Online Collaboration for 3ds Max Users
Figure 1
Because there is no license or insurance required in our field, there are no geographical bounds to 3ds Max® users or our clientele. Collaboration often occurs with participants regions apart. To get to where we are today took an enormous amount of resources, money, and people who poured their hearts and souls into updating the entire Internet, the browsers, the computers, processors, and graphics cards to help us collaborate with one another as best as we can. The results of their labor lead to some cool websites, such as those presented here, that allow us to collaborate with clients and colleagues anywhere in the world.
P3D.IN
P3D.IN was built with collaboration as a priority. Specifically, the focus of P3D.in was to make sharing 3D content fun, while offering simple tools to communicate and ensure ways to protect data. Their site runs on all modern web browsers, tablets, and phones and offers a wide range of tools for us to customize the presentation of our content. Through their advanced features, we can control our viewer's experience by modifying how they interact with the project we present (such as disable panning or picking background colors). We also can take advantage of their high-resolution lossless image options, ShadeSpheres, and customizable backgrounds. They also share lots of tips and tutorials.
Figure 2: P3D.IN
Sketchfab
Sketchfab also provides many options for uploading and customization and has more than a million creators contributing to their site. It is considered one of the largest platforms for sharing 3D content online. Arguably, their most popular feature might be that their upload system supports many of the most popular 3D formats available today. Additionally, through Sketchfab’s universal 3D & VR player, we can embed our creations on our websites. Last, it doesn’t hurt they have an enormous store of very cool 3D content available and tutorials for everything from 3D scanning to textures.
Figure 3: Sketchfab
Momento
Momento quickly became my favorite site for sharing 360-degree views from 3ds Max simply because of its simplicity. Similar to YouTube, we have the option to link to our image on their site or embed it on a page of our own for our viewers to review. Our viewers can pan like we do in Google street images and have the option to enter VR mode for those with the equipment. The site is straightforward to use and particularly powerful for 360-degree architectural and land development visualization.
Figure 4: Momento
Pinshape
Pinshape caters to 3D printing and product development. By providing a rating and comment section, people share ideas to improve development and requests for brand new inventions. With an active and excited community, the site offers tutorials, forums, blogs, design tips, contests, learning resources, and even an ambassador program to help expand the printing market. It also provides the opportunity for people to sell their products. One piece of advice: lock up your wallet before visiting if you are a compulsive buyer.
Figure 5: Pinshape
