Unity Engine the Future of 3D Applications

What is Unity 3D?

Unity 3D is a fully integrated development engine that provides rich out-of the-box functionality for 3D game programming and other 3D graphics applications designed to empower developers to create the best interactive entertainment or multimedia experience.

Is Unity the 3D engine I need?

For independent developers and studios, Unity 3D represents a great solution that smashes the time and cost barriers for creating unique and AAA class applications that are developed for a broad variety of users; ranging from day to day users to particular and very specialized group of users.

The main focus until recently was on creating rich and interactive 3D games that can be easily deployed to a wide range of platforms without the necessity of multiple development teams.

Multiplatform publishing a concrete wall?

The ability to publish on more than 10 platforms (Mac OS X App, Windows Executable, Windows Store, Linux desktop, Web Browsers, via Unity Web Player, iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, Windows Phone 8, Blackberry 10, Wii U, PS3 and Xbox 360) made Unity 3D the perfect choice for developers that wanted to share their games to a wide range of devices without adding extra development costs or time and of course without sacrificing the quality of the game due to porting.
Due to its developer friendly focus right from the start, Unity 3D engine has grown and evolved to the point that it’s now a complete development ecosystem with intuitive tools, rapid workflow and a huge number of ready to use assets.

What does the future hold?

Development and design studios, multinational corporations and government organizations all use the Unity game development engine for creating 3D content for military simulation, medical training, virtual reality, architecture, advertising and retail.

Research

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory is part of the organization that is responsible for the software and operations of space missions including the Curiosity Mars Rover that landed on Mars. Most recently, NASA’s team released a series of 3D web-based Mars experiences: Explore Mars that allowed the general public to explore the red planet.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that created an interactive analysis and educational data visualization tool TerraViz, using the Unity 3D engine to seamlessly display millions of points of information at game-level frame rates.

The future of training applications

Virtual interactive 3D training applications for military and/or civilian usage represent the next step in creating an intuitive, dynamic and fully interactive training content as close as possible to live training session but without it’s downsides like price, limited reach and hard to schedule programs. This fully interactive rich learning content provides a modern day alternative to training manuals, videos, and hands-on experience that enables the user to “learn-by-doing”.
The company Heartwood that specializes in creating training software mainly for the US military using the Unity 3D engine as their core developing tool with great results.

Interactive educational software, what does it mean?

The educational software has focused for a long time on using images, 2D interactive content and videos to give users the illusion of a fully interactive application, but with the integration of 3D modules these applications can achieve their true potential and give the customers the experience and information in a more natural and optimal way.
Think about a human anatomy book that has fully 3D animation models with high resolution textures and the possibility to interact and observe every sub-component in detail. At the same time add the mobility of a tablet, frequent updates and “multiplayer” support, where other users can access your current viewed model and explain/show you information you may have missed and so truly interactive educational software is created. Going a step further, the Unity engine is compatible with 3D goggles like the Oculus Rift that represent the future of augmented reality and opens up new development opportunities in this direction.

Final thoughts

Every industry has been touched by the rapid advancement in information technology and mobile systems. Unity 3D provides the platform for cutting edge graphics and custom-made interactive software that can represent a major boost and open new opportunities/solutions for the market.

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