Truevision3D was a commercial computer software

3D engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...

first created as a hobby project by Sylvain Dupont in 1999. With the addition of Arli Mujkic and John Hart, Truevision3D LLC. was formed. The Truevision3D (commonly abbreviated as TV3D) engine was written in Visual Basic 6 and

C++ C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...

and layered on top of the

Microsoft DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct", ...

API, supporting DirectX version 8. The engine is accessible from a number of programming languages including C++, C#, Delphi and

Visual Basic Visual Basic is a name for a family of programming languages from Microsoft. It may refer to: * Visual Basic .NET (now simply referred to as "Visual Basic"), the current version of Visual Basic launched in 2002 which runs on .NET * Visual Basic ( ...

(6 and .NET). The last version of Truevision3D was 6.3. Version 6.5, reached public pre-release status and it was very stable. This included significant updates to the engine, such as

DirectX 9 Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...

and

shader In computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that calculates the appropriate levels of light, darkness, and color during the rendering of a 3D scene - a process known as ''shading''. Shaders have evolved to perform a variety of speci ...

support, as well as being rewritten in 100% C++.

Known issues

Versions 6.2 and 6.3 have issues with C++ support, it is not possible for example to make it work in certain compilers. Version 6.5 works with any language that can utilize COM, managed libraries, or static libs. There is also a known issue between version 6.3 on

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...

since it needs a dll from DirectX 8 which Vista does not have and it is contractually illegal to simply add it.

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

has been contacted regarding this issue but has not demonstrated in their forums any will to include the dll.

Features

Version 6.5 includes 3D, Media, and Network Engines. Included with the SDK are multiple tools to help speed up development: a shader editor, model viewer, exporting plugins for various modeling software (

3D Studio Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capab ...

Maya Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples, of southern Mexico and northern Central America ** Maya civilization, the historical civilization of the Maya peoples ** Maya language, the languages of the Maya peoples * Maya (Ethiopia), a popul ...

, and Milkshape 3D currently) and particle effects editors. Because version TV3D 6.5 no longer supports outdated mesh formats, many converters are also available. An official world or map editor is not currently planned because it hinders the end-user, since there is no way one editor can be used for every project this engine is used for. Furthermore, TV3D is a 3D engine, not a game engine, and an official editor would limit it too much. However, there are some user-created map editors available. Truevision3D is free to use as long as the user doesn't mind a logo in the corner of the rendering viewport. To remove the logo and publish a commercial project, a license needs to be acquired. Currently, the cost is $150 for a single-title license, $500 for a multi-title license. A source license can be purchased for an as yet undisclosed price.

About Truevision3D

Truevision3D began as a hobby project back in January 1999. Sylvain Dupont created a 3D engine in Visual Basic 6 with DirectX 7 & 8. With the later addition of Arli Mujkic and John Hart, Truevision3D, LLC. was formed to make TV3D a commercial product. {{Video game engines , state=autocollapse Video game engines 1999 software