The 3D Web Coder

View and Data API Intro for BIM Programming

We successfully completed the European Munich DevDay conference and the subsequent four-day abbreviated Autodesk Cloud Accelerator. Here is the last snapshot of the frosted trees and blue sky from the train station platform in Harras. The most exciting project there for me personally was the implementation of the Revit BIM database and element modification tracker. Next on my rather busy January agenda is the BIM Programming Workshop in Madrid – Jaime's presentations and samples – View and Data API demo sites – Slack team collaborations... Read more →

CompHound on iPad Chrome and Node Env

I returned from my vacation in Andalusia. So far, I spent much too much time this week working on Revit API issues and getting ready for the Revit Technology Conference. I managed to squeeze in a few enhancements to the CompHound component tracker project as well – Cyrille's error handling and handlebars fixes – Report the NODE_ENV setting – Heroku NODE_ENV defaults to production – Updating the LMV viewer version – Obsolete iPad hardware – CompHound running on iPad in Chrome – Regular ordinary Swedish meal time... Read more →

WebGL Workshop, Jobs, Anchors and Functional JavaScript

I returned happily from the successful fourth and last day of the Milano WebGL workshop, which we concluded with a group session guiding through the View and Data API tutorial. Here is a short report on that and a few other current topics: WebGL workshop report Working at Autodesk Resolving the link offset error caused by the Snap responsive design menu bar Functional JavaScript workshop I took a break in the middle of the train trip from Milano back home... Read more →

Vrok-It, WebGL Workshop and Cloud Accelerator

Back from a very relaxing workshop in the beautiful Swiss Emmental region, I am now faced with various interesting news items and tasks: Vrok-It using collaborative VR! WebGL workshop report – day one EMEA Autodesk cloud accelerator extension Vrok-It Using Collaborative VR! Would you like to have a quick play around with collaborative stereoscopic 3D VR using the simple, fun, and affordable Google cardboard? Check out vrok.it! 'Vrok' is a combination of 'Virtual Reality Online Collaboration' and the verb to... Read more →

Athens AngelHack Hackathon

I am in the middle of the Athens AngelHack Hackathon, after the View and Data workshop we held last night: Angel workshop I♥3D Athens AngelHack Hackathon Project pitches Angel Workshop I♥3D We held the second I love 3D – Athens meetup yesterday in The Cube, with 19 enthusiastic participants: Here are some of the main links for further exploration: Main entry point: developer.autodesk.com Play with it live Documentation, sample code, step-by-step guide, API reference Forum, community, discussion group Blog Live... Read more →

Node.js REST API Enhancement and VR Party

Let's get back to looking at node.js, a REST API implementation, and a recent San Francisco virtual reality hackathon project: Node.js REST API enhancement Top ten nodejs mistakes Kean's VR party Node.js REST API enhancement My colleagues Cyrille and Philippe were not very impressed with one aspect of my previous node WebGL viewer server REST API implementation. Both suggested that each API module implement and export its own router instead of just defining and exporting individual functions. The main reason... Read more →

50 Ways to View Your Model

Well, actually just one way, and a very simple one at that, but over fifty different model file formats... (thanks anyway, Paul)... Instantly view your designs online – no software required. I pointed out repeatedly how easy the Autodesk View and Data API makes it to interactively view and explore a 3D model in the browser without any further software whatsoever. Now the new A360 Viewer Widget simplifies it further still, using a widget that can be embedded in web... Read more →

Web Fest, Hackathons, AU and WebGL Workshops

It is high time for me to get back here to explore new web related areas after the excursions looking at the journey to the cloud for a desktop oriented development team and the recent Dubai hackathon. I've been overly busy with the The Building Coder, the Revit API community and the new release of Revit since then. Here are my topics for today, both backward-looking to an exciting event held last week and forward-looking regarding my own plans for... Read more →

Dubai, Hackathon Preparation and Viewer Workshop

I am in Dubai for the AngelHack Hackathon. We held a pre-hackathon workshop on using the View and Data API last night, and we've scheduled another one here at the hackathon itself at four o'clock this afternoon. I'll jot down my notes and the most up-to-date sexy links here to prepare. Here are some other important upcoming events and tips for getting prepared: 3D Web Festival in San Francisco AngelHack in Dubai AngelHack in Athens Autodesk University proposals Preparing for... Read more →

Radical Node Server View and Heroku Push Cleanup

Two days ago, I implemented an enhancement to the node server REST API of my WebGL viewer and its interactive testing framework suggested by my colleague Cyrille Fauvel. He also suggested applying a whole host of other best practices to separate content, styles and logic. I am quite impressed that I succeeded in breaking so many rules implementing such a small project. I am very happy and find it extremely important to get them corrected early on. Many thanks to... Read more →

Node Server Rendering with either Swig or Handlebars

My previous step towards implementing a minimal WebGL viewer node server showed how to render 3D geometric POST data using Swig. Due to various self-created difficulties, I switched the rendering engine to Swig after struggling with initial attempts using Express Handlebars. Now that those difficulties have been solved, I thought I would show how to switch back to the handlebars support and prove that I use either one. They cannot be used in parallel, though, since the rendering engine is... Read more →

POST Data and Swig Driven WebGL Viewer Node Server

In my previous step towards a node server implementing a handy minimal WebGL viewer, I started added support for handling a REST API POST request. Now that we have transferred and received data, let's implement code to display it: Adding JSON support Picking a Node view engine How to reference JavaScript modules in the template file – or not? Transferring data to the view template Complete node.js server implementation Interactive testing framework Download Adding JSON Support My initial tests were... Read more →

WebGL Node Server with GitHub and Heroku Repo Sync

Yesterday, I discussed a proof of concept for a simple desktop driven 3D geometry WebGL viewer. I want to enhance it in a number of ways: Reimplement it as a Heroku-hosted node.js web server Provide the geometrical data to display through query string input arguments Remove the scaling to the -1 to 1 2-unit box Support integer arguments for the geometry definition Add support to define rendering colours Let's start at the top of the list and host the 3D... Read more →

WebGL Viewer, Cloud Accelerator, Verold and RTC

Two days ago, we had a first look at WebGL. Yesterday, I presented a simple JavaScript WebGL viewer and discussed how to export geometry data to it from a desktop app. Today, I'll just recapitulate some aspects of that and ponder where to go from here. There are some other interesting topics and upcoming events to look at as well: Second Autodesk cloud accelerator Verold joining Box Social media icon sources Desktop driven WebGL viewer RTC Europe Second Autodesk Cloud... Read more →

WebGL 101 – Getting Started

In our progression towards a full-fledged model design app, we completed the following steps so far: Retrieving and Processing Query Strings in JavaScript and a Node.js Server Hosting a Node Server on Heroku A Program Generator Node.js Web Server Displaying 2D Graphics via a Node Server Driving the SVG Node Server from a Desktop Application After the quick and efficient little excursion into 2D graphics using SVG, let's head straight on towards 3D... WebGL Nowadays, the simplest and most ubiquitous... Read more →

Displaying 2D Graphics via a Node Server

Now that our node.js web server is hosted by Heroku, running live on the web, and even generating nonsensical source code in six different programming languages for April 1st, let's move on to something more interesting and graphical. First, briefly, a couple of other short news items and topics of general and personal interest: WebGL 3D model viewing on mobile devices A360 drag and drop viewer View and Data API design file formats Useful JavaScript resources Augmented reality Is Angular... Read more →

Hosting a Node Server on Heroku, Pages and 3D Web

Lots of topics lined up for today! The real meat that we are hungering for is hosting and running our node app live on the web. There's much more, though: Hosting The 3D Web Coder source HTML and index on GitHub pages A much cooler GitHub pages sample The 3D web is happening here and now The Milan WebGL Workshop Hosting a node server on Heroku Testing a node server live on this page Hosting The 3D Web Coder Source... Read more →