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Get Your Virtual Viewing On STAT with the 3DVia Mobile iPhone App

by Josh on September 22, 2009 · View Comments

So, I’m minding my own business, trying to increase my high score on Scramble 2 when all of a sudden I feel a tremor in the 3D mobile app force. Nope, it wasn’t the tomatillo enchiladas. There had been, as a matter of fact, a new iPhone app approved.

The 3DVia Mobile iPhone app. It’s out as of now and for the time, it’s completely free at the iTunes App store. What? You’re a bit skeptical of ‘free’ and wondering what new and wonderous power lies within this 3D app? Not a problem. We’ve got the details.

The Example

So, a quick example of what you can do. You can search the 3DVia model library for a car, touch the Saleen S7 model that appears in the search results, rotate, pan and zoom in on the model. Here you see the car.

Here you see the car super-imposed on top of a photo of a banana I took just minutes ago.

What is 3DVia Mobile useful for?

Cars on Bananas. Is that it? 3DVia Mobile is very simply a 3D model viewing app. Unlike the 3DVia website that is a full-up social-type network for people to share models created with different modeling platforms, 3DVia Mobile, at the moment, only allows you to view the models created by the users of 3DVia, create overlays using your photos and post snapshots to your Photos to send to people.

Here is Cliff Medling’s take on three different uses for 3DVia Mobile.

So now, you may wonder even more, “What is 3DVia mobile useful for?” While simulated augmented reality is kind of neat (and while Apple gets their act together on allowing apps to augment via the video camera) the uses at the moment are limited to what you’ve seen above. However, one immediate practical use that comes to mind is allowing customers to view different products without having to bring anything with you. You could even use it as a portfolio of models you’ve created.

Here are a few more features:

  • Sign into your own 3DVia account
  • Display only Your Models
  • Comment on Models
  • Search for Users

Jump a few years and a few releases and you can imagine how this could be expanded to provide better virtualization of products to your clients. Even more powerful is the data that each model could contain, giving users the ability to display anything from build instructions, video demonstrations and even functional location analysis. For the time being, you’ll simply need to be satisfied with the novelty of putting your models on top of your bosses face.

The Similar Apps

There are two other apps that have similar functions to 3DVia Mobile. iLiving allows you to take a fixed set of furniture models and insert them into a room photo you’ve taken with your iPhone. Aonther app called NaviCAD allows you to browse user content on Google 3D Warehouse.

3DVia mobile is like those two apps, smashed together. However, there’s one big difference. 3DVia Mobile has the most amazing, fluid 3D viewing capability. It’s better than any of the 3D games I’ve seen and definitely provides an amazing benchmark for the future of 3D model viewing on mobile devices.

3DVia Mobile Resources

The 3DVia Mobile quick tutorial
The 3DVia iPhone App (iTunes)
The Develop3D coverage/Interview

Tagged as: 3D iphone app, 3d iphone model viewer, 3dVia, augmented reality

  • Jon
    That is a pretty neat app!

    Jon @ WoodMarvels.com
  • Gerald_G
    Just to mention some other features:
    - By signing in with your 3DVIA account, you have access to your 3DVIA profile, the models shared by your contacts and most of all, you have your own private space "My Models". Hence you can use 3DVIA.com as an extranet of 3D Models available anywhere. Simply set your models as private on www.3DVIA.com. These models will be only visible by you, on your iPhone.
    - When signed in, you can comment all the public models and then give your feelings about a particular design.
    - Default Search Mode is Model Search. However, you can also find some users you may know. Simply switch in User Mode and enter some people's name : anyone matching it will appear in the list.
  • Is there any way to use an existing picture on the iPhone? It worked great for taking a picture but I didn't find a way to use one I took the other day.
  • Burhop- Unfortunately, you cannot use existing pictures, as the App calculates the perspective during the picture taking process.

    Nice post Josh! But, a car on a banana? Did you skip breakfast?
  • it's the only thing interesting I had sitting on my desk at the time. ya know how that goes. Dave comes over, sits on your desk, you start snapping pictures. uh-oh. ;)
  • I would take a picture of a car on my red stapler if Dave would return it.
  • Ah! That is kind of clever and good to know.
  • Thanks Gerald. I was having some problems logging in. Think it was the network where was though.
  • Gerald_G
    Maybe it's related to your network.
    One hint: after entering your username and password, click Sign in: the sign in page should appear again. Do not click again on sign in, just wait for the request completion. Normally, you should be logged after a while (it really depends on your network connexion. Blazing fast on WIFI, may take some seconds on 3G or Edge).
  • Hey Gerald, thanks. I was able to get on just fine this morning. I've also updated the post above to add the additional user features. Thanks again.
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