be much easier - just drag and drop. Also the way you manipulate for example, the CG shaders need to be much easier than today's way - must more visual. Using sliding bars.
• Research on the web, there are existing CG shaders free
• Outsource this task




Adding a shader: If you want to add a CG shader on top of textured material, you should get a question - a dialog - asking if you want to replace existing texture material with the CG shader? or do you want to add the CG shaders on top of that textured material as a reflective shader?

Changing a texture: If you want to just change the texture simply, just click on an existing texture on the floor for example, and change it with something else - just browse for a new one and select and apply it.

3D Rederer Connection:V-RAY version 2
Option and wizard (help file) how to bake textures and perhaps next version build in renderer


Reflection: Texture map reflection and other fake reflections by using standard textures that reflect a real reflection in a virtual showroom environment.



Development effort: Again, we should probably outsource the texture manipulation in Phase 2 so we get a much better way to apply textures, not only to round or cube objects, but also to more organic objects.























3.7 3D Library , Virtual Show room and Sound (New menu)




Between material interactions, add a new Menu Showroom.

Showroom library: You basically have a library of showrooms that you can use or you can create your own showrooms to apply to the products

Three types of showrooms:
1. Full 3d Showroom
2. 360 Images
3. backdrop image (2D).

Shadow: When you use the virtual showroom, you can also apply shadow. You have two options for shadow:
• drop shadow, which is the easy way to do it - on the plain surface;
• and there is also the more real time shadow, called hard volume shadows, which casts 3D shadows and is more complex.



Here for example, there are several steps on the show definition.

1 Which shadow would you like to cast?
2 Which surface would you like to cast a shadow on?
3 For example, floor which is 9/10 and then what objects should cast a shadow and then click on that.
4 Then, where is the light coming from? There are three parameters you have to decide in order to do this.



3D Sound library, 2 types music files or 3d triggered sounds, engine, door opens etc.





3.8 Interaction / Configuration


(i) Change interaction to configuration instead, because what we are doing is configuration.
(ii) Configuration swapping materials or swapping geometries. The way to trigger that is by right click on the mouse, similar to what we did for the Whirlpool demo. This will enable simple configuration capabilities but not key feature demonstration in this phase.



Once you are interaction mode to swap materials or geometries, you will get a back window further down with the material editor again to select which materials you want to have.


3.9 Animation (New menu)





A new function – Animation: You move yourself interactively to certain points. For example:
(1) close to the logo
(2) move to the back side
(3) fall further away to see an overview, so you select points that you want to see
(4) and then you click on a button called "smooth out" and it basically creates a smooth path with a certain speed that you can also control, through this loop of animation
(5) automatically generating a nice smooth animation of that path. The camera will always point to the centre in the function.

There is a similar animation for objects when you are in, for example, interiors or environments.

3.10 Optimize


What's going to happen in optimizemode:

Texture optimization and you will have three options:
(1) high end computer; (2) middle end computer; and (3) low end computer. You should explain what it is in number of megabytes and polygons for each one.
There are two steps for texture optimization:
The Step one is to have a rough selection of low, medium or high end. Once you have selected this, then you should have Step 2 refinement - walk through the model and see objects. Then you should have the possibility to identify certain objects that might be too blurry - click on them and automatically select increased resolution for those specific ones. It's a two step - the first one is an optimization, the other one is called refined optimization.


Next phase is file size and reduction. You have a choice to have normal textures or to use JPEG compression algorithms to reduce the size. The disadvantage of this is of course that when you open the file it will go slower because it has to uncompress it. You also have a selection of JPEG 2000 PNG, JP2000 or DDS textures.

Polygon reduction under the Wizard will say polygon reduction affects mostly the performance not so much the file size. Then you have three options: polygon reductions, same approach as with the textures. We have a slider, high resolution, mid or low resolutions. Then you do a general over the whole model. This is called the general polygon reduction. Then you have a refined polygon reduction, where you start to walk through the separate objects and identify objects that are too coarse and then you would be able to increase the resolution on them. Similar to what we do with the textures.


One problem we have here is the Undo button, the mis-undo button. One way to get around this is every time you switch from view to explore to material, an automatic saving of that version of the model is done so you can go back to that model and actually have a latest version of that model. The problem is that it will take a lot of time, so you have to be smart about it.

We need to make a warning here on collapsing meshes. Collapsing meshes will affect the speed to open a file significantly shortens the time, but we need to make a warning once you collapse the files, you need to save the previous version because once you collapse it you cannot go backwards. You should be prompted to save the earlier version before.

When you do a critical thing, you should be prompted to save it as a version before going to the next one.





3.11 Publish




Publish. You can publish:
1. Images, under image you can publish several options: the classic product image, esthetic shot, tech image or 360 shots.
2. animation/movie
3. interactive 3D Viewing and then within that you also have a number of options: stand alone, web, ICUBE, ICATCHER.
4. Sound relevant to animations and 3D viewer






3.11.1 Virtual Image Creation.
An example of image usage can be customized images/brochure at a tradeshow or in the field. With EON I-Photo™ High-quality images can be generated from the created EON application easily and efficiently. Both the display format as well as any possible effects cannot be told apart from real photography. Find out what the Learjet looks like against the breathtaking backdrop of Arizona to see which location you prefer. Special effects such as flowing water, fog or snowstorms can be integrated easily to meet customer requirements. Cameras, angles and colors can be integrated simply and interactively. The results are time and cost savings, the elimination of logistic and security issues regarding top-secret prototypes and the eradication of problems caused by unreliable weather conditions.

The EON I-Photo™ includes:
Classic product images present the product in its entirety including all its backgrounds and functions. Product images are mainly used for catalogues and product information brochures. The images are produced in a high resolution that is suitable for print material (5-10K) and highlight even the smallest details perfectly. Close-ups focus on materials and surfaces, free camera angles and individually selected lighting conditions and background situations add to the flexible number of possibilities on offer.

EON Photogenic™ - Esthetic Shots are shots that demonstrate the creative characteristics and emotional positioning of a product. The main advantage of EON Photogenic™ compared with classic photography is that there are almost no design restrictions imposed. Virtual objects can be placed in real or photographed environments whereby special effects can be used to create the desired impression. Achieving such an impression during a classic photo shoot requires considerably more recourses and can prove impossible.

EON I-TECH™ - Tech Shots cover all images that focus on technology. These range from schematic function displays to complex illustrations as well as photo-realistic images of technical parts such as a cross-section of a cabin. EON I-TECH™ make technology accessible.

The EON Virtual 360™- Virtual Shoot around and angle studies are used to determine at a very early stage the ideal angle at which the aircraft should be displayed. A large number of shots are taken from various directions and camera levels with a standard focal width - normally using a neutral studio background. This is a standard process used by conventional photography which can also be carried out effortlessly as a Virtual photo shoot. A virtual EON Virtual 360™ provides more options than conventional methods as the camera can be placed freely without any technical requirements needing to be in place. 360° turntables in 1°, 5° or 10° stages are created. The height of the camera and the focal width are also varied and any number of environments can be tried and tested. The EON Virtual 360™ is ideal for researching and preparing real shots or films providing a detailed insight into perspectives, angles and camera movements.
Under publishing, there should be an option to publish directly to PowerPoint so you can get those objects in PowerPoint Vista. We should probably introduce a new one when you have virtual showroom to also have 3D library of objects.

Under showroom, the showroom library you have one to select different showrooms but you also have a selection of 3D objects or even 2D back drop images.

Under printing, we need to have set with the resolution of the images. So if you go back to image and printing you add in there.






3.11.2 Virtual Animation Movie Creation.

EON I-animation™
Under animation you should have the same option to do several types of animations which are customize animation or 360 animations.

You move yourself interactively to certain points. For example:
(1) close to the logo
(2) move to the back side
(3) fall further away to see an overview, so you select points that you want to see
(4) and then you click on a button called "smooth out" and it basically creates a smooth path with a certain speed that you can also control, through this loop of animation
(5) automatically generating a nice smooth animation of that path. The camera will always point to the centre in the function.

There is a similar animation for objects when you are in, for example, interiors or environments.

Sound relevant to animations include Sound library


3.11.2 Interactive 3D Viewing
Then under interactive you should also have the publishing opportunity to:
1. Web
2. standalone PC
3. ICatcher
4. Artificial I
5. CD production.

Sound relevant to 3d viewer, include Sound library




Under publish for stereo, you also have the optimize available.